A Guide to Danube City, the capitol of Upper Danubia

Danúbikt Móskt

Places in downtown Danube City mentioned in the novel by the order in which they appear in the narrative.

1. Train Station
2. Sergekt’s Restaurant / Plaza of the Ancients
3. Temple of the Ancients
4. Spot where Kim was arrested
5. Central Police Station
6. Central Courthouse
7. Danubian Parliament Building
8. Socrates Club Complex
9. Kim’s Music Store
10. King Vladik’s Castle
11. Cindy’s Hotel
12. Main Cathedral
13. King Vladik's Tomb/War Memorial
14. Remains of the Old City Wall
 

Danube City is not only Upper Danubia’s largest and oldest city, but also the nation’s capitol and the only river port accessible to barge traffic. There are three major rail lines exiting the city: to the northern and southern borders and a third line linking Danube City to the eastern regional center Rika Chorna. There are several branch lines connecting the capitol to the western provincial capitols, but to go to any of the eastern provinces by rail it is necessary to first travel to Rika Chorna.

There are four main districts in Danube City, which in turn are divided into neighborhoods. These include: the Old Walled City, the Old Business District, the Rika Chorna District and the Northeast District.

Places in the outer districts of Danube City mentioned in the novel by the order in which they appear in the narrative.

1. Spokesman Vladim Dukov's House
2. Victor Dukov's Courier Business
3. Sergekt Dolkiv's House
4. Sergekt Dolkiv's Family Garden
5. Forest Park where Sergekt spanked Kim
6. Eloisa's School
7. National University
8. River Beach Public Park
9. King Vladik International Airport
10. National Police Academy
11. Victor Dukov's House

The Old Walled City is considered one of the most attractive and best-preserved historical sites in Europe. The city itself has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years and is the oldest known settlement in Upper Danubia. There are two buildings that date back that far: a section of the Temple of the Ancients and a nearby two-room house used to store religious artifacts. Several other buildings in the Old Walled City date back to the Middle Ages, including the National Cathedral, King Vladik’s Castle, and a couple of stone government buildings.

Most of the buildings contained in the Old Walled City do not date back to the Middle Ages, however. Prior to 1755 nearly all of the buildings in the capitol were made out of wood and tightly crammed into very narrow streets. At the end of the summer that year a huge fire swept through the Old Walled City and destroyed every building not made out of stone. The Grand Duke took advantage of the opportunity to rebuild a much safer and more attractive capitol. He hired architects from Vienna to help design new government buildings and city planners to lay out new streets in a grid pattern. The new plan centered around a large open plaza at the entrance of the National Cathedral and stone government buildings around the plaza. The plan included a new Parliament building and a new courthouse, along with other ministries and office buildings on the blocks surrounding the Central Plaza. The new capitol was largely completed by 1790, but as a result of the plan, most of the city’s residents rebuilt their houses outside the Old City Wall.

The Old Business District was the Danubian financial and business district during the 19th Century. Most of the architecture dates from the 1800’s, although some of the buildings next to the Old City Wall date back to the 1600’s. While Danubians are most proud of the 18th Century Danubian-Baroque buildings in the Old Walled City, many tourists find the Old Business District more interesting because of its wide variety of architecture that spans a 400-year period. Among the older buildings of the Old Business District is the Socrates Club Complex, which started out as a 17th Century armory and military hospital.

The Rika Chorna District comprises the entire area south of the Rika Chorna River. The southern district is the city’s industrial area and contains the main railroad station. The nation’s linen factories are located there, as are most of its food-processing plants. The southern district also contains the city’s only modern high-rise buildings, because high-rises are prohibited in the other three districts. The Rika Chorna District is strictly a business and work area; almost no one actually lives there. Express trolleys transport workers back and forth between their homes in the Northeast District and their jobs in the Rika Chorna District. During the summer most workers commute by bicycle.

The Northeast District is where nearly everyone lives. Most residents own row houses that include a small front and back yard. Some wealthier professionals such as Vladim Dukov have detached houses close to the edge of town. Workers in the government ministries tend to live in fashionable “flats” (apartment-style condominiums) in remodeled older buildings close to the Old Business District.

City planning has influenced Danube City’s growth since 1755. Blocks of row houses in the Northeast District alternate with parks, temples, schools, and communal gardens. There are swaths of rich soil where the gardens are located, and stretches of rocky soil where the houses are located. The Danubian government is very concerned about the loss of farmland and a drop in the country’s agricultural production, so as a rule any patches of rich soil are protected from development, even if located near an urban area.

Because privately owned cars have been prohibited since 1958, Danube City has not grown up around the need to accommodate large numbers of vehicles. There are no parking lots other than small ones next to police stations. Streets, even in newer areas, tend to be narrow and set up exclusively for trolleys and bicycles. Any business deliveries by truck or van must be made in the middle of the night when the trolleys are not running.

The only public parking spaces in the entire city are restricted to the Rika Chorna District. All vehicles, even taxis and delivery vans owned by small businesses, must be stored in government-controlled motor-pools. The motor-pools have their own mechanics who are government employees, and valets to bring out vehicles to their owners when they are needed. Vehicle owners pay special taxes to support the motor-pool service, but are guaranteed that, in exchange for the tax, their vehicles will be kept in good operating condition.