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up briefly to take pictures and it was an endless sea of faces in every
direction. But the tone here was quite different from that of parade
and spectacle in east Berlin. People were coming and going in steady streams
at the edges of the crowd, but there was a large central area where the people
stood still, watched and listened. The spirit was generally serious, thoughtful,
people listening attentively, clapping at some points. It was quiet
and serious the whole time as though the people appreciated the gravity
of the situation and the importance of their position as an outpost of
the free world. The speeches themselves were the usual anti communist,
"we will not surrender our freedom" variety.

As the west rally broke up (it lasted only 1 1/2 hours) we
went back to the east sector, caught the last hour of the parade
there (which lasted 5 hours!) - which was closed by 30 units of
VolksPolizei ("people's police"), 100 men in each unit. Thus it closed
on the same militaristic note on which it began.

We spent the rest of this afternoon again looking around a
couple of bookstores - and with the help of Laurie's Russian visa
I was able to buy a beautiful book on Van Gough, which I
had been refused on 5 previous tries (cost: $2.25, worth $18 in the U.S.).
I've bought several others by now, including two big works by Marx and
Engels and Lenin (30c each for 500 pages), and 4 long play classical
records (Tschaikowsky, Mozart, etc). With the exchange of east marks
being over 4 to 1 in west Berlin (this is illegal to the east Germans)
the prices are ridiculously low!

Tonight I'm staying home, partly because I'm tired and my
feet are all walked out! But also I have to prepare a short talk
for a meeting tomorrow morning in which we try to pull together
our experiences and observations here in Berlin. So I have so reading
and thinking to do. Maybe if my observations end up being organized
enough I'll write them down and send them on to you - for there
is surely much to be learned and understood about Berlin in the U.S.,
and every little knowledge helps. Tomorrow is then our last day
of sightseeing - we leave after dinner for the Burg (arriving
about 1:30 AM).

Mom - the trucking job sounds like great money - any
chance of a weekend off once a month or so?
Also Tuck would save a lot to live at home,
don't forget, even at [Jeans?]. Let me now soon
about Mrs. Craven + what works out.
Keep tax money until summer.

All my love to you all,
George