Tall And True Short Reads
Two Visits to the Berlin Wall – Part One
Episode 69 (3 March 2023)
In 2019, approaching the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I found a timely book in a secondhand bookshop: The Berlin Wall, 13 August 1961 – 9 November 1989 by Frederick Taylor. The book inspired me to write about my two contrasting visits to Berlin as a backpacker in 1987 and 1995.
Two Visits to the Berlin Wall – Part One
Show Notes
Season Three: Episode 69 (3 March 2023)
Two Visits to the Berlin Wall is a travel memoir from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Read the memoir post on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/nonfiction/travel/two-visits-to-the-berlin-wall
Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com
Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads
Buy Robert’s short story collections online:
- Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Fairhead/e/B086HZ36NM
- Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-fairhead/id1436773436
- Rakuten Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/au/en/author/robert-fairhead
Episode Insight
I shared the Two Visits to the Berlin Wall travel memoir on Tall And True in September 2021. Part One of this two-part podcast episode explains the inspiration for writing the piece, a secondhand copy of the 2006 book The Berlin Wall by Frederick Taylor, and the 2021 book Tunnel 29, which I listened to as an audiobook narrated by the author Helena Merriman.
Part One also includes the travel journal entries from my first visit to Berlin in 1987, when the Wall divided the city and West and East Germany. Part Two covers my second visit to the Berlin Wall and reunified Germany in 1995. And my observations on my two trips almost three decades after my last visit to Berlin.
Sidenote: Apologies for mangling German place names in this episode. Although I studied German in my mid-twenties and could once proudly pronounce words and phrases in Deutsche beyond “Zwei bier, bitte”, that was over 30 years ago!
I hope you enjoyed listening to Part One of Two Visits to the Berlin Wall. You can read this travel memoir and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle and Kobo online bookstores.
The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads (Part Two) will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One, Two and Three.
And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps me share my stories with other listeners.
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Finally, please do this podcast a big favour: Tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.
Podcast Theme and Sound Effects
Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.
Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:
- Shop Bell: https://freesound.org/people/775noise/sounds/494565/
- Gunfire: https://freesound.org/people/C-V/sounds/523404/
- Ping Sound: https://freesound.org/people/edsward/sounds/341871/
- Plane: https://freesound.org/people/bigpickle51/sounds/262753/
- Clock Ticking: https://freesound.org/people/Julien%20Matthey/sounds/457651/
- Van Horn: https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/479995/
- City Ambience (Cologne): https://freesound.org/people/Pfannkuchn/sounds/384353/
- Siren: https://freesound.org/people/lluiset7/sounds/367442/
Production Notes
Tall And True Short Reads is produced using Audacity.
Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.
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Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.