Thoughts on Titusville, Florida

Sometimes, stepping back can give you perspective.  Perspective: new thoughts about old subjects.  And that is what I feel I have gained by living internationally- I am not only more critical of  'the way things are,' I am also more hopeful that things I don't like could change.

After all, how could England have become so different from the place my ancestors left?  How could Florida belong to the Native Americans, then to the Spanish (the Floridians who fled to Cuba), then to Americans, all in a span of a couple hundred years?  How could the US have changed so much since World War II?  How is it possible that the poorest parts of Germany 150 years ago are now the richest parts in Germany, probably also in Europe (excluding Switzerland)?  How could almost a whole culture of farming, which existed in Western Europe and America for a very, very long time, disappear in a span of about 50 years?

Two things seem true to me: change is certain and near but change comes in an unexpected form.  Still, if we are not in charge of the changes in our world, then who is?  (Excluding mother nature and a higher power, of course.)   Perhaps the first step is to understand that things happen because we cause them to and not because "it's just the way things are."  And, maybe the second step is to understand what we are doing in the first place.

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In a way, the distance allows you to really put your finger down on what is bothering you about where you grew up.  I recently read an article about Titusville, Florida, where I grew up, published in the Florida Today, February 19th, written by Dave Berman titled, "Miracle City Mall Redevelopment Delayed a Year."  After reading this article, which featured on the first page a picture of the new locally-initiated Arts Studio, I grew agitated.  And I grew more agitated as I thought about the article's message: an economic recovery requires corporate investment in Titusville.  Somebody decided this was true and the writer reported this.  Maybe this belief is commonplace in Titusville.

But, publishing this idea, while featuring an picture of a local arts studio, which is not at all corporate, seemed misleading and dishonest.  

Thanks to my mom, below are pictures of the art studio featured on the cover of the article.

Art Studio where Firestone (Auto Shop) used to be, before going out of business or relocating elsewhere.

Art takes over.

Art Studio facade up close

To pay to read the article out of archives and see the picture (about 8 dollars), you have to follow the following link.  The article is called, "Miracle City Mall Redevelopment Delayed a Year."  Here is the abstract,

The Miracle City project is one of the cornerstones for an economic comeback for Titusville, which has been hit hard by declines in the real estate market during the past several years, coupled with thousands of layoffs related to the end of the space shuttle program last year.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/floridatoday/access/2589592551.html?FMT=ABS&date=Feb+19%2C+2012

Problem # 1:

I don't like how the owners say they want Miracle City Mall to become the heart of Titusville.  The Art Studio is not representative of Miracle City Mall and the heart of Titusville is the historic district, where there has been so much public and private investment and many new store openings.

There is a local street market in downtown Titsuville (the historic district) during the week and a Jazz-Night on Thursday evenings.  All the yearly parades go through Main Street. From Main Street you can walk to the pier, where locals like to fish, windsail, swim, lounge, etc. or walk to the local parks, where locals often play baseball.  The downtown and pier area is where Titusville goes to be itself. 

My favorite bakery, Sunrise bakery, is located downtwon.  It is full Monday through Saturday and is always a good place to see familiar places. The cafe has done wonders to the local vibe and "locavorism," just as so many cafe's are doing to downtown's all across the US.  When I go there, I can also walk around the downtown's expensively manicured sidewalks and sit on a bench in the park, near the St. John's river.  It's a place everybody likes.  Beautiful, peaceful and special.

The very beloved Sunrise Bakery, Titusville, Florida. 

Back side of Sunrise Bakery

The back side of Sunrise Bakery displays a mural of a sunny tropical paradise.  (Is this hopefulness?)  In sync with my thoughts on art and local pride, murals of tropical scenes are very common at native-Titusville businesses.  The murals at Dixie Crossroads come easily to mind.

Above are pictures of Sunrise Bakery and the surrounding historic downtown district.  Note, at the Garden St. I-95 exit, the "Titusville historic downtown" is advertised as a noteworthy historic and cultural gem.  Nothing is mentioned about Miracle City Mall.

The back entrances to Main St. stores.  100 years ago, the building was home to a grand hotel and casino on this spot.

Traffic could be slowed down more, but generally the downtown is pedestrian friendly. It's nice and  relaxing to sit outside.  With all the local customers coming and going from the bakery, I run into old acquaintances almost every time I visit.  It is small enough to be personal, unlike the other commercial place to see and be seen in Titusville, aka Wall-Mart. (As a side note, I once received a lecture from a Wall-Mart employee about how bad and soulless Wall-Mart is.  I ask myself, how bad do you have to be before your employees start hating you and telling the customers about it?)   Sunrise Bakery is a cafe, bread bakery and local hang-out for families, the elderly, young students, and drama performers from the nearby Titusville Theater in particular.  Just a few years ago, the cafe relocated from a strip mall location on Garden St.  And never looked back.

It's decision to move to the central location of the historic downtown is, for many residents, an indication that the downtown can become more than just a caricature of the buzzing downtown it used to be.  Other businesses benefit from the cafe's business.  The employees at the cafe remain the same year after year, since as far back as I can remember, with no apparent "turnover", but many new faces.  Too good to be true?

I even biked to the cafe once and was shocked to see other bikes locked up outside the cafe at the bike stand.  Inside, I saw an old teacher of mine who told me that she would like to see Titusville add safe bike lanes everywhere because she and her husband want to make a bike ride to the bakery a part of their weekend routine (in the fall, winter and spring I assume).  How wonderful is that?  It's an urban planner's dream: residents, who want more alternative transportation infrastructure!  

Main St. is looking so nice these days. There is something to be said about outdoor streets and shops in Florida, since sunshine is why everyone is there. 

So, just because the owner of the mall, who lives in (!)Boca Raton(!), thinks Miracle City Mall should be the heart of Titusville, doesn't make it is so.  Yeah, the mall used to thrive.  I also don't like the look of empty stores, even in a mall. But, that doesn't make the mall the heart of Titusville.

The real heart of any town can't be owned by a single investor, let alone a non-resident.

Problem #2:

The art studio should really be the hit story: Titusville making lemonade out of lemons.

The mere mention of the art studio seems like a dirty trick by associating it with the mall's 'economic plans' in this article.  The new locally-run and created art studio should NOT be the featured image and then lead into the story about the private mall owner's plans for corporate investment and redevelopment because- they two entities aren't related!!  And, let me add: they don't really complement each other, in my opinion, other than sharing proximity.

 

And, the article kind of misunderstood the value of art by saying that art is good for the economy. That it might be, but that is usually not the artists' mindset, unless the artist is working in a tourism-marketing campaign.  

I guess the thing the mall and the art studio have in common is, obviously, location and, less obviously, the potential indication of a Titusville renaissance.  However, the mall renaissance would hardly be a renaissance becuase it means almost pure gain for the owner and non-Titusville corporations, who will take the profits out of Titusville.  I say that because the article states that many chain stores and restaurants would open shop, and that would help make the redevelopment plan viable.  How do more chain restaurants help Titusville, tell me?  Is it helpful because more Titusvillians want to be waiters and waitresses?  Seems unlikely. 

To me, the idea of the art studio seems to say, "Hey Titusville, be who you are.  Express what is special about you.  Express what you are thinking, seeing, feeling.  Take control of your town,  of your politics, of your future." 

The art studio is symbolic of a real renaissance.  It doesn't do a lot for Titusville financially, but at least residents of Titusville came up with a solution to turn an ugly eyesore of a past corporate evacuation or relocation (Firestone's) into a place to be proud of.  Titusville needs something to be proud of.

Corporations come and go.  Quickly.   

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To me, I feel that the real value of the art studio is that it inspires and supports a unique Titusville 'placeness'.   If the article wanted to comment about a potential renaissance in Titusville, they could have researched how art helped transform numerous cities into hopeful, thriving citiies.   By inspiring its residents to create art out of the built environment, (like the Philadelphia Art Works, for example) from which the entire city benefits. Murals replaced destructive graffiti.  Looking at the murals, you can see that there is something special about Philadelphia.

And, think about Detroit's art movement and the development of urban agriculture there.  Art may not be responsible for the change in thinking, but it occurred at the same time.

Art helps lift spirits and shows local pride.  I'm no artist myself, but this is my favorite kind of art.  Can't you just feel the hope, the honesty, the pride and strength in the murals featured in the following links?

http://muralarts.org/
Time Magazine's slide show of amazing murals in Philadelphia

Who knows what kind of positive- economic, educational, spiritual- benefits and spinoffs are possible from such an artistic endeavor. 

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My next point may not be very popular. 

I am really into this idea that "economical success' needs to keep in mind whether the investors or store owners live in the town and whether businesses help create more businesses and entrepreneurship, not just giving everybody a job and thereby taking away their ability to be their own boss.  I mean, I guess not everyone can be their own boss- bosses need workers, after all.  But more small businesses mean a higher owner/worker ratio.  Given two towns with the same economic productivity, where would you rather live?  If you could do the work you do now, but employ yourself, would you want to?   

Sorry, let me sum up: it sounds to me like the author is selling a point- that an economic recovery requires outside corporate investment in Titusville.  Maybe he didn't realize what he was saying at all... because this kind of thinking is commonplace.  I have nothing against successful companies going corporate and opening chains.  I just don't think it should hurt smaller business.

And that is the worst part: a town is really beat if they keep looking elsewhere for help.   Can't a city with a population of 43,000, like Titusville, have it's own merchants?   If you're an economist or like economics, fill me in.

Wouldn't it be much healthier and better in the long run if residents, aka Titusvillians, worked toward making their town and communities their own and supported each others' businesses?  Because, we need the profits at home these days.  Yes, we do.  Everyone in Titusville knows it.  I'm not saying, cut the rest of the world off.  I'm just saying, Titusville is more than a market opportunity for outside investors.

To do this, residents have got to free themselves from believing that a corporation will save them. These days, you have to save yourself.

Because I am a little homesick and want to show off how special Titusville is, I've included some pictures below of the historic district, aka downtown Titusville.

Titusville Parrish Theater

St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church

 St Gabriel's Episcopal Church was built in 1887 in Captenter Gothic Style and is on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Not sure what this was originally. Note Spanish revival architecture. 

Also Spanish Revival

Historic Brevard County Court House

Pritchard House

The Pritchard House is also the US National Register for Historic Places.  According to the house's website,
"The Pritchard House is an outstanding example of the Queen Anne architecture, a distinctly American form that was popular from approximately 1876-1910. The house appears today much like it did when it was built in 1891."

Pritchard House Website

 

Pedestrian Walk in Downtown Titusville

Historic buildings on Main St.

Nice, huh?  Makes you want to visit Titusville.

To me,  Main St. is interesting because it is pretty much the only place in town with traditional style- row houses on both sides of the street.  So, when you are on Main St. for a couple of yards you feel like you are really in a "town" in the traditional sense.  (You can visit Main St. and the architecture just feels good.  In the book Suburban Nation by Andres Duany, he talks about how pedestrians feel more comfortable on streets where the buildings are higher than the street is wide because of the psychological effect it produces of feeling protected in a human habitat.  It is called "people sizing," as in, the size of buildings and entrances, sidewalks and streets are designed to be viewed by an actual standing person.

How else could you view a building, you ask?  You could view a building as a whirr from your car or train window.  Hence, big billboards. The next time you are driving or walking around, ask yourself whether the advertising on the buildings and the entrances, fronts, etc. are intended to be appreciated by car or by foot.  Downtown Titusville still has this pedestrian feeling due to the buildings, even though more cars speed by than people on foot. )

 

Mom on Main St.

 My mom recently said, "Sometimes at downtown events, I can feel what the town almost is."

Me, I am sincerely optimistic about Titusville's future.  May it be what it almost is.  Only those long-term residents in Titusville know what that is.

Karneval

Bratwurst stall on the street near the parade.

This past February 2012, I went to my first Karneval (Carnival in English) parade ever in Germany.  Carnival is a christian holiday usually in February and occurs just before lent.  New Orlean's Mardi Gras is the equivalent of Carnival in Germany, minus the beads.  In Germany (and in Brazil, for sure!), Carnival is celebrated in different cities with a local twist and people go CRAZY!  In Cottbus, craziness was kept to a minimum, but in cities like Cologne, which is famous for its carnival, people don't hold back.  I saw pictures of men dressed like blue smurfs and someone dressed up as cheese. 
English website to Cologne's Carnival

Carnival is Germany's halloween.  Just, not so scary.  Kind of strange... adults dressing up in costumes for no real reason to me.  I mean, in the US we dress up in scary costumes.  Scary, spooky, weird- because it's the Hallow Day before the spirits come out. 

But carnival-- what does preparing to fast for lent have to do with dressing up as a barn animal.  Is that perversion? Dressing up as a smurf: that's funny.

Cultural differences can be so strange.  Just when you think that you don't notice differences anymore, the logic behind cultural events or traditions strike you as unexplainable!!   And then, you realize the following: you are a foreigner living in a weird place and nobody is as normal as you and your fellow countrymen, of course!

But, to be honest, it is a pretty fun idea to have a crazy holiday in February.  Winter is so cold in Germany, any funny holidays help to pass the time before Spring.

Also, don't miss the special treat for you in the last image of the post. ;)

The photographs pretty much explain themselves. 

Highlight: Barn animal costumes with vampire fangs.  What was he thinking?

The bees are actually handing out pickles. Really!

Gingerbread heart cookies being sold

They must have been really cold!

Notice people using their balconies for a good view.

Look!  An American-Football-Player costume.  Hilarious.

Wir haben es satt!- Protest

Family at Protest against Agribusiness.  The family were offering baked goods like cake and muffins to other fellow protesters. 

 

On January 21, 2011, Lars and I joined a demonstration to protest, for us in particular, animal abuse in agriculture.  In Germany, the agriculture industry which controls and regulates the treatment of livestock for the mass-production of meat and dairy products to commcial-chain grocery stores is called  'agribusiness'.  Just like in the US, many Germans are outraged by what they hear about the mistreatment of livestock with hormones and low-quality living conditions.  Some are angry about the mistreatment of animals, others are angry because of fears that chemicals and antibiotics will risk humans' sensitivity to antibiotics- and negatively affect human immunity and ability to fight off disease.  A link to the demands for politicians in regards to food policy, as written by demo/protest organizers can be found on their link below.

Wir haben es satt!/We're fed up!

Hey, I mean, I knew that the animals don't get treated that well.  Heck, we're gonna eat them soon anyway, right, so what's the big deal-- that was kind of my mentality.  I had given the vegetarian lifestyle a year and half of my life back in college.  I was an amateur and didn't know what to eat.  I was always hungry and jealous of everyone eating meat and ate a lot of peanut butter.

But, the reason I wanted to be a vegetarian back then was because I felt like a hypocrite- I loved animals, but had no idea if the ones I ate were at least treated fairly before the slaughter and I knew that I couldn't bear to see a slaughter, so I felt bad about letting people do it for me, while I blindly closed my eyes to the process.

I stopped being a vegetarian after a trip to Germany, ironically, because I had heard that animals were much better treated in Europe due to legal standards in the agriculture industry.  I also wanted to experience the German culture completely, and food is a big part of culture.  I love bratwurst!  When I got back to the US, I started thinking: I want to experience the foods of my own culture too.  That was my argument.

I love food.  I love how tradition and innovation are displayed through the social bonds we form over food gathering, preparing and eating.  Eating can be a celebration.  Besides, humans have long eaten meat.  I think being 100 percent vegan is just too much to ask of a culture.  Also, European groups developed lactose tolerance and can eat dairy products like cheese and milk.  It's special and rare that many Europeans and Americans can eat and comfortably digest dairy products.

But then, one afternoon while riding back home on a trip to Munich, I picked up the Suddeutsche Zeitung to read in the car.( The Suddeutsche Zeitung is my favorite Newspaper in Germany and has a reputation for its high quality reporting and seriousness, with a section on science, international affairs and politics and diverse aspects of culture.  To me, it's like the NYTimes of Germany.)  There was an article in that edition about the mistreatment of pigs in agriculture.  It reported that, although animal abuse is obviously illegal, there is so much of it in the industry, that policing and control really have no chance at stopping it.  Not that politicians realistically can stop it; the pressure on farmers to produce mass amounts of meat is so great. German agriculture competes at the international, or at least at the European, level and prices must be forced DOWN.  Cheap meat for everyone- it's our human right!  Or is it... This is not a side of food culture that I wanted to experience as a born-again meat eater.

The article described the morbid use of tail-chopping.  Tail-chopping is a method used to control aggression in livestock.  Pigs are attacking other pigs because of the effect that their living condition has on their psychological health. Just like humans, without psysical freedom and with nothing to do, their boredom turns into agression towards other animals in adjacent stalls.  You would think that the pig in the stall next door would just scootch over to avoid being mauled through the cage, but there is no space to move over.  Withholding mental and physical stimulation for the animals and denying them their gregarious and curious nature, the animals become confused and bored into violence and aggression released on their fellow stallmates.   Is it too anthropomorphic of me to wish that they would unite and start a revolution?  Sadly, they are domesticated animals and rely on humans for protection.

The farmers' response is to unilaterally chop off their tails.  Apparently, this induces passivity in the animals' behavior.  It doesn't eliminate the cause of their aggression or make them happier. Scientists don't really understand why tail chopping even works- but it does. They become numb to their environment.  According to the article, pain killers are rarely employed during tail-removal.

With chickens, beaks are removed to reduce aggression.  Peta Germany released a statistic that, on average, 24 chickens are caged per square meter. Wow.  Milk-bearing cows are also abused and treated with antibiotics.  I heard second hand from a friend who worked at a milk-production facility, that the pus has to be manually removed from the milk, because infection rates are so high.  Or, they just don't remove it, because there is too much.  This friend of mine only drinks organic milk now.

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The animals are sick so often, that many or most spend almost all their short lives on antibiotics.  Recently, the environmental organization BUND analyzed a random sample of meat on grocery store shelves and found that dangerous levels of germs were present on over half of the meat.  The EU Parliament released the statistic that over 26,000 Europeans die yearly from diseases caused by these germs.  Below is a picture of the article (in German).

Article headline: Dangerous germs found on chickenmeat

So, who are we helping with these low meat and dairy prices?  If most of us saw with our own eyes what was really going on --if all these studies and these reportings are true and not some conspiracy theory-- would we still feel ok about eating so much meat?  Would we really not eat half as much meat or pay twice as much for the same amount?  And in the US, aren't we being told that obesity is related to meat consumption, not fruit, bean and vegetable consumption, which is cheaper to produce anyway?  There are so many reasons why the human race, and Americans for that matter, would not starve if we produced less meat.  There may even be more resources available for more food production.

Charles Darwin observed that animals have the same capacity for emotions as humans.  If we can't bear not to eat meat, shouldn't we at least let them experience social bonds and happiness during their lives, before we eat them?  How can we believe in human kindness and generosity if we cannot at least achieve this one goal?

I'm not against eating meat. I still believe the things I came to believe after being a vegetarian for a year, mainly, that food is culture, and meat dishes are cultural items. I don't want to snub my nose at it. I love burgers, bratwurst, and roastbeef, especially when it's been cooking all day.  I love cheese with a glass of red wine and sometimes I even like my barbecue with a burnt taste.  But I don't eat all these things every day, mostly because it would be unhealthy.  Now I have another reason to eat it on more rare occasions, i.e. on special occasions which warrant a special dish.  If the food industry were more ethical because laws required it of them, meat would just cost more. But, I don't think that people would starve if our country also simultaneously made it a priority to help farmers switch to producing other foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and other non-meat products. Let's face it, meat goes bad, but grains can be stored a long time.

 This is what I believe:  the end just does not justify the means.  It's the treatment of the animals I cannot stand for. A low price does not justify torture, human or animal.  I, at least, can imagine eating half as much meat weekly, but paying twice as much for it in the first place, given that the animals live more natural lives with more space and social interaction with their species, without being pumped full of antibiotics or steroids to quicken their maturity to full-grown, slaughter-ready stature.  It is sad to eat an animal which is built like a mature adult in its species, when really it is still an immature and playful calf, for instance.

 Humans never ate as much meat as modern Europeans and Americans can afford to eat today, but can we afford to do it fairly?  Is it morally right to do this to animals?   Who is paying the price for our overabundance of meat, to the point that, eating meat three times a day is normal for so many and eating meat is not reserved for special cultural dishes?  Will we in the developed world wait until we have no immunity to some otherwise treatable deadly disease and an epidemic ravishes our countries before we finally stop treating livestock  with antibiotics non-stop because we want to keep the price of meat lower than it would be?

So, Lars and I decided to support the movement, which protests such conditions universally employed in the agriculture industry.

The following pictures are from the protest.  The groups and protesters are urging the Agricultural Minister and the German Chancellor to raise the standard for German agriculture laws.  Although it is already illegal to over-treat animals with antibiotics except when absolutely necessary, it is practically ALWAYS  necessary to treat the animals because their living conditions are so poor.  Laws must be passed to demand more space for animals and to allow more natural living conditions to counter animals' boredom.  Practices such as tail-cutting, beak-removal and other inhumane standards must be banned.   All these things may have economic consequences for Germany's position in the global food-production economy, but maybe local and higher prices are better anyway.

There is a potential problem that grocery stores and consumers would import from neighboring countries where such laws are absent, which is why the laws need to be passed at the EU level. Heck, pass them at the international level, if possible! Otherwise, I guess companies could just relocate to a country where the laws are less strict, and nothing would really change for the animals.

Martin Luther King once said, "Injustice anyway is a threat to justice everywhere."

Power to the Bauer (farmer)

Contents: Women are leaders in small local agricultural production in much of the developing world.   

Do it for your children's health as well.

It was a grey, drizzly and cold day for a protest.

Charlie and me on the lawn near the protest.

Since the protest, Lars and I have really tried to buy much less meat and dairy products and to only buy fair trade or organic when we do buy these products.  We soon realized that we also have to pay more attention to items with eggs and milk, which we had forgotten, such as mayonnaise and butter. Finding organic cheese can also be challenging.  Where we live, there are only two stores that supply free range, organic beef, and another that supplies free range, organic chicken. We try to eat a meat meal on the weekend and eat alternative protein sources such as beans, lentils and vegetables during the week.  It is especially hard when we go out to eat because they are really no restaurants here promising free range and organic meat dishes.  

Just this week I tried to make my first dish with Seitan.  This pictures below are from our meal.  The Seitan (soy substance similar tasting to meat) dish is called Seitan Gulasch with creme fraiche on the side, seasoned  potatoes and a chickpea-Parsley salad to go with it.  I actually didn't like the texture of the Seitan, but the taste was ok!   Lars liked it, which is a positive.

Autumn trip to England

At the end of September, early October 2011, Lars and I took a trip to St Albans and London, England.  Lars wanted to visit his former coworkers at Veolia in England, and I wanted to visit England and see the places I had visited everyday last year while briefly living with him.  We first when to St Albans to a pub for lunch.  I had a wonderful time meeting his colleagues and enjoyed putting a face to the name.

The whole time I was in England,  Lars told me that it was inappropriate for him to bring me to meet his colleagues or to accompany him to work social events.  There were lots of events such as Christmas parties and happy hours, but, according to Lars, no one ever took their wife or husband.  This custom is very different than in America, I thought.  At the last place I worked, spouses and kids often dropped by the office, especially on Fridays.  I'm not saying it happened all the time, and some people were more private than others, but I had the impression that being too private was bad for office relationships and caused distrust from your coworkers. And once a year there was a Christmas Party where everyone brought their spouses or partners.  That seems normal to me; why go to a party and not be able to bring your partner?  But Europe is famous for it's separation of private and professional spheres, to whatever good that brings, which is little in my eyes.

ST ALBANS

Lars walking the streets of St Albans on the way to the train station.

I took the above picture because I wanted to capture how narrow the streets are.  Also, to the left you can see half of an outer wall of a building (below) with interesting stonework.  These stones appear all over town in the older buildings dating back to the Georgian era, I believe, or maybe earlier.  I have seen the rocks in walls, in the abbey and in other clergical buildings.  I also think I saw a similar pattern of stone building in the original wall of Cottbus, in Germany, so maybe this goes farther back to medieval building customs.

House built into the stone wall of previous building.

Modest American style row house in Philadelphia.

I liked this picture because it really captures how small these row homes are.  this is much smaller than what I was used to seeing in the northeast of the US in Philadelphia, for example.  Now, this real estate is very expensive.  Did these buildings house just working class tenants/owners?  It is interesting to note the walk-up difference between American and English style row-houses.  In the US, even modest row houses include the standard stoop, which became a cornerstone of street social lounging and chatting.  (See picture to the right from Amer. style.)

 It seems like a better alternative to a suburban single family home or an urban apartment if you, for example, want to save yourself the cost of yard maintenance but still want the personal feeling of walking up to your front door.  I can see myself raising kids in this kind of house much easier than in a single-family home with front and back yards. A small little patio or porch would be enough for me, because I love public parks where someone else does the yard maintanence and where it feels more social. Besides, kids don't like to play by themselves.  I always used to play on the street or in the wooded area on the block-- just like a park!  We didn't play in a closed off back-yard after a certain age, anyway. I know that the funnest games and best forts happened "out there" not "at my house". What the tenant here loses in yard, gains in access to public green space such as parks and nature trails.  That is, as long as you have a smart urban planner and developers and local politicians who can imagine it.

Beautiful blue door.

The above winding street illuminates the clash of modern and "old" England.  I parenthesized "old" because I think that the idea of an older, historical and traditional village plays a big marketing role in St Albans tourism and real estate business.  St Albans is in fact old, though, because it was a Roman trading point and then later a medieval market town.  However, the real roman town is sort of outside of St Albans now, so few of the buildings visible here are probably much older than the last few centuries.  Nonetheless, the sign advertising a car wash seemed a practical, yet somehow contradictory allusion to modern life. 

Another invisible force not shown in this picture is the force of suburbanization of the area outside of London.   Lars and I noticed very quickly that St Albans has some strange quirks.  For example, people working in St Albans usually don't live in St Albans and must commute to it for work.  Most people living in this and similar small towns actually work in London.  A shocking number of men and women living in St Albans are not  in St Albans during the day.  The streets are, however, filled on market days and weekdays with women, children and the elderly, who, presumably live in St Albans. The men are eerily absent.

The inhabitants seem to have a real culture of stay-at-home moms, who shop at the fancy shops and push their babies in prams and pull their children around town while the men work in London.  

Some businesses have completely moved out of London to accommodate the workers living in the suburbs, such as Veolia, which services the entire London area but is not located in London.  Although these villages such as St Albans were once vibrant and economically self-servicing villages in their own right, now most inhabitants cannot afford the real estate prices in St Albans and choose to live in neighboring towns with less charm, where the prices are lower.  Lars moved first to Hatfield in 2010, but decided that the town felt too depressing, so he moved to St Albans.  He paid almost $1000 dollars rent per month just for a bedroom in a house!!  And, he wasn't even living the high life in London; he was living practically in the burbs.

I learned much of this by talking with the owner of the local language school, St Albans School of Languages, Ian, by talking with little old ladies (I mean the term nicely) on the bus and by visiting the local history museum.  I haven't done much outside reading though.

Nonetheless, the below picture highlights the beauty of St Albans.  Notice the very expensive cars parked in front of the Victorian row houses below.  How sad that the original front gardens have been turned into parking lots.

 Lars says that the prices in St Albans are just as high as in London.  Do these Londoners choose to live in St Albans just so they can live in a place with a small town feel?  London already felt small time to me.  I'd like to understand the psychology going on here.

LONDON


The rest of the pictures were taken in London.  The first pictures were taken the following day in the borough of Kensington.  Below, in the center of the picture is Harrod's department store.

Me with Harrods in the background

Bench sill with spikes in front of Barclay's Bank

I took the above picture because I was shocked at the spikes on the window sills.  Now, some people might say the spikes were surely intended to keep the birds off  the ledge.  I wonder though.  That ledge looks suspiciously like a bench, which is not an easy thing to find in England on the streets.  Just when you think you have found a place to sit, someone put spikes on it, so you can't sit.  It seems so obviously aggressive.  I hope it is just to keep the birds at bay, an no one else.

Inside Harrods; chocolate bar

The above picture was taken from within Harrods in the department for food purchases.  I had read that the beginning of the international design philosophy called Art & Crafts, which eventually came to the US and was known on continent, aka Europe, as Art Nouveau, began in England by a man named William Morris.  It was very awe inspiring to look at examples of this design trend in England, where it originated.  Below is a link to information about the design philosophy, which I've mentioned a few times on my blog already.

Arts & Crafts Movement

Candy shopping at Harrods.  

Above and below, notice the beautiful ceiling plaster work and the gold brushed lamps and painted columns.  The picture doesn't do it justice!

Arts & Crafts column with tile work.

Notice the organic shapes painted onto the tiles and incorporated into the plaster.  Arts and Crafts design was a philosophical rejection of the effect of industrialization on workmanship.  Of course the design philosophy first became popular in England, since England was the first country to undergo industrialization and introduce it to the world.

I love how complex countries can be, first creating something and calling it progress, then leading the counter-revolution against it!  I think the US is like this in many ways, and I notice how different the US is in its ideologies from Europe.   For example, like industrialization in England, consumerism in its modern form was practically invented in the US and spread out to the rest of the world. But, more and more, I feel that Americans are searching, sometimes nostalgically, for more meaning in our social, personal and professional lives, and we seek this sort of traditional sense of community that walkable cities and street markets can give us.  I talked about this topic in a the blog about corporate America.  I think the countertrend to this type of consumerism takes many forms and the desire for something more personal than the impersonal way we have lived is strongest in the US, where Facebook, hang-out cafe's etc have become common,  but less so in Europe.

Interestingly, the Arts and Crafts movement also embraced oriental influences in its art form.  That seems contradictory to me, because the movement supposedly embraced pre-industrial craftmanship and ideals.  However, oriental makes sense if one imagines how the artist must have felt; he wanted to reject the contrictions of baroque and neo-classical, etc., and wanted something more organic.  Sometimes we look far away from home to find what we have lost, I suppose.  Maybe this is why I love the Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe.

 Ok... enough about that!  Just an aside as I look at these pictures.

Egyptian influence in Harrods

Lars in Harrods

Har har.  Lars loves Teddy bears.  I caught him hugging one.

Lars on the elevator at Harrods

The above picture is the final picture from Harrods.  In the picture, there is a vibrant painted plaster design of the constellations, but I don't recognize much, so I'm not sure.  Does anyone know what this is?

The next picture was taken by Lars at the Natural History Museum.  There was a shocking exhibit about the effect of pollution and other networks such as utilities networks (water, electricity, waste water, fresh water networks, etc.) on the environment.   Since Lars works as a lawyer for utilities companies, he knows all about these issues and was so impressed to see an exhibit about it.

Acknowledgement is the first step to change.  I encourage everyone to reflect on the things your throw away, the energy you use and visit energy and waste control plants in order to understand the immensity of the systems that allow us to live a high-energy, take-it-to-go culture.   Plastic hasn't been around much more than a century and Tupperware was invented in the 50's or so, but already scientists are studying the "Great garbage patch" in the Pacific ocean and the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico.  The pictures are shocking. (Not here-gotta go google.)

The next few pictures were taken from the Thames River  as we took a ferry ride from Kensington to London City and back.

Millennium Bride-pedestrian bridge with London Eye in background

The Globe from the Thames

The Gilden Hilde (More info below)

The above picture is of the Golden Hilde, a copy of the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world. 

London Tower Bridge

View of London south of the Thames

Tower of London (?) (north of Thames)

Tower of London

Guys Tower and Guys Hospital (under construction)

The tower in the picture above will be the tallest building in London, according to the Tour guide.

Big Ben aka Palace of Westminster

The London Eye and Westminster Palace

Westminster Palace (?)

The next few pictures were taken from Nottinghill when we went to the street market one day.  The picture below was taken in front of private residence.  I hope they don't get mad at me for taking a picture of their house!  If you know me, you know I love row houses!  I love the steps and the blue door here.

Unsanitary garbage disposal

Lars pointed out the unsanitary garbage on the street.  According to Lars, leaving garbage on the street would never be allowed in Germany.  This is because garbage on the street attracts vermin and other unfriendly visitors, who transmit disease.  My mom pointed out to me that maybe the sanitation employees were on strike.

Below is a picture of the Nottinghill street market.  Cars do drive down the street, but have to go slowly because there are so many pedestrians.  The cars driving along are mostly bringing in goods to the stores.  You can buy food, antiques, clothes and everything else at the market here.

The antiques were so awesome.  I love how the English love antique furniture too.  This is not really the case in Europe, I think.  Germans, at least, really like modular furniture, especially 70's style modern furniture from Sweden.

Antique appeal other than retro mod is just now coming back as a fashion trend in Germany and many call the style "Country Style."  It doesn't matter if it is baroque or rusted iron, it's all "country" in Germany.  According to a furniture saleswoman in Görlitz, this country style trend comes from Denmark, England and France, mostly.  This seemed curious to me, because I saw stuff that looked to be directly taken off the wall of a Cracker Barrell store.  Some items had faded English writing on it, like a sign that said, "Home Sweet Home", or something.   I told Lars that I think the country style imitates the American preference for used-looking furniture, quilts, etc., all that stuff you would expect at a Bed & Breakfast, I guess.  Is this a growing nostalgia for the past just like in the US?

But, I don't think many American companies are capitalizing on this.  A quilt can cost 200 euros in Germany, if you can find it.  There's so much demand!  Pastoral designs on curtains, sheets, etc. and classic iron-frame beds are so popular, it is immediately sold out.

Nottinghill Market

Kensington, where we stayed in a Hostel

The following pictures were taken mostly from Kensington, where we stayed.

Looking out from the balcony at our hostel.

Small-town London in Kensington

just another street market in Kensington

Fish stall

Flowers outside South Kensington Station

 They trademarked me!

Viktorian Michelin Store...what were victorian tires like?

Chelsea near the Spanish Embassy

Rent-a-Bike Stand

A market in Chelsea

The image speaks for itself.  

 The British may be conservative.  They may be polite and reserved.  But they are not afraid to use bright colors!  Example in point, the Belgravia Police Station flaunts its blue-purple rail with matching barbed wire.  How quaint.  I'm sure the inmates appreciate the color coordination when they first peak over the fence during an escape.  "Oww, barbed wire.  Oh, look, (in)mates, what a nice color!" Sorry, maybe a bad joke.

New development near Marks & Spencer in London City

 Sometimes new developments are not very popular, I guess.  We noticed this in front of the Marks & Spencers near London City (Londonium).  There was hardly anybody out on the sidewalks compared to other streets or ped-zones of London.

Below are pictures of the Globe, a copy of the original theater called the Globe.  Shakespeare's plays were originally performed here.  I didn't go inside though, because tickets were pricey.

The Globe

The Globe

The pictures below were taken off a side street on the south side of the Thames Bank near the Globe.   It was a real surprise to suddenly see the archeological/architectural remains of Winchester Palace around Clink street (see map below).  I found this interesting information about the palace on Wikipedia:

"Winchester Palace was a twelfth century palace, London residence of the Bishops of Winchester.It is located south of the River Thames in Southwark, near the medieval priory which today has become Southwark Cathedral.

Winchester Palace by Wenceslas Hollar, 1660.

Southwark was the largest town in the old diocese of Winchester and the bishop was a major landowner in the area. He was also a power in the land (Winchester being the old Saxon capital), and regularly needed to be in London on royal or administrative state business. For that purpose, Henry of Blois built the palace as his comfortable and high-status London residence.

The palace remained in use until the 17th century, when it was divided into tenements and warehouses, but was mostly destroyed by fire in 1814. Part of the great hall, and the west gable end with its rose window became more visible after a 19th century fire and 20th century redevelopment. It is believed that the great hall was built c.1136 and that the rose window was added 200 years later. The hall had a vaulted cellar below with direct access to the river wharf for bringing in wares, and was richly decorated. It often entertained royal visitors, including James I of Scotland on his wedding to Joan Beaufort (niece of the then bishop, Cardinal Henry Beaufort) in 1424.

The rest of the palace was arranged around two courtyards. It other buildings within the site included a prison, brewery and a butchers. The bishops also had access to a tennis court, bowling alley and a garden."

The Remains of Winchester Palace

Lars in front of the only remaining walls of Winchester Palace

Winchester Palace is straight ahead- (large round window at top left)

Just a little further down the street, we encountered the Golden Hinde (also on the map).  We checked out the boat for a while, then went south to the Borough Market.

Here I am standing in front of the Golden Hinde- a copy of Sir Francis Drake's ship

Looking up at her mast.

A view of the Golden Hinde

All Aboard!  Round the world we go.

Southwark Cathedral