By Kristin Young
Portland Community College
While Barcelona has a
rich historical and cultural heritage, sometimes it is nice to get out of the
city and travel, especially since it is so fast and easy to move from one
European country to the next. Recently,
I visited a friend in Kandel, Germany, which is very close to the
Baden/Karlsruhe area in the Rhineland.
After flying out of Spain and landing at the Baden Airpark in Germany,
we drove into France just to end up back in Germany again within the next
twenty minutes. Given that it takes
forty minutes to drive to Washington from my house in the Portland suburbs, and
several hours to drive into the states bordering Oregon’s south and east, I was
completely fascinated by being in three different countries within the same day.
However, what ended up
being the most fascinating part of my trip for me was simply the fact that for
a much-too-short weekend, I was living in the Rhineland, an area over which
wars have been fought, most notably, World War II. As a result of several conflicts, generally
between France and Germany over the region, the Rhineland has been kept as a
demilitarized buffer between the two countries which carries and interesting
mix of the different cultures. As tensions
were starting to build in the lead up to World War II, Hitler had his troops
occupy the region as a test to whether or not France (really, the rest of
Europe in general) would put a stop to his advances and military occupations,
which of course they did not. After the
end of the war, the Rhineland became a more unified region for the warring
countries, and has contributed strongly to their economies through shipping and
agriculture.*
Strasbourg, France is perhaps the
greatest example of the mixture of French and German cultures, likely because
it switched ownership multiple times throughout its history between the two
countries. You can take a guided boat
tour around the center of the city along one of the branches of the Rhine River
from BATORAMA^, which explains some of the historical and cultural importance
of the UNESCO World Heritage City. What
I found to be most interesting is that in a city that proudly identifies itself
as French, the most interesting architecture is actually classical German with
dark wood accents.
Strasbourg is a great place to go
to get away from American tourists since more of them tend to head to big
cities like Paris. Instead, you will find people from all over Europe and
Asia. You also get the benefit of
hearing a regional dialect that is specific to the region and its multicultural
heritage. And for a history or
architecture buff, it is a fantastic stop that is slightly off the beaten path
for those from across the Atlantic.
photos by Kristin Young
*http://www.rollintl.com/roll/rhine.htm
^http://www.batorama.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment