I am old enough to remember the times when the Wall was there. I went to West Berlin to visit my Dad's friend in July 1989 (I was a high school student then). We flew to East Berlin, since we still lived in the Eastern Block and then went through the famous Check Point Charlie, which was the border of East/West Berlin.

I still remember two middle-age men hugging and saying goodbye before parting into two different directions of the city. It was shocking to me to see the Wall with all the wired-fences and soldiers carrying guns. I already knew the terrible history of this place, which my father shared with me. Arriving in West Berlin was like entering another world after short time in EB (although I already travelled in Western Europe at the time). Smiling people in cabriolets, crowds in trendy restaurants and everything felt so free in opposition to the other side of the Wall.

We stayed in my Dad friend's apartment, which was standing exactly in front of the famous Tempelhof Airport. Berlin was still divided into three zones: American (in which we lived in), French and British. Every morning I heard the noise of the American cargo-planes landing on Tempelhof and I could see them from the windows. Everything was a bit surreal. We had a great time in the cosmopolitan Berlin, which until today remains one of my favourite cities in the world.

After our two-week visit we went back to Check Point Charlie, waited for a plane in grey and gloomy East Berlin, drank warm beer and both of us were subject to a full body search at the airport (me still not being an adult). Off we flew to Warsaw, not knowing that the history was about to take place just a few months later.

I also did not know, that in twelve years' time I would be back in this city with my future American husband on the first date to celebrate his Birthday, which now is also a happy story!

Photo: a fragment of the Berlin Wall's graffiti (family archives)