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Monday, July 15th – Potsdam to Berlin, 7393 km
Frau Gutler acknowledges me reluctantly as I enter the kitchen. She doesn't offer up a smile. According to the tourist office, my fee includes breakfast but she says it doesn't when I ask about it. Reluctantly, unsure if I will take the time to report her to the tourism office, she offers me coffee. Her lips tighten when I ask for milk to go with it. I go to my room to finish packing. At 9:50, she comes to the room to tell me I have to be out of her home in ten minutes. I leave without saying goodbye. I ponder whether or not to take the time to report her, but there is a lot
I would like to see in two hours before I cycle on to Berlin.
First, I check out the palaces and attractions in various parts of the town. They seem to be recent imitations of grander palaces in France and other areas. There is air of chintz and pretension about them. They are more gaudy than elegant. For the fifteen or so sites I visit, I only take six photos. I learn there is no telecard phone in Potsdam so I leave for Berlin. It is a short ride, only a few kilometres, from Potsdam to the outskirts of West Berlin. From there, using a detailed map of the city I had picked up in advance, I follow access roads and trails through parks that lead me to within four kilometres of the city centre. The route is pure delight for a cyclist, the best access way to a city centre I have ever experienced.
The centre, as far as I am able to determine, is at Kurfurdenstamm and Kantstrasse, which are streets that come close to each other but actually do not intersect. Between them there is a platz, or public square. Here the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche, a church damaged in the 1945 bombing of Berlin, has been preserved in its damaged state with its broken steeple capped as a reminder of the results of war. Piles of rubble - crumbled, broken bricks and stone - lie untouched nearby as they have for 46 years. Beside the church stands a hideous (in my eyes) tower about the
same height. It seems like of combination miniature office building, because of its tower shape and square grid of windows on all sides, and church, because of its coloured windows. I am not sure of its significance. The square is filled with young people, some of them backpackers, hanging out, chatting, juggling and whatever. They are a happy crowd. They and the flower beds give this open space a positive vibe. In spite of the ominous reminders of the Great War.
But I can't linger here long because I need to find a bed for the night. It is summertime and the hostels will be busy, especially in this most-active city. I locate the tourist office and from there call around. Sure enough, none of the hostels on my list have any free beds. The tourist offices finds me a room in the Sausenhof Hotel at 7 Motzstrasse for 43 DM, very reasonable for the centre of a large city. It looks seedy, which is usually a good sign of value, that I won't be paying for a lot of added tourist features I won't use.
Poste Restante in the main post office has two letters waiting for me: one from my business partner David in Toronto, saying he has now paid back my mother the monies he intimidated her into giving him two months ago. I think he had to borrow the money to do it but I don't really care. This at least means I don't need to end my trip here and fly home to beat him up. The other is from Leif in Oslo. He has invited me to come see him and his new boyfriend later this month.
While I was at the tourist office I asked about gay bars and dance clubs and I am told I'll have no problem. There are many all over the city, but there are also several in the neighbourhood where I will be staying. In fact, Mann-o-Meter, a City-funded AIDS prevention drop-in centre, is next door. It also functions as a coffee house, and it seems a good place to start to connect to the community in Berlin.
Mann-o-Meter is fairly quiet. I hover for a few minutes and then wander down the street to HIP, a coffee shop/bar where the patrons spill out onto the street around it. I meet three Americans from L.A. there who are part of a university chorus that is touring the Baltic States, Poland and East Germany. They have one last performance in Berlin before going home.
From there I go to Tom's Bar next door. One room is playing cartoons on TV and the next room is playing porn. Something for everyone. Most of the men are sitting alone. Beyond these rooms are a washroom and a dark basement back room. I check it out from the doorway. From what I can see, it is mostly empty.
A handsome man I had noticed earlier enters and disappears into the darkness. I follow him, not being sure exactly where he is in the darkness. Three minutes later we touch. We touch and caress for a long time. He is not desperate for sex, but is relaxed and fun instead. He leads me out of the room so we can meet properly. He invites me home. His places is a total mess but it is his own condo, a constructed condo that looks high tech. He obviously likes his sex parties. There is an open jar of lubricant, half-filled bottles of poppers and a 10" whopper of a dildo lying about the bed. We share a beer and then make love on the bed. I spend the night in his arms.
PHOTO 1: Potsdam Palace
PHOTO 2: another Potsdam Palace
PHOTO 3: along one of the many waterways in Potsdam
PHOTO 4: the rich like their "cottages" on their properties
PHOTO 5: Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtnis Church
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