Celebrity Sighting????????

The other thing worth mentioning happened this morning on the U-bahn leaving our hostel.  The U-bahn, Berlin's equivalent of an elevated train, runs on what you might call the honor system.  No one checks your tickets nor do you need one to enter or exit, like in London and Paris.  We bought one way tickets once and figured we'd just play dumb Americans if anyone checked for our tickets. 

When Emily, Kirsten and I walked onto the U-bahn, I was still slightly paranoid about the ticket situation.  It was an on the spot 40 Euro fine if you were caught without a ticket.  Up until then we had been fine, and hadn't even had our EUrail tickets checked on the other S-bahn trains. 

I tried to be alert to anyone that might look like a ticket agent.  When I looked at the man standing across from me, I had to do a double take.  He wasn't very tall--I'd say about average height, short cropped hair, hadn't shaved in a few days and was dressed relatively spiffy compared to the rest of the U-bahn riders, myself included.  The best way to describe him was an Italian looking NYC detective in his 50s or 60s. 

It was after I gave him the "are you an undercover ticket checker or what?" once-over that I made eye contact.  The thoughts running through my mind were:

'Was that....Robert DeNiro?'

'No way....'

'It looks just like him...'

'Why would DeNiro be on the U-bahn in Berlin?'

'If it isn't him, then the Pope isn't Catholic!'

Given that staring at people isn't frowned upon in Europe, I kept looking at him.  Then we made eye contact again.  It was like he was daring me to point out his celebrity status.  All the while, Emily and Kirsten were totally oblivious to my eye-contact war with DeNiro.  I tried to get them to look over, using subversive side glancing eye movements and pointing, but they didn't understand what I was talking about.  We were too close to him for me to say anything without him hearing.  Then we reached the next stop and he got off with some other men in our proximity...bodyguards, perhaps?

So maybe I saw De Niro, maybe not.  If I had to, I would swear on the majority of my possessions that it was him.  The only thing that can make me certain is if he does a movie in the near future having to do with Berlin/East Germany (The Good Shepherd 2???? hahaha) OR if I can find something on the Internet regarding his whereabouts this past weekend! 

[afternote: I have been doing some research, he was in Berlin in Feb 2008 to accept some award.  no word on where he was on september 29...]