Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 12, 1990 ‘Bi

Terrace resident Trevor Reynolds not only witnessed history but also participated in it. He's J.
shown here working on the Berlin Wall in November of last year with a makeshift tool, prying out

a chunk of the concrete to take home.

When the wall came down...

When the Berlin Wall was torn
down just over a year ago, one
resident of Terrace was there to
witness the historic destruction of
that notorious physical and politi-
cal barricade — Trevor Reynolds,
now 21 and an employee at the
Terrace Safeway outlet, Reynolds
was on a year-long. tour and

recorded his impressions of one.

day in the last week of November
1989 in West Berlin... at the wall.
A beautiful Tuesday morning,
Nov. 28, 1989; I hopped on my
first of five trairis to begin my
two-day journey up to the place
history was being made. Swit-
ching trains in Strasbourg, Of-
fenburg, and Hannover, I was
‘finally here’’... the one city
that had been receiving the most
news coverage in the world for
the last three weeks: Berlin.
Upon arriving at the Zoologis-
cher Garten (‘the zoo’ station) I
consulted tourist information on
accommodation, etc. After rid-
ing the U-bahn (underground)
for about 15 minutes, I found
the youth hostel station. The
hostel had a bed for me, which

relieved me, for 1 expected every.

other traveller in Europe to be in
Berlin. .

The following morning, the
cafeteria must have had 200 peo-
‘ple in it. It still baffles me to
think how I chose to sit across
from one particular Canadian
traveller. Once I had told him I
was from Terrace, B.C., he ex-
plained to me he had met three
other travellers from Terrace
almost six weeks before down in

Portugal. Almost immediately, I:
realized who he was talking.
about; he had shared an apart-

ment with my sister Tracy and
her friends Sean and Selena. |
thought that was a funny way to
start off my visit to Berlin!

I spend most of the rest of my
first day in Berlin, walking
around the streets of East

‘Berlin. A friend and I decided to

go through the routine pro-
cedures of ‘‘Checkpoint Charlie’
and get a taste of what the East
was like. One of the regular
steps in crossing the border was
the mandatory exchange of 25
DM ($15 CDN.), one-for-one to
east marks. (!n a matter of
weeks after, this rule was

_ abolished).

The two Berlins turned out to
be as different from each other
as night and day.

One of the first differences we
noticed were the cars being
driven around the city. Almost
the only car available to the East
Germans (previous to the wall
opening) was the Trabant, a
two-stroke, plastic-bodied toy-
like car about the size of a Hon-
da Civic.

The basic architecture in the
city didn’t differ too greatly,
other than the lack of modern
designs. One thing that was ap-

parent, though, was the lack of ©

advertisements and the poor
selection of food stuffs in the
stores.

Another fact of everyday life
that I noticed was long line-ups
at stores and the lack of in-
itiative to sell goods to the pay-
ing customers.

Before returning to the West,
visitors have to spend all of the
25 OST marks, taking no East-
ern currency back to the West.

Back in West Berlin, to end
the day, a group of us from the
hostel went to the Irish pub
downtown. One look at all those
English-speaking people cramm-
ed into the pub, and it was far
from obvious that I was actually
in Berlin, in the middle of East
Germany! —

The following few days I
spent mostly walking up and
down, along side ‘the wall’. The
West side of the wall of course
was a beehive of activity and ex-

’ citement. On the East side, the

zone of land called ‘no-mans
land? still remained silent, white
and untouched.

When walking anywhere near
the wall, you could hear the un-
mistakable sounds of hammers

and chisels working away at the -

28-year-old cement structure.

There was no way I was going
to travel all the way up to Berlin
without getting a piece for my-
self, so of course, I spent a fair
enough time prying away at the
holes, too.

Past the Brandenburger Tor,
beside the Reichstagsgebaude
(parliament building) there are
a number of memorial crosses
hanging on a fence, all deco-
rated with wreaths and flowers.

_It seemed so ironic that all these

people were chiseling away at |
the wall so carefree, when less
than 10 months before in the
same spot, a young boy was shot §
dead trying to cross over to the §
West. These crosses reminded us
all how needless those deaths §
were... If only they could have |
predicted the changes that were |

— Mistletoe Buffet Luncheon —
_ ~ Friday, December 21 -

now taking place. Mistletoe Buffet Luncheon
In the evenings, I would either § ' _ IW:

walk around downtown, trying J 11:30 a.m, - 2:00 p.m. .

to get a feel of things, or walk Skeena Ballroom

along the wall, taking in as much [| $9.95

history as I could while I was §
there. _ ‘
Downtown, things ‘were in-
credible; the amount of activity &
was just unbelievable! The main [
square for shopping was packed [
‘wall to wall’ with people, the §
majority being Easterners, ex- jf
periencing Western Christmas
shopping for the first time.
West Berlin has some pretty
imipressive looking lights in the §
downtown core; something |
which I’m sure is unequalled in
any: other Western European
city. The whole atmosphere had
a magical feeling to it. Everyone 9

seemed so happy to be there!

Bring the office staff to the Terrace Inn for a
Christmas Celebration. A fabulous Buffet Lunch
will be served in the Skeena Ballroom in the spirit
of Christmas. Round tables of 8 will be set up for
your group. |

Reserve one or more tables by calling us at 635-
6630.

Menu

Tossed Green Salad - Perfection Salad
‘Potato Salad - Beet Salad - Pasta Salad

Pickled Beets, Sueet & Sour Pickles
Dill Pickles, Olives, Com Relish

At the wall at night, a few | Selection of Cold Cuts and European Sausages

local kids would continue to }

chip away at the wall. Holes in ff Cheese & Veg etable Tray
the wall were becoming greater Steamed Vegetables

in number and size each day. At

night, the young East German § . Roasted Potato
border guards walking te pas Roasted Tom Turkey with Farmers Dressing
side would stop and look § os
through the larger holes. They and all the ‘Trimmings
were anxious to know about | Baked Virginia Style Ham
things in the West, as I was ;

about the East. Few guards Pasta in Cream Sauce
spoke any English, and I spoke Fruit Platter

no more than three words of § .

German, so, needless to say, Chef's Dessert

conversation was usually limited }

to hello” and ‘‘good evening’’. Christmas Baking

One night at the Brandenburg
Gate, the police permitted a |
vehicle to drive up to the wall,
which was usually fenced off to
all public vehicles 24 hours. a
day. The owner of the car set up
a generator to power his big Ef
stereo system, which he played

4551 Greig Avenue,
Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7
For Reservations,

loud and clear for the crowd to Siig Call (604) 635-6630 or
enjoy. The first song he played

that night was by Phil Collins: Toll Free 1-800-663-8156
‘Inthe Air Tonight’, There was

most definitely magic in the air 0m
that night!

Fax (604) 635-2788