Avenues & Domes

Germany meets you with a certain composure. Before the cathedral I tilted my head back until the dome and its green-gold statuary filled the whole of the sky, and I understood that this was a country that builds upward, patiently, as if certain the weight will hold.

Then the evening softened it. Along the boulevard the trees were strung with light, and the avenue went on past where I could see, every bulb a small held breath in the cold. In Munich the Justizpalast wore its Baroque face like an old grandeur that had simply decided to stay.

I came for the order and left with the quiet — the sense of a place that keeps its dignity and lets you keep yours.