Imaginary lines

Published September 27, 2010

Humans love drawing lines. Earth is full of imaginary lines drawn by us, some more significant than others. Some are dangerous and if you cross them you might die, others are actually really fun. Sometimes lines represent end of something familiar and beginning of something new, something exotic. Take the Bosphorus Bridge in Istambul (Turkey) for example. Once you go over the bridge, you crossed one of those lines and, even if you don’t realize it, you are entering a new, maybe unfamiliar surrounding – you are on a different continent!

Schneibstein, located in German Alps, at 2200 meters above sea level, is one of those places where you can cross the imaginary line. It is not as exciting as the one in Istambul, but it still might arouse your curiosity. Once you climb to the top of this peak, there is a place where you can stand, and one of your legs will be in Germany, and the other in Austria. And in between – the imaginary line.

This line, as many (maybe even most of) others, was drawn with the idea of division in mind. Thankfully, today it has a different purpose and it is possible to freely cross it in any direction. We can only hope that other lines that are dividing and separating us will also fall one day. Maybe one day in the future all imaginary lines will be there only to arouse our curiosity.

Location: Schneibstein, Germany