In some parts of East Berlin the death strip has come alive. Near the East Side Gallery, where armed sentries used to patrol a grey concrete strip with orders to shoot to kill, there's now golden sand. The alternative crowd has created beach bars here, for people to have a drink and soak up the sun on a man-made beach in the middle of the city. They're places where people can escape from office life, and have the space to be able to open their minds to something different.
Elsewhere, the death strip has enlivened the protest spirit of East Berlin. In the form of a little house, constructed out of spare timber, bricks, glass and metal, is proof that the little guy can be heard if he speaks up. After the Wall came down, the death strip was still no-man's land, and as such, no-one owned it. So this guy who couldn't afford to buy a house, built one all by himself on no-man's land, without having to get planning permission, or pay a landowner for the privilege.
Since then the authorities have tried to make him pay or leave, but he has answered back by concreting all his furniture down. And he's still there, and it doesn't look like he'll ever keep his voice down. Remarkably different from the Baroque architecture tourists enjoy in West Berlin.
This little house is an example of the feisty spirit of East Berliners, which is refreshing and inspirational. After being ruled over consecutively by the three most repressive regimes in recent history (Prussia, Nazis and the GDR), East Berliners aren't going to let anyone tell them what to do or how to live anymore. That's why it's the side of Berlin I like the most.
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