The project is part pegate "Europe, Our homeland> Hello Herman" of Jonmar van Vlijmen .
One of the things that happens when you come to live in Berlin, I've said before (never mind the bomb warning that accompanies this link is a joke Blogger) is that body takes a part of Europe which until then existed only as abstract data in newspapers, as a reminder of the lessons of history or fantasy films of the Cold War or the Second World War. Passes for children with these notebooks with blank pages on which surface, when smeared with a brush dipped in water, appeared a drawing. I do not know if still made but the feeling is similar. Where none existed before, pop, pops up all a world.
Last weekend I was in Cluj-Napoca, a city of Transylvania in northwestern Romania (yes, that country they come from every bag snatchers in the world, where instead of sightseeing on site I offer beginners courses pickpocketing in fact there Sarkozy began his career in the business world). For in Cluj-Napoca, which has beautiful architecture reminiscent of Vienna but burst, nearly all official buildings look two types of commemorative plaques. A Hungarian, set by the community of origin that still lives there (and accounts for 20% of the population), and another in Romanian, placed then by the state authorities to recall that, if you Transylvania was part of Austria-Hungary, not now. In addition there are continuous changes of use and designation of religious buildings, disputed between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants on one side and communists on the other. And of course, all remnants of the breakup of the USSR, the advent of market economy and, recently, the entry of Romania into the European Union in the country category B series
Returning to children's games, this is a map of contemporary Europe:
Do you know the name of all countries ? You know what European Union member after the last enlargement in 2007? Can you say which countries were part of the USSR and locate? Do you know how were the boundaries of Europe before World War II ? And before the First ? Do you know what the territory do the Austro-Hungarian Empire? And the Ottoman Empire? "And Prussia? Do you know the name of the seas on the right the map? If you can correctly answer these questions, congratulations. I do not. And it's relatively recent history.
I flew to Romania with a low-cost carrier did not know and whose staff wear a uniform that covers the whole range of colors from fuchsia and purple (although flying to countries where homosexuality is still pursued .) The map of their destinations emerge amazing cities with names that no decision Katowice, Simferopol, Bourgas, Stavanger, Aarhus, Lodz, Tirgu Mures, Larnaca, Turcu, Cluj-Napoca, cities, if not see them on the map, it would have no idea where to place, and even seeing them, I'm not sure which country they belong.
During the trip I read a book written by a Finnish family saga Estonia, which the editors, knowing the degree of ignorance of Western readers like me who have had the good sense also include a map, the Baltic countries and the territory of the former USSR. To follow the course of history and understand where to where they travel actors, I have to consult all the time. Did you know that Vladivostok is on the coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan? So that Google can make the virtual Siberian without leaving your chair, with a soundtrack and everything? Well, me neither.
The thing is that the plane I was wondering if the new map of Europe, Europe and painful in which we live, not just that, the flows and destinations on the maps low-cost companies, as we know, result from the combination of two types of variables: 1. proximity (relative) of a busy city and 2. the availability of an airport. This is how, along with the cities that already existed, others have begun to emerge, seemingly out of nowhere, Like those invisible drawings of children's books: Beauvais (north of Paris), Forli (south of Bologna), Skavsta (south of Stockholm), Sandefjord (south of Oslo), Cuneo (south of Turin) or Girona (in Spain it was not known anyone.) If we also consider that many of these new airports are former U.S. military bases, it gets even more exciting. Would Skavasta Beauvais or a kind of Torrejón? Will one day Torrejón Madrid airport a low cost carrier, with giant posters advertising cheap at 20 € and hostesses dressed in pink, rather than NATO soldiers?
These are the kinds of thoughts that distracted me on the plane to remove the fear (yes, I'm afraid of flying, and the more flights, more, and if ticket cost me € 20 and the cabin crew will tecnodisco masquerading as long story). And the book, because in the end kills grandmother Russian mobsters.
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