Bookbook21 4 17print123333

Book of wonder

Duisburg, stop.

You can see the river at the heart of the city.

Nice, yet not unique at first sight.

Our way, coming from the central station: not particularly flattering to the city.

A huge ladder makes me wonder: constructed from gold-plated metal tubes.

A rough thing, in such a balanced city.

I think of the Jacob ladder describedin the Torah.

To my great surprise the ladder emerges from an abandoned shopping center with an idle guard, a huge space with high glass ceiling and glass huge doors Down the road, Commercial banking shows its presence: local branches line the streets

What is really difference between Germany and the United States?

A huge, alienated sculpture as central ornament of a simple fountain, an exotic bird: shocking colors in a German street with clouds of gray hanging low

...

The main artery of the city, the innenhafen river.

I enter into the former port area.

I’m right on the fringe of the river, with unloading cranes and huge storage containers made from plated metal.

Where are the boundaries between industrial and residential areas?

What happened here before?

Maybe it is a better for the industrial areas to be in the city center.

And in relation to the state of air pollution, it seems that the situation here is excellent today. Where is all the industrial activity today?

I see abandoned factories

Have they been transferred to China?

We arrive at a youth hostel full of children, full of compulsive energy.

Another factory in Duisburgs back yard: A walk in the area reveals a giant metal monster, full of rust but beautiful.

Fascinating and wondrous tints of rust.

The surroundings play my imagination: aggressive and gentle; blue sky, green fields, white clouds.

A backdrop of industrial architecture blocks my view of the river Rhine.

Standing here in confusion.

Green, yet unnatural ..

.. rough industry: good or bad? I do not know yet.

This is the first time I understand what my high school teacher told us about the industrial revolution.

Monday morning: 62 kilometers today.

»it's important to be strong«

About the importance of the church, way back in times: »The most prominent building, marking the very center of the city.« Just before we cross the Rhine passing a power plant close by I laugh and ask: »Is not the church supposed to be the highest?«

Crossing the river ...

Moments ago under the shadows of a monument of industrialisation and now this calm, pastoral setting with a river of green under a blue sky.

It feels like some kind of virtual reality.

Fresh water used to cool the turbines.

And the sky?

White featherweight clouds mix deliciately

with smoke from the chimneys.

Can we have a clean conscience while blowing our dirt to heaven?