The Wonders of Nature

What you are seeing here is a church in Dresden that has sat in ruins since WW2. Yet somehow the seed of a tree made it into some nook or cranny in the still-standing tower, and this tree has flourished in this ruin, dozens of feet from the ground, the ground (full of tree-friendly nutrients) that trees typically live on.

It just amazes me... the tenacity of nature. Every time I see plants or animals in strange places or thriving in harsh conditions, I am amazed. In a similar vein, I have a great picture of a beautful green plant in the middle of a sea of sand at the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado that goes along with this same theme - plants living somewhere that the mind says that they just can't. Remind me to share that one sometime.

For the record, the shell of this ruined church is now used for open-air theater & concerts. That's also pretty darn cool. I like how the Germans (and I am not implying that they are unique in this way) will actually use what Americans would consider an "eyesore" that would either be ignored and neglected or obliterated and replaced with a new generic strip mall.