When the wall came down and I visited Germany I drove from West to East Germany on the Autobahn. There was no need to know when you actually crossed from west to east, your car suspension would let you know. The autobahn on the east side was in such poor condition that you just had to slow down or you ended up in the ditch.
I visited the city of my birth Magdeburg. Parked the car in the main town square in that I thought was a safe location. It was a VW Beatle. When I came back the car was damaged someone keyed the car all around. The police were of no help other than filling out a report.
On my way back to the west sector there was a complete stop on the autobahn. People would actually get out from there cars and start conversations. It was a hot day so I stayed in my car with the air conditioning on. It did not take long that people started to stare at me and I was wondering why. When I decided to get out to see what was wrong it became clear why the did stare at me, my car was the only one with the motor running, everyone else shut there engine off. So I quickly did as well LOL. The complete standstill on the autobahn lasted for about 20 minutes at that time. Apparently, that was normal at the time.
My American Express Card covered the damage on the car.
They are some of the early memories returning home.
