Today we went for a final look at the wall. The sun was shining and we wanted to see Berlin one last time. Then we drove back to the Eastern Sector. We turned off the autobahn towards Leipzig and were hailed down (the only car stopped) by police, three of them, who had spotted our Dutch plates with binoculars. We asked if we could go in and see Leipzig. Two of them said they would go phone and ask. Then they got in their car and left. Meanwhile a third had seen us gnawing on raisins and bread and came over to the car with some candy and gave us some. He was young, about 35, and we started asking him about Leipzig. He told us about it and then asked us about our trip and inserted in the middle of his talk, the comment that we were lucky. He too would like to travel, but it was impossible for him to leave. He seemed such a sad picture of a being caught in a web of life not to his satisfaction and unable to do anything about it.
The other two returned and told us they were sorry we couldn't go any further. They all seemed almost embarrassed and ashamed to tell us we had to turn around and leave. As we left, the one came over and dropped the rest of the whole bag of candy in the car for us and quickly turned away. They all said "auf Wiedersehen" and wished us a good trip as we went on. Almost everyone we've met in the east has been so friendly. We wonder where the big bad dirty guys are.
At the border we ran into a young punk who decided to give us a bad time. We were searched and detained much longer than anyone and then once through the main check, the last guard pulled us over, made us get out and go into the building and wait an hour more (only us, no one else) Obviously harassing Americans We just took that opportunity to eat our sandwiches. Finally we were back in Germany, much more appreciative of our lives for having seen the other.
The other two returned and told us they were sorry we couldn't go any further. They all seemed almost embarrassed and ashamed to tell us we had to turn around and leave. As we left, the one came over and dropped the rest of the whole bag of candy in the car for us and quickly turned away. They all said "auf Wiedersehen" and wished us a good trip as we went on. Almost everyone we've met in the east has been so friendly. We wonder where the big bad dirty guys are.
At the border we ran into a young punk who decided to give us a bad time. We were searched and detained much longer than anyone and then once through the main check, the last guard pulled us over, made us get out and go into the building and wait an hour more (only us, no one else) Obviously harassing Americans We just took that opportunity to eat our sandwiches. Finally we were back in Germany, much more appreciative of our lives for having seen the other.
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