The East Berlin Tower

On Friday, the 18th of January, we went back into East Berlin and went up in the East Berlin Television tower. This had been built by the Soviet Union during the late 1960's as an impressive landmark of east Berlin. It is 290 meters tall. As Dr. Moser put it, they wanted something impressive to compete with the West. As we walked through security, it was the first time I noticed a difference between east and west Berliners. Dr. Moser has mentioned there are subtle differences in mannerisms and cultural values, but the personnel working the tower made those differences quite apparent. I felt like I had unfortunately traveled back in time to the Soviet Union of the 70's. The people were nice, but very serious. The security checkpoint was pointless; they searched our bags, made us throw out all liquids, but never screened our bodies. I'm convinced that they just wanted us to buy drinks at the bar in the top of the tower. We crammed in this tiny elevator that took us up 290 meters in under 30 seconds. I was the last person to squeeze into the lift and I accidentally stood in front of the buttons that go up. The woman working the elevator, a middle-aged woman with short brown hair in a uniform fit for a flight attendant, turns to me and sternly says "You go there; that is my place." That moment, in itself, captured East Germany in the 70's. It has been a running joke of the trip since. We are so very nice and pleasant in the east, but that is your place and this is mine. It was a nice piece of the old school. At the top of the tower, we had a 360 degree view of Berlin. It was beautiful!