December 11, 2003
Howard rides the SUSE plushy in their lobby. Photo courtesy of Nat Friedman. Yes, THAT Nat.
Yesterday evening we walked down to the Nürnberg Christkindlemarkt, which an American (like myself) would call the kitschy Christmas capitol of the world. It was very Christmassy, and very crowded. It was also very commercial, but in an old-school kind of truck-farm way. I liked it so much I went back this afternoon so I could see what it's like with sunlight.
The answer: Still crowded, less christmassy, but only because the lights don't stand out as much.
I also walked down to what's left of the old castle (the old town has been built up on the rest of the ruins) and a cathedral that got rebuilt after getting bombed in April of 1945. The poems and photos in the cathedral gave me pause.
It's hard to believe that I grew up playing games in which the germans were always the bad guys. The world has come a long way. Hopefully when I'm a grandpa my kids will tell me about how they have a hard time believing that they used to play games in which the arabs were always the bad guys.
(No, I've never seen them playing those sorts of games, but I know they're out there to be played.)