Author: Dackel Princess

After we settled in our Flat in Berlin, The days were often the same. Jack went off to fly Charter Flights, and I went off to explore. It was such an exciting time, and living in the heart of Berlin was the place to be back in the summer of 1989.

I went out to Steinstücken and peered through the wire fence at the manned East German Tower. I remember staring at the guard, who stared right back at me!

Jack looked into taking a trip through Check Point Charlie and into Alexander Platz, East Berlin. We found out that we could ride on a Military Bus, as they went I believe it was, twice a week, in order to maintain equal access to the Eastern part of Berlin.

We were told to change our Deutch Marks on the West side of the Wall, into East Marks in order to get the best exchange rate. So, we did this.

I remember being terrified of going through the Wall. Because we were on the Army Bus, when we crossed the Check Point, all we had to do was hold up our Passports showing that we were Americans. No one boarded the bus, and no one stamped our passports. It was very strange indeed!

The first few times, Jack was with me, and we did things like walk through the department store in the center of Alexander Platz, go into a music store where they sold wonderful cassette tapes of classical music, and walked about two blocks from the center to a little restaurant that served a good meal and really cheap but good beer! We also found a Toy Shop and liked to visit that store a great deal. The saleswoman always had something she had saved for Jack. I can still see her bright smile when she saw him enter the store!

Maribeth at Alexander Platz 1989

I enjoyed shopping in East Berlin. I bought a few china pieces, some glasses, but my most prized possession was two beautiful cotton comforters. I have used them every day since 1989 and they are currently in tatters. I really need to retire them, but they are just right, weight wise, and warmth wise.

I made eleven trips into East Berlin during this time. I went over to see how the East Berliners lived, and to soak it all up. I would sit in this small cafe, having lunch and a cold beer and just watch. Children would be playing, people would be talking, and surprisingly the roads were pretty quiet.

When the Wall finally did come down later that year, we flew back. We went down to the center of Berlin, near the Brandenberg Gate and stood on top of the Wall!

We also walked along the Wall with our friends and saw this opening. Staring back was a young, and somewhat surprised, East German Guard. We all smiled at each other!

There is more to write about that summer. We had our daughters over for a month and it was quite an experience for them. I want to scan in some of their pictures so you can see how they did during the month they were there, living as Germans do. At least food wise.

But that is for another post!

When we arrived in Berlin back in 1989, the Company put us up at the Intercontinental Hotel. It was okay, but the room was a bit small, and the fridge in the room would tick off if anything was removed from the fridge. Now we would take out their expensive beer and put in our own beer, so we could have the brands we enjoyed.

The Hotel was nice, but since we knew we were going to be there all summer, we started looking for a temporary leave Flat to rent.

The first one we found was on the KuDam. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with the KuDam, it is the Street that never sleeps! Sort of like New York City. The only problem was that nothing is sound-proofed and after a week of not sleeping I was one grouchy girl.

I should note. Jack can sleep anywhere, so he wasn’t bothered as much. He mentioned this to a friend, who was going Stateside for a couple of weeks and offered us his apartment. We immediately moved out to it in the Zehlendorf section of West Berlin. It was beautiful and quiet, and I loved it there, even if it was pretty far out of the city.

We stayed there, enjoying a local Greek restaurant and Jack would go out running in the morning and bring back fresh rolls and pastries.

But our time there was limited, so we moved to another Flat, that we sublet from another Pilot who was on a vacation, and would be gone for a while.

Thus we moved into One Lietzenburger Strasse. Our apartment was on the eleventh floor of the apartment building, with beautiful views of the city. Best of all, it was quiet!

There is one thing I will never forget about this apartment and that was the decor. On a prominent shelf in the living room was a picture of a beautiful woman. She had obviously wanted to look good in the picture, and her hair and makeup were immaculate. The frame was perfect and sitting right in front of this special picture was a box holding a tube of Preparation-H! Turns out the Pilot we were subletting from had a rather acrimonious divorce from this beautiful woman, and putting a tube of hemorrhoid ointment in front of her picture was his way of making a point, on a daily basis! I laughed each time I looked at it and admired his rather droll sense of humor!

We settled into daily life in West Berlin. Jack would go off flying several mornings a week, doing Charter Flights with vacationers, and I would trek all over Berlin, getting cases of Beer, Groceries, trying new restaurants and different foods, before going back to our Flat and cooking something for dinner.

On Jack’s days off, we would often go for walks to various places around the city, stopping for beer along the way. If you have never had German Beer on Tap, then you have really missed something special in life. I had never been much of a beer drinker before, but my goodness, German Beer is simply magnificent!

I walked everywhere and had a medium size wicker basket that I carried my groceries in. On the days I went to the Beer Store, I used my suitcase wheelies to bring back the Beer, water, and juices.

I also went to museums, Zoo’s and Parks and walked and walked, all in an attempt to keep from gaining too much weight from everything I was eating and drinking. No such luck! That was the summer I gained 25 pounds! Quite happily so!

You might also notice that I dressed every day. That summer I wore skirts every day. No slacks. I was trying to enjoy myself, and I felt so pretty in dresses and skirts. I must also confess that my skirts had elastic waists and expanded while I was there! Ha!

All of this happening in just the first few weeks we were living there. What an adventure I had started, and there was so much more to come!

In 1989 Jack came home one day and said he’s been offered a temporary assignment with Pan Am in West Berlin, Germany. Since I A) loved Germany and B) I was always up for an adventure, I told him to grab it!

At the time Jack was the #1 First Officer on the A-300 Airbus. So when he bid for any line, he got it. Thus in May of 1989, our adventure began.

First, getting the plane to Berlin was a bit tricky. It could not be flown with passengers because it did not have the ability to fly from New York, JFK Airport to Berlin, Tegal Airport with a full fuel load and passengers. So, the crew was to ferry the plane over. Seeing as I was married to one of the crew, I was authorized to fly along.

Meals were loaded in the galley for us, and the Flight Engineer gave me a crash course on how to make coffee, cook the meals, etc. It was pretty exciting stuff for a 30-year-old, who really had not done a lot of traveling by the seat of her pants before!

Taking off out of JFK was so exciting. I was strapped into the cockpit pass riders seat, sat straight-forward and for the first time in my life, experienced what a pilot goes through at take-off! The plane went speeding down the runway and then I felt the front wheels leave the ground and then we were flying! I mean, it is so different to be in the cockpit and feel and see the changes. I was in awe!

(Please note here, since that flight, when I dream of flying it is always from this vantage point. And oddly enough, I’m not in a plane!)

We had daylight for a bit, and I was thrilled at what I saw down below. Once again, the perception is different in the cockpit, as you see everything head-on, not to the side of the plane.

Flight Engineer, Ray and I made the dinner meals and served them up. Do you know they all eat different meals? A built-in safety so that the entire crew doesn’t get food poisoning.

After dark, I went back and tried to sleep a little, but you know, I have never slept well on airplanes no matter how tired I am.

Eventually, I stumbled back into the cockpit and just watched the nighttime sky. St. Elmo’s Fire danced across the wind screen, the Northern Lights, over Iceland, and eventually, the sunrise over Shannon, Ireland. All so beautiful, and all I would have missed if I had slept.

In the morning we were flying over Europe, and then over the very beautiful and neat fields of Germany. That flight was the start of the adventure and I still can see so much of the beautiful countryside in my mind.

Before I knew it, we were setting up to land at Berlin, Tegel Airport. As strange as it was to take off, the landing was an experience! We were lined up on the runway, and we floated down, down, and I thought okay the wheels should touch…but it was a moment or two more before the back wheels touched and then the front!

This is the plane we flew over from New York, JFK Airport!

After landing, we taxied to the gate, and a ground agent popped on board, and saw Jack and smiled and greeted him by name. Jack had flown in the IGS (Internal German Service) for Pan Am for 11 years, so this was all familiar to him.

It was all new to me, and I was a wide-eyed youngster back then, but by the end of the summer I was taking the S-Bahn and U-Bahn and buses all around town and I think that was the summer, I learned how to do everything all on my own.

I would find a destination in West Berlin, and then figure out how to get there. It was a summer of fun, adventure, good German Beer and did I mention the wursts, cheese, bread, and pastries? Oh my goodness! It was marvelous all of it!

Me and Jack