Chapter Two

Before we left for Berlin, Dad cautioned me about a nightclub called "Race's" (Sp.) and of course, I told him that we weren't going on that kind of trip. Our Chaplin, Father Hinckley flew into Templehof and met us at our hotel. The following day, we went to the conference and that afternoon, Father Hinckley informed us that he's going to take us out on the town to this neat nightclub called Race's! Well! What could we say? So we polished ourselves up and went out. Race's was a huge dance hall with the orchestra at one end and water fountains keeping in time with the music. Booths were scattered all around the hall and on tiers so you could look up or down to see other patrons. We were on the first level. In all the booths were telephones and ours rang constantly from other patrons asking us to dance. I did dance with a turbaned fellow and others from all over. It was like the United Nations. Our most popular girl was one who was about 8 months pregnant! I guess she had a glow about her and everyone wanted to share in it. The waiter kept filling our glasses up and when we saw the bill, we realized we were drinking champagne instead of wine. Fr. Hinckley had to bail us out. We finally left there dog-tired and half looped. One of the girls fell up the steps to the hotel and we helped her up laughing all the way.

The following day, we took a bus trip to East Berlin. As soon as we got to Checkpoint Charlie, a Russian interpreter/guide got on. Right off, he told us that we couldn't take pictures or he would confiscate our cameras. We were not to speak to any natives or give them any cigarettes. Of course, someone on the bus took pictures anyway and somehow got away with it. There were a lot of pock-marked buildings and hardly anyone on the streets. We were only taken to a park where there was a statue of Mother Russia. I'm sure we saw other sights but they were in controlled areas. We saw a lot of soldiers, jeeps, etc. When we finally got back to the check point, Russian soldiers went over the bottom of the bus with mirrors to make sure no unhappy citizens joined us. Needless to say, we were relieved and happy to get back to the West.