East Berlin

Sleep does not seem to come too easily tonight for some reason. Partly to blame is my body’s seeming inability to adjust when it finds itself exposed to a new and unfamiliar hotel room. Secondly the lateness of tonight’s meal, a carb monster of a pizza, is probably not helping. And thirdly, here call me nuts, but today’s walk probably took me, both physically and mentally hrough areas that in years past were locations where people struggled under the Communist rule of post war USSR between the years 1961 and 1989. Thousands fled the eastern sector and as many as 600 died in attempts to flee the east.
 Walking around the area today, the place has taken on a somewhat gentrified appearance with most buildings renovated and looking like very desirable 4 to 6 story apartment blocks. Bike lanes run adjacent to the sidewalks and bikers fly by in groups, their wheels almost touching. Here, unlike Munich there are few traces of the recent mass influx of refugees and save for the odd restaurant serving falafel and doner kebabs, there is little sign that this area has been infiltrated by the burka and veil.
 I’m not sure if that is related to intolerance or geography. Perhaps the answer will reveal itself in the next few days.