Berlin - Trabant Museum - Trabi World - Checkpoint Charlie - Topography of Terror

This museum covers the Nazi rein - 1933 to 1945
In the window you see Lulu - and The Wall

The plastic - front wheel drive - 2 cylinder Trabi

During the last couple days - it has been sunny and the temperature reached the 70s. Since we are farther north than Maine - I am assuming we have really lucked out with the weather here. We spend part of the day with our guests - JP and Wanda - but while they have gone on a few organized tours - we have just walked downtown and enjoyed the weather and sites.


For 38 euros you can drive a Trabant around Berlin

I have talked about the Trabant before - but after seeing the Trabant Museum and Trabi World - here I go again. The Trabant was virtually the only car available in East Germany for 40 years. It was made in Zwickau - when it first came out it was very advanced. It had front wheel drive and a plastic body. The engine is the size of a small watermelon and it produced 28 horsepower. The engine was a big polluter - it smoked because you had to mix oil with the gasoline. It sat 4 people and had a large trunk for such a little car. Many people escaped from East Germany in the trunk of these little things.



In downtown Berlin - near Checkpoint Charlie - and across the street from the Topography of Terror - sits Trabi World. Down the street a few yards is the Trabant Museum. For 38 euros you can go on a caravan tour throughout the city. You get to drive one of these little noisy and smokey ugly ducklings. At the Museum - there are perfectly restored examples of each model and body style.

Checkpoint Charlie - was the only gate where westerners could enter into East Berlin. You had to have documents - you were given a pass for a certain amount of time. Sometimes you would sneak contraband in - and people out. For 30 years - this was the East German's only axis to the rest of the world.

Topography of Terror - is a museum that reviews the rise and fall of Hitler and his National Socialist Party - the Nazis. The museum is free - thorough - and very very depressing. We only finished half of it - and had to leave. We will take our next guests there - and we will finish.

I would bring this electric Smart Car home

The Trabi Museum - 4 euros

The last model year Trabant made - 1990

Check out this mower powered by an electric drill

A Trabi camper

About 4 models in 30 years

Little Trabi motor for a boat

This line - The Wall - zigzags thru Berlin 

The Wall came tumbling down

Ride or buy a Trabant here

They had over 100 of these little oil burners

FWD Trabi truck

Air cooled - 2 cycle - 2 cylinder Trabant engine

Front wheel drive - plastic body - smokey exhaust

Memorial to USSR soldiers who died in Berlin.
They lost one million soldiers. USA and UK
bombed - USSR did ground attack

The Jewish Memorial right downtown

Hitler's Bunker - that tree is all that is left
of the garden where you entered Hitler's bunker.
He and Eva Braun committed suicide here

This sign warns that you are entering the
American Zone at Checkpoint Charlie

The gates are gone - but you can pose with
the guards at Checkpoint Charlie