Castles on the hills

Testing out the playgrounds of Germany!

Time in Darmstadt was lovely, although it was principally due to the fact that I got to hang out with my philosopherfriend (clumping it, the German way!).

Christof showed me the few "attractions" of this area where he grew up, "bowel-city", as it apparently translates.  These included: a funky building called the Waldspirale, some old churches, a bunch of phallic towers, a huge garden, and remnants of what used to be the city's walls.  Darmstadt did remind me of Quebec city in some way.

Der Vater und die Mutter
Darmstadt

Having my friend around was a perfect way to start my journey, for I could ask him all kinds of questions about the language and the culture.
He also brought me to visit two different castles around the area.

During our drive to the "Burg Frankenstein", I asked: "Would you say that, in general, Europeans have a better historical consciousness, given that these landmarks from the Middle Ages are still right in their face?"

Heidelberg Schloss

"Maybe," he answered, "although people are often quite oblivious about the history of other cultures, for instance the fact that we owe the Renaissance to the Arabic world, or that China has millennia of history we know absolutely nothing about."  And he added, "Europeans can see that the USA is an empire though, because they've been there before.  It's harder to see for Americans, who are in the heart of it."

Omnibus für Direkte Demokratie in Deutschland

Christof and I had a lot of conversations about political philosophy (and phenomenology, and spiritual emergencies, etc.)
"I've come to see the power structures so clearly," he told me with a tone of despair, "and we can deconstruct all that which we observe now, but what's left?  What's needed is an integral approach to politics..."


And we'd come to a dead end, because it seems so impossible to reverse the stream of history.  Abuse, greed, corruption, hypocrisy... how could we ever bring about justice and "sustainability" to the world?

"I guess it'll take a common other for the human species to come together and shift our behavior." I said.  And we fell silent.


As we hiked up the hill to the ruins I shared this romantic idea with my friend: Imagine what it'd be like if the monarch - a queen, preferably - had her castle built at the bottom of the valley instead of up the hill.  I know it's a far-fetched thought, but hey, let me have my fantasy here!  Her settling at the epicenter of her queendom could signify an invitation, rather than a threat: "Come to me, people.  I am open to hear your concerns."  Of course, she would be vulnerable in such a position, but that's where her strength would come from.  Personally, I'd have a lot of respect for a ruler who would choose to be vulnerable...

Anyway.


Those are my Darmstadt stories... Although of course, I'm sparing you all the musings on consciousness and reality and free will versus destiny...

Heidelberg

Heidelberg

Yesterday I took a rideshare in direction of Berlin.  I spent over six hours in a car with three foreign students... from Cameroon!  Martin, Charibert, and Leticia all studied in Darmstadt.  They spoke fluent German but told me Germany was a difficult place to be for them.  "Germans are not so... friendly," Martin explained.  "You know, sometimes I meet another African person and we just start to chat and we laugh and it feels like we've known each other forever.. like we're cousins or something.  And a German guy comes to me after and asks me if I knew the other guy before, and I say 'no, that was our first encounter!', you know?  That's what I'm talking about.  They're so busy working."
"Have you been to Africa yet?" asked Charibert.
"No. Not yet." I said.
"You should.  You'll see that it's not just misery in Africa... it's a good life, good people... you don't know stress when you live there."

Waldspirale
Darmstadt

I've been in Europe for less than a week... but I could easily get used to this.  And especially since I've arrived in Berlin now, I meet people everyday, who speak German and English and French, Spanish...

But more about Berlin in the next log.  I have to go to sleep now.  I'm going to visit a potential sublet tomorrow morning!