BERLIN -- Nearly 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was back in the city again, my visit timed to see what had changed since I watched a defining moment at the end of the Cold War.

On Nov. 9, 1989, joyous East Germans and West Germans had poured over and through the hated wall in a dance of freedom denied them for more than 40 years during Soviet domination of East Germany. Easterners who had been trapped inside the Soviet bloc crossed the border like water through a dam that had sprung a leak -- first a trickle, then a torrent of people who climbed over the cement wall and through holes they chipped from the concrete.

On the more recent trip, I was driving the perfect car for the occasion, a little two-cylinder 1988 Trabant 601, which was ubiquitous throughout East Germany during Soviet days. It is quite an attraction in 2009. As I putt-putted through Berlin on a guided Trabi Safari, other tourists grabbed their cameras for a souvenir picture of my pathetic little auto.

The Trabi, seldom seen for the last two decades, was a symbol of decrepit East Germany. The car's hood, roof and fenders were made of cotton, cardboard and glue, powered by an engine like a lawnmower's.

On some of the Berlin streets of my guided tour, I was behind old enemy lines. In 1989, I could have been shot by East German guards. Today, the tour is a fun way to experience Berlin, seeing highlights of the modern city and lowlights of the days when Berlin was in turmoil.

Once upon a time, the world suffered a Cold War, a post-World War II standoff between the Soviet Union and countries of the West. After World War II, the Soviets occupied most of the European countries east of central Germany, and they built an armed border from the Baltic Sea south.

Ostensibly, the barbed fences and cement walls built by the Soviets were for protection against armies of the West, but mostly they were used to trap their own citizens who wanted to escape from the East.

This militarized Iron Curtain, as it was called, ran through the middle of Germany, a total of 865 miles.

For decades, West Germans chose jobs they wanted, talked freely on the telephone and exchanged private thoughts in letters. East Germans worked where they were told. Their telephones were tapped, their letters steamed open by secret police.

On one side of the border, Germans might worship; on the other, churches exploded. On one side, little girls played with Barbie dolls; on the other, no capitalist Barbies.

You can imagine the emotions in Berlin and across the unified country as Germans enjoy a yearlong celebration of the two decades since the Berlin Wall was opened, and of the pivotal events that led to a reunification of Germany in 1990.

For travelers, 2009 presents a unique opportunity to join in Germany's festivities, to dabble in history, talk to folks who lived it, and see where and how they lived before and after the borders opened. Celebrations began officially in Berlin on May 7 with an open-air exhibition at Alexanderplatz, a large public square in the center of the city near the river Spree. An extensive cultural program across the country leads to the biggest party on Nov. 9.

AROUND THE WALL

With its museums, theaters, outdoor cafes, fine restaurants, youthful atmosphere and thriving cultural life, Berlin has reclaimed its position as one of the great cosmopolitan cities of the world. But for 44 years after the end of World War II, Berlin was an enigma. The entire city -- with West Germans living in West Berlin, East Germans living in East Berlin -- was geographically inside East Germany, about 100 miles east of the border with West Germany. That meant that West Berliners had to travel through 100 miles of East Germany to get to West Germany.

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