After meeting up with Sarah, my long-time Berliner friend, we wander through a lush park along the Spree River. I tell her I wish we had a people zone like this in my city. This will soon be a construction zone. In 1996, I explored the trendy arty cafe zone around Oranienburger Strasse in eastern Berlin. Prostitution is legal in Berlin, but there's a big debate about taxation.
Older easterners are the lost generation.
Perhaps these are the people who keep the Wall in their mind. They are the so-called ostalgic ones. But some easterners argue that this 'peoples' palace' of the Communists should be saved. Stalled at an intersection along Unter den Linden, I find the only bit of the old East that Sarah seems to like. As they burn out, they are replaced by the boring western green men.