Happy Birthday, Magdeburg!

I'm watching a very cool thing on TV right now. At midnight began Magdeburg's jubilee year - she's 1200 years old! Right now at Magdeburg's cathedral there's an enormous fireworks show coupled with dramatic music to kick off the jubilee year events. I'd thought earlier tonight that I'd go down to see it live but it's puking rain outside and I'm probably getting a better view of things on TV anyway.

It's making me a little teary, actually. I'm very sentimental about the cathedral and it's my favorite spot in Magdeburg. The cathedral is quite old - a imposing Gothic structure all in stone that's seen the passing of many centuries and a lot of war and misery. Normally it has a slightly cold feel to it but tonight it's literally glowing. Very bright lights have been placed inside to make the windows glow and outside the cathedral, coupled with the normal skyrocket bursts of fireworks sailing over the cathedral's spires, various firework designs have been placed on the cathedral itself to make it blaze as if it were on fire or to make it sparkle and shimmer. It's an incredible sight. The music accompanying the show makes it even more dramatic.

I love this old city. It's tired and poor - so many depressed, sad, unemployed people here. It's gone from being one of the most gorgeous cities in Germany before the war (and when one speaks of "the war" in Germany they mean World War II) to being sort of crappy looking (thanks unimaginitive communist rule!) but since the reunion there has been some new building and restoration and she's looking better.

I guess what I love about Magdeburg is her resilience. The city was burned to the ground and most of its citizens slaughtered in 1631 during the Thirty Years War and she came back to life. Then in the last months of World War II Magdeburg was bombed and about 80% of the downtown was gone and she's come back to life. She's seen kings and emperors, facists and communists, feast, famine, plague, fire, occupation, tanks in the street and people marching in the street to regain their freedom. She takes her beatings and still manages to keep going and celebrates her happy times in style.

Herzlichen Gluckwünsch Magdeburg!