A Tale of Two Cities
So I forgot a something, and I suppose that's good, because this doesn't really belong in the London post.
Anyway, I visited London right after I visited Berlin, and I would say that if you are able to do it that way, then you should, because it's kind of cool. Maybe it also works if you've been to both places, but I thought it was really weird to compare those cities. They had so much in common--they are both humongous with lots and lots of people and many many years of culture along with complicated but still very good subway systems and lots of shopping! But they were also very different. Some of the differences you could see, like the bullet holes in everything in Berlin. A lot of things they didn't even patch up--they just fixed it enough to keep it from falling over, and spent their limited money elsewhere. Some things are even left broken to remind us of the horrors of war. There's a church in Berlin that is missing most of it's roof, because they decided to leave it that way as a kind of memorial. The memorials in the two cities obviously have 2 very different tones. They are all memorials and thus about remembering, but all of the memorials in London are proud. They are for remembering to give inspiration to future generations. They are stories about brave young men and names in stone and lists of countries who sent volunteers to help Britain when they needed it. The memorials in Berlin are very different. They are about remembering so that future generations can see what war and prejudice is like and so they can see why they should do their best to rid the world of these things. There are also stories, but not about brave young men. There are also names on plaques and in stone, but not of soldiers--of poets and great thinkers who no one understood before. But mostly, the memorials are simply places to contemplate things and ideas greater than you, because in Berlin they know that you can't be simply be warned or told of some things. You must understand them completely and believe them in your own heart to be truly effected by them. Kendall
Anyway, I visited London right after I visited Berlin, and I would say that if you are able to do it that way, then you should, because it's kind of cool. Maybe it also works if you've been to both places, but I thought it was really weird to compare those cities. They had so much in common--they are both humongous with lots and lots of people and many many years of culture along with complicated but still very good subway systems and lots of shopping! But they were also very different. Some of the differences you could see, like the bullet holes in everything in Berlin. A lot of things they didn't even patch up--they just fixed it enough to keep it from falling over, and spent their limited money elsewhere. Some things are even left broken to remind us of the horrors of war. There's a church in Berlin that is missing most of it's roof, because they decided to leave it that way as a kind of memorial. The memorials in the two cities obviously have 2 very different tones. They are all memorials and thus about remembering, but all of the memorials in London are proud. They are for remembering to give inspiration to future generations. They are stories about brave young men and names in stone and lists of countries who sent volunteers to help Britain when they needed it. The memorials in Berlin are very different. They are about remembering so that future generations can see what war and prejudice is like and so they can see why they should do their best to rid the world of these things. There are also stories, but not about brave young men. There are also names on plaques and in stone, but not of soldiers--of poets and great thinkers who no one understood before. But mostly, the memorials are simply places to contemplate things and ideas greater than you, because in Berlin they know that you can't be simply be warned or told of some things. You must understand them completely and believe them in your own heart to be truly effected by them. Kendall
posted by Kendall @ 7:18 AM
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