The main focus of this border was to stop anyone from defecting into the West. Attempting to leave the GDR illegally was a very dangerous undertaking. You might end up in prison for many years...or dead. At the Marienborn checkpoint alone, about ten people lost their lives trying to cross to the West.

There’s something so evocative to me about pictures of food and the power they have to vividly remind me of mouth-watering meals and moments that I’ve had on my travels.  I can look at my culinary photos and remember exactly where I was, the scent of the dish just placed in front of me, and the way the flavors open up on my pallet. 

Oh, the smell: Fresh. Inviting. Tasty. Do you remember how it feels when the smell of fresh bread is filling the whole room, coming from the kitchen table? This mouthwatering experience is a sensation that you can have at home almost every morning. You take a fresh roll and your knife. And then comes the sound: The crackle, the splintering—when the sharp steel slices through the crust and cuts the roll in half.

The end of summer vacation in Italia was here. Finito—the endless days of sun and laughter of young and old. Over are the unorganized days spent together with family and friends. It was time to go  home. Back home again, back north, to the other side of the Alps.