"Privileged" a Berlin Travel Page by iaint

Was it June 1990 or 91? Can't remember. Anyway it was after the wall had opened up, but before re-unification.

The wall was still there, but people were walking through gaps in it. Germany was still 2 states.

I went for a conference, which took place in the Reichstag! Surreal experience...

On the Saturday afternoon, I took myself off to have a look at East Berlin. I was advised that foreigners should still use the recognised border crossings, even although Germans were walking through the holes! I took the U-bahn to Friedrichstrasse, got my East German visa, did the compulsory exchange of hard currency for useless ost marks, and went behind the (moth eaten) iron curtain.

Walked around the east for a couple of hours to get the general idea, and then it was time to get back to the hotel. The seasoned world traveller in me realised that by now I was nearer Checkpoint Charlie than Friedrichstrasse, so decided to leave that way. BUT, not allowed! Turned back by friendly E German border guards. I have to get out the same way I came in (even with half of Germany walking through the wall).

Ah well, thats the iron curtain for you....

February 03. Definitely. Took my son for a weekend away at school mid-term. We went to see Eisbaeren Berlin play ice hockey.Their arena is way out in the old east of the city.

Utterly fascinating to see all the changes since re-unification, but also how recognisable the east still was, and to a large extent, how you could often still tell west Berliners from east Berliners just to look at.

As an aside, the hockey was ace. I think Eisbaeren won the league that year and have been one of the top teams for several years.

Your East German visa didn't get stamped into your passport. You were given it on a separate card, which was taken back when you left. Your passport was not stamped at all. It seems strange, but later I came across the same method in Russia and Vietnam during the 90's (they did stamp passports as well).
It was only last month (July 07) when reading a history of Berlin, that I learned this method was introduced as a result of all the forging of visas which took place to try to help people escape from the East! Apparently the card method is almost impossible to forge.