Sunday, July 24, 2011

West Berlin - my second visit - July 1972

July 1972 was my first time back to Germany after we left in June 1957 and it was my second time back to West Berlin, a divided city. Its worth noting that when we were there in 1957, we were freely able to visit both sides of the city. The wall wasn't built until after 1961 (or 62). That's me in the photo above near the entrance to the U-bahn (subway) at Britz in West Berlin.
This is another part of West Berlin but I only vaguely remember where it might be, though not exactly. Certain details are lost over time!
Here I am on a roof top in the same area as the previous photo. It was July 1972 and I was 18 going on 19 in August. This was the first big trip on my own!
Here we were going to take a boat trip on the Havel. This included my aunt Liesel, uncle Rudy and cousin Gela plus myself.
My cousin Gela and I on the boat during part of the journey. It was a beautiful, sunny day as I remember.
We went to a number of places during my week's stay in the city. This included a visit to the Berlin Zoo. If you look carefully, you can see a polar bear on a rock in the upper right-hand corner of the photo above.
My aunt (my mother's sister) and myself are at the zoo in the photo above. My aunt passed on in the mid-1990s.
What a photo to end this post on. Here I am with bison in the background. During my stay, I also took in a concert, did a bus tour that took in both sides of the wall, passing through Checkpoint Charlie both ways, and a visit to Charlottenburg Palace, also in West Berlin. I borrow my cousin Jack's camera for the trip to Germany, a Voigtlaender reflex camera. Once the 200 odd slides have been scanned, I'll post those photos which include some of the palace I mentioned, the checkpoint and other places of note. I enjoyed the trip immensely but there were times when it would have been nice to have my brother Norbert along. Between what I had in the way of funds and what my parents could afford, we couldn't both go. I hope you've enjoyed these! Have a great week!!! - V

5 comments:

Mind Of Mine said...

I love the photographs, it just goes to show you how fashion goes in circles. The outfits you wear in 1972 would be exactly on trend on right now.

Volker said...

I came to that conclusion some years ago. Even the mini skirt for women isn't new. They were around in Roman time though the materials would have been different. - V

DeepBlue said...

Those pictures are beautiful. Thanks for sharing them. I'm sure many of the sights have drastically change since then!
Hugs
Jon

Volker said...

I'm happy to share the photos with everyone, Jon. They show what was in style at the time and how things have changed since 1972. I've been to Berlin a total of four times. The first time was in 1957 at the age of three going on four. I was much too young to remember much of that visit but do remember the trip on the streetcar which Berlin still had at the time and this was BEDFORE the wall went up. I also went there for a visit in 1976 and 1987, my last visit there.

It would be awesome to see it now that the country is no longer divided. I would most like to share that experience with Brad!!! It would be memorable in many ways! - V

Volker said...

"BEDFORE" should be BEFORE. I should carefully proofread before publishing! - V