"More dramatically, US and Soviet tanks had a close encounter here in October 1961 when J.F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s tanks faced each other in an acrimonious moment feared around the World as a possible lead up to World War III." ~ www.berlin.de

Memories of Checkpoint Charlie from the black and white television of my younger days...

definitely did not match its current state of affair...

where two complete posers were standing around waiting

 for someone to pay them €1 for a photo op.

I am not sure who pockets the money but the nearby McDonald's completes the makings of a tourist trap.

"Checkpoint “Charlie” took its name from the NATO alphabet: the members of the Allied armed forces reached the Berlin city center via Checkpoint A (Alpha) near Helmstedt, the point at which they crossed into the GDR from the Federal Republic of Germany; Checkpoint B (Bravo) near Drewitz, 
where they left the GDR and crossed into West Berlin; 

and Checkpoint C (Charlie) at Friedrichstrasse, where they left West Berlin for East Berlin." (www.berlin.de)

Reminders of the wall are never far away as you explore nearby and around the city.

Back towards the Brandenburg Gate,
a few blocks away on the southwest corner of the Pariser Platz,
is the new U.S. Embassy…

referred to by many in Germany as "a Fort Knox at the Brandenburg Gate." 

The U.S. Buddy Bear…

as "Liberty Bear" welcomes visitors to the entrance.

 Buddy Bear started as a street art project in 2001…

and over 100 bears can be found throughout the city.

 The project soon included the United Buddy Bears 

involving those countries acknowledged by the United Nations.

"We have to get to know each other better ...
... it makes us understand one another better,
trust each other more, and live together more peacefully."

As an example of this motto…

these bears once stood hand in hand in a circle

 where the new embassy stands,

 and now travel the world as a symbol of a peaceful world.

Happy Tuesday.