Minutes after we (Allies) were allowed into the "former" East Germany the night of reunification, I got off work and drove straight down the autobahn from West Berlin to Potsdam. Middle of the night. Wanted to do it and had to see it.
It was stuck in time. It was as if the 1940s had never ended. Sure the buildings had been rebuilt but it was like all out of a movie set! NOTHING HAD CHANGED!!
There were even coal piles setup outside the apartment buildings.
Surreal.
Surreal...indeed. August of 1968 I was on an Air France flight, Paris to Tegel in West Berlin. Clear summer day, on the approach the view from the air was as you said, surreal. Height of summer every was green in the West, red tile roofs dominated the landscape, even flowered window boxes could be seen...and then the view into the East became apparent. The demarcation line couldn’t be more clear. It was as if the entire East portion was covered in ash, fully gray without any color, a dead city. Can’t recall seeing specific bombed out ruins, just endless gray. Five days later the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia.