Another day, another country. Home in Amsterdam...

Hey cats, it’s me again, reporting from this side of the Atlantic.  MY side.

Germany was cool, I suppose I never thought of it as a country I would really love, but I have made many mental notes to get back there and see more sights, check out the night life.   The amazing thing is that most German cities were literally bombed flat during the war, so depending on what city you’re in you can see some seriously ugly pre-fab proletarian housing mixed in with bits and fragments of ancient walls formerly belonging to churches, parliament buildings etc.  It’s an odd mix of ugly utilitarian “modernism” and ancient medieval to renaissance architecture.  Some old churches are left standing with obvious soot and bomb damage, which makes them even more interesting. 

In Berlin, the affect of The Wall is astounding.  For more than 28 years, the wall separated the city rather suddenly into two parts.  The wall spared nothing – slashing straight through streets, the S-Bahn, even cemeteries.  After it came crashing down on that fateful night in 1989, the Germans did a clever thing to preserve the memory – a small path (three bricks wide) is embedded in the road, parks, etc. to mark the exact location of the walls.   It’s crazy to see it snaking through the center of the city in the most bizarre, zigzagging way.  I think we crossed it at least five times, passing Check Point Charleie, on the way to our meeting.   

Everywhere in Berlin you can see construction cranes – they pepper the horizon.  Rebuilding, rebuilding, rebuilding in the works.  A whole flattened city rising again. 

But my favorite German city so far is Cologne (Köln, Keulen…).  The Dom there is immense!   

Can we just exclaim over the sheer size of that Dom?  Sheesh.   History feels like it’s literally pressing down on you with all its weight.

(By the way, the other guy in the picture is a colleague of mine.  He’s Ecuadorian and from royal lineage – a direct descendant of the royal Atahualpa, the Quito Inca.  I just learned that about him.  There are books written about his family and parental lineage. )

I went for a long run in Cologne along the Rhine River.  The sun was setting and there was a perfect path all along the shore banks leading for miles in both directions.  The water was sparkling and I could see the two tours of the Dom off to my right.  Boats were transporting their wares, be it bananas or scrap metal, all up and down the river, and lots of people were recreating along the shore.  Couples were dreamily making out by the water and I wondered how many were discussing marriage at that moment.   Elderly couples had dragged chairs and tables down and were picnicking with their tiny lap dogs at their feet.   Earnest looking German punk rocks kids were discussing things I could only barely understand as I ran past them.

Isn’t running one of the greatest forms of tourism?

Comments

[Alexandra]

Duitsland is inderdaad mega-interessant! En Berlijn ademt geschiedenis uit al zijn poriën. Ik sta te popelen om nog eens naar Berlijn te gaan, met Ilja of met u, maar het allerliefste met ons gevieren (met uw geliefde erbij dus)! Het leukste is Berlijn in de lente of in de zomer (veeeel warmer dan België), maar ik denk niet dat ik nog zo lang zal kunnen wachten! Zo fantastisch is die stad. De rest van Duitsland, hm, you'll have to tell me... :-)

Tot gauw!
Alex

[Maroona]

Way to show off Alexandra!
=oP

[Gwen]

Your a globe-trotter you are! We miss you here in NYC but reading your posts also gets to make me feel like a globe-totter viacariously so trot on!!!!

[Isabel]

I love the Koln Dome. I remember when I walked out of the train station and there. it. was. It is so amazing. Pictures can not do it justice.