Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 Year Anniversary

I went to the huge celebration of the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. The night started at my friend Chris' apartment for dinner and pre-drinks since he lives near Potsdamer Platz. The festivities were supposed to start at 7, then the main event at 8. So around 730 we walked towards the Brandenburger Tor, only to find out that the main street with everything has been blocked off for 2 blocks on either side. I guess it was already full and they were forcing people to go to the very ends. We did not like this so we walked through a building, out through its courtyard and through a hole in the fence and came out just behind the police blockade. I guess they either didn't see us or assumed we lived on the street because no one stopped us. Turns out we had entered right where the international press section was, so it was relatively uncrowded. We stood right along the rails where the long row of large stone 'dominoes' were set up, and only about 2 or 3 blocks from the gate itself where all the performances and speeches were going on. My favorite part was that atop the few buildings along the route were angels standing on the ledges and corners. People dressed normally but with giant life-sized angel wings, lit from underneath with spots and just watching over the crowd. It was really moving. But for some reason I can't find anything about it online, no pictures, only one reference in a Brazilian newspaper. I did my best to get some pictures but the bad weather, nighttime lighting, and lack of tripod made it difficult to get any decent pictures in the bustle of the crowd. I did find one video on youtube that someone took with their phone. The video itself is poor quality and not too exciting, but if you want to see another shot of one of the angels click here and at around 35 seconds theres a cool shot.
There were speeches from Gorbachev and Hillary Clinton; performances by Bon Jovi, Paul van Dyk, and other performers that I didn't know. Then they pushed the two blocks in the middle and this wall of 2 meter high slabs all fell over in a row like dominoes down the street. It was really cool to watch, especially from right up close where we were.

This isn't my video but it's short and it shows what it looked like and is actually from about the same distance from it I was.

Then the night ended with a mediocre fireworks display.

Just to be here for such an historic event was exciting. Eating sausages and drinking beer while celebrating and partying with those around. Afterwards the partying continued practically all night, the city was alive with celebration

USA

I went back to the US for 3 and a half weeks in October. I spent most of the time in New York, a week in LA, and a a night each in Atlantic City and DC. It took about the first week to get over the reverse culture shock, as it was my first time back in the US in almost a year and that was the longest I have gone so far being away from my home country. But it was nice to hear everyone speaking English.