Checkpoint Charlie

We had some spare time before catching the bus/ train combo to the Flughafen so we decided to walk around the neighbourhood surrounding our hotel. As it turns out Checkpoint Charlie was very close by. It’s one of the gates that used to permit access to the American-occupied zone of Berlin. We’d heard reviews of the place that it’s evolved into a tourist trap, but I really wasn’t prepared for the extent of it. There’s actually a McDonald’s restaurant directly across the street from this checkpoint. I’m all for capitalism, but in my opinion a McDonald’s restaurant placed prominently in tourists’ photographs of such a sober reminder of past repression is too much. 

At least that it's not a Hooters.

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin.