24 years ago today---maybe it seems like no big deal now, but back then? The earth moved.

[AndrewRN]

9. I was there shortly after they opened the wall

In December 1989 I visited West Berlin and then East Berlin. I still have several pieces of the wall somewhere that I chiseled off the wall myself and have pics to prove it!

Visiting East Berlin was like going back in time. I remember that the east germans made you convert a certain amount of West German marks to East German marks at some ridiculous exchange rate but it you only had to get a few blocks away from the border and you could buy East German currency at a MUCH better exchange rate so that 100 west German marks got me something like 1000 east marks which was a fortune for them but pocket change for me. And since the currency was useless outside of east berlin we were almost giving it away everywhere we went, giving everyone huge tips for the littlest things.

It was also fascinating watching the east Germans wander around west Berlin, going into grocery stores and seeing row after row of food that they use to have to stand in line for hours for. Anything exotic (at least to them!) was bought out as fast as they could stock it - stuff like bananas, pineapples, stuff like that.

Those were some interesting times.