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09/14/2018
Smitty
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Smitty
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42
East meets west.
It was fall 1989.
The embassy in Warsaw could not be found, the normal address was not valid, there were the GDR citizens who were fed up with the best system in the world. I also, well, it was praised by the media and government, but the reality looked different and woe betide if someone else meant it.
In the late 80's, the best system in the world in Poland was so bad that I just wanted to go to the West, at least for a year, where there was everything, where people were doing so well and everything was so colourful. I wanted to go to West Berlin as an au pair, was incredibly motivated to learn and work there.
It was a miracle, but I found the new embassy and got the visa, don't ask how, that would make a little novella or a thriller;
At the end of October I came to West Berlin, I had to travel 7 hours by train, remember the human voices from huge demos I took from the waiting train.
On 9.11 when I went to the German course as always, I saw many Poles standing in front of the bank, wrong, it already turned out during the course, it was the GDR citizens...Się got welcome money and were just allowed to go to West Berlin. Miracles!
I lived not far from Ku_Damm, at that time it was THE street, for me a girl from the east, a paradise, a big beautiful piece of the world, to stroll, to admire, to meet with new friends at the Berlin Klops at the Europa Uhr or in the cinema "Wenn Harry Sally traf" to see...
Somewhere there, I don't remember in which department store, maybe Wertheim, rather not in Woollworth, there were not so nice smells, I found a nice bottle in a shelf at the back, blue, with golden decorations.
I was so young, I only knew fragrances from small funny newspaper kiosks, so it was with us in Eastern Europe, no Western expensive, at the most from Bourjois Flamme, Evasion or Coty Masumi, or Smitty.
Here in West Berlin started my big perfume and not only adventure.
But I still remember Byzance and the moment I got to know the fragrance very well. It did not smell as heavy and serious as the others e.g. Samsara or Coco, where I did not know where to go with my inexperienced nose. Byzance was different, sweeter, smoother, quieter and more fruity, yet mysterious, sweet and sooo soft, as dark blue as the beautiful bottle. I was also attracted by a special note, today I would guess jasmine and tuberoze with heliotrope and sandalwood, a golden, slightly dry note. All in fine warm creamy not to overcharged alldehydes getuenkt.
Today I own the treasure I didn't even dream of at that time, that I could afford such a luxury, I saved the 200 DM, which I got monthly, like crazy, to send money to my mom in Poland, so that się can finally afford a washing machine. Such a scent lay only in my dreams, was unattainable.
The GDR no longer exists, Berlin has changed, Ku Damm is no longer THE street, Poland has many beautiful perfumeries,..., only my love for Byzannce has remained the same :)
And ideologies?............I always don't like them.
The embassy in Warsaw could not be found, the normal address was not valid, there were the GDR citizens who were fed up with the best system in the world. I also, well, it was praised by the media and government, but the reality looked different and woe betide if someone else meant it.
In the late 80's, the best system in the world in Poland was so bad that I just wanted to go to the West, at least for a year, where there was everything, where people were doing so well and everything was so colourful. I wanted to go to West Berlin as an au pair, was incredibly motivated to learn and work there.
It was a miracle, but I found the new embassy and got the visa, don't ask how, that would make a little novella or a thriller;
At the end of October I came to West Berlin, I had to travel 7 hours by train, remember the human voices from huge demos I took from the waiting train.
On 9.11 when I went to the German course as always, I saw many Poles standing in front of the bank, wrong, it already turned out during the course, it was the GDR citizens...Się got welcome money and were just allowed to go to West Berlin. Miracles!
I lived not far from Ku_Damm, at that time it was THE street, for me a girl from the east, a paradise, a big beautiful piece of the world, to stroll, to admire, to meet with new friends at the Berlin Klops at the Europa Uhr or in the cinema "Wenn Harry Sally traf" to see...
Somewhere there, I don't remember in which department store, maybe Wertheim, rather not in Woollworth, there were not so nice smells, I found a nice bottle in a shelf at the back, blue, with golden decorations.
I was so young, I only knew fragrances from small funny newspaper kiosks, so it was with us in Eastern Europe, no Western expensive, at the most from Bourjois Flamme, Evasion or Coty Masumi, or Smitty.
Here in West Berlin started my big perfume and not only adventure.
But I still remember Byzance and the moment I got to know the fragrance very well. It did not smell as heavy and serious as the others e.g. Samsara or Coco, where I did not know where to go with my inexperienced nose. Byzance was different, sweeter, smoother, quieter and more fruity, yet mysterious, sweet and sooo soft, as dark blue as the beautiful bottle. I was also attracted by a special note, today I would guess jasmine and tuberoze with heliotrope and sandalwood, a golden, slightly dry note. All in fine warm creamy not to overcharged alldehydes getuenkt.
Today I own the treasure I didn't even dream of at that time, that I could afford such a luxury, I saved the 200 DM, which I got monthly, like crazy, to send money to my mom in Poland, so that się can finally afford a washing machine. Such a scent lay only in my dreams, was unattainable.
The GDR no longer exists, Berlin has changed, Ku Damm is no longer THE street, Poland has many beautiful perfumeries,..., only my love for Byzannce has remained the same :)
And ideologies?............I always don't like them.
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