Malik Watkins's Bloglines

Admittedly, before my introduction to dancing….Alemania and Saarbrucken were no where even conceivably on my map of places to visit. Such is the beauty of life!! Let it flow…and it will allow you to flow… Saarbrucken is just a few miles from the border with France; thus, even just by location…it is an interesting mix of various European cultures. Without digging too deep into all the history, much of it derives from the river…and all that is associated with rivers – Saar!!

With a tidbit of breakfast, usually something I only do in this style when I am adventuring…I am heading out into my day, along the river…I still feel the good fortune…new places, experiences, and adventure. If you read my blog, then you know I have very little concern about the residences where I stay. I travel for the experience and less about the resort. Not diminishing the resort life, I just have my own preferences…and as much as I love to travel…simple and inexpensive…goes a long way….especially when combined with the value of a mighty fine grocery store 🙂

Lately, I’ve been introduced to the writings of Alain de Botton. In the description of his book, ‘The Art of Travel’, he talks about how,

“few things are as exciting as the idea of traveling…But the reality of travel seldom matches our daydreams. The tragi-comic disappointments are well-known: the disorientation, the mid-afternoon despair, the lethargy before ancient ruins. And yet, the reasons behind such disappointments are rarely explored.”

While I respect that this dynamic exists for many, it is not my reality. As I recall sitting by this river…and, I am a water person…

In all my travels, I’ve never had the experience of my travels not matching my day-dreams. Even as I sit here…it is easy to contemplate the historical concept of cities built by rivers. It is easy to wonder about the lives that have traversed…where are they now, their descendants, what will the flow of the river bring. But, it also makes me think of the many lives I’ve come across. The young man making faces at me laughing in the market in Surabaya, those standing outside the slave castles in Ghana, the rubber tree cultivators in the plantations in Liberia, the cooks at the residences in Haiti, my friends in Buenos Aires…ahhh…so many…and even more…these rivers…So, for me, it is not a matter of the experience matching the day dreams…I imagine it goes back to my own personal goals regarding traveling…whenever I travel….I always find them 🙂

Walking along the river ‘Saar’ and behind the ‘Congress’ center….is the ‘Buergerpark’ and ‘Saarterrassn’ business park basically located on the sit of the former ‘Burbacher Hutte’ iron and steel works industrial site…

One of my personal favorites is the mix of the old with the new – the ability to allow the story to remain and how the evolution of space tells the stories. Posted by the river, it is a great place to roam towards and to just sit…

However, wherever I go…I am most infatuated with culture and the human story. Here, so far from my own physical abode, what are the stories of these – those who contemplate, who reflect, who find peace by the pools, those who live on the water….and how these lives cross each other and demonstrate their affections for on another….

Recently, a friend asked me…’what is my favorite place?’…in truth, I don’t really have a favorite. In fact, when you dig down into it and find what I am looking for…are these places all that different. On the surface, there are the expressions that makes it to appear that variability rules the day. However, looking at these last pictures…brings to mind those common elements of the symphonies of our lives…and how are we doing with our part…

Back to around the town….