Category Archives: Europe

Quatra-lingual Conversation for Directions

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We woke up with twenty minutes to go before we were supposed to be all packed up and checked out of the hostel. Somehow the alarm didn’t go off(…it was switched to ‘off’)– oops. We were supposed to be on a train that morning to Kutna Hora, but we just caught a later one and it was all good.

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We took a bus to somewhere in Kutna Hora and walked up to one of the churches– but not the one we wanted. I went in to ask directions to Santa Barbara, the huge cathedral, and the woman told me she spoke better Spanish or German than English. We then proceeded to have a quatra-lingual conversation– Czech, German, English, and Spanish– and guess what? We made it to the Cathedral.

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After being blown away by stained glass and the incredible organ and all, we caught a bus to the Kostnice Sedlec Ossuary –aka Bone Church. Pretty weird.

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We caught a train back to Prague, and I ate traditional Svickova na Smetane: meat and potato dumplings with a nutmeg sauce– not too shabby.

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From there we attempted to find an underground bar a friend recommended– We found it, and then proceeded to wander around Prague buying different foods until our Crowns ran out.

Friends in Firenze

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After 16 hours on four different trains and a bus, we made it Florence. A train from Prague to Wien(where we didn’t get off at Meidlings like we were supposed to[by the time we got our packs on, the train was rolling again!!], so we went a stop down and caught one back and so delaying our arrival by two hours…


We took a night train that left at midnight from Prague — definitely an experience. As I generally sleep on trains, it was pretty cool to actually have a place to lay down, much less harsh on the neck. They even brought two tablespoons on coffee on a tray with bread in the morning!


When we arrived friends were awaiting us. We dropped our packs at their place(where Napoleon lived, no big deal) and went for the best pizza I’ve ever had, at Gusta Pizza. We then proceeded to walk around Florence with bottles of vino, the proper way to spend a first evening in Italy.


It was so damask in that apartment that we didn’t wake up til the afternoon the next day. We had to scurry to make it to the Uffizi, as they’re closed on Mondays, and we’re headed out again Tuesday morning. We made it, and saw the Birth of Venus, of course, but my favorite was by Piero Del Pollaiolo, the “Temperance, Faith, Charity, Hope, Justice, Prudence” piece.


Then, pasta(on a super tiny table). Ciao!

Czech, mate.

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Our group of 13 ate its last meal(and, of course, drank our last beers) together last night at Muggelsee Lake Biergarten in Friedrichshagen. We told stories, and repeatedly sang ever-changing versions of the song inspired by Lisa’s subject, Jannis — “I don’t make party everyday, I don’t make party everyday, I don’t make party everyday — only six days a week,” or something like that…Kiva and Emily’s rap/techno rendition at dinner was pretty solid.


My room at the hostel that night was full of scrambling around, no one being quite ready to leave yet, but everyone headed somewhere else by end of morning. I finished packing three hours before my rail reservations to Prague, and slept restlessly for what I’d hope to call two hours. I had to fit everything down to my back pack again for the intense traveling to come in the next four weeks.


Bailey got in the evening before in time to make reservations for Prague before heading to the Biergarten. We took the M4 to Alexanderplatz and the S75 to HBF(Haupt…something), where we took zug 171 nach Prague.


We made it just in time, and I slept the most uncomfortable sleep ever on that train. But then, we were in Praha.


We got off, made our reservations for Florence, bought a map, got some Crowns and headed off in the direction of our hostel– then we heard the music.


And there we were, swept up in some sort of parade(A welcome parade, they must’ve known I was coming), and walking among musicians and dancers and men on stilts. Thank-you, Prague.


After this, we passed a shop with a dress I want. It’s unique. It only costs 63,000 kc.


We found our hostel, no sweat(I can do the directions, it was decided Bailey’s in charge of the re-folding of the maps…), checked in and then headed off again. First — coffee and ice cream. I felt much better after this, still going off of what I’m -intensely- rounding up to three hours of sleep. I definitely never had a night where I slept as much as in the U.S. as in Berlin.. maybe its the sun-up at 4 a.m. thing, sort of inspiring.


We found a great restaurant, Svejk(–the S has a ‘v’ mixed with a ‘u’ over it…). The Kozeldark beer was awesome, I think my favorite yet. I had a Grandmother’s Kvetovany-style potato soup, and a recruiter Vanek’s steak(mmmmm!!!) This was truly glorious, especially with the second Kozeldark. But get this: roast fillet of pork, peach, cheese, and whipped cream. When I saw this on the menu I knew I had to try it, it’d by either one or the other, and it really was the better turn-out.


Bailey couldn’t quite muster herself up to eating the ham on her plate(she’s pescatarian-ish back in the States), so I willingly helped her out with that as well.


We wondered down to the river, crossed it, and wandered into the Senate gardens. The hedges are nice, the statues are gruesome, and the wall with hidden faces is a bit eerie. I can dig it.


We walked up to the castle, wandered around its grounds, came back down for a fruit chiller(I had ice cream..) and were going to head to the Torture Museum, but it was closed. I saw a beautiful four-door Porsche and took pictures before it got away. Tomorrow night we’ve got a sleep train, til then its Gothic cathedrals, human remains, torture devices, inside the castle, and underground pubs.


A third of my stay in Europe is now down. Four more weeks of swift-paced perspective advancement. Here we go.


Aufwiedersehen, Berlin!

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I’ve been a wretched blogger in Berlin, but I’ve got excuses! My MacAir didn’t hold as much as I’d have liked it to, which led to getting a hard drive to transfer my pictures on to, which led to losing all my photos pre-Soundslides project.


Alright, so, the Soundslides project was the biggest deal, so I’m grateful that evolved with pictures and sound, but all the pics I took before the day I went to Tachelles and found Txus Parras for the project, are gone. Bummer.


Except, of course, for the re-sized pics here on this website.


I have learned — keep photos on the memory card, buy new memory cards before deleting anything, because computers can screw up. Alright, got it.


The tour guide of the “discover Berlin” walking tour did NOT know what he was talking about when he said Tachelles was closed. Yeah, people are trying to shut it down and get the artists out, but they haven’t succeeded yet, I was in there last Tuesday– graffiti, artists and all.


I met Txus Parras there, in the Emma Goldman gallery, and recorded him right then and there. I got some pictures, but returned after the group dinner at the Thai restaurant Ming Quah, back by our hotel. I had to miss the first night at Dr. Pong’s, which was a shame, because it went down in legend(a phone went in the toilet and all). But I got to go the next Monday, not nearly as story-holding, but afterwards a few of us girls went to a club up the street which had a password — and we knew it, so we got in for free! The club played German pop music, then 90s music, and even –gasp– the Backstreet Boys. The club went wild.


You can imagine, it wasn’t really my scene. I mean, cool to be in a club with German folk, but perhaps not the poppy-kind, I don’t even go to those kind of clubs in the U.S. It was cool for a bit though. The trams don’t run often before the sun’s up, so I walked a bit home, but it was refreshing and an appreciated time by myself.


Wednesday we met with Christoph Niemann, then ate at this good Mexican place not far from Alexanderplatz, called Dolores.


Friday, we went to Mercedes World, where I decided I want to have my birthday party one year(they have rock climbing walls!!!) and where I also picked out a select few of my future cars, and also my next bike(only 4000 Euro, for the Mercedes bike! Aw yeah, two wheels). We then went to Lake Wannsee, just barely making the ferry in time, took the bus back and got all dolled up for the show “YMA” at Friedrichstadt-Palast.


“YMA” was great — right up my alley. Aerial silks, acrobats, trampoline, singing, dancing, men getting showers on stage, a pool of rocketts — all sorts. It was wunderbar. The singing in English wasn’t the greatest, and some of the music wasn’t either, but it was the daring acts that took the show.


Sunday, we went to the Mauerpark flea market and I bought a silk and two killer shirts. They had everything there, it was great.


Tuesday we ate at the Top of the TV Tower. I had white wine, cheese, veal, chocolate cake and ice cream. It was delicious, even the view was delectable, but I had to run to meet friends I hadn’t met yet. I ran to the hostel and checked the message saying to go to Kaffee Burger, where I went and met them, briefly before we found someplace better.


Most of the group is on a flight back to the States today. I’ve still got awhile now.


Christoph Niemann, Illustrated

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Wednesday, we met with illustrator Christoph Niemann. He’s done editorial illustration, silkscreens, covers for the New Yorker, a column for the New York Times called “Abstract Sunday,” several children’s books, and his own book “Abstract City.”
(http://www.christophniemann.com)


“What probably makes me not an artist is my confidence in my work relies a lot on how its received,” Niemann said, “Fukishima—the New Yorker cover, in retrospect that’s probably what I’m after, to get that reaction.” He illustrated the cover for the March 28, 2011 issue of the New Yorker, following up the disaster in Japan without any words.


Niemann wanted to do something journalistic, bring deadlines back into his work, “tight deadlines are great, if you stare at something too long you begin to question it.”


He ran the New York Marathon, drew on a drawing pad while running it, took pics and uploaded them from his iphone. The physical part wasn’t bad – it was the mental thing, the thinking for 10 hours that’s tough. Niemann was stopped at the security gate for two hours because of his backpack with batteries and drawing supplies, and this guy walk right in with a flag with a spear at the top of it.


“In the beginning people thought I was writing a book,” Niemann said, “but by the time I got to Central Park they were like ‘Oh there’s the guy who’s doing the live drawing.’”


Nearing the end, he started drawing his shoe, he stopped on the finish line to draw the finish line around it and take a picture, and then he stepped over the finish line.


He’s from Southern Germany and went to school there though he always felt he had to get out. To make up for it, he did internships in New York, and that’s how he ended up there after graduation.


“I still think New York is the best place to work,” Niemann said, but “I couldn’t move left and right, New York was too tight-fast.” He lives here in Berlin now, and there are advantages that come with that.


“The greatest advantage is the time difference,” Niemann said, “for New Yorkers, I get up at 3 a.m.” There’s a six hour time difference between New York and Berlin, with Berlin ahead. So Niemann has his emails in before anyone else. “Worst case scenario, I have a phone call at 10 at night.”


“There’s a lot of talent in Berlin, in New York everything is priced out.” It’s cheaper to live in Berlin, so easier to work with other artists as they aren’t worrying so much about paying their super high rent, and can work on what they want. No, ‘If my apartment wasn’t so small’s – “here if you want to do it, you do it.”

Meeting Timothy Fadek

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We met with Timothy Fadek, conflict photographer, at der Institut fur Fotografische Bildung. http://www.timothyfadek.com/ (You might want to check out his photos.)


He has taken pictures in Cairo, Haiti, Bangledesh, Iraq to name a few.


9 months ago Fadek moved from New York to Berlin. Much easier, not to mention cheaper, to hop on a plane to Athens from Berlin, which is what he did this morning.


“They don’t give assignments to people who are still at home– you have to be there,” Fadek said.


Berlin is much closer geographically to the places that he works in. He went to Cairo, in November to shoot the “non-revolution, or revolution that failed, but a second mini-revolution started, and I happened to be there.”


We asked about how he protects himself as he deliberately walks right into the conflict. He’s got a flak jacket, but doesn’t use it. He says it gives you a false sense of security, “like you’re ninja turtles.” Its better for you to feel fear. Or more of a hyper awareness of your vulnerability(maybe fear’s too strong a word).


“I got shot twice with rubber bullets– I didn’t know rubber bullets could go through plywood.”


He pulled up a picture on the projector of a man with blood over his face, “This happened every 10 seconds.” There was a nasty Eqyptian cop, they called him the eye-hunter, who deliberately aimed at people’s face to knock their eyes out.”


You have to choose a side– never between, with the cops, you’ll be safe, but– “The protestors will be setting fire to trucks — not cops.” You have to always trust your instincts.


“I’ve had dozens and dozens of close-calls,” Fadek said, but the most important thing is– don’t drink the water.


“Sometimes you’ll be in a situation where no one else can help, and you have to put your camera down. You’re a person first, photographer second.”


Timothy Fadeck finished NYU at 21, where he studied marketing and then went into the advertising business. At 29, he dropped off a portfolio of pictures at the New York Times and got his first job as a photographer.