masterpiece {CHECK} sorry bad title!

On June 17^th I made it back to Duluth. I spent about 3 weeks trying to find a job and have now found a part time doing graphic design for a firm who makes promotional merchandise and as there catch phrase says “your logo on stuff” so that is going well, and I am also working at Barnes & Noble again. It has such a shock to come back to Duluth, it is so different here, considering I feel as there are not many people I know here, no independent theater, and my biggest obstacle, driving a car everywhere-except to the nursing home! I walk to the nursing home whenever I can to visit my grandmother. It is so wonderful to see her, in fact is so wonderful to see my family. I found out in the end the only thing I missed about the US (as this is a very common question) was my family and positively 3^rd street bakery! (cookies and organic bread for a buck!) So in the end where will the wind or the water or my own will take me? Who knows hopefully someplace not too warm, rainy at times and teaches me something new everyday, that’s what I ask for and good friends of course! I meet so many interesting and beautiful and friendly and loving people in the last year and I saw amazing things and experienced things as a fine Canadian one wrote, “don’t forget that there is only one of you and you are the only person who can experience life how you experience so just charge straight fucking ahead into life!” and that’s what I did and that’s what I try to do and that’s what I want to do more of. So here it is the travel journals mostly complete, I have trails and tribulations that did not make it into the typed version. If I see you in real life you may be able to jog my memory about something and I will relay the tale. I appreciate everyone in my life who has maintained their presence in my life, I appreciate you so much even if you don’t know it or don’t feel it. So here’s my story of 2 months of travel around Europe and the United States. And the blog, well maybe it will become my travels in my lifetime. Love you all lots and lots, and this is starting to look like a Minnesota Goodbye, dragging on and on so goodbye and love you all so much from the bottom of my heart with all my soul.

xoxo,

christie

are you from "I" taly?

italy

On April 23^rd, 2007, i left Edinburgh Scotland for Verona. My friend Francesca had signed her “X” on the dotted line and agreed to pick me up from Bergamot Milano, an airport about 2 hours outside of Milano but only 45 minutes from Verona. So at about midnight my plane landed in a hot sticky climate, not relatable for someone who had been living in wet climates for the last 10 ½ months. it was amazing to see Francesca, after not seeing her for 6 months. You have an idea of how people look the last time you saw them, it is not always an accurate photograph of how you remember them.

After catching up for about 3 hours we were both tired so we went to bed. i saw many churches in Verona, i believe i listed them in previous blogs but here we go: Basilica di St Zeno, Chiesa di St Lorenzo, Duomo, Chiesa di St Anastasia, Chiesa di St Fermo. All of which i don’t remember, that’s why i wrote copious notes already about them. i must have already written about Venice as well, so let’s just skip ahead to Rome!

On May 3^rd 2007, i took a train from Verona to Rome, it was about a 5 hour train ride, but that’s alright, i better get used to this now right? The hostel i stayed in was about a 10 minute walk from Termini train station, which is the main train station in Rome. First stop that evening was Fontana di Trevi, maybe it was all the tourists, maybe it was too hot, but hey Trevi fountain, kind of wavering on thumbs up to thumbs down, in fact that kind of sums up how i felt about a lot of things in rome, not super impressed, not what you want to hear i know, it is still an absolutely must to visit, i’m just sayin’ all that art history kind of deflates the balloon a little bit when you see it in real life, and you imagined it bigger or what have you. The following morning, it was pouring outside and me with no trousers or an umbrella, talk about ill prepared! So i haggled with a man on the street for an umbrella and got him down to 4 euro for the super cheap umbrella, better then 10 euro! First stop the Vatican, it was about a 2 hour wait to get into the st peters basilica, but the bernini statues of the 4 saints i can’t remember and the pieta by michaelangelo and the personification of some pope as Constantine by bernini all worth it. i studied this stuff and bernini was definitely a master of the sculpture, is blow-y garment things are absolutely like nothing you can describe. After that i went and stood in the line for the cistine chapel to see some Raphael. The Musei Vaticini has so much art you wouldn’t believe me if i told you, including Egyptian and Etruscan stuff. i stayed in the Musei Vaticini until it closed at about 6…i think. After that i headed towards castle st angelo, it was very beautiful but didn’t go inside. i then wandered along the river looking at some of the ruins. i met some very nice Canadians, an Australian, and some other Americans at the hostel, so we all chipped in for some wine and tapas at the hostel.

The next day i set my sights on villa borghese, another deceased pope who had an amazing collection of masterpieces. i got a little bit lost and somehow ended up on a highway walking, or running for my life into a parking ramp with no path on the side! i was disappointed when i arrived at the villa and found that the next available day for the villa was Tuesday and i was there on Saturday and i was leaving on Monday. So instead i went and found the Museo del Arte Moderna. But my heart was just not set on looking at modern art. You just don’t come all that way to look at modern art in italy. i found a few artists that i enjoyed including Alberto Burri who melted plastic wrap on canvas frames. There was also a contemporary photography exhibition by Paolo Ventura and Maria Ricci who created en exhibition entitled “a journey of remembrance” Ricci inserted herself in photos from her mother’s life and Ventura created cold war painting/photos with mannequins. The park was lovely by the villa, there was even a zoo! i then hopped on the Metro and met Cheope in the Termini station. Cheope is an italian boy i met through Francesca in Dublin. i emailed him out of the blue to tell him i was in rome and he gave me a ring on my mobile, super happy.

My guide around Rome with a real Roman, included such fun things as Colosseo (The Colosseum), Arco di Constantino (the Arch of Constantine), and then to the Pantheon, but it was closed due to a religious ceremony. After Cheope took me to the river and we went to see the eternal flame and Julius Caesar’s burial site in this weird modern building with lots of windows. They wanted to create a building that would protect the burial site after they restored it so they erected this really ugly modern building around the grave, bad choice italy! The Roman’s don’t even like it according to Cheope. Later on we hopped on the B line which took us to Cheope’s University. i have to say if you ever got to Rome, you will want to ride the A line as much as possible. The B line is super sketchy with tons of graffiti and people playing instruments for money inside the trams-an experience in and un itself. i was also informed by Cheope that the best thing about Rome were the drinking fountains! So free water for all! We then proceeded to point out all the drinking fountain. The evening was pretty uneventful but that was okay.

Sunday morning i got up about 7.15AM to catch the fast train to Florence. The train ride was about 3 hours so super quick. On the train i met this super nice woman who was from Morrocco, living in italy. She told me all these amazing places i had to see and wrote some cities down. Super cool. Upon arrival in Florence i found out there were 4 train stations in Florence, and i was definitely not in downtown Florence, so i went back to the train station to catch a different train into town, and lucky for me, the train to the city had just arrived. Upon exit of the train station, and entrance into the city centre there were Romanians on the left and Albanians on the right (here i am babe, stuck in the middle with you…remind you of a certain bob dylan song?). These are 2 groups that are a strain on the state. i wandered into a square where there were people selling things like a flea market it was packed and i was just trying to find the Uffizi Museum. On consultation of my navigational system (map) i realized i was in the north of the city and i was supposed to be in the south of the city to the museum. On my way south i passed the duomo-made of many pieces of marble, one of the largest catholic churches on earth. The cue time at Uffizi was the longest out of anything, anywhere, about 2 hours. But it wasn’t a problem as I brought a book (“the unbearable lightness of being” super good by a Czech author about living in Czechoslovakia) and it started raining an hour after I got in line and rained (for about 4 hours) until I left the museum (perfect timing my globally warmed weather). So masters I saw: Bottecili, Caravaggio, DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Titian, Carracci but overall I am frustrated that they shove everything into a museum and then you can not wander back and forth once you go forward you can NOT I repeat NOT go back from whence you came! After, everything was pretty much closing as it was about 5/6 at night so I wandered to the west part of the city over the river and then to a few piazzas. I also stopped for some pizza at a restaurant for some pizza with buffalo cheese, the buffalo cheese was excellent. Once I got to the train station I found out that the last train to rome was the super slow train and would take about 4 hours and would arrive in Roma about 1 in the morning. Also, I found out they do not dim the lights on this train, at all, so super hard to sleep. The other really fun thing about this train was that the brake stuck so every time the train stopped and restarted it would jerk forward then stop then start again.

The following morning was my last day in roma and then back to Francesca time. I wanted to sleep in but someone’s’ alarm went off promptly at 7. So I was out of the hostel by 10 and off sightseeing. I headed south on the east side where I was to see santa maria maggiore, giardini piazza Vittario where there was a villa with 2 statues of the God of Pregnant Women, then on to Colle Oppio, I also got some great shots of Colosseo and Arco di Tito, I saw the other side of the Colosseum which is what the Colosseo is called. I saw some other random things that I took some photos of but I think the notes in my journal were more for me trying to label the photos more when they came out because my last day kind of turned into a “see everything else you haven’t seen quick but with no thought”. So I list some stuff in the journal and that I bought this amazing scarf with a large paisley in the center, even though I knew it wasn’t Italian I still bought it because it was beautiful. I also made it back to the Pantheon, which for Italians is for all religions and someone really famous and important is buried there but I can’t remember who. It also has a large circular hole in the ceiling probably to let sunlight in to light the kind of church like thing since it has no windows. I attempted a visit to Temio Adriano but they were under construct and being restored, but the Italians were nice enough to blow up a photo on a big tarp so I could see what they looked like. I also made it to the Spanish Steps, and up to the top of the steps. And that was about the end of Rome, I made it to the train and back to Verona in about 5-6 hours and when I arrived there Francesca was running around like a crazy woman getting things ready for her arrival to Dublin, to work for Cultivate for another summer festival. We had Italian ice cream for the last time for a while and then back to her house to pack our bags, talk about our days apart and when I will arrive in Dublin for a visit.

xoxo,

christie

A little bit of Eastern Europe, a country held together by dikes, and a little south, east, and central Germany!

germany

On the 9^th of May I got on a train at 11am to Munich Germany (direct from Verona to Munich) pretty nice, no train changing yet! The train goes through the Alps across Austria to Germany. Human ingenuity is amazing when it comes to the train going through the mountains and then to be able to see them through the train window. It is absolutely picturesque with the little towns or villages on the sides of the train tracks with the mountains in the background. But in my mind no highlands. It took about 6 hours to arrive in Germany (and no border patrol on the trains when we crossed the border) and it was pouring rain on arrival in Munich. I went to the tourism office and found out there were 3 vegetarian restaurants in the city for me to choose from. The vegetarian restaurant I chose to go to was called Prinz Myshlain a German character in a book or something. I found the food really dairyish. There was one thing on the menu with beans and that was hummus! Upon arrival I realized that in Bavarian they really liked sausages and even more they like to smoke...everywhere, even on the trains!

Another day of more rain on May 10th, in fact the whole day. I walked to the Deuchers Museum which is a huge science museum. The museum had 4 floors of fund with science and technology. I wish I could say I learned a lot, I did but I basically forgot it all. It might be tucked away in the old brain but where, I’m not sure. For dinner I tried a vegan restaurant called Vielen Dank, it was a fairly good salad with tempeh. In Munich I found that Henrich street turned into Paul Heyse Street (my old flat mate in Dublin’s name is Paul Hayes) so I found it kind of funny. That evening I hopped on a train to Prague. Sleeping sitting isn’t too bad but it is definitely not the best. I arrived in the Czech Republic at about 7am to be woken up for my passport. Since the Iron Curtain and the Czech Republic has joined the EU the Czechs’ are really cautious about border control. I think that their economy is fragile so they are super careful. And I got the 5^th stamp of the year in the passport in the Czech Republic. Upon arrival I sleepily crawled off the train and with poor directions and no Czech Crowns I used my ingenuity to trade in some Euros to get on the and bought a 3 day tram ticket so I could ride the tram anywhere for the next 72 hours or something. I found the tram that took me to my hostel, out in the middle of nowhere, on the river (which I still don’t remember the name of). I took a shower at this hostel and it was amazing to get out of the shower and be looking at the river and across the river in the distance is the old towne where the castle is. I bought some new walking shoes today, as mine were water-logged and giving my blisters (I will never ever buy NorthFace Shoes ever again!)

czech republic

The following day I got up pretty early to go to the castle Pražský hrad. I went there with an older French Canadian who now lives in France. There was a beautiful cathedral with so many different kinds of stained glass, all of it being done at different times or some if it probably had to be replaced at certain times in Czechoslovakia’s unstable state etc. Aside from the cathedral I purchased a ticket that was good for Old Royal Palace, The Story of Prague Castle (which was like the history of the monarchy in Prague), I also went to St. George’s Basilica which is the 2^nd oldest church at Prague Castle (aside from the first cathedral I went to). The Basilica served as a burial site for Premyslid family and the first Czech female saint, the Princess Ludmila. When I was in the basilica I sear I could feel the presence of Ludmila in the crypt. As soon as I stuck my head through the bars into the crypt I felt this sadness and cold move over my skin that cannot be described to those who do not believe in old spirits or ghosts. I also visited St. George’s Convent-National Gallery with Bohemian art from the Czech Mannerists and Baroque art period. Then I walked down to an area called the Golden Lane which was a bunch of shops that used to be inhabited by the castle’s riflemen and later by goldsmiths. I also visited Daliburka Tower which is named after the first prisoner Dalibour of Kozojedy, the tower is now a museum of ancient torture devices, maybe the photos will turn out even in that low light situation. The last place I visited was Prague Castle Picture Gallery which was the old stables, not great but fine for a collection of art. This gallery had many students of art replicating some of the paintings in the gallery, kind of interesting to watch the students paint these works of art. Next on the agenda for that day THE MUSEUM OF COMMUNISUM, did that seem ominous? That’s what I was going for. I learned all about how Czechoslovakia went from a Republic to Communist to a Republic (the monarchy was around way before the republic fell the first time so no info on that) there was lots of memorabilia, as well as propaganda and other antiques. There was also an excellent film about the Velvet Revolution and young men setting themselves on fire as a form of peaceful protest against the Communist state. If only I had taken notes during the film maybe I would have remembered more Czechoslovakian history. Later I found a vegetarian restaurant called comfort living with good cheap cafeteria style vegan/vegetarian food. I also made it to the clock tower to watch the tower change on the hour. The 12 apostles come out of the two windows and the skeleton rings a bell. Really neat to see, if you ever go the Prague the clock tower is a must, right in the middle of town the tourists all stop and stare at this clock and point and talk in all the different languages.

Some crazy things in Prague…

Aside from the super cheap great beer there is a store called “Bank Rot” which is like a dollar store/pound saver etc.

While on a tram I passed a house boat with a banner across it that read “Botel” clever I know.

“TV Products Store” the store that sells products “As Seen On TV” and lots and lots of channels with infomercials, whether or not people buy this stuff I have no idea.

Today was my last day in Prague and then off to Dresden for a night and then on to Berlin. First I headed towards St. Nicholas Church \located near the Castle of Prague when Nicole (a girl I met from Holland) and I arrived at the church we found that there was a morning mass church service taking place so we could only go into the back of the church. This church is one of the most memorable churches I visited in my tiny travel because it was super garish with fake marble and gilded statues. We wandered towards the Mucha Museum who is the epitome of Art Nouveau and he can probably be named as the most influential of the movement. The museum held many proofs as well as photographs of the artist and his family. Towards the end of his life he created a series called the Slave Epic which consisted of some 20 odd paintings about the history of the Slavs using Allegorical figures from their pagan past. Alfonso was Czech and Slovak. His commercial work defined a generation in France and changed the way posters were made but his paintings were his masterpiece. Nobody really wanted to commission him to do the Slave Epic, and in the end he found an American to fund the project. He was later interrogated by the Nazi party which in the end became the death of him. After the museum we met up with Anna who accompanied us to the church where we went earlier, but we could now get into the church. We got to go up to the 2^nd floor as well as look at some paintings of the Passion Cycle. After that we went up to the top of the bell tower-beautiful view of the city-then we separated as I had to head to the hostel for my things and then to the train station. Once I started on my trek to the hostel I was alarmed to find that was a marathon and the tram was not running that way so I had to walk 40 minutes to get to a metro and then I ran to the hostel and back to the metro and realized that I was not going to make it so I got off at the closer station to get a new ticket but they would not get me one and the woman in the window told me i was at the wrong station so I asked her how to get to the other station and she just turned away from me. I figured out how to get on the metro and found that my train was 15 minutes late.

germany

Somehow karma had worked in my favour and I was on my way to Dresden, I found my hostel took a shower and went to bed. I got up at 7.30 to walk around the city; you can visibly see that everything in the city had to be rebuilt after world war II. I stopped at a café for a machiatto an omelet and something called Hausgemachie Quarkkeulchen quiet a mouthful but it was a fried dumpling made of cheese and raisins-very heavy, but delicious. The café was right outside Church of Our Lady which had a piece of the old dome outside the church. Since I was out the door at 10 to 8 I was able to arrive in the city center to enjoy the bells of the churches-absolutely picturesque! Later in the afternoon I visited the northern part of Dresden (where my hostel was) called Dresden-Neudeust, literally translated as New Dresden, oh the Germans and their literalism! I went to a couple of churches and to a park and then headed to the train station, after almost getting stuck in Prague for another day I was 30 minutes early for my train! In mid afternoon I arrived in Berlin I found my hostel, in the forest of west Berlin and then headed for the internet as it was free at the hostel! Later on I met my roommate, an Australian guy named Luke, he had more of an English accent then an Australian accent, but that’s besides the point we headed into town for a cheap veggie burger beer and French fries and then to the Eastside Gallery which is part of the remaining Berlin wall covered in graffiti. The wall is amazing to see in person, you see old video from the wall being broken down but you are a bit disconnected from it until you actually see it. In 98 there were artists who were invited to come and do some murals on the wall, they are awesome.

The following morning I left at around 9.30am to find the Bauhaus Archive, which houses a lot of Bauhaus work including work by Moholy-Nogy, Kandinsky, Herbert Bayer (typography) so great work as I will not make it to Dassau where the school that was designed by Groupis is. Lots of history about he Bauhaus. Later on that day I went of a free tour of East Berlin which included Brandenburgh Gate, the Reichstag (the Government Building/Parliament), Hitler’s Bunker (which is now a dirt car park where Germans choose to bring there dogs to shit), The Holocaust Memorial-for Jewish people of Europe (controversial because what about the 3 million people the Nazi’s killed?), Postdamer Platz, The Berlin Wall that has the Topography of Terror, SS Headquarters, Checkpoint Charlie (after Alpha and Beta) Museum Island, Gendarmenmarket and the Book Burning Memorial. Later on that night I went to the Reichstag a beautiful parliamentary building which you can climb up to the top of a glass dome and look down on the Parliament-and it’s free! The info I read about the government and how it works it instilled in me the hope that this government will work for the people. It made me feel a sense of nationalism and pride in the government of Germany I wish my own government did that for me.

May 15^th, in the morning I chose to go to the Sachsenhausen Museum and Memorials this was the sight of the new more efficient concentration camp designed by Henrich Hilmner. It was constructed by Estonian and other Baltic State prisoners for the state of Prussia. This was not like a death camp like Auschwitz but a concentration camp. The site has 3 museums two mass graves and examples of the barracks both these are not the original barracks-they have been rebuilt twice-they were burned to the ground in 1992 as an act of anti-Semitism. I’m a bit dumbfounded at the moment and can’t really make a comment on the site at this moment in time. There was an empty pit of sadness that kind of was my stomach, and I had the knot in my throat like I could cry at any time and I could not speak. After going to this sight I think it is necessary to have these and to visit these kinds of things, even though we are so far removed from the time and the place, it makes you realize any feelings you have for humanity. That same afternoon I went to the Helmut Newton Gallery where i saw some work by David LaChappel, who shoots photos of celebrities which are usually shocking, for instance he shot a photo of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain in the pose of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Also at this exhibition was a war photographer, which by the time I started looking at the photos of Bosnia, on the verge of tears, I thought this is too much for me today. First the concentration camp and now photos of genocide and tragedies of war. The on the next floor of the gallery was an exhibition entitled “Humanism in China” the poverty and the amount of people going this way and that, and there were so many photos it made me a bit claustrophobic. Then I went out and looked at all the different sites that I wanted photos of and the Berlin wall, once again. I tried to go to the Botanical Garden but it closed at 8 and I got there at about 8.15L Then to find a restaurant was a little bit impossible but I managed to find a Greek restaurant but more cheese! Then later that night I found out my roommate was a crazy girl from Florence who married some random guy she knew for 2 months and he started drinking heavily and snorting stuff-and in the end left her. Super tragic. So she was moving back to Europe.

denmark

The following morning I was up at 5.40 to get into town for a 7.22 train to Hamburg I got off and had the pleasure of experiencing the lack of seats so I had to wait between cars to get a seat. It was no more then 10 minutes before I got a seat. Once in my seat I fell asleep and when I woke up it looked like I was in a warehouse-no just a ferry! So it is amazing how they get to Denmark, Copenhagen, rather then drive through the country, they load the train on a ferry and it takes about 40 minutes versus 3 hours! When I arrived in Copenhagen it was raining so I wandered towards my hostel (city public hostel) passing sex shops and kebab food huts. Once arriving at the hostel I realized where the name came from, it was a public hostel, as in down and outs lived there when they had enough money. So I was a bit apprehensive and asked, oh how many people in a room etc. and found they had smaller rooms with only 10 beds, for backpackers. So I stayed in one of the 10 bed rooms with 2 girls form Holland and we were the only people in the room. So I had the fortune of getting a bed that squeaks- a lot to the point where every time I moved I made the bed squeak, move my foot ‘squeak squeak squeak’. The afternoon I arrived I went to the Rundetaarn a tower in which you can see the entire city from, it was nice enough out for my time in the tower, there was sun and no rain. While up in the tower I heard some drunken singing and as I was leaving the tower there were people with pitchers of beer and a man with an accordion and I can only guess it is a tradition when the students at university finish classes they drink with their professors and then go up to the top of tower. Like in the university of Rome (as according to Cheope), you jump into the fountain after your final final!

So the next day in Copenhagen it was pouring rain but I went out anyway-I believe it was also some holiday as most shops were closed including the supermarket, but all the 7-11s were open! So I wandered by the castle-not so impressive and then towards an area called Christinia-an area in which a hippie commune still exists. There are people who are just squatters where they on the build a shack out of scraps and there are paintings everywhere absolutely amazing that the city lets this area remain; but apparently it draws in a lot of people. I also found a great sandwich shop near to Christinia which sold a huge sandwich with hummus and sun dried tomatoes-no dairy! Then there was wandering back to the hostel for my luggage and then I went to the train station-one thing really amazing about Denmark and Sweden-linked by a bridge you can get to Sweden in about 30 minutes, Malmö to be exact. Then I took a 5 hour train ride to Stockholm. The first night there I stayed in a 3 star hotel- I was able to wash my clothes and dry them on the towel heating rod. I also enjoyed my beer I bought in Germany along with a cheese and lettuce sandwich and an episode of Scrubs, with Swedish subtitles.

xoxo,
christie

Sweden ship to Estonia ship to Finland (I hope i'm not ship out of luck about being on the sea!)

sweden

The following morning I booked a boat ride to Tallinn and a hostel for that night. When I arrived at the hostel the guy behind the counter offered to show me a vegan restaurant- I had a vegetable chickpea Malaysian curry with brown bread. I then went back into town and saw the Island, Old Town Garäm something, lots of old buildings before arriving in Stockholm I did not realise that Stockholm is made up of 14 different islands that’s kind of crazy that a city is made up of a bunch of islands, it seems the Swedes and myself are not on the same page as I would have named the islands different things and they would have been different cities, but I suppose the islands are all relatively small. After that I wandered into what I thought was a park (well, according to the map) but it was not a green park, it was an area of outdoor concerts. There was a cover band that played/sang a Justin Timberlake song and at that point I was like, nope I need to leave like now, because I really don’t think it is going to get better. get out the banners and the balloons Stockholm is the first city I ever experienced a woman peeing in the street. Later on that night I went out with hostel worker desk guy to a bar and had an alright time talking to him and some guy who told me about how he used to live in Newark NJ for a while.

The following morning I went to an east island where there was a real park, a bunch of museums and some walking trails, very nice relaxing day considering I was tired hung over and had a headache. I did go inside the Swedish history museum where I learned all about Vikings, wow, lots of interactive sites as well as stuff that was trilingual. That afternoon I got on a ferry to Estonia and I noticed the coasts of Sweden look just like the coasts of Minnesota lakes and on the train, traveling through southern Sweden to Stockholm looks just like northern Minnesota with the trees and fields it’s so strange the Vikings found the exact same kind of area so far from there homelands.

estonia

May 19^th, so this evening I got on a ferry to Estonia. One of the Dutch girls in Copenhagen suggested visiting it she said it was a very quiet and nice for a few days, to visit. So the 15 hour ferry ride arrived on the 20^th of May in Tallinn yet another stamp in my passport. So I arrived in town and found I was walking far to southeast of my hostel, and old town. So I looked on another tourists map to find out where I needed to be going. Once I reached the hostel the guy working the desk was like “oh you were supposed to check in yesterday” oops, Christie forgot about the one night on a boat meant no hostel needed. So I dropped my bags and wandered in and out of all the handicraft stores after settling on a few gifts I found a restaurant called something like the league of natural food and had a wonderful 4 rice dish with some bread, lots of bread, I think I age about 12 slices of small bread. Afterwards I did some more wandering and found the museum of applied art and design. I have to say I was quite impressed with the collection considering they had 2 major times of design the early 1970s and the 1930s and a small resurgence in the last coupe of years. Once arriving on the third floor the man who entered the gallery with me asked if I wanted to go for a beer afterward I said sure and found out that he was from Dublin! A very pleasant man so we spent the afternoon talking about architecture and the like but in the end he had to catch a flight home, so we went our separate ways. So I wandered around the quiet city until I found a jazz bar called Basso Lounge which I didn’t realise until the 20^th that I did not leave enough money to cover the bill so I will probably do some online research and send money that I owe.

The following morning I got up around 9.30 and was out of the hostel at about 10.30 which I forgot to mention previously that I found soy milk in the super Estonian market-uuuuuuuuuuuuuu! So I found a café for an espresso macchiato and a roll and then I wandered into St. Michaels Covenant of the Cistercian Order church and climbed the tower then I went towards the Dome Church (14^th century) and my favorite Russian seeming cathedral, Alexander Nevski Cathedral, built in the 18^th century, I didn’t go in but still beautiful then it was off to the ferry for Helsinki. Oh but first I passed the really tall tower of “Kiele in de Kok” tower built in the 15^th century-too funny a name! I arrived at the ferry and was sitting outside enjoying the cold sea air when a man came up to me and said “You have no room?”

Me, “No”.

“You want beer?”

“No Thank You.”

“I have some in my room.”

“No thanks.”

“No sex, no sex!”

“No, that’s alright I don’t want a beer.”

“My boy there.”

“Oh yeah.”

“You from London (or something like this)?”

“No.”

“I in mafia London!”

“I don’t understand.”

“You speak English?!”

“Yes.”

“That’s nice!”

“Somedays (nervous laugh from me).”

“You tired; you come sleep in my room?”

“No thanks, I’m alright.”

“You could come to my room, no sex!”

“No thanks though.”

“Okay!”

Straight out of a bad Russian film, I don’t know maybe he though I could be a mail order bride. Afterwards I went inside the boat and sat and had a cup of tea. I was right next to a lounge where there were singers! Now don’t confuse live free music with good music, quite the opposite out of key and not being able to hold notes I just started laughing because it was so bad. I found out lots of people go to Estonia and Denmark for cheaper alcohol, if they were planning a trip they bring back vodka by the carton! Upon arrival in Helsinki I start walking towards town. A nice gentleman asked “where are you trying to go?” so I showed him and he told me the tram to take. So I found this office booked my hotel for the 23^rd and then off to the hostel. I took the long way around and couldn’t get out of the tram at my stop as it was so packed! There was some sort of conference going on so lots of men in suits got on the tram at different times. Once out, I tried to figure out where I was and a woman came up behind me and was like “do you need some help?” so she turned me in the right direction. I thanked her started walking one way then another gentleman came up and asked me if I knew where I was going. my god I have never in my life experienced such eagerness in assisting someone who is lost. I found my hostel, which were the old Olympic stadium apartments from the 1987 Olympics. So I took a shower and then I checked my email and booked the rest of my hostels and my flight to Dublin! Then I went out for dinner to an Indian restaurant called Ravintola Gandi excellent fairly priced food, super good Indian food but the server wanted me out of there, he came up to my table after I was done with my food for about 10 minutes and told me, “we are closing in about 20 minutes, so do you want anything else!?!” fair enough the sign on the door said they were open until 11pm and it was only 10pm so whatever, false advertiser!

finland

the following morning I slept in and left the hostel around noon. I decided to also post on Couchsurfing that I was in town if anyone wanted to go for a drink or something just text me. So in the end I got a text from Imo who said he was the Couchsurfing Ambassador for Helsinki. So I met him for drinks at about 5 and then we went with another group called Jolly Dragon (another online group that organizes drinks or bowling or things like this). So on this night we went to a bowling alley. I haven’t bowled since I was about 14 or so. The more cider I drank the worse I got as a bowler; I even threw the ball backwards, whoops! Before the night life began I spent the day doing such fun things like going to the Cable Factory, you guessed it, and it’s an old cable factory where they now have photography and other art exhibitions as well as have theater events. I went to the photo exhibition as it was open, and they were installing a new exhibition in the hall. It was free, because it was Tuesday or something like that, so that was nice. Lots of Finnish artist, but others as well. One thing that is quite funny is in Finland they put the artists birth year instead of the year that the work was created on the wall next to the art. Some artists that I wrote down include: Raoul Grüstein, Citizens Portfolio there was a photo of a woman that was so beautiful, she had this amazing skin tone, and the shape of her face, if beauty of a woman had a poster child, I’m sure this woman would be it. There were some other artists that I listed with no words about their art so kind of useless to list the artist without any descriptors. “SLIPPERS!?!” You’ll get it if we’ve had this conversation. I also found a book called The Helsinki School of Photography, which has amazing contemporary Finnish photographers in it, since I had no room in the suitcase I just listed it in my journal so that I could look for it here in the US. So some interesting things to drink in Finland include: vodka with Fisherman’s Mints (kind of tastes like cough syrup), vodka with salty licquorice. And this is the spot where I bring up how much I love licorice but not really in my alcohol. Interestingly enough licorice has a component called glycyrrhizin and this stimulates the adrenal cortex which can cause headache, raised blood pressure and in some cases cardiac arrest! So I guess the Finns could always say “it wasn’t the drink that killed him it was the licorice!”

The next day Timo took me to Suomenlinna and island fortress built by the Swedes when they occupied Finland to fight the Russians. It is a beautiful island with the fortress walls still remaining and many other features-plus we needed to take a ferry there. Another ferry ride, which was number 3 in about 4 days! So we arrived back to the city and walked through a square and then I went to meet Tiia (someone I met at the bowling night) and we went to the MOA. The Masters of Arts Exhibition. It is an exhibition with people who did their Masters of Arts or final projects/thesis’ in all types of design and mixed media and photography, with more focus on technical design then art (i.e. painting). I wrote many things in the exhibition book I got so if you want to see my notes or some of the exhibition stuff you will need to ask me for the book! After that I went for drinks with the Jolly Dragon group again with my first ever 2 hour bar hop, The small group included myself, Timo, Minttu (a finish girl named whose name is mint in Finnish, super cool), and a Danish guy who’s name I can’t remember for the life of me.

xoxo,
christie

amsterdam Utrect Paris (snap fingers to add flare to title)

the netherlands

The following morning was my flight to Amsterdam. So 30 minutes by bus to the airport and then I arrived with about an hour before my flight with a line that stretched so far, I was like there is no way I am making this flight. So went and pestered the woman at the self check out and got my bags checked and through security for my flight. Again I am really sorry Scandinavian airlines for my poor planning! So the flight uneventfully landed in Amsterdam, with no delays or bomb threats! It was quiet warm in Amsterdam but I gathered my luggage took a train to the city centre, chatted with a guy who was from, somewhere (all I remember is he had a home in Amsterdam, and his wife lived in Venice i.e. rich business man). Dropped the stuff at the hostel and then headed to a vegetarian restaurant called Bolhoed. No idea what the name means, but good food anyway! Then I was so tired I tried to go to bed at 11.30 but there was someone who was snoring already by the time I got there! I should also mention the irony of the hostel I stayed at in Amsterdam; apparently I wasn’t looking at the hostelworld thing some well because somehow I booked a bed in a Christian hostel. Fair enough to be Christian but in Amsterdam, the land of legal prostitution and marijuana? So a little bit funny.

The following day I made it to Anne Frank’s House, it’s really sad to be there, you get to walk behind the movable wall and into everyone’s rooms. Obviously not much was left over, but there were a few photos of celebrities that were attached to the wall that Anne put up to decorate the families homes. I also ventured into the Marijuana Museum; you can’t go to Amsterdam and not go there! It was kind of interesting to see all the little tid-bits of information they had about the cannabis plant. I already knew the fun little fact that Henry Ford, the creator of the Model T never wanted cars to be run on gasoline, he wanted them to be run on soybean oil and hemp see oil. I also marched my way into the Sex Museum. Lots of photos of 1890s pornography and Betty Page! As well as the interesting little morsel of knowledge I learned, that is that American’s are really the only people in the developed Western world that like anal sex! In fact the exhibition went so far as to say that American’s love anal sex! After that I went and saw some “socially acceptable” forms of entertainment including the FOAM museum (fotgrapfia of Amsterdam Museum) where I saw the same photographer as I did in Berlin about the victims of war photography. I also went to the “Centre Voor Photography Amsterdam” where there was an exhibition called something like “Photos of our Parents”. Later in the afternoon, after getting lost a few times, I made it to Wertheimpark and then back to the hostel to collect my luggage and to the train station to Utrecht to meet Nicole (girl I met in Prague). As I was going to Utrecht I found my pone hand not topped up and I could not contact her but I found a payphone and attempted to call her, but with no luck. So some very nice person let me use their mobile phone! So Nicole came and picked me up and we went into the city centre for the night. First I thought Nicole said we were going to ride bikes into town and I was a little bit nervous, but then she said no you need to hop on the back of the bike while I start peddling and sit there. So the two of us got on the bicycle, doing it the Dutch way on the bicycle. Nicole pedaling and Christie trying not to tip the bike. Utrecht at any time of day is beautiful, whether at night with all the people at the cafes or bars, everyone sitting outside as the Dutch summer can be very short. As soon as we got into town Nicole said “ohhhhhhhhh ice cream!” so I had hazelnut and tiramisu ice cream. Then more wandering around while we found a Greek place with a salad and rice for me. Later we went to one of her favorite bars and we sat outside in the beer garden with drinks and watched the people go by. While sitting there I asked Nicole, “do you ever run into people you know while you sit in the outside bar?” and who should appear not more than 15 minutes later but her ex-boyfriend visiting from Spain! So after our drive we walked back towards the bicycle, only to find the Miffy museum! So we peeked in the window and were both very excited by what we saw-so we both knew we needed to go to see Dick Bruna’s work. So after the bike ride home it was pretty obvious that the bicycle was done until it got more air in its tires. We both felt every bump in our bottoms! Upon arrival at Nicole’s home we both took showers and went to bed.

I was amazed at how late I slept; I didn’t get up until about 10am. After breakfast we left the house at about 11.30 and walked into town (as the bicycle tire desperately need air) The first thing we went and saw was Miffy Square, in Utrecht. We were both amazed at what shambles the square was in, cigarette butts, and litter everywhere! And poor Miffy had graffiti all over her. It’s a good thing we took photos from far away! After the square we headed to Nicole’s favorite coffee shop, alas it was full so we got some scones and a brownie bar for take away and went to a different coffee shop. The waiter at this coffee shop asked if I was visiting from France. I told him, no I am from the US but I had been out of the country for a while. So we sat and drank our cappuccinos and cheekily ate our treats, our strawberry scone and coconut brownie. After it was to the Central Museum, to see Miffy! The Central Museum had an exhibition about the Evolution of Technology and both Nicole and I were scratching our heads and it was a really confusing set up- and there were live chickens with no ventilation-yuck! So we went to the Bruna Huis and looked at the Exhibition and acted like children for the afternoon. Then we headed to get some food-we stopped and got some Turkish bread and tried to find some ripe fruit but we had no luck. So we rushed to her house and found were still running late for my train and still I missed it-so I had to take like 4 trains to make my train in Brussels, to France, but it all went well. One thing I noticed upon arrival to Brussels and Paris IS THAT Holland, Belgium and France all have legal prostitution. The directions given to me by my hotel were crap I asked the security guard in the train station and he did not have a clue, as I did not have an address. So i called the hotel and couldn’t figure out what the person was saying then I had the security guard call and he got the info for me, the tram/train stop they had listed was incorrect. He showed me how to get there using the Metro and told me I really should take a taxi and not really wanting to deal with the metro at that moment in time agreed and he took me to the taxi cue. So 5 minutes later, through the Red Light District we arrived at my hotel. The following day I found my other hotel and then went to Cimetre Du Pere Lachaise, where I saw Oscar Wilde, Eugene Delacroix, Ingres, and Jim Morrisons’ graves. Afterwards, I caught the Metro to St Chapelle, Palais de Justice, and the Conciergerie. St Chapelle is the chapel Louis XIV built for himself; it was built in about 6 years while Notre Dame was still being built. There is a lower chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Upper Chapel has the most amazing stained glass you could ever imagine. It shows, I think the 12 books of the bible in each window. The concierge was also very interesting-many revolutionaries were held here during the French Revolution. It was also really sweet, because if you were held you could pay money to get a better cell, if you were slightly wealthy you could get a cot instead of straw to sleep on. If you were a lord or something you could get a private cell! I also saw what the cell of Marie Antoinette would have looked like-they think. The models in the cells were hilarious; the wigs were not on right or straight! Maybe they wanted to show that revolutionaries must have disheveled hair. In the afternoon I just sort of wandered around looking at all the funky independent shops until I found a café for a salad and a passtarie for some cookies-one with jam and hearts and one with chocolate, then bed early so I could get up for the Louvre!

May 28^th, Monday, raining againL So I woke up early to pack and to get to the Louvre! I was out of the door about 8.15 and was in line by 8.50 and through security with ticket in hand by 9.15! I think the fastest famous museum time ever in my travel! Rather then write down all the stuff I saw, I am just going to put the map with notes in my journal-and hope it doesn’t pop out and get lost. Here a few notes that did not make it onto the map: Antonio Corradini (1668-1752) “Femmé Voilée” statue with a bucket over her head and copper water coming down with stones and silver balls between the copper. This statue was modern with the metal over the statue’s head it was a little bit bizarre to see. Gloria Friedman “The Contemporaries” 18 people in plaster with clocks, this piece was to show how short our time on earth is and how precious each moment is. There was some other stuff that, again I need to google in order to know why I wrote it down! The special exhibition I went to was Praxiteles, who is a Greek artist who created a lot of the Hellenistic statues that the Romans copied, and artists who were creating historical and allegorical paintings would use these poses to reference the statues and the Greek stories behind them. It was an amazing collection with 3 originals and then the Roman or more contemporary copy. The exhibition included one excavated statue from a ship that is 500 feet below the surface. After six and a half hours of the Louvre and being burnt out on art, I walked to Notre Dame to climb, what else but a tower! I believe it is close to 300 steps that I stepped before I got to see “Emmanuel”, the bell in the south tower (which is one of the largest bells in Notre Dame). The security guard started ringing a little bell and saying “it’s Emmanuel’s’ grandson!” Perhaps the real Quasimodo? I also took a photo of Esmeralda’s cell, the Concierges’ wife. I stepped inside the church one more time before I left. Somewhere around Notre Dame I misplaced my faithful umbrella that kept me dry from Italy on throughL Luckily I still had my raincoat! I was in rough shape running to first catch the metro to where I needed to catch my bus then running to find the parking lot where I needed to catch my bus in the rain with my two backpacks strapped to me like I am a pack animal! I got stopped by a red light to go and catch my bus and while waiting 2 French men decided to remind me that I was getting all we standing in the rain waiting to cross the street laughing and pointing and speaking in French, but oh well I couldn’t understand them so no skin off my back! During my time in the Louvre I saw one of my favorite paintings “Liberty Leading Her People to Freedom” by Delacroix. Absolutely beautiful-although I thought it would be bigger! Joking! The colors are so dramatic the flag and liberty the lightest things in the painting to show that this is the light in a bleak world for the French. The men’s faces show such emotion, a lot of them border on grotesque looking. I also saw the painting the “Grand Odalisque” which is a famous painting by Ingres. She is elongated and the colours slightly brighter then in the photos or slides. And of course Mona, I thought it was sweet how they let the children get so close to the painting and the adults with their video cameras are herded like cows through the line and you can not spend many moments starring at her, you would need to go through multiple times in order to view the painting. If DaVinci could see us he would be pointing and laughing at all the nimrods amazed by her and totally passing by other equally amazing paintings!

xoxo,
christie

Ireland and Northern Ireland

ireland

So after the crazy run to the bus and getting teased by some French guys I made it to the bus and the hour long bus ride to the satellite airport operated by Ryanair.com. checked in ate a sundried tomato and goats cheese sandwich then went through security to wait until I could get on my flight to Dublin. I cut down on my travel times, meaning I cut days off Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands, and cut Belgium out completely! I did this in order to see my friends in Dublin before I left, and I have to say, it was one of the best decisions I could have made. I was so happy to spend a few more days with Francesca before I made my way to the United States. So I arrived in Dublin about 11.30pm and caught the last bus in to town. I found Fra at the Siné the local pub and met a couple of her friends there and then we made our way out of the pub, as it was last call 30 minutes before I had gotten there. So we went back to the house and pretty much chatted over a tea and then we both went to bed. Angielle was visiting her family in France so she was not in so there was a free bed in the house! The following morning I went to find the office to apply for dual citizenship and was pretty much shut down. Bummer! I also went and visited the Down to Earth family and bought another salt crystal lamp. It was nice just going around and seeing the old city. The following day I took an hour bus ride out to meet my friend Ruth and see her baby. So I got to see Joey and her husband Paul came home during lunch so I got to see him as well. Ruth is a wonderful mother, she was so ready to become a mother and I am so happy for her and Paul. They have their house on the market to try and sell it and get a larger house. Ruth used to work at Down to Earth, and she tried going back but she wanted to work mornings and it just didn’t fit into the Down to Earth schedule so Ruth wasn’t sure what she wanted to do but she was just living in the moment, enjoying being a mother! And actually the day before I think I had lunch with Eileen at Yamamori. I found out that they no longer carry their turtle cheesecake, which was the best dessert in Dublin, as it didn’t contain a shitload of butter! So it was so awesome to see Eileen as well, she is studying to become a naturopath and she works part time at Down to Earth and she also sings in a country western band. I have the myspace page if anyone would like the site address, I just don’t have it with me while I am writing this bit of the travel! So she is doing awesome and healthy! I arrived on a Monday in Dublin and on Friday morning I took a bus to Belfast, to see Giant’s Causeway. The bus ride is just over 2.5 hours, so it really wasn’t too bad! We also got to go through a tunnel out of the city centre to go north of the city. (let’s go on a pigeon walk shall we…so Dublin built a tunnel so that semi trucks could get out of the traffic within the city centre, because if you have ever waited for a bus in Dublin, you will know that it does not run according to schedule, being up to an hour late at times! Which is why I wanted a job I could walk to! So this tunnel was built to reduce traffic, unfortunately the tunnel is not tall enough for the trucks and double-decker buses in Dublin! Ooops! So the tunnel is built to European standards but for some reason semi trucks and double-decker buses in Dublin are all about 10 inches taller then trucks and buses in European! So long story short I rode the short bus to Belfast (LOL) but most of the other buses don’t fit!)

northern ireland

Upon arriving in Belfast, I visited some stuff including a Botanical Garden, inside the garden was a statue of Sir Kelvin, if you scroll back to January 2007 I visited Glasgow and saw a statue of Sir Kelvin by the river Clyde! So while I was trying to find the name of the statue, a man came up to me and said “do you know who this is?” and I said, “why yes I do it is Sir Kelvin, the man who figured out the law of absolute Zero 273 degrees Fahrenheit = 0 degrees Kelvin, super necessary when dealing with chemistry.” And so we talked about physics for a little while and he started writing a bunch of books down that I need to read, in my life on earth, so we will see what happens. Cyril then told me that he as Aspergers syndrome, so he knows a lot of factual stuff, but he is nearly incapable of showing emotions or having tact when talking to people. He was fine enough though, a cool old Northern Irish guy who told me about the city, most of it I forgot, if anyone needs the necessary book list of books to read before you die, let me know I will be happy to post the book list. So I went out for Indian food this night as well as buy snack food for the trip to the Giant’s Causeway. Rachelle and her sister arrived at about 2am but we had a nice 3 bed room. The following day we had to catch a bus at 8am and then we got off at a rope bridge that the men used to salmon fish on. The rope bridge stretches over the sea from a small fjord like island thing. And just as we were about to walk across the bridge, the gale winds started to pick up. Besides, it was typical Irish weather, rain and wind! So after that we had some lunch and then started walking towards the causeway, little did we know it was more then 7 miles away! So I started walking really fast to get to the causeway but Rachelle and her sister did not make it to the causeway. I was able to find a later bus to a train station and take the train to Belfast. Rachelle and her sister were a little bit stranded, I felt bad about leaving them, but this was the one thing I wanted to see in northern Ireland before I left! So I made it to the causeway was only there for about 20 minutes before I had to got catch a bus. Meanwhile Rachelle called to find out when a bus was coming their way and they somehow missed it even though they were standing at a bus stop. So I said, people in Ireland are really friendly, go and knock on someone’s door. Luckily they picked the right door and a really nice farmer drove them to a train station. I wasn’t worried that something would happen to them, A) because there were 2 of them, and B) people in northern Ireland are friendly from my experience. So I met a girl from Chicago at a bus stop and had dinner with her, and then when we went back to the train station there were Rachelle and her sister waiting for the same train back to the Belfast! So that night we did not go out, Rachelle’s sister was none too happy about having to spend the night in a dorm room with 25 other girls.

The following morning we went on a black taxi tour of the dangerous areas of Belfast, including: Shankhill Road and I can’t remember the other one for the life of me. I just learned what to get “shanked” means in slang this year so that’s why I remember the road. We also went to the Sein Finn office (Jerry Adams…IRA) and learned about the marching season and the Orange man March starting on July 12^th so it is an amazing city the Berlin Wall has nothing on the “Peace Wall”, 2 stories high and gates that close at night that children/teens stand outside either side throwing petrol bombs and shouting obscenities at each other, of children/teens they have never met. Really interesting to be there and see how Belfast is making an attempt to have peace amongst themselves. The city of Belfast looks to me very similar to some of the cities on the Iron Range, like Virginia, especially Virginia. I found that really interesting and tried to draw a correlation but hey maybe it has to do with both being kind of poor cities now. But we went to the Catholic part of town and the Protestant part of town. There are murals on the two roads. So the Protestant murals includes a mural of a gunman with a ski mask on and if you look down the barrel of his shot gun it follows you wherever you guy, kin of like the Mona Lisa’s eyes! So that was a weird correlation. After our tour we went to the downtown part of town and then out for lunch, and then I headed for Dublin. I was so happy that Rachelle and her sister came to visit me in Belfast; it was so good to see Rachelle before she headed out on her own travel adventure around Europe. I can’t remember about the time I got into town but it was some where around 4 in the afternoon. Francesca and I went out for dinner and then we met Patrick for dessert and then we went to a pub to hear one last session of traditional Irish music played by Eoin Dillon. It was so good to talk to Patrick and Francesca before I left. Paul was unfortunately sick so he did not come out with us.

xoxo,
christie

The East Coast of the United States

Then I got up the next morning to catch a bus at about 8am and then I had a 2 hour delay before flying back to the US. I won’t go into my US airport travel horror stories, but let’s say I have never hated flying so much as I hate flying in the United States! Upon arrival in Boston, my friend Derrick picked me up from the airport. We spent the next 13 days doing really cool things on the East Coast. For instance we drove to Vermont to see the Ben and Jerry’s Factory, then Magic Hat Brewery, followed by a walk through Burlington during the jazz festival (I got a free hug from some strangers there are photos!) then we camped on the shores of Lake Champlain. The following day we drove to New Hampshire to Mt. Washington the highest point in the New England part of the Appalachian mountains. One thing that I read while I was there was that the Appalachian mountains are much older then the Himalayan mountains, because they no longer grow in size but the Himalayan mountains grow like 1 inch every 100 years or something. I guess those tectonic plates are done moving! We also took a 5 day road trip to Maine where we camped for a few days in a remote campsite which meant getting in the canoe and paddling there, I mean Derrick paddling and me pretending to paddle! We also did some things around the Rhode Island area like eat Del’s and go to Water Fire and go to Foreign Independent film in theater. Sorry for not being very descriptive about New England, I have no copious notes to look at about our travels around the area. Maybe Derrick will email some of his words and then we can know what he thought about the trips, I know there were lots of inside jokes at the end of those holidays!

xoxo,
christie