BERLIN -- Freedom. Here Saturday you could even taste it.
Ruth Dost savored her first Burger King Whopper and laughed as mayonnaise and ketchup oozed onto her hands. The 31-year-old East Berliner was jubilant at finally entering West Berlin, the neon city that beckoned from across the Berlin Wall but always seemed so distant.
"I would stand on my toes and look over the wall," Dost said. "What could all those bright, colorful lights mean, I would think. It's so wonderful."
Buying hamburgers was a small part of a shopping frenzy by hundreds of thousands of East Berliners. Imprisoned for 28 years in a failing economy, they walked across a once impenetrable barrier and found a wonderland of consumer goods.
The East German government made the crossing easier by punching more holes Saturday in the 28-mile wall that encircles West Berlin. As each new crossing point opened, thousands of East Berliners streamed toward the once forbidden city.
For the more adventurous, freedom came Thursday night, when news of the border opening first spread.
"My boss came in yesterday, slapped down the newspapers and said, 'Let's close up and go to West Berlin,' " said Manfred Wernicke. "Today I bring my whole family."
More than 500,000 East Germans visited the Western sector of the long-divided city Saturday, West Berlin Mayor Walter Momper said. Another 600,000 entered other parts of West Germany, according to border police.
One of the visitors was Gertraud Wehowsky, 80, who stood crying in the middle of a West Berlin street. On a storefront she saw the emblem of the hometown she fled when the Russian army advanced at the end of World War II.
After settling in Berlin as a teacher, Wehowsky watched in horror a decade later as the communists built the wall across her street.
"Never did I think I would live to see this," said Wehowsky. "Thank heaven, we now have a new future."
Most of the newcomers to West Berlin were young people. They had never seen it before or known anything other than communist rule.
Dressed in dark, outdated clothes, the East Berliners stood out, if not for their style then by the sheer look of amazement on their faces.
They pointed and stared at West Berlin's high-tech hardware. They marveled at the electronic billboards that flashed the latest news of their country's changing ways.
Along West Berlin's sprawling main drive, where cars had to give way to the pedestrian army, a crowd gathered in silence outside a music store. They stood transfixed at the sight of three dozen stacked TV screens showing the same music video; loudspeakers blared the accompanying beat.
Still absorbing the shock at suddenly being free to travel, East Berliners got down to the real business of democracy - buying things.
Armed with $55 each in West German currency - a gift from their host government - the East Berliners bought with a vengeance. Their brown-and-black clothes were soon brightened by multicolored shopping bags on their arms.
At the 18 Woolworth stores in West Berlin, the merchandise moved faster Saturday than it does in months, said downtown store manager Gerd Blos. He stood guard at the door, not letting new customers in the packed store until others left.
Inside, the consumer rush was on. T-shirts, jackets, even toiletries sold as fast as buyers could grab.
Frederich Gabrich, 17, bought his first compact disc. "Soon I will buy the machine that plays it," he said.
For those not spending money, there was plenty to enjoy in the bright autumn chill and the impromptu carnival in the streets.
With scarce room to move, couples strolled arm-in-arm down streets that are usually choked with traffic.
There was plenty of free food and drink, if it was worth standing in line up to an hour and longer.
Ambulance trucks parked all along the main roads, their drivers pouring buckets of hot apple juice into small paper cups for the thirsty crowds.
At one intersection a group of singers and guitar players led hundreds in a rendition of John Lennon's refrain, "Give Peace a Chance."
Some stood for hours at public telephones, using their coins to call friends and family in the West.
"That was my uncle in Hamburg," said Heino Mohring. "He's in the hospital and we haven't talked for many years."
Mohring said he will use his West German money to go visit his uncle.
Few East Berliners said they will move. For now they're satisfied with being able to freely visit the West.
"We have our jobs, our families. We don't want to leave if we don't have to," said factory worker Ernst Kutzbach. His son, Thomas, bought an 8-by-10 inch photo of a red Chevrolet Camaro at poster store.
"He says he will own one someday," said Kutzbach, smiling at the 10-year-old.
Many West Germans were glad to hear that their eastern cousins won't all become permanent residents.
West Germany already faces a shortfall of 1 million homes for its own citizens. In two days 1.1 million East Germans have crossed into the west, or 7 percent of their county's population of 16.6 million.
"Some of us do worry that we will be putting immigrants in our homes," said a West Berliner who asked not to be identified.
And not all East Berliners were totally impressed with what they found across the wall.
Watching dozens of her countrymen lined up to see a sexually explicit movie, Eva Beeskow was appalled. East Germany doesn't allow such films, she said.
"Perhaps this is too much freedom," said Beeskow, her husband nodding in agreement. "Perhaps we'll teach each other some lessons."
But gaining political power - such as becoming the first woman president - requires at least the pretense of something that has so far eluded her: SUBSTANCE. 
