neustadt; hi white russians.
kulturhof; neustadt
altstadt schloss; the loveliest sunniest day in germany so far. 
dresden's altstadt was bombed flat by the allies on valentines day of 1945. the picture you see above these words is one of an old baroque city, but actually, these buildings were erected within the last 60 years. the altstadt (old city) is still under construction even to this day, since the ddr didn't really have enough money to rebuild the whole altstadt; in fact, most of the neustadt (new city) is physically older than the alstadt. in dresden, i stayed in a hostel by myself and actually really enjoyed the space to just wander around and think. i didn't know anyone in the city and for those two days, that suited me just fine. i read two books (including mario puzo's
the godfather-- which was royally entertaining though of no real intrinsic value past simple enjoyment. i need to see the movies now); i found a tiny little tea place on thursday night and read about 200 pages of
the godfather while drinking the most delicious tea of my life. i wandered the altstadt and thought a lot about whether i liked that it had been rebuilt. berlin, for example, is kind of a blunt city architecturally--i mean, it doesn't really strive to recapture the look or feel of prewar times. as a bit of a history fiend, i completely understand the motivation to preserve old structures that mean something as a physical document, but on the other hand, it felt sort of wrong to see buildings trying to look so old. like a facade or weak kind of replica. when i really think about it, i realize that i live in a place--the former east--where boundaries are new, fresh, and seemingly still in the process of being drawn. it's hard to know whether it's right to try to fix something that's gone, or just embrace an unknown (but hopefully brighter) future. does not rebuilding something mean you've forgotten it? i guess i'm not sure yet. what do you think?
neustadt; hi white russians.
kulturhof; neustadt
altstadt schloss; the loveliest sunniest day in germany so far. 
dresden's altstadt was bombed flat by the allies on valentines day of 1945. the picture you see above these words is one of an old baroque city, but actually, these buildings were erected within the last 60 years. the altstadt (old city) is still under construction even to this day, since the ddr didn't really have enough money to rebuild the whole altstadt; in fact, most of the neustadt (new city) is physically older than the alstadt. in dresden, i stayed in a hostel by myself and actually really enjoyed the space to just wander around and think. i didn't know anyone in the city and for those two days, that suited me just fine. i read two books (including mario puzo's the godfather-- which was royally entertaining though of no real intrinsic value past simple enjoyment. i need to see the movies now); i found a tiny little tea place on thursday night and read about 200 pages of the godfather while drinking the most delicious tea of my life. i wandered the altstadt and thought a lot about whether i liked that it had been rebuilt. berlin, for example, is kind of a blunt city architecturally--i mean, it doesn't really strive to recapture the look or feel of prewar times. as a bit of a history fiend, i completely understand the motivation to preserve old structures that mean something as a physical document, but on the other hand, it felt sort of wrong to see buildings trying to look so old. like a facade or weak kind of replica. when i really think about it, i realize that i live in a place--the former east--where boundaries are new, fresh, and seemingly still in the process of being drawn. it's hard to know whether it's right to try to fix something that's gone, or just embrace an unknown (but hopefully brighter) future. does not rebuilding something mean you've forgotten it? i guess i'm not sure yet. what do you think?
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