There were many small things in Europe that made me appreciate living in the United States. One of them was the toilet paper. It was very rough, there was no Delsey over there.

My daughter's apartment in Berlin was on-base housing and nice, but we got our exercise. It was eight flights of stairs up Berlin's underground railway; the U-Bahn and picturesque double decker buses transported us around the city.We visited Charlottenburg palace, originally built by King Frederick Wilhelm I. A German tour of the palace and the lovely rooms became a trial because we had to wear huge houseslippers over our shoes and shuffle our way along. We couldn't understand what the guide was saying. Our feet were complaining by the time we got through looking at the impressive rooms. The gardens in back of the palace are used for a park. Rainbow flowers, velvet lawns, trees, and a lake made it a pleasant place to relax.

Bombed out buildings were a sad reminder of the war 40 years earlier. At that time the owners were trapped in East Berlin and couldn't have the buildings torn down.

The city is so crowded that the citizens buy a piece of land on the outskirts of Berlin, 1/4 of an acre in size. The miniature farms have small huts, walks, trees and gardens. Berliners spend their weekends on their tiny farms.

We went up into the Funkturn to celebrate our anniversary. It is a high radio tower. We went to the top. From there you can see all of Berlin, including the wall and radio tower. At the top of the Funkturn is a nice restaurant.The food was meat, vegetables and french fries, nothing else.

A cross made by the sunshine shone on the tall radio tower in East Berlin. The atheistic Russians had tried to get rid of that cross, a symbol of freedom for Christians, but even sandblasting it wouldn't remove it because it continued to shine in the sun.

A most unforgettable sight was looking over the Berlin wall that separated the city. Steps on the west side permitted us to climb up and look over that tall stone structure. The half-mile strip between East and West Berlin was called death strip because many people died attempting to escape the living prison. One half mile from the wall was a barbed wire fence and marching guards armed with guns. They traveled in pairs so neither could escape. It stretched across silent and uninhabited Potzdamer Platz, at one time Berlin's busiest intersection.

Brandenburg gate in East Berlin, the place where Hitler proudly paraded his soldiers, stood grim and hushed. Unmoving Russian guards stood with guns hoisted.

Farther down a small building on stilts held a Russian guard. When we tried to take a picture of him he ducked his head. Finally when no one was around he started looking at us through his binoculars and standing up. We waved at him and he waved back.

Prostitution was legal in Berlin. Since the German girls wouldn't go out with servicemen the GIs dated a lot of prostitutes. Easy to identify their hair was bushy and they wore very short dresses.

A trip to East Berlin the next day was a frightening experience. We stopped at a museum that held pictures and stories of both people who had escaped and those who had failed. More than 500 East German border guards had managed to flee to imprisonment. The museum held cars with secret compartments built in them.

Because my son-in-law was in the army he had to wear his uniform. They drove through the checkpoint, but my youngest daughter, husband and I walked through Checkpoint Charlie to get into East Berlin. It took over an hour for authorities to check our passports.

Bleak, colorless buildings in East Berlin had taken on a gala appearance with flags flying because of a youth festival. Huge posters with a picture of Jane Fonda, who was appearing at the youth festival were spread throughout the streets. We saw many little children dressed in drab olive uniforms marching with their teachers. Truckloads of young people passed in the back of an army truck. The last one was full of soldiers.

A sense of oppression filled that city and no smiles greeted us. The cars were old because East Berliners couldn't drive them until they were paid for. It took seven years to pay them off.

Lunch eaten in a restaurant in a hotel was appetizing, but the smell of mothballs permeated the lobby. Frowns met my son-in-law in his army uniform. Everything in the souvenir shop was handmade and hand painted in Russia. Simple designs testified to a lack of supplies.

As our day came to an end and we started back to West Berlin that half mile between East and West Berlin seemed very long.

The last days of our visit were pleasant as we enjoyed the Volksvest, a yearly carnival sponsored by the army for West Berliners.

As we headed back toward Amsterdam we boarded the American duty train at night. Luxurious bunks and a little bathroom afforded us a chance to sleep but the tracks in East Germany were too rough. At 2:45 a.m. at Hanover, Germany we were dumped off of the duty train in the middle of nowhere. An underground hall led us to a dirty coffee shop where we had tea. Everyone there was half-asleep or all drunk. The morning darkness was interrupted as one man threw a beer can at the other and it hit the wall.

At 4:15 a.m. once again we boarded the train, only to discover that we were in the wrong car. Luggage in hand we ran to find the correct one and found ourselves in a compartment with a couple who spoke a little English. They told us their love story. The woman living in Poland and the man in Holland had corresponded for two years when they decided to get married. It took a year to get the necessary papers so she could leave Poland.

Back in Amsterdam boys with little carts sold food to the people on the train. The station was full of young people with packs on their backs with long hair, sitting on the floors.

We were glad to board the plane for the United States and home. It had been a wonderful trip, but I was glad to be home where I too often took my freedom for granted.

Restrictions on emigration ended in November of 1989 and the wall we had climbed was mainly dismantled in the next year as Germany was reunified. I was delighted to hear that the wall was gone, but it still lives in my memory and makes me value the liberty that we enjoy in America.