So I already posted a pic of this on Instagram, but I know not everyone follows me over there, and I really wanted to share this.

The hotel we stayed at in Dallas, the Hilton Anatole, has an extensive art collection (particularly Asian art), but I had heard that they also had a piece of the Berlin wall, which really intrigued me.

The fall of the Berlin wall was probably the first major historical moment that happened in my lifetime. While I have never been to Germany, my family is quite German (I'm a major mutt, but I'm more Irish-German than anything). True that any family members I have in Germany are ridiculously distant cousins that have no clue that I exist, but I still take an interest in German history, because even though I'm not there, it still feels like part of my history, if that makes sense.

I expected pieces of the Berlin wall to be like, some chunks of rock that wouldn't be particularly distinguishable from any other piece of a wall. I certainly wasn't expecting this:

Each segment is 12 feet high and four feet wide.  I guess in my head, the Berlin Wall wasn't quite as imposing, but now that I think about it, it would have to be in order to intimidate people into staying on their side. I can't imagine what it must have been like to walk past this gigantic wall every day. It was definitely a sobering experience, but one I was glad to have. There's nothing quite like seeing a piece of history right in front of you.

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