Fall of the Wall 25 Year Anniversary

51.86 km: that’s how far I walked over the ‘Fall of the Wall 25’ weekend, getting around the city and following the Lichtgrenze – the light border.

You can find some background to Berlin’s largest ever public art project here, here, and here.

100 ‘Wall Story’ panels were dotted along the route. These stories have been collated in a ‘Wall Stories’ book, and can also be read online here.

What follows are some picture highlights of my ‘Fall of the Wall 25’ weekend. More of my snaps (of variable quality!) can be seen on my flickr page here.

Overnight on Thursday/Friday the light balloons were installed. Some rather funky blue boxes also appeared, scattered in various locations along the Lichtgrenze route:

After visiting the fascinating – and dreadfully sad – Palace of Tears, I walked from Friedrichstraße station to the Hauptbahnhof:

At night the Lichtgrenze took on a different character. It was quite eerie walking along the Mauerpath brightly lit yet so empty:

East Side Gallery, unsurprisingly, was a popular point on the Lightgrenze:

On Nov. 8, Slow Travel Berlin’s Paul Scranton and Paul Sullivan led a walking tour to mark the launch of their new book:

A guard tower at Schlesischer Busch:

The anniversary day itself, Nov. 9, was a grey & dreary day.

At the major tourist spots – Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, Mauerpark, and East Side Gallery – big-screens played clips of the Wall’s history.

The Burgerfest was big, loud, and moving, especially as the crowd began chanting ‘Gorby’ and as the balloons were released:

Just as the Lichtgrenze was becoming a familiar feature of the city, it disappeared:

The light wall, like the Wall itself, both appeared and disappeared in a matter of hours. Another layer of symbolism to the anniversary celebrations.

Interestingly, the balloon stands were almost immediately available on eBay.

Want to know where the balloons landed? Find out here.

Some more pictures I took over the weekend can be seen here.