remembering the wall

in 1969 we were in West Berlin and wanted to go to East Berlin, just to do it. We entered through Check Point Charlie, had to convert some money to East Berlin coinage, I don't remember what it was called, walked through a double S shaped walkway(built that way so no one would drive straight through), once through to the East noticed the cut glass on top of the wall, an armed guard at the end of every street that we passed, tried to get food in a restaurant but was not served, bought post cards but no stamps were available, saw the tops of buildings blown off and folks  still living in the bottom two intact floors, I just remember it being a very grey atmosphere with the occasional curtain of colour fluttering in the breeze, When back in the West went into the museum at Check Point Charlie to see pics and actual cars that made it through this Check Point when it was a straight run, This wall is down but I am remembering another wall that exists today, the one the Israelis built around the Palestinians, solid metal, about 15 feet high and ?? how deep in the ground, very few gates but told that families separated by the wall, have to walk miles to a gates to visit relatives just on the other side, armed guards at the gates just like at Check Point Charlie, I guess somethings never change. Disagreements, power struggles, ideological differences, entitlement ideas .. to be human .....