życie jest piękne » Blog Archive » Day 3: An Old Woman Cradling a Newborn Infant

One of my students used a SHU blog during a trip to Europe. Here she describes Warsaw:

It was almost as if we were stepping into a real-to-life version of the Festival of Fools in Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” I’m not insinuating that the Warsawians are fools… but there was chainsaw juggling, mile-high piles of balloons, ice cream shops by the dozens, cobblestone walkways, etc. Behind the joyful facade, though, there is the constant memory of what happened years ago… the city is only beautiful again because it was built up by its people. The buildings that appear to be old are, in fact, reconstructive depictions of what once was, and hence the city of Warsaw (and post-war Poland in general) is like a newborn infant being cradled by an old woman. She is the memory and the remaining pieces of the city walls. Both of these entities- new and old- comprise the beautiful and majestic city. —życie jest piękne » Blog Archive » Day 3: An Old Woman Cradling a Newborn Infant.