Cobblestones

I'd always thought of cobblestones as being "old". Like in the movies, when someone's riding an old-school heavy black bicycle up a cobblestone path, to the sound of accordions. Today when I left the house there was a construction crew working on the cobblestones on the street near our house. These cobblestones (before the construction) looked perfectly new. So that got me thinking - does that mean there's a market somewhere for cobblestones that are very modern, in the construction sense, but look old? Once the workers laid down the new cobblestones, you couldn't tell there was construction at all because it blended in so well. So what I want to know is, why do they re-pave the street with cobblestones instead of brand new industrial strength pavement? Is it just because pflugstrasse was always cobblestones and thus always shall be cobblestone? cause that would be funny, if in a hundred years there's little flying cars ("It's the twenty first century. Where are my flying cars?") and they're flying on top of cobblestones.

But the thing where you ride an old bicycle up a cobblestone alley, to te sound of accordions - that's surprisingly soothing. There's pigeons too, who have been socialized to stand still and demand food, and lots of people on foot who won't get out of the way, but otherwise it's fun. Thump thump thump *ding ding ding* thump oooooh there's schoggi-crepes screeeech mmm. Yesterday morning I acquired a chocolate croissant without speaking a word of English (hey, not by pointing and gesturing wildly, either).

My morning routine has become something like "buy a croissant from the restaurant for a franc / bike downhill to work / write some code / eat lunch with people / think about email"
Croissants for breakfast and a fifteen minute bike ride to work? Couldn't ask for much better.