My suitcase in Berlin

In trying to find some appropriate words today about the Fall of the Berlin Wall, I came across this Marlene Dietrich quotation, "Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin." It means I have a suitcase in Berlin.




I do love that city, and I know that most of my friends who shared the experience of being there do too - so much so that they extended their tours there or have gone back for a visit for one reason or the other after all this time.





So far I have forgotten to mention a couple of artifacts that I have from those days - this post doesn't quite fit in with the others about the fall of the Berlin Wall so it's an extra. Among the things that I can look at or hold to remind me of my time there, of the history I got to be part of, of all the life-long friendships that were made - are these:

• My Elvis Costello poster taken down from the venue on the night of a performance in 1983
• A photo of a Wall mural
• A Berlin beer stein marked with the city's bear mascot (and the other side reflects a Cold War organization responsible for managing air traffic to the Walled City)
• Two chunks of the Wall - one sent by my sister Nancy who was in Berlin when the Wall came down, and another from my friend Brian, who collected it shortly after the Wall fell.