In explaining Europe to Americans, and America to Europeans, I have sometimes used the analogy of a citadel and a caravan. Europe is the citadel and America the caravan.
by Melvin Rhodes
Prague, Budapest and Vienna are
three of the most magnificent cities that any traveler can visit. Situated
right in the heart of mitteleuropa (central Europe), these Imperial
cities of the Hapsburgs have often shared a common history. Although
the capitals of three distinct peoples, each with their own language
and customs, their histories have been intertwined for over two millennia.
What immediately strikes any American
visitor is how old the buildings are. Most of the architecture pre-dates
America's birth as a nation. Yet these buildings are all still in daily
use. Churches that go back the best part of 1,000 years, palaces of
the nobility built during the golden age of the Hapsburgs in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, cobbled streets that were already there the
last time the world welcomed in a new millennium, even an elaborately
made church clock in Prague's market place that's about 700 years old
(and still works, in contrast to the watch I bought in Hong Kong three
years ago).
These Cities are living and breathing
history.
It is difficult for those who have
not had the opportunity to travel to other continents to sometimes
appreciate and understand the differences in outlook that geography
and environment can lead to. In explaining Europe to Americans, and
America to Europeans, I have sometimes used the analogy of a citadel
and a caravan. Europe is the citadel and America the caravan.
A citadel is a solid, permanent
building, a fortress designed to survive any crisis and protect those
within it from all the dangers outside. It is a permanent dwelling.
A caravan is constantly moving, seeking new horizons, leaving the past
behind.
