After the near-total destruction of Dresden in the Allied fire-bombing of February 1945, few people believed that its beauty would ever return. Dresden's slow but steady comeback was thus met with great relief.

In January, it's always packed. By February, it fades off. I'm trying to keep it going, slow and steady.

In the cold and snow-rich Silesian winters, there were hour-long rides on Sundays in horse-drawn sleighs to my maternal grandparent's farm to have lunch and to spend the afternoon. The house was a magnificent 18th-century manor house in the nearby Altgabel with a great hall that was decorated with hunting trophies.

Few people have the imagination for reality.

There's so few people in this town with a conscience.

I think there are very few people who have a real style, a real personality, and real beauty.