Longitude Blog & Podcasts

9/11 in Germany
Posted 9/12/2006 1:15 AM

Der Spiegel the German newsweekly had all day coverage on their web site of the events of that tragic day. Arriving home late at night we turned on the television and watched coverage on local German television that included a reenactment of people escaping the World Trade Center towers that fateful morning.

Reliving the scenes of people running down the streets of New York brought out the same reaction we had five years ago, we just sat a watched in stunned horror at what was happening. It was like a surreal movie that you hoped would end with the lights coming on and everyone walking out and getting on with a normal life.

But it is clear that life has not been normal since then and we do not see the end of this war on terror yet. No one knows what the future will bring but let's pray we use the time wisely in our work and personal lives.

Yesterday I spent time in Trier, Europe´s oldest city. My goal was to see and photograph a picture that once hung in the city hall. The picture tells the legend of the founding of the city by one Trebeta, the son of an Assyrian king named Ninus, or Nimrod. We found the picture in the basement of a fire station and the historian of a the local museum allowed me to see it and photograph it. The picture is a 17th century copy of an original done in the 16th century. It even mentions the story of the flood and repopulation of the earth by Noah´s sons afterwards.

Today is my last day in the country. We travel to Aachen and visit the cathedral of the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlemagne. I hope to get some pictures for a booklet we are producing on the subject.