Crossing the street has never been so much fun!

When East and West Germany were still separate entities they each had different types of traffic lights.

When the wall came down in 1989 the two cities gradually merged into one, but one thing that still remains is the differing traffic lights.

As a result Ampelmann – a cheerful, hat-wearing character who has come to represent the red and green traffic man from former East Berlin -- has become a national icon. There are shops dedicated to Ampelman. Tourists love him, and enjoy the chance to see different traffic lights depending on which part of the city they visit (traffic lights in former West Berlin use a more generic human figure). He even has his own website. www.ampelmann.de