Zeitgeist Vier

Berlin-Lichtenberg

East Berlin swallowed all colour. Even the sun fled over the Wall as soon as it could. You got the impression that the DDR really resented the star's undocumented coming and going. Earlier(after a nerve twanging quarter hour) my passport had been returned to me by the brisk Lt.Gruber. I was grudgingly admitted to the Worker's Paradise for 72 hours. They weren't done yet though. I was relieved of my trusty Kodak Instamatic and issued with a receipt. I was nonchalantly informed that my camera would be returned to me at my hotel. There was the slightest hint of a smirk as if he was expecting an objection.

I had just spent a while without my passport on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. The point had been made Comrade.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and my insomnia was miraculously cured by the arrival of a pair of English gastronauts at Dresden. Nice enough people but my cavalier approach to fine dining (I had black bread,cheese,sausage and beer for about 90% of meals) put a barrier between us. Once the stress of the border was over with the weariness descended upon me and I slid back into feeling sorry for myself. Every passing moment took me further from her and closer to an uncertain future. I stared out the window at seemingly endless forest and fell into that wearying,fitful half sleep you drift in and out of on trains.

The train slowed as we passed through Berlin's South-East suburbs. I thought the day had ended prematurely but it was only the city doing it's best to deny the existence of colours other than grey. Becoming fully concious did not improve the scenery. Massive,older apartment buildings vied for ugliness with newer Soviet-"inspired"blocks on streets wider than anything I'd seen before. Battle damage competed with shoddy construction and pollution to join with deserted streets in presenting me with a grim vista. The unrelenting dourness of it would wither you. A Moyross childhood gave me a higher tolerance though.

Admittedly I didn't come to these conclusions on the train that day. They all took shape during my brief, sad time there but the initial impressions were not improved upon. Impressions that matched the bleak realm of my heart entirely.

Prussian granite and rain welcomed me to Berlin.