Berlin

 Getting to Berlin was such a welcome change to what we had been through In Jerusalem.  On this date 40 years ago, we toured Berlin.  Of course, this was still the time when there was a wall dividing East from West.  And the contrast between the two sides was amazing.
 Our first stop on our tour was going through Checkpoint Charlie and into East Berlin.  The guards came on our bus with machine guns looking for any contraband.  They also ran huge mirrors under the bus looking for anything.  We were told ahead of time not to talk to any of the residents nor let them talk to you, as the thought was that someone might try and steal our id's to get out.  So, the majority of the time we stayed on the bus or in an organized group.
 We saw the Opera House; the offices of the Communist Party; Lenin Square; and the Soviet War Memorial.  It was strange seeing the hammer and sickle everywhere.  There were also many buildings bombed in World War II that had never been rebuilt including churches.  Mr. Vivian wanted us to experience authentic German cheesecake, so we stopped at a little restaurant across from the Soviet Embassy.  As we were eating this delicious snack, a girl from behind the counter came over to us and asked us if we were Americans.  We said we were, and she sat down next to us, asking us a lot of questions about our lives back home.  All of a sudden, a man in a trenchcoat walked up to the girl and said something to her.  She hurried back to her counter.  He was either Stasi or KGB, but whoever he was, she got very scared very quickly.  I felt sorry for her.  We then got back on the bus and headed back toward West Berlin.  We had to go through the checkpoint again.  This time, they were looking for smuggled people.  They told us we couldn't take pictures of the wall from the East, so of course I did.  But thankfully, I didn't get caught. 
 When we got on the West side of the wall, there was a billboard next to it that read "Durst macht Spass mit Fanta".  I thought how cool my last name on a billboard.  It turns out that "Durst" means "Thirst" in German.  We had a very interesting morning visit in East Berlin, but I didn't want to live there. 
 After lunch, the girls wanted to take a nap, so I used that time to go to the zoo which was close to our hotel.  I loved that place, and the relaxed environment.  It was a great respite to what we had gone through the past week.  I did see a strange thing though.  It was a group of high school age boys.  They were all over six feet with blond hair.  I knew immediately who their parents had been.  A part of the Aryan race that Hitler tried to do.  Despite the German people trying to get away from the awful Third Reich, some things just can't be ignored, and that is the result of seeing these kids.  I made mention of this sight, when I returned to college, but my teacher did not believe me, but I know what I saw.
 I got back to the hotel, and found the girls had gotten up.  Sandra and Talula wanted to go to a church not far from our hotel.  Talula wanted a German hymnal for her pastor back home.  The church had a modern section for worship, but they kept the old bombed section as a reminder of the past.  We went inside and saw a gift shop, but they weren't selling any hymnals.  We went into the sanctuary, and sat down in one of the pews to look at the hymnal.  A minister came to us and asked us if we needed anything.  Talula asked him how much one of the hymnals was, and he got very mad and told us to leave.  He said that this was not a store.  It was a church.  So, we left.  When we got outside, Sandra gave Talula a hymnal that she had taken from the church.  We all thought we were going to Hell for that, but she kept it.
 We got back to the hotel to drop off the hymnal and picked up the other two girls to go shopping in West Berlin.  We were very careful to avoid going near the church.  We found a department store, and one of the girls said she needed a washcloth.  We found the department, and I used a lot of gestures and broken German to get the right washcloth.  We also found from that contact that people like you better if you attempt to speak their language.  Especially, if they have played charades in the past. 
 The tension was gone from our group.  We could once again concentrate on our tour and have fun at the same time.  Tomorrow was billed as a relaxing trip through Germany.  I couldn't wait.