...everyone, absolutely everyone, in the noisy crowded city centre wears either tight denim jeans, sometimes trendily ripped at the knees, sometimes stonewashed and white along the seams, but always very tight and sleek, or they wear very tight bottom-hugging black leggings. And these are mostly accompanied, on a hot sunny day, with either furry boots or heavy over-the-ankles black ones, although there were some daring people in trainers. I was an absolutely unique figure: a lady wearing a skirt and ordinary leather shoes. The only other person dressed remotely like me was underground - the nice African lady collecting money in the ladies lavatory.
An odd city. Very prosperous, very trendy. Shouting hippy/drunk/druggy?/grimy/slightly fearsome types hanging around the shoppy area at the main railway station. Lots of excellent places to eat, lots and lots of smart shops, lots of noisy young people (see above), everything very lively. They take their paganism seriously: street theatre, serious messages, leaflets about this and that, posters about pop and travel and every kind of consumerism jostle with posters about various fashionable causes. Also lots of politics: posters urging all to vote for an "oekological and sozialist Munchen."...
Catholicism is everywhere in the background, in street-names and in huge, beautiful churches. But it is somehow like a calendar or a map which marks out your past and the structure, but doesn't impinge on everyday life. The churches are cool and clean and beautifully kept. Candles lit and people dropping in and out, but not in large numbers.
No comments:
Post a Comment