Edmonton vs. the rest of the world

I thought about what I would write about for quite a while today. At first I thought, I would write about “The Edmonton Queen”, because I finished reading that book today, but once I put it down, I wasn’t really sure what to say about that book at all except that I don’t like it and have a very hard time relating to it. So I’m taking the safe route and instead turn to our discussion from last class and about the traffic in Edmonton.

Back in Germany I’m a very good driver and although driving in Edmonton for the first time will/would be a slightly intimidating experience (I haven’t yet driven a car on this continent, but will do so this summer), I think I would get used to driving here really fast. When I listened to my class-mates during our last discussion and read some of the blogs that have been already posted complaining about the traffic and the one-way streets, I had to smile inwardly, because those complains are not different from what you would here in Germany (and Italy and France and Ireland and and and) These traffic problems can be found all over the world: Germans complains about traffic and the one-ways (believe we do it A LOT) and in that way Edmonton is no different than any other city in the world.

I also read one person complaining about the layout of a city (I think it was Calgary) and that made me laugh. The layout in North American cities is so easy (Although when you come into a city with streets organized in a grid for the first and no one explains it to you, it can be confusing. I spent hours wandering around Washington DC, because I couldn’t find my hotel.), because the cities have been planned that way from the beginning and all the streets have numbers and are parallel. We don’t have that in Germany. Our streets have names, not numbers. They are crooked, round and anything but parallel. If you’re new to a place counting will get you nowhere and you either rely on a map or ask people (though you usually can’t rely on directions given to you either), because usually there isn’t much of a plan behind our streets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining abut this. I grew up in cities like that and am used to it. Like everyone here is used to the grid.

Still Streets in a grid, one-way or not, are easy once you get the hang of it, although at times I’m still amazed at all the streets and avenues. I remember when I first landed at the Edmonton International Airport: Just before landing I looked out of the window and saw the country laid out in a grid before and I was amazed/shocked that a landscape could be arranged so parallel, so planned. And even now I sometimes still find myself amazed how far I can look down a street or avenue and still can’t see the end of it. But hey, everyone is more comfortable with what he is used to.