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From: iles@hplabs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: Crossing the Iron Curtain
Message-ID: <93900002@hplabs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Jan-85 17:55:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabs.93900002
Posted: Mon Jan 14 17:55:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Jan-85 07:10:29 EST
References: <1473@ihuxl.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:ihuxl:-147300:hplabs:93900002:000:908
Nf-From: hplabs!iles    Jan 10 14:55:00 1985

I'm new enough on the net that I don't know what path to use to get a mail
message to you, so I'll post my response.  I drove to West Berlin two years
ago with a couple of Germans.  I'd called the American Embassy in Bonn
first to ask about visas, and they said I didn't need one.  It was a different
story at the border.  They made a big deal about me not having a visa for
WEST Germany, and I had to get out of the car, wait in line, and pay 5 DM
(about $2 at the time) for a visa.  On the way back, just before crossing
back into West Germany, I had to repeat the process.  Lesson from all of this:
don't panic if they stop and hassle you about a visa and don't rely exclusively
on what the American Embassy tells you.  To go into East Berlin (without the
car) from West Berlin, you need to wait in a line, pay for a visa, and 
exchange money at their rip-off exchange rate.
	Michelle (venus@hplabs!iles)