Two Weeks left…

I feel sick thinking about it.

First, I was in Prague. The flight in was incredible. We had a quick stop in Amsterdam, flying over the sea momentarily. Amsterdam from the air is littered with electricity generating windmills. There are fields of them off the coast. We got in to Prague around 9 and caught a taxi to our Hostel. Debbie and I were worried at first about how far it was away from the city. It turned out to be a 10 minute walk right down our street to the center of Old Town Prague. It’s a beautiful city, with a real “old city” kind-of feel. We wandered the city the whole time we we’re there (no real agenda). We still managed to see all the main sights. The Royal Palace, The Charles Bridge, and even Frank Gehry’s “Dancing House.” We wandered the streets of the Royal Palace, even eating royal grapes in the vineyard of the Royal Garden. The Charles Bridge was interesting but entirely too touristy. There are street vendors the entire length of the bridge but each one has a liscence displayed on his cart. Lots of good food and drink, but contrary to what Debbie and I were told, Prague was not cheap. Twenty Czech Koruna are worth about a dollar, so a 700 KC dinner is about 15 dollars. There was a 12 hour layover in Amsterdam, the best place for a 12 hour layover. I’ve never seen so many bicycles in my life.

A week later, we celebrated Kelly’s twenty first birthday in front of the Chateau the night before we left for Paris.

We took the high speed train to Paris in a little over two hours. Our hotel was the Chateaudun, right in the center of the city. After dinner we take a walking tour of the city ending at the Eiffel Tower. Mom and Adrienne met up with me in Paris. We dined and drank our way through the Latin quarter (where their hotel was) and Montmarte. I saw the Louvre, which was very impressive. I observed the proper way to view classic art while watching the crowd in front of the Mona Lisa.

Step 1: Look at art.

Step 2: Pick up camera.

Step 3: View art through back of camera.

Step 4: Take photo.

Step 5: Move to next piece, repeat.

Of the five steps I watched at the Louvre countless times in front of me, only one of them involves actually looking at the art. Notre Dame in Paris is quite a disappointment after seeing the Louvre-Notre Dame in Strasbourg. The Palace of Versailles kind of sucks, don’t go there. The Gardens of Versailles is incredible simply because of it’s scale. It’s not pretty, just impressive, and unimaginably large.

Mom and A stayed in town after returning to Strasbourg. More eating and drinking ensues. We walked to the top of the Cathedrale, my first time. You can see the Voges Mountains from the tower, almost surrounding the Cathedrale. Mom bailed halfway up the Cahedrale though, too high. We visited Colmar again, eating and drinking (big surprise) in Petite Venice, where we had visited weeks ago. It was a blast having mom and A here for a week.

I’m preparing for my last weekend trip, beginning on Thursday, to Istanbul. I’ll be staying with My grandparents close friends Cem and Canon for a few days. I’m completely excited because I’ve wanted to see Istanbul for a long time, but I’m getting very anxious as I’ll only have two days left in Europe after I get back. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at home again but it would be much easier on me emotionally if you all would just move out here.

I’ll be walking  through the woods in the park du Portales behind the Chateau.

Staying in London inspired me to invest in a thesaurus.

Hello all. Apologies to those eagerly awaiting an update.

I’ll catch you up from the most recent as it’s fresh in my memory.

Today we took part in one of the Chateau’s athletic activities. I took part in Archery, which I hadn’t done since freshman year in high school. We got psyched up for it by watching Disney’s Robin Hood last night. After baking in the sun for a few hours we walked to the stream, about a half hour away, for a swim. The creek here is beautiful, the water crystal clear, but it was by far the coldest water I have ever swam in in my life.

I woke up early yesterday and followed Alena into town so she could book her train tickets. I had a sandwich for lunch and we boarded the tour bus at the Chateau for a guided tour of Kronenbourg Brewery. It was an interesting tour, I’ve already tried many of the beers they make because they have what looks like a monopoly on beer sold in France. Afterwards, I went to town on my own to read by the river and practice my pipes in front of the Cathedrale. It was a quiet day.

Friday we took a tour of the European Parliament. It was a beautifully designed building (probably why we went, to inspire the interior designers on the trip). Thursday was also spent quietly in town, finding a new camera for Alena (due to a strange mishap at a club in London). We had our last crash course French class, which involved joining Sophie at a Brasserie (bar-restaurant). I went on Thursday and enjoyed the place so much I went back on Friday (but had to play my pipes on the street to pay for it). It turned out to be the French equivalent of wing night. Twelve euro gets yourself and a friend an enormous pitcher of beer (brewed in house, excellent amber lager) and all you can eat Tarte Flambe (a traditional Alsacian dish, a lot like thin crust pizza with creme sauce, cheese, ham and an assortment of other ingredients, my favorite being sauerkraut). I think an all you can eat Tarte Flambe bierstub like this place would do great in the States. Tons of tasty (and healthy) munchies and great beer. There was a group of guys there, for a bachelors party, drinking and yelling, breaking out into folk songs at the top of their lungs. The most impressive thing though, that really made me realize how different things are here, one of the guys wadded a piece of paper and threw it at the grooms head. The paper bounced of and landed in our food on our table and despite all the drinks and the singing and yelling, every one of those guys stopped to apologize and make sure we weren’t offended. As hard as they were partying, they were still completely aware and considerate of everyone around them. If that happened in the states, the guys wouldn’t even know they hit your table, and if you said something to them, they’d probably start a fight.

London was a completely different experience. I was in a constant state of sleep deprivation, as the first night I was up hanging out with Keith until four in the morning (four hours of sleep). The second night I was at a club, owned by one of Sarah’s friends so we got in for free (four hours of sleep). The third night was a little better, clocking in six hours of sleep. I’ve been remembering pieces from the trip well after the fact because I was a zombie for most of it. We went on the London Eye, the worlds tallest ferris wheel. I found several good music stores. I destroyed what was left of my bank account (just on food even) because two U.S. dollars is only one pound. I spent a lot of time walking around on my own, through Hyde Park and many of the other public parks. I saw the British Museum, The Tate Museum and The Victoria and Albert Museum. The London tube system is great, you can get anywhere in a few minutes. It was really dirty there, because there are no trash cans (due to trash can bombings, courtesy of the IRA). The whole city is under video surveillance twenty four hours a day. Everyone there reads all the time. The Brits are so obnoxiously witty too. It’s a riot listening to conversations because every comment made is significantly wittier than the last, like a verbal game of wit Jenga, except the pile of bricks never falls down and you never run out of bricks.

This is me, sporting my Euro-haircut in front of Big Ben Tower, on eight hours of sleep in three days time.

No longer an Amish Terrorist

So I went into town yesterday after class to get a haircut, it turned out to be the most impressive haircut I’ve ever received (not my hair, but actually watching the act of cutting my hair). Debbie and I found this place off the corner of L’homme de Fer, after stopping for chocolate filled, sugar coated, glazed croissants, and they had time to fit me in (they spoke English there as well). First, washing my hair, this turned out to be a full blown head massage. The gentleman to cut my hair was in his forties, stern, cold, and looked as though he should work in a coal mine. I sat down and discussed my wishes, something different, European, and short. He nods in agreement and proceeds to the clippers. He uses a comb/electric clipper combo, hardly working with more than a square inch of hair at a time, using this odd flicking motion with the pair. I felt more like a sculpture in the artist’s studio than in the barbers chair. When using the scissors, he continued running them constantly, regardless of whether he was cutting anything. Then the straight razor. I’ve never actually seen one of these in person, he used a straight razor to trim around my ears. A straight razor. After getting whiplash from applying gel to my head, wiping the excess off of his hands into his own hair in a move probably invented by the Fonz, he spun me around to see the final product in the mirror, a French Faux-hawk. I now will blend in perfectly with not only the French hipster pedestrians I walk the streets with, but also the Pittsburgh scene kids hanging out at the Bee-Hive. I shaved the beard off when I got home, for the first time in years.

On Saturday we took the Route du Vin bus tour. The Alsacian Route du Vin is a stretch of countryside caught between the Rhine and the Vosges Mountains. Here can be found the majority of Alsacian vineyards in the hillside. We stopped at the Domaine Klipfel winery in Barr, taking a tour of their wine cellar (most impressive as they still have several cases of a Noble Grape wine from 1921, their oldest bottle, as well as bottles from every decade since the twenties). We tasted four wines here, the last probably being the best, a sweet dessert wine made only in Alsace called Gewurztraminer. I’m not a huge fan of white wines but this was excellent. Red wines aren’t made in Alsace for the most part because they don’t have the soil or weather for that type of grape.

After stopping for a picnic lunch, we went to Colmar, a beautiful city, home of the Unterlinden Museum, where we spent the afternoon. I enjoyed the modern art collection but unfortunately missed the armory. Colmar was an incredible town to walk the streets, fairly touristy because so many people are on holiday in Europe right now, but still exciting. Around every corner there was a new fascinating smell of French cuisine. Colmar was also very photogenic with it’s “Petite Venice” neighborhood.

We went to our second wine tasting in Ribeauville before having dinner in the city at St. Nicholas restaurant.

I’ve been in class most of the time for the past few days, sneaking into the city when I can. We leave for London on Thursday, and I can’t wait!

Switzerland is like Ohio…

The barbecue on Tuesday was great. I was up until three playing Uno again, then taking a walk by myself in the rain. I had to wake up yesterday at seven in the morning (four hours of sleep and still slightly intoxicated from the night before). I stopped looking at my itinerary of the program a few days ago and wasn’t aware that we were going to the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. I’ve been really looking forward to visiting since watching the documentary on Frank Gehry, the architect of one of Vitra’s several buildings. Vitra is a design firm, hiring artists and designers to come up with trendy funishings (like IKEA on steroids, and much more expensive). The cool factor was off the charts. They have a design museum there in Gehry’s building to show off their work since the fifties, as well as featuring new designers such as the one who designed the chairs in this room for Vitra (displaying the Transformers toys he designed in the clear bubbles on the wall).

We went to Basel Switzerland for the afternoon, walking the streets and checking out shops. This is our coordinator, Catherine’s, hometown. We’ll be coming back so I’ll have time later to check out the local museums including two photography galleries. Strasburg had really reminded me of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is such a rough city, with fairly abrasive residents. I’ve started to understand the misconceptions about the French because of this. For an example, casually walk past a stranger in the U.S. and you’ll likely acknowledge each other with a smile, probably say hello. In France it’s insincere to smile at someone you don’t know and rude to not attempt to speak their language. I agree with this philosophy completely. I’ve started making a list in my head, ten things to do to blend-in while visiting Strasbourg, I suppose I’ll post it when it’s more complete. Switzerland reminded me of Ohio, a little more like wid-western suburbia, with a similar attitude. People come off as more friendly according to American social expectations. I went in a few stores, and despite forgetting the four years of German I took, and only running into German speaking locals, I managed to have successful conversations without trouble. Within the context of going in a specific store, you’re going to be discussing something related.

We went to dinner in Germany before heading home and I passed out the moment we returned.

Today I had class all morning, but made it into town for dinner by myself. I sat behind the Art Museum by the river eating my baguette tuna sandwich and writing for a while. I encountered two belligerent drunk German tourists looking for the closest market to buy beer. The one gentleman decided to lay down and take a nap, using my plastic bag (still containing my chocolate filled croissant for dessert) as a pillow. His buddy acted like he was leaving but returned to drag his friend down the street, pausing to yell and kick him like their lives depended on it (they were truly somewhere else). I always luck out with the best encounters with crazies anywhere I go (I was getting all nostalgic, it made me miss Pittsburgh for a few seconds). I just returned to the Chateau a few hours ago and practiced my pipes for a bit. The same drill for tomorrow, perhaps without my drunk German friends. On Saturday, we take a trip down the Route du Vin, an all day bus excursion from Alsacian vineyard to vineyard along the Rhein. It should make for some entertaining photographs.

Wandering…

I went into the city today after lunch, I had class in the morning. I’ve realized from my interaction with the other students that, for the most part, Art Institute of Pittsburgh instructors suck. I would be so excited to go to school everyday if I had instructors like Zizi, I would learn something, and I would actually be inspired to really work at what I do. This is going to make returning to school in the fall difficult.

I went back to the Doner Kebab place we ate lunch at yesterday. I took photos of the man who works there with his son, they gave me my lunch for free, so I took him some prints. After that I went from record store to record store, taking a break at a bakery for a croissant. Picked up a sandwich to take home for dinner as well as a case of Kronenbourg beer from Germany (my new favorite) for our second campfire barbecue tomorrow night.

I’m booking a flight for the first free weekend we have to take a trip to Prague. I believe it’s the weekend of August 16th. I’m looking forward to seeing if the Czech Republic feels different than Strasbourg (which feels surprisingly like a town in the U.S. that doesn’t speak English).

I just got out of my survival French class. We watched The Devil Wears Prada in French (I have no idea what I just watched), I’m off to bed.

Konigsbourg, Struthof and Bastille Day

On Friday, we took a trip into the Alsace mountains, located in France on the German border. The first stop was Haut-Konigsbourg Castle. The first mention of the castle in historical documents was from the 12th century. It was a veteran of the thirty years war. I thought it was disappointing though that the castle was neglected for nearly 300 years and was eventually restored in 1900-1908 by the request of Kaiser William II as a German Pre-World War I power trip, and it wasn’t necessarily restored to its original specifications. It’s still a beautiful piece of architecture.

From my Journal:

“I really didn’t know what to expect while visiting the Struthof-Natzwiller concentration camp. I didn’t know what I’d feel or see, how I would react. I know it was a “work camp” where workers were marched miles everyday to the nearby quarry to mine a rare granite for the rebuilding of Der Fuhrer’s Berlin. We drove into the Alsacian countryside, reminiscent of Pennsylvania or West Virginia. Rolling hills and generally beautiful landscapes in every direction; a location ideal for a romantic movie. I wanted it to be cold and rainy. We can’t experience what happened at the camp, I thought at least the weather could darken our moods (more so than bright sunshine and wildflowers everywhere). At one point I even wanted to see the vegetation on the mountain die off the closer we got to the camp, as if it would be representative of the camp’s history if it was a desolate, cold, painful place. The street winds closer to the park, with lush ferns shaded by a dense canopy of pines overhead. Nothing can be seen that is symbolic of such an atrocity (not that anything can really be symbolic of this, but again, I didn’t know what to expect).

It was hardly appropriate when the instructors decided to announce our “new system” for taking attendance: giving each student a number and requiring us to call out in order so no-one is left anywhere. I thought to myself “will this number be tattooed on us… why couldn’t this wait until later!?”

The idea never crossed my mind that we were going to a museum (with the layout, structure and strictly formal objective presentation of information. We’re taught in school how horrible these camps were, but “atrocity” is a subjective word and the museum never suggested that what took place here was wrong. “This is the rack where prisoners were tied, backs exposed, to receive 50 lashes with a wooden board. The prisoners obliged with the duty to count the lashings themselves, most of whom fainted from pain before reaching the end” read one note-card. After much thought though, a memorial that is preachy is hardly respectful to those whose ashes are in the ash pit below a cross patterned out of red wildflowers.

While standing speechlessly in front of the furnace inside the crematorium, the very furnace that incinerated the bodies of French Resistance fighters that were interned in the camp, I realized the significance of the signs placed all over the camp displaying the museum philosophy: Silence, respect. I took this phrase as valuable advice explaining exactly how I should react, the only way I could, remaining in complete silence.”

Yesterday was Bastille day. Celebrated for the storming of the Bastille prison, where the French freed 7 political prisoners in 1789, symbolic of uprising against a totalitarian Crown. I couldn’t decide whether to play my bagpipes in town and make some money, or take photos of the event. I decided on photos, should have gone with bagpipes. There was fireworks and we had a good dinner, but no other photo opportunity. The French celebrate national holidays at home with their families (The 4th of July is all about America, the 14th of July is all about the citizens of France).

Today we went to two museums in Strasbourg, the better being the Strasbourg museum of Modern Art, I’ll be heading back. Here is an interesting thought to ponder, I had this epiphany while looking at a romantic-period painting of Adam and Eve: Mankind has been relatively organized for about ten thousand years, and if we’re around another ten thousand years, it’s inevitable that another living thing (most likely chimps) will evolve to a level of intelligence similar to ours. My question is: If Christianity still exists ten thousand years from now, will we explain to the Chimps that by taking a bite out of the apple, Eve not only screwed us over but the Chimpanzees as well?

Obnoxious neighbors…

I had class all day today. French Culture and Civilization from 10-12, lunch, back to class from 1-3, French class from 3-5. It was grueling considering the Liberal party of the European Union rented the Chateau for their Bastille day celebration last night. Listening to drunk EU parliament members sing American pop songs (as well as several renditions of Shakira) into the night was less than entertaining at two in the morning.

On my lunch break I walked to the Atac, the Strasbourg grocery store to pick up some food. I came home with a baguette, croissants,  milk, various snacks and Alsacian Munster cheese. The Alsacians are responsible for many notable contributions to society, one of which happens to be Munster cheese, developed by Alsacian monks in the middle ages. The immediately noticeable difference between American and Alsacian Munster is that Alsacian Munster smells like feet. Although it tastes great, my Alsacian foot cheese is so pungent, the smell has taken over the entire section of hallway in our part of the house (despite it still being wrapped up in the refrigerator).

My computer started up again, but it only works when laying completely on it’s side, like a book propped up by it’s own cover. I believe I will have to replace the hard drive.

I had dinner in a French Chinese restaurant tonight, it was great and now I’m going to bed. Au revoir.

Nothing seems to work right now

I didn’t really leave the Chateau for the past three days. I’ve been too busy with class. On Monday, I had class in the morning, Theories of Modernism and Postmodernism with Zizi (who I wish taught in Pittsburgh, she’s an incredible instructor). We had a barbecue out behind the Chateau under their tents in front of two fire pits, the food was fantastic.

Yesterday was a similar situation, I had class all day, World War II Europe with Andreas Huthner. I’m really looking forward to the rest of this class as well. On Friday we take a trip into Germany, visiting the Konigsburg castle in the morning and the Struthof concentration camp in the afternoon. After class I went into town to play my pipes for money,but I turned out to be the only person there… The trams close at 9 (I didn’t know this) so I hike 20 minutes to the bus stop (missing the 10:00 bus by 5 minutes) and waited for the 11:00 bus. A small clerical error at the Chateau meant everyone was eating Pizza Hut for dinner. I would recommend avoiding any Pizza Hut in Europe.

My computer died today. I’m not sure if it’s because of a power-converter problem (no-one on the planet knows how to correctly use a U.S. to French power adapter/converter) and because of this I’m terrified to plug anything else into the wall, i.e: camera battery, external hard drive. The computers in the computer lab don’t have photoshop, so there won’t be any photos on the blog for a while. Oh, and the climate here is so wierd, I brought two chanters with me for my bagpipes and neither will play in tune…

I suppose I’ll keep looking for info on these power converers, as long as I can keep my camera going and not blow up my hard drive to store my images, I’ll be allright.

The past few days…

7.7.2007

I definitely slept through breakfast. The cleaning lady woke me up at 11 when she came into my room to get the trash can. We had pasta with meatballs for lunch and I worked on this blog for an hour and a half to catch up on the previous two days.

Everyone met up at the piers for a boat tour. It was a cool ride. we went through the canals in Petite France and learned the history of the older buildings in Strasbourg. We saw the EU offices as well. Strasbourg is the EU Capital.

 

 

Afterwards we headed to dinner in Petite France, a beautiful place right on the water, Au Pont St. Martin. I just picked something off the menu which turned out to be a roasted thigh of pig with THE BEST potato salad I’ve ever had, washing it down with Fischer’s Biere D’Alsace, a traditional Alsacian beer. We strolled the city, people watching, taking a seat in front of The Cathedrale. It’s local tradition to parade couples around town before they get married in completely ridiculous clothing. The men have to get kisses from every girl they see while they’re still bachelors.

 

We watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston (thanks again Anthony) when we got back to the Chateau.

7.8.2007

I walked into town for lunch today. I wanted to know how long of a walk it was (an hour). I took the bus back.

Today was team building activities day. The Chateau offers team building seminars where businesses can bring employees and participate. They worked this seminar into our program since we’ll be living together for the next three months. We had group discussions and played games, we had to cross an “acid river” without touching the ground and then build a pattern out of rope on the ground while blindfolded (I took the photos of this event while blindfolded).

 

The rest of the day was quiet. It rained again, we sat around and talked before all heading to bed.

It’s like Pittsburgh, just without the Yinzers or SUV’s.

7.5.2007

It rained again all day, but we managed to head into town for a few hours to find a power converter for Debra. We left after or French lesson. I feel much more confident about venturing out into Strasbourg now that I know a few basic phrases. To some extent I feel rude coming here and expecting everyone to speak English, unlike the U.S. where foreign vacationers MUST know English because Americans are taught nothing but.

Le Maison Rouge has one huge CD section, and you’re free to listen to samples on their headphones. I can listen to the first several minutes of… get this… every track on the CD! I need to start playing my pipes in town to make music money. I found we had Tortellini with ricotta and spinach last night, chicken with rice and a mushroom cream sauce tonight, both were excellent. I also managed to play my pipes for the first time since arriving. I marched out into the woods after dinner to find shelter from the rain under a few large trees. Opened up with Lament for Mary McLeod, as it seemed fitting for the weather, then packed up early to save more for good weather.

I ended the night by playing Uno in Judy and Angela’s room over French bum wine and sangria, music and face chips. More French classes are tomorrow morning as well as a surprise activity the Sarah and Catherine have for us in Town.

 

7.6.2007

This has been the best day yet.

I slept through breakfast, but made it down in time to steal a quick glass of orange juice before heading over to French class. We went over numbers, months, days of the week and acted out skits using what we learned yesterday. Typical foreign language class. Lunch was at Le Jardin again, with Salmon, rice and a yellow sauce over all.

 

I took a quick shower afterwards before meeting up with the group. I’ve been spending most of my time with Debra, Chequita and Vitheary, who I hope will remain a crew until the end of the trip.

 

We head over to a far section of Strasbourg that we saw yesterday. Walking the streets was incredible as I had my first real chance for street photography.

 

We found a small record store on a backstreet specializing in European electronic music… ALL European electro. I can tell these guys are music nerds. The clerk was kind to write down a few cafes/clubs that have good live electronic shows, I’m anxious to find them to check it out. I’ll be spending a lot of time in that store from now on. We stopped in a market where I picked up a basket of fresh strawberries, which I carried for the rest of the day, and also making a stop in a bakery around the corner from the Cathedrale that has the BEST croissants I have ever had.

The four of us find the whole group at the Cathedrale for our group activity, a scavenger hunt around Strasbourg. We have to get weird things, for an example, a phrase by Goethe, which must be translated into four different languages. One task was to put on a street performance to make a little money and shoe up after the hunt with a coffee. We found a music store that carries tin whistles and I bought one in B flat (a key I don’t have) and played for a while in the Place de L’homme De-Fer. I didn’t make any money though, the whistle is too cheesy.

After the scavenger hunt, Debra, Chequita, V and I headed back to the Doner-Kebab Shack, the Strasbourg equivalent of Salonika or Mike and Tony’s. We all had Doners (there should be an umlaut over the “o” in Doner) for dinner with the money given to us for a dinner allowance. Chequita was sent a bottle of Oasis over to the table from a young Frenchman (Oasis being a French fruit punch of real juice, probably the most expensive drink on the menu), and even had her meal bought by “Will” who sent his number over too. We sat for over an hour on the street corner over dinner contemplating what we’ve seen so far, how much we’ve learned in the past three days, and how much we’ve fallen for Strasbourg. It’s like Pittsburgh without the Yinzers or SUVs.

 

We ended the night Back at the Cathedrale to watch the lighting ceremony, which takes place every night at 10.30. They’ve placed colored spotlights on, around and in the Cathedrale and sync color changes with classical music (Beethoven’s 9^th, naturally). It’s incredible to see, too great to photograph the show.

 

 

We caught the last bus to the Chateau, completely exhausted but ecstatic. Tomorrow is Saturday = no class. I’m going to sleep in.