About ten years ago I remember playing Pictionary with some family and friends. On one of my turns I was asked to draw Berlin. I thought, this is easy. I quickly drew five columns and something that looked like a statue on top. I didn't know that the gate had six columns or what the statue was on top, but I did know that this was a symbol that I associated with Berlin. As the guesses roled in I heard, "Iron Curtain," "Cold War," "Germany," and finally, "Berlin." In the following years I traveled to Berlin four times. Each time I visited Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate I was always impressed by its presence, but this last visit was different. In the past the gate stood alone like I remember seeing on TV, but now it is being swallowed up by the new buildings on the platz. It seems as if nobody considered the new symbolic meaning of the gate as they rushed to return Pariser Platz the forms of the 1930's.

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