Oddities

Stasi HQ

So we’re driving home from a visit to Pittsburgh last weekend, traveling along the Pennsylvania Turnpike (“impeding traffic since 1955″), when we see a minivan up ahead in our lane. It’s unremarkable save for one aspect: the license plate read “STASI HQ” on it. It was an Ohio plate, although those colors are similar to the diplomatic plates issued in D.C., which was what I thought it was at first sight.

I tried to speed up to get a picture with my digital camera, but perhaps the driver was a former intelligence agent, because he/she immediately pulled away from us and we couldn’t catch up before turning off onto I-70. But who would want to refer to a notorious East German spy organization on his or her license plate? I wish I knew, because then I could inform that person of the availability of the former Stasi headquarters building in Berlin (asking price: 1 euro). Sounds like just the thing for the Stasi fan.