Wait a minute, let me think. Sure, I guess it is.

“Even we notice the crisis,” one of them (one of two painted figures who stand as if frozen in front of the Brandenburg Gate) complained during a rare coffee break in which they were allowed to open their mouths. “We’re not getting the trade that we used to.” The pair were charging tourists €1 apiece to be photographed with them.

At the former Checkpoint Charlie site, the desires of undiscerning Berlin visitors are even better catered for. The area is awash with tour buses. Hot dogs are being churned out by a fast food bar called “Snackpoint Charlie” and a replica wooden hut surrounded by sandbags simulates the original Allied checkpoint.

“In an attempt to cash in on a perceived “Ostalgie” or nostalgia for the former Communist state in the east, politicians have come forward with revisionist remarks about its former regime.”