Wednesday, April 29, 2009

A while back we had the opportunity to drive to Berlin. That is where we had one of our traveling misadventures - the one where our computer miraculously stayed working without any power until it got us safely back to our computer. Anyway, while we were there we stood in a very long line on a very cold night to go inside the new Reichstad to go inside the dome. They rebuilt the Reichstad after WWII, but since it was on the East Berlin side, the government was not allowed to meet in it until after the reunification of Germany. The old Reichstad had a traditional dome on it, but when it was rebuilt they put this very modern glass dome in its place. When we finally entered we started climbing up and up this ramp which wrapped around the inside of the dome. It was just as cold inside as outside because the dome was not solid, but instead had open areas to the weather outside. I wonder if they did this because they felt visitors needed fresh air - it is a strong European value - or for some other aesthetic or practical reason. I do know we could have used less fresh air ourselves on this bitterly cold night. The spiraling walkway wraps around this mirrored central column. It is really a double helix with one walkway spiraling upward and the other spiraling downwards. The views are magnificent but not for those who are afraid of heights. You very much feel you are walking on the heights with very little to protect you from a dizzying fall. As you spiral upwards you can look down on their parliamentary meeting room. I wonder if visitors wandering around overhead ever gets distracting to the lawmakers. The Europeans love contemporary style and it is just about all that can be found in home decor here in the Netherlands. We, Americans, come to Europe to enjoy the old, the magnificent, the grand. Europeans live with it and I wonder if they appreciate it as much as we do. It is human nature to take for granted whatever is commonplace. I say this because they also seem to enjoy juxtaposing the very modern with the centuries old buildings. The Louvre is another example of this with the main body of the building being a palace which housed the government and personal apartments of Napoleon Bonaparte the III, but the modern entrance is through a glass pyramid inserted in its courtyard in the 1980's Napoleon the III is nephew to the famous Bonaparte. The imperial apartments are still in a wing of the Louvre and you can tour them. Pretty fancy digs. I can't say I enjoy the unified styles. It jars the eye and interferes with the fluidity and, I think, majesty of these grand old buildings. To me it adds nothing and detracts much. I have to confess there is a little girl inside me that loves the idea of castles and palaces. I am one of those who loves the old, the magnificent, the grand. This phenomenon makes me think of America around the 1950's and 60's when the Victorian houses in the cities were considered old, out of date and passe. Many of them were torn down; others were turned into apartments. Only in the last decade or two have we rediscovered their beauty and elegance and many are working hard and investing much money to restore them to their former glory. My theory is that there is a window in the life of an object, almost any object, where it is old enough to be undesirable, old-fashioned, out of date. If it can survive this time, then it gets old enough to be seen with fresh eyes and appreciated for what it is. Then it becomes an antique and is valuable again! I wonder if one day, the Europeans will do the same for some of the modern additions they have added to their beautiful old buildings. I think this is why Americans flock to European cities - all the grand old architecture with the romance of another age. We don't have old. We have new and improved, just ask our advertisers. Maybe that is why I don't like the modern buildings in Europe. They are passe to me and boring. In America we have cities full of them. I also wonder if Europeans would enjoy our cities full of shiny modern buildings and find them beautiful and exotic and grand in their own way?