Europe Liebe Dich

Ok, so this will be my last post from Europe, since I am going home tomorrow. I am SOOO tired!!!! I am probably not going to write much, but here is my latest set of photos.

See you all in a few days!





LEAVING BERLIN


Went to an open air theatre on my last night. The movie was in Turkish, oh well, but I stayed anyways.


This is the lamp that lit up my room in the BaxPax Hostel in Berlin. Obviously I was in the "England Room". This hostel had the nicest staff by FAR!!!

BACK TO HELSINKI, FINLAND

Such a beautiful place! I can't say enough about the landscape of Helsinki. It really does remind me of Canada, though. Except the whole midnight sun thing (which I guess we would get too, if we lived further north!)




Everything was closed for 3 days when I arrived, due to a celebration of the summer solstice. I was bitter at first, but I got to see some traditional Finnish partying, which consisted of lots of singing, drinking and dancing and excellent, authentic costumery. So great how the youth here are not too "cool" to do traditional shit.


Went to the beach on the second day, due to everything being closed. Got so bored. Got burned on my bum. Sunscreen? I don't need sunscreen? It's not that hot out!!?


Art, I think. very fascinating.


I may have mentioned how, strangely, I keep seeing-- all over Scandinavia, especially in Denmark-- hot youngish daddies out walking their babies. Hardly ever the mommies, just the daddies! And they all look so young! and HIP!!! Anyhow, I guess the city-sign makers noticed too, hence the gender change of this familiar logo.








This is what you get when you cross Finland with Japan. Sushinavia!

Parliament House, Helsinki.



Looking out from the back of Finlandia Hall, Alvar Aalto's music and conference centre in Helsinki.
I went on a self-directed architectural tour, and saw lots of his stuff. He is a National Hero in Finland!

Another Finnish lanscape.




COPENHAGEN, DENMARK


Upon returning here, one of my favourite destinations on this trip, the first thing I did was go to the National Museum, which is really great, and in typical Scandinavian fashion, free. They have a ton of Eskimo artifacts from Greenland, which they own(ed?).








They also have a whole floor devoted to toys. It was really special!




These next 2 are from The dansk Centre for Design. I just like this shot because the mirrors make it look very strange!




Outside a church/gallery I went to called the Kunsthallen Nicolaj.

From the show at the Nicolaj. Atrist's name is Carl Quist Moller, quite famous, apparently.





Downtown Copenhagen. Shot from inside the cafe on Stroget.


In Christiania, a hippy filled area of the city, where squatters took over a bunch of empty buildings and turned them into a self governing, mostly artists community. Squatting is legal over here, so the gov't decided to let them stay and turn the power on and call it a public experient. 30 years later, seems to be doing ok. There are rumours that will changing soon, however.

Poster in Christiania.

The swan is the national bird of Denmark and they are everywhere this time of year. They don't appear to be as revered as I would think, more like tolerated, somewhat like our Canadian geese. I was blown away, though! They are so beautiful, and quite tame.



In Norrebro. My friend Klaus pointed and said "it may take them a while to get through that loaf, what do you think?"

The Opera Hall, Copenhagen.




We went to the museaum of Danish Resistance. During WWii, Denmark was occupied, but there was quite a disruptive underground movement. These are rations.


The next few are from the oldest part of the city. The red house on the right is the oldest standing. From 1300 something.



Ok, $5 to anyone who correctly guesses what this sign is for (Danes excluded!)


The obligatory trip to the little mermaid statue. The 1979 Japanimation version of this Hans Christian andersen tale was my favourite growing up. This was a pilgramage, sort of. Everyone sadi not to go, cuz I'd be disappointed at how small she is, but I think she is perfect. Life sized, just as she ought to be. There were too many tourists there though and I wanted to push them all in the ocean.

Oh?! That's all, you say? No more???? Don't worry, I will put the last few up when I get home.

Miss you all, and can't wait to see you!!! Goodbye Europe, I love you. Hello Canada, I love you more!!!

xoxoxox
K

Ummm....anyone???

What does this sign mean? (seen at the train station in Antwerp) Please add your comment...

Europe is Winning

Hello again! I finally got a chance to upload some more pictures. I am in Berlin right now, aand it's unlike any place I've ever been. The Wall which went right through Berlin, dividing the East and west, was torn down in 1989, and since then Berlin has just exploded! It's enormous, and hip feeling, without a dangerous undertone, which I was half expecting. The Germans are extremely nice, but I was surprised to find that hardly any of them speak English. The good news is I am finding Deutsch fairly quick to pick up!

Of course it is world Cup right now, and some of you may know that Germany is hosting the event. It is the biggest sporting event in the world--bigger than the Olympics! (apparently) So it is a bit crazy here. I think I am the only female in this hostel! As I type this, a bunch of drunk New Zealanders are singing down in the courtyard outside the hostel. I am not sure why they are so happy, since they didn't play today. Oh, maybe Australia won? Anyhow... It has been kinda fun, though I will not miss it when it's over. ....The Dutch were waaay more obnoxious about their love of football than the Berliners!

So

My impressions of Berlin? I am stuck by how much reverence is given here to the atrocities of WWII. Everywhere you go there is a museum or monument; the city is extremely moving and pregnant with history. However, there is no air of apology in the monuments or the people, which I think is healthy. The Germans of today REMEMBER very well, but it does not seem as though they walk around feeling guilty. I really like Berlin, and wish I had more time to explore Germany. I think I like it more than Holland, but less than Belgium, Denmark and Finland. Tomorrow I am flying back to Finland, and I hope to take a tour of the north, up in Sami country, or the Lapland.

I am definitely ready to come home. I really miss all of you guys! I hope everyone is doing well, and enjoy these photos!

Much love,

K



GOODBYE TO EINDHOVEN, HOLLAND!


I left off in Eindhoven, last post. This is the "Cantine" or student cafeteria at The Design Academy. It is tres cool.


This is the 4th floor studio of the Design Academy. The school is huge, beautiful and really well laid out. But in talking to the students, I have come to realize that there are just as many annoying, frustrating things happening there as there are at OCAD. So friends, take heart. The grass is not always greener!


Jon and Jan are living in this really cool three story house in Eindhoven that used to be a butcher shop. Jon has recently moved into the ground level, where the actual shop once was. It could be a really cool space (if they were staying there, they assurred me they would have fixed it up real good) but it still REALLY feels like a butcher shop. Pretty much a vegetarian's worst nightmare. I kept expecting to see blood dripping down the walls. I can't believe I didn't have any slaughter-filled nightmares! It was really great to stay with Jon and his roomates, though. And really genrous of them to let me stay for so long! (4 nights!)

TILBURG, TEXTILE MUSEUM, HOLLAND

I got kicked off the train on the way to Rotterdam to see Rem Koolhaus (which would have been a great lecture, if he hadn't rushed through it like he had somewhere else to be!), because I was accidentally sitting in 1st class (it looked JUST like the rest of the train, I swear!) and also for using Jon's discount card, which we didn't know was non-transferrable. Oh well. I almost got fined 50 euros, but the guy took pity on me and just made me get off at the next stop. Which turned out to be a great thing, because it was Tilburg, where there is this kick-ass textile museum. It is a working manufacturer as well as museum, and it totally changed my life. i will tell you about it when I get home. I bought a book, took tonnes of pics....


A giant yarn making machine. Actually it's one of a bunch of machines in the process, but you get the idea.


This was a hands-on museum, you could touch anything that wasn't moving. These are carders, in a huge pile of wool.


This is what I'll be spending my scholarship money on when I get home. It's a tufting gun, that allows you to tuft carpets hydrolically. It's totally RAD!



This is part of Jacquard loom-- an automatic, electronic programmable loom.


Whatever, enough about the textile museum already!



AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

So I eventually made my way back to Amsterdam, to spend some time with friend Cynthia, who lives there. On the way I noticed Dutch garbage cans are really cool. And really big!


This is in a park that is sort of like Central Park. It's a floating sculpture. The birds love it. It just bobs up and down the river all day.


This was the house where Anne Frank hid during the Nazi occupation in WWII. I would have gone in, but the line up was around the block!


Cynthia and I spent a lot of time digging through 2nd hand stores so I could find a jacket. We bought these really sexy hats so all the Dutch boys would like us better...


and later, we went to the Teyler's Museum, where we saw a girl wearing our hat, so we got quickly rid of them. Bathing caps? That was like, so 5 mintues ago!


A cell phone tower on the way to the beach at Zandvoort.


The beach.... was packed with 18 year olds dressed to go clubbing at 6pm. It was weird. I felt really old.


This is in the outdoor flea market called Waterlooplein. It is here that I finally ended my search for the perfect leather jacket for motorcycling, after 4 years of looking! This is the curtain of a changeroom, made with brightly coloured, sewn-together men's shirts.


Testing the new jacket. Only 40 Euros!



Cynthia and Elvis, the local celebrity.


ANTWERP, BELGIUM

Antwerp is totally gorgeous!!!! And the best part: no tourists! Well, hardly any. It's a really old city, known for excellent fashion.





Yohji Yamamoto was having an exhibition at the Antwerp Fashion School. This is one of his dresses.



At a cafe in Antwerp.


Does this kind of look like our Flat Iron building? In its wildest dreams? Does every city have one of these buildings?



Yay, Canada, for liberating the Belgians!







Take a close look at the layout of this keyboard. Please! I don't need any help with typing badly!! Definitely NOT qwerty!


BERLIN, GERMANY

The first thing that i did was go to the Jewish museum, which was designed by Daniel Libeskind. I had heard much about it, and it really did take my breath away. Not with the interior, really, or the exterior for that matter. It was this garden that did it. He built a courtyard, called "The Garden of Exile" and filled it with these huge rectangular planters, each with one tree in it. They are perfectly verticle, really high, and you can just see the tops of the trees poking out. But the floor is slanted, so when you are walking through the garden, you often lose your footing, and feel kind of nauseous. Supposedly, this was exactly the feeling Libeskind was going for. It's supposed to make you think about how the Jews felt when they were forceably exiled from thier homes into foreign lands. This, and a few other features of the museum, completely moved me. A lot of people there were watery eyed.


The second floor held an exhibit on Sigmund Freud, who is celebrating 150 years of...something. I don't know! It was in German, I'm sorry! I think it was his birthday. Anyhow, they has it set up as a giant cake with these little felt maquettes that were terribly cute, illustrating important events in his life. This is him seeing his mom naked when he was four.


The top floor was 2000 years of Jewish history. This is an original roll of fabric of the yellow stars the Jews had to wear during WWII.


This is one of the last remaining, standing pieces of the Berlin Wall.


The Spree River, in Mitte, Central Berlin. A friend of Cynthia's, Dave Bynoe has been showing me around Berlin. He lives here and is very well versed in the city's history and coolest spots. Best of all, he knows where all the cool thrift stores are...


Had to include this. There are everywhere. I am SO going!!! CREEPY!!!


City bikes. You unlock them with your credit card, call the number on the side, use the bike, leave it anywhere you want when you're done, and then a satellite tracks the bike down. Wow. What wonders technology has wrought!

That's all for now. I must sleep.

Love y'all!!!

K

Europe Is Sweaty

June 14, 2006
Hi! I am hoping you will enjoy this as a way to keep current with me on my trip. Especially since it has taken me three days to upload the content. I am having lots of fun and getting lots of exercise wandering around with the big knapsack, but for a few days I have settled with Jon and his friend Jan in Eindhoven. Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to Rotterdam to see Rem Koolhaus speak. It is really, really hot and sunny here, which is apparently not the norm. Jon calls it's usual state "Holland Gray". But their football team wears orange! Hup Holland!

Love K

p.s. Click on the photos to see a large version.

THE BEGINNING: THE BOAT

So this is the beast: The Costa Magica. Looks okay from the outside, I suppose, if you like bloated, white, floating shopping malls...



Here's me, after basically no sleep in 48 hours, in my colour and fashion-challenged room.



Here's the beginning of the mess that was about to be unleashed on that poor unsuspecting cabin. Note the beautiful choice of lighting the interior designer has selected.


TALINN, ESTONIA

First Port of Call: Tallinn, Estonia.




A really big church, centuries old. Tallinn is supposed to be the oldest city in Europe. It really is quite beautiful, and definitely feels as though time has forgotten it.







The Danes (the folks that we hired to play on the ship-- a bunch of tall, gorgeous Danish guys and a lovely girl who call their band "Peach") adopted me early on in the trip-- I think they either felt sorry for me, of were so totally blown away by my mad DJing skillz that they wanted to hang out with me. :) Either way, it has been really fun!


They were really excited to come to Estonia, because at one time, and for a long time, it was conquered and ruled by the Danes. There are Danish coats of arms everywhere in Tallinn. I have discovered that for a really tiny country (5.5 million people) Denmark is very strong-- politically, culturally and historically. More on that later...



As I mentioned briefly, I felt sad in Tallinn, because everyone seemed really poor, and the only locals we saw were either wearing gaudy "Old Estonia" costumes in order to sell things to tourists, or suits that looked like they had seen much better days. The teenage girls here wear too much makeup, and too little clothing, just like at home, but it feels more... I don't know...desperate, as opposed to just slutty. Excuse my frankness, but Estonia really affected me. Sorry if you think I am being judgemental, I hope I am not! Only mentioning my impression...


ST. PETERSBURG

This is a theatre, inside a palatial building in St. Petersburg, Russia, where I saw a "traditional" Russian music/dance show. I am mad at Russia, because you are not allowed off the boat unless you have a VISA or book an excursion. So, I booked something called "The Folklore Show" which I didn't realize didn't leave the ship until 8pm and didn't include any sight-seeing or alone time!! So really, I got to spend all of all of 5 minutes in St. Petersburg, after being stuck on the boat all day. Whatever-- I went to Russia! The folklore show was great! It was a Military choir and symphony, and a troop of dancers. All very VERY good, and I will try to figure out how to post video so you can see it if you like... Here is a shot capturing the curtain going up. I love this picture!






HELSINKI, FINLAND

This is the park along the beach beside the pier in Helsinki, Finland. The momument stands in honour of lost Finnish seamen.




Finland, for some strange reason, felt like home to me. I am going to have to do a family search and see if it is in the blood somewhere! I have never been to a country so proud of itself, without coming across as arrogant and snobby. They are, I think, quite possibly the most advanced, cultured, self-aware people I have met. (so maybe I am not Finnish after all...lol!) Of course, I was only there for 8 hours, but I am going back there next monday. So I'll let you know if i still feel that way after a week there!



This photo was taken inside the Marimekko store. Marimekko is my favourite textile design studio, and they are Finnish. It was great to see the famous patterns in the flesh, but I kind of wish I hadn't, because the clothing/fashion they use the textiles for is really bad!! I wanted to steal all the fabric and bring it home and give it a new, cooler life as something else, in Toronto. The green flower pattern is one of designer Maija Isolas most famous: Unikko.


MORE BOAT PICTURES

This is the Grand Ballroom". I wanted to show you the interior design. Gold, cobra skin patterns, zigzagging across the ceiling and up and down pillars! Hope you don't have ophidiophobia!







Banana Bailey's Colada. And it's good for you! It has real fruit in it!

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

What a glorious, immense city this is. Grand, ancient and beautiful! if only it wasn't over-run with tourists!




Look closely at the sign on the door above...






In Scandinavia, when high school students graduate, they party REALLY hard-- in public! These trucks full of drunk, happy students dancing to loud techno were EVERYWHERE! I guess we docked on the right day!! It was hilarious!


Parts of Sweden look a lot like Muskoka...


This is the bridge that links Sweden to Denmark. It is relatively new (2001?). It is a great source of Danish pride, as it is the 2nd longest suspension bridge in the world (2nd to one in Japan) and the Danes were REALLY excited when we sailed underneath it on the 2nd last night of the trip. It certainly was beautiful!

THE LAST NIGHT ON THE BOAT

Well I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a lot of drinking that night.


We got pretty silly, but it was very fun, and nobody got injured or impregnated, as far as I know! Although, I did wipe out and sprain my wrist, and rug-rash my elbow. Skoll!! Prost!!! Whoops....!


I like this picture because it appeals to my juvenile sense of humour. Someone has "protected" the mouth of one of the ladies that line the walls of the hallways in the boat. You can't be too careful! lol!

A close up for those of you too lazy to click on the photo...

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
The boat disembarked in Copenhagen, and I had 6 hours to explore before my flight to Amsterdam. I LOVE Copenhagen!! It is beautiful without being pretentious, and everyone is friendly and speaks English. They all ride bikes, and park them wherever they want. I had a leisurely coffee in Norrebro, and then spent the afternoon in walking around until I found the Danish Design Museum, which I only managed to get 1/4 of the way through on account of it being HUMUNGOUS! ....Like Finland, they take their design very seriously here, and a lot of attention is given to it, both publicly and in education.





Outdoor art exhibit, photography, in the centre of the city.


The courtyard in the middle of the Danish Design Museum.


I don't know what the giant bird was for, but there it was.

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND


Awww, look it's Jon Stam!!! How excited was I too see him!!! We spent the day sightseeing, and stayed at his Aunt and Uncle's house that evening, in Amsterdam


After my much needed shower: lunch!









This is Jon's fourite spot in Amsterdam, right across from a lovely cafe, over the canal. Amsterdam is very urban feeling. There is a lot more racial diversity here than any other country so far, and it feels like a big, busy city!



This lovely billboard sits right outside the main train station. I love this image. I hope it's not going to turn out to be a Gap ad or something!

EINDHOVEN, HOLLAND

Home of the Design Academy, and the reason Jon left us all. As Jon calls it: "the largest outdoor shopping mall in the world." He doesn't much like it here. Everything closes at 6pm, and well, it is just a bit too "controlled" feeling here. I am happy to be going to Rotterdam tomorrow, where Jon and Jan are moving in September. Jan got accepted to a killer school there, and jon prefers a 2 hour commute to living in Eindhoven.




...At Eindhoven's best "Coffeeshop", the Pink Panther. I must have been saying something REALLY important...lol!

Ok, that sums up the trip so far. Stay tuned for more. I will let you know when I update it.

DESIGN NERDS ONLY PAST THIS POINT:

In Talinn, Estonia:






Stolen shots inside the Design Museum in Finland: lots of Alvar Aalto and Saarinen.





Swedish dish soap dispensers:



More stolen shots, this time from the Dansk Museum. These are the rough sketches of Poul Henningsen for his famous "Artichoke Lamp; tissue paper collages.





These are also from the Dansk: the original inspiration for Ray and Charles Eames' bent plywood work: splints they had been employed to design during WWII, for injured American soldiers.


In Copenhagen: The new Keane poster is very beautiful! Is this also their album cover? I love it!




Also in Copenhagen: They don't use benches in the Metro, just these ultra-chic "leans" (I don't know what else to call them!)




Love you all, more later!