WC2006: The New Old Europe

ON A TRAIN TO NUREMBERG (3:44pm local time) -- I liked Berlin a lot. The mix between past, present and future is pervasive nearly everywhere. The city itself is like a giant mash-up, sort of the ascendancy of the remix culture you're always reading about in Wired. To the same effect, it's got that sort of cyberpunk, technicolor-yet-noir feel that very few cities in the world can pull off, where you've got that cross between old building and museums, a shiny, thriving commercial hub, and that youthful subculture pushing up from underground, tagging any reasonably flat surface with graffiti and imposing its fashion and attitude throughout the streets.

I'm also starting to wonder if I have some subconscious fascination with trains and train stations, though, because that's maybe where I felt most comfortable. Of course, learning the subways may simply be emblematic of "grokking" a city in the Heinleinian sense, and the Hbf in Berlin may just be impressive in its own right. If I had a therapist, they'd have a field day with this.