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| Piazza della Repubblica |
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| Apritiborgo Festival scene Creative Commons image, tanran2 on Flickr |
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| Rocca de San Silvestro |
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| Archaeological-Mineral Park of San Silvestro |
Outside the museum is the actual Checkpoint Charlie building that was removed, intact, from where it stood on the border between East and West Berlin in 1989 when the wall fell. Note: In the background of this picture, you can also see a train car; the Allies ran regular military trains during the occupation period and this is a car that has been preserved.
Silly Canadian girl getting her picture taken with Charlie....
The museum also has a real watchtower, complete with a working spotlight, and a slice of the Berlin Wall:
This watchtower once stood at Potsdamer Platz and Bernauer Strasse and inside there is a red phone from the day when the tower was in use. To quote from the adjacent plaque, "The Red Telephone connected the last supreme commander of the former Soviet Forces in Germany, Colonel General M. P. Burkakov with his superiors in Moscow." Spooky....
The pride of the museum is, without doubt, The Royal Air Force Hastings TG 503 aircraft that was flown as part of the Berlin Airlift during the Berlin Blockade of 1948-1949.
I actually got to tour the plane! While the museum is open daily, the aircraft tours only take place on specific days, so it took some organizing for me to get there on a Sunday! Here is my ticket which cost me a whole 1E (the museum was free)... cool the way they've done the tour tickets up, probably for appreciation by the kids, but I liked it too.
Sitting IN the plane, watching a movie about the Berlin Airlift. The film was only in German (you can learn all the history in English in the exhibitions) but a picture truly is worth a thousand words, and I still enjoyed it. Interesting to see it with a few children, important that they understand this history...
Waaaaay coool picture taken looking out the window, with the museum signage in the background....
Seeing this sign, and the spot where they hung their parachutes, made the visit very real. The airlift was not without its tragedies, including fatalities (39 on the British side, 31 on the American side, and at least 8 deaths on the German side).
The cockpit was quite something.... 
There were lots of other interesting exhibits, not the least of which was this jeep. There are 2 jeeps at the museum, both well preserved/restored.
Smile!!!!
This was a neat display, showing telephones, bus stop signs and postal boxes from the British, French and American occupying forces. They also had displays of uniforms from all three, if you are into that kind of thing...
Another remarkable exhibit is the authentic spy tunnel. During an 11-month period in 1954-1955 - in order to avoid being surprised again by actions such as the Berlin Blockade - the American and British intelligence services made clever use of a 450-metre long tunnel used for underground telephone cables used by the Soviet armed forces in the GDR (East Germany) by tapping the lines. There was quite the broohaha when the tunnel came to light, thanks to a British double agent named George Blake who spilled the beans to the Soviets. This last remaining section of the tunnel was salvaged in 2005.
Lot and lots of other good exhibits. Couldn't resist taking a pic of this kid checking out a model of an airport with a bunch of the planes.
Just a nice pic of one of the two buildings on site; the "Outpost" used to be a theatre, and they have done a clever job of repurposing the space without gutting it. Love the art deco feel. 
Here's the Outpost at dusk with its neon lights on... 
Finally, but actual first, was this statue I came upon on my way to the museum from the U-Bahn; it is actually part of the museum's collection. It is called "The Day The Wall Came Down". It's a very moving piece. The horses are life sized and seemed so real, and the torn and toppled wall pieces captured the moment. I wonder whether the horses symbolized the ones at Brandenburg Gate (which were imprisioned in the "no man's land" for 28 years); even if they don't, that's what it brought to mind for me. 
Overall, a very good museum. It was maybe 20 minutes, 30 max, to get to the museum. Its doubtful you'll find crowds but you'll definitely find real "stuff". I spent 2-3 hours there. Depending on your level of interest in the history, you could spend less time (most do), or spend more time (I'm sure there are some, I still only absorbed about 1/2 of it). The website also has some good information, if you are patient, as the organization isn't the best, but the content is good. |
| The Opening Ceremonies of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome... who knew what controversy had been stirring, and what was still to come? |
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| Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome |
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| Goofing with Monopoly signs in Atlantic City Creative Commons image shoshanah on Flickr |
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| A Monopoly "spinner" used in WWII when dice were unavailable |
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| Elizabeth Magie's 1904 Patent US1509312A |
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| Charles Darrow's 1935 Patent
US2026082A
(read more) |
 | Dinner with Persephone: Travels in Greece - by Patricia Storace "I lived in Athens, at the intersection of a prostitute and a saint." This is how this book begins, a memoir of the author's year in Greece. I truly adored this book. I read it while I was in Greece, and it really gave me great insight into the Greek people, particularly in Athens. |
 | The Acropolis: The Acropolis Museum - by Katerina Servi The new Acropolis Museum is housed in an amazing building at the foot of the Acropolis, with a stunning view of the Parthenon. This book guides you through the museum, giving interesting information and highlights the most important exhibits. The museum is spectacular to visit - don't miss it! |
 | Athens: The City Beneath the City: Antiquities from the Metropolitan Railway Excavations - by Liana Parlama, Nicholas Stampolidis During excavations for the Athens metro (built for the 2004 Summer Olympics), many archaeological artifacts were discovered, as highlighted in this book. The contrasts of old/new are quite striking if you view the artifacts (or replicas), at several metro stations. |
 | Time Out Athens I read this Athens guide cover to cover... not sequentially, but like an explorer... long before I made plans to visit the city. It helped me know I wanted to stay a month, which I did. A bit out of date, but I don't imagine that what made this book special has changed much - just be sure to refer to a current guidebook as well. |
 | Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day - by Philip Matyszak Set in Athens in 431 BC (you'll meet Socrates), this book is designed to educate and amuse. This "well-researched yet irreverently unacademic guide" gives context for Athens today. If you like this book, you may be interested to know that the author has written other similar works, including Rome. |
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| I explored several passages when I spent a month in Paris in 2009 |
