East was nearer than she had supposed, but then here, more than anywhere else she’d been, east was a matter of crossing a line. At first, that line was imperceptible, Berlin remaining Berlin – the architecture hadn’t changed, nor had the sky. But it was grimier, she slowly noticed, the buildings having a patina of neglect not apparent in the west. She was reminded of a split-screen detergent commercial, a bed sheet, before and after, and soon other differences appeared. Flags and banners hanging from buildings. A mixture of cultural icons – the Velvet Underground’s banana – political
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