in the next 250 years or so... The air conditioner was turned off, the window was opened, the birds were a bit upset that I woke them up before the soon to arrive sunrise. I fell back into the blue sheets and then soon rushed across the park to the other side which now appeared to be turned into a place that reminded me more of Heidelberg than anything else. The botanic garden was gone, instead there was a steep, wooded hill, frame houses on that hill, many trees, then a narrow street. Now things looked more like Geneva. Geneva early in the morning perhaps. Then maybe Kassel? Karlsruhe? Or was it Sachsenhausen? It was to be expected that the front page of the New York Times would feature a large photo of fireworks on July 5th. Fireworks in motion and the frozen fireworks of the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. Below the fold was an image of Frank Gehry's preliminary sketch of what he thought the new Brooklyn skyline might end up looking like. Buildings exploding out of buildings exploding out of giant billboards, exploding out of the ground. Fascinating images of boxes covered with crumpled up paper. Obviously first thoughts. Not bad thought for that, I guess. It is going to be nice to drive into Brooklyn in a way that it probably should be driven into. There should be some sort of entrance, some sort of man made valley, some sort of gateway. Those who oppose the transformation of downtown brooklyn might want to take a bus from dumbo to park slope. It is an interesting ride. It appears to be taking place in a different time and in a different country. Or maybe it does not. Maybe it is just my mindset... When looking at the first macy's parade, I was surprised about the gaps in the lineup. Once I saw the same parade on television, I realized that the gaps were there for advertising. It was a very odd experience to drive to Washington DC with a car. I asked myself if there were some very special route that international delegations would take. Was there a route from the outskirts of the capital to it's polished center that did not feature empty blocks and burned out houses? (Once I started taking the shuttle in, things in Washington DC looked rather beautiful and orderly... some cabbies would actually take me on a route right by the military cemetery. Here were those fallen for the freedom I was experiencing. We were all thankful.) There is an abandoned building on the very same block where I live (I hear it is because of a dispute in the family that inherited it). The building right next to it is for sale for something like three million dollars? Two hundred years ago, the place where I live now was a field, ready to become a battlefield, ready to become a community of human proportions, slowly... So many of the images related to this place here are somewhat fiery. The heat of NOW is that manly, most celebrated factor here, it seems. A city that appears as if it were a frozen explosion, more architecture to be added to the mix that is just that. A country that celebrates a moment in its history in which it was not yet free, nor complete... I think this might be all somehow the beginning of something wonderfully magnificent. And it already is, and it will probably be even more so. And the Brits got their Olympics in 2012, and they probably actually saved our lives. That "plan X" on the NYC2012 website, looked to me like a gigantic target, including the approximate range (10km) needed to hurt a majority of the city's population. I somehow really love New York. And I really very much love this vast America... and if we are careful, all of this here is going to be even more magnificent in the next 250 years or so... no?... And I ran across the park and the buildings reminded me of Europe... or maybe it was not a reminder of anything. and maybe this entry should be whispered and not even read... how would one do that?