Disregard The Known and You Will Find Paradise.

by Fernanda Mendes Sartori (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Brazil

It was due to a coincidence of dates that I decided to put Germany as one of the travel destinations, that week that needed to fill the script, the Bach Festival would be celebrated in Leipzig, so for the love of classical music we decided to give the country that chance. When we think of war, I believe that for most the reference that comes to mind is World War II. Within this scenario we imagine Germany to the sound of sirens and screams. Burnt smell. Looks of fear. For me, Germany has always had these images. When I arrived in Leipzig, I saw a well-structured city, with a mixture of modernity and historic architecture sharing the same street. If you go behind Thomaskirche and keep your back to it, you will see century-old architecture on your right and mirrored buildings characteristic of the current century on the front. For dinner, our local friend took us to a Turkish restaurant, where after being kindly served, we tasted the most comforting Kebab in the world, I felt welcomed into the mix of those flavors. The Bach festival was livelier than I could imagine, it was not just classical music, it was a culture that I do not remember being publicized in the reports, there was sympathy, which I confess ashamed, which I did not expect to see. I thought my surprises in Germany were over. But a few days later we went to accompany our friend on a street race in the city called Dresden. If Leipzig enchanted me, Dresden fascinated me. Seeing a city that was almost destroyed in World War II, rebuilt from the ashes, as if nothing had happened, surprised me. When walking a few blocks, we noticed that several visitors were entering inside what appeared to be a museum, the sign said it was a garden and the entrance was free, so we thought, well since we're here let's see this garden. I lost my breath for a few seconds, I thought I was in a time capsule and suddenly I was in the 18th century, I even looked at myself to make sure I was wearing the updated clothes, but I think a part of me came back a few centuries, because I confess that I could hear the carriages arriving, men and women in their formal attire, the torches lit in the garden to light up the night, people laughing and dancing, the smell of the banquet, I came back, looked around, it seemed that nothing, and nobody had touched in Zwinger, intact. We went back to meet our friend, and he guided us to Theaterplatz, a beautiful architectural complex. After those days I would have to review my stereotypes about a country and the history of its people. I understood that looking through school books and the media, I see only one side of the story, not that they are lies, but they are incomplete, leaving aside many other parts of the context that also deserve relevance. Good and happy stories are also part of building a culture. I thought my adventure in Germany was over, but to my surprise when I got in the car we were taken to the Nationalpark Sächsische Schweiz, a place I had never heard of before. I can't describe with words a landscape sculpted by nature 100 million years ago, but when I crossed the Bastei bridge I remembered a passage from a Chimamanda text that says, “when we reject the unique story, when we realize that there is never a story unique over nowhere, we recover a kind of paradise”. I found gentle looks, the smell of home cooking and the sound of violins and laughter. On our last night in Leipzig we went up to the City-Hochhaus and from there I saw the old City Hall building, I looked at that century-old architecture, from the top of a modern building and understood that old works exist so that we can learn from them and thus new ones to be built. And in the meantime, there is a lot of history.