Cities can be beautiful, with their old buildings, their big rivers or lakes, its amazing new architecture, all those nice shops and small coffeeshops…
They can also be awfully loud, peacefully quiet or just vibrant and vivid, with musicians in the streets and children playing in the parks.
Have you ever realised that every city also has its own odor? Whenever I entered Edinburgh for instance, I could nearly taste the sweetness and the malty flavor of the local Guiness Brewery. Ever since: If I scent a similar odor it reminds me of Edinburgh and the time I spent there.
But not only the fragance of each city differs, also within a city you can smell differences. By walking through a Hipster-Business-Disctrict like the Wrangelkiez in Berlin you’ll probably smell during lunch time the decent aroma of a fine Thai take away while a light layer of a milk-foam-short-espresso-mixture slowly crawls into your nose. Some years ago you would’ve mostly smelled Bagdad Kebab and other turkish delights. Changing the scenery, walking through the touristy area like Friedrichstraße your nose will be confronted with heavy sausage and meat flavours, mashed with the strong odor of flagship stores like Lush. Then again wading through Friedrichhain will let the sickening dog poo stink into your nose – this disctrict is known for its squats, punks and their numerous dogs.
So it’s not only worth opening eyes and ears, but also making aware what you’re breathing in, because there is more to a city than meets the eyes.
lockenland 