12:22 PM
Venice, Italy
Marco Polo Airport; Gate 20
I am writing now from the end of my journey. I am sitting aboard a British Airways plane preparing for my inevitably bumpy flight to Heathrow Airport in London which I will fly from to JFK in New York, New York.
I won’t be able to write for much longer as I will have to shut this off for the airplane, but it felt necessary to write an entry now, while still on the ground, on the continent of Europe.
I wanted to write and say that I am satisfied. That I am prepared to return home. That I have accomplished all that I set out to do, see, experience. I have achieved the personal solidarity of mind that I hoped would come with this intense experience abroad. I am ready for the next steps along the path which I wend along.
3:13 PM
London, England
Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5, Gate B45
So where were we? Oh, right—CERN. I’m not going to go into the details of the obscene difficulties encountered on attempting to get to CERN and find a place to stay. It turned out that there were very few hostels and they were very expensive and far away from where I needed to be. For only a few more euros I booked myself a room at a hotel, near the airport. When I arrived at the airport and looked at my map, I quickly discovered that the hotel was exactly at the furthest point from me, literally diagonally across the entire airport tarmac and all. The map was hard to read, but I took a gamble, and at around 11:00 PM, I started walking along a road that ran along the outside of the airport, by the runway. My intuition was right, and there was a tunnel that went underneath and pretty much right up to the door of my hotel. After a few more mishaps I finally settled in and went to sleep.
The next morning I was off for the bus and was jittery with excitement. When the bus said we were arriving at CERN I had to double check with the driver because I couldn’t believe that was it. There was virtually nothing there. The world’s foremost physics research center was denoted by little more than a large, wooden globe. Across the street was the visitor office, where I went, checked in, and began to tour their museum exhibition, Microcosm, familiarizing myself even further with the finer details of CERN before I took my tour. Before I knew it I was in a small auditorium watching a video on the history of CERN and then being guided by a physicist with a very thick French accent (he had no concept of the letter “r”). We would be visiting ATLAS, one of four observations points along the LHC. Lucky too, because this one was right across the street and was currently running experiments on lead ion collisions. The control room was just like something out of a movie. The display screens were…well, sexy. They had these excellent 3-D rendered images of the detector that showed exactly where the particles which were ejected from the collision had been detected. There were at least a dozen people working at various computer workstations, moving between each other and chatting. I wish I could have heard them. I really would have liked to have engaged more, spoken with the tour guide, but I was sick at the time. My stomach was being wracked with paralyzing pain every five or so minutes, and my ability to concentrate was significantly diminished, to the point where I couldn’t do much critical thinking beyond going, “Ooooo.”
The next day I decided it was time to head back into Italy (I was sick of the cold again; little did I know that Italy was just as cold by now). I had to switch trains at Lyon where, as I was reserving a ticket, I saw police officers flood the station, crying, “Evacuee!” That was unsettling. The ticket attendant tried to explain it to me. All I got was that a gas or poison or something had been released in the station. Honestly, I still have no idea what happened. In just a half hour everything was cleared up and I was on a train to Milan—with no idea where I would sleep that night.
I got to Milan and started looking for hostels, but I didn’t see any. I saw a lot of one star hotels, so that looked promising. I stopped off for some pizza where a nice, VERY Italian guy helped me find cheap place to stay, cuz, you know, he’s got friends, cuz he’s Italian. After I got settled into my room I rejoined him at the pizza place where I somehow ended up at some Turkish girl’s birthday party. Apparently I have a natural aptitude for pronouncing Turkish. Are we surprised? Marrhabah!
I didn’t waste any time in Milan. I had been told it was a commercial dump and it looked like one. I jumped a train back to Rome where, once again, I had no idea where I would sleep; but, I knew there were plenty of hostels.
I ended up staying at the 2 Ducks, where they took me from the main office to an apartment in a completely different building. It was fairly private and comfortable, and near the train station. It was a hassle getting back to the office for internet, but whatever. The next day I saw some new sights (namely the Pantheon), took in a few old ones, and walked along the Via Appia Antica—the Appian Way, the great Roman highway!
I walked for easily three miles or more along this ancient path, in perpetual use, lined with ruins. It was easily one of my top ten experiences this trip, if not a top five. Granted, on the way back it began to rain. At first lightly—but then I made a joke in speaking aloud to Jove. That’s when the lightning began. I jokingly spoke aloud to Jove again, and like a movie (or as if Jove truly is the god of the sky), the heavens opened. It was a downpour. I figured it would clear soon. After about five minutes of walking and no clearing up, I said one more joking “prayer.” Bad idea. If I thought it was raining before, well, I had no idea what it meant to rain. It was like being in a shower. Not a normal shower. One of those showers with the special head that you turn and it becomes a super high powered jet stream of solid water. I sweat I could’ve swam if I tried.
I felt my clothes, and at least the back of my pants were dry, and beneath my jacket I was still dry. That’s when a car drove by and splashed me. Instant bath. Well, soon enough someone took pity on me (St. Christopher battling Jupiter?) and offered me a ride back to Roma Termini, the train station right near where I was staying. I swear, a hot shower has rarely felt so good.
The next day I tried for Ostia Antica, and, after forty minutes on two trains, and ten minutes of walking, I arrived to discover that it was closed. By the time I got back to Rome proper, it was too late to do anything else. So I went to the hostel office and whiled away some time on my computer.
The next day I went to Naples (stayed at the Welcome Inn, and absolutely brilliant place with the most friendly and giving people I’d met in a long time). After dropping my stuff off and eating a little of what was left of breakfast I set off for Pompei.
2:20 PM (Eastern Standard)
Over the Atlantic; ~2100 miles from NYC; Altitude: 36,000 ft.
We are chasing the sun. This may be the longest sunset of my life. For over two hours I have watched a horizon-wide rainbow slowly slim. We are losing, and while it is surely bright at home, from where I sit, it shall soon be too dark to see the wings outside.
Pompei was a mix of being more and less than what I expected. It’s a city, preserved in a wonderful way for over two-thousand years. Some, though very rare, buildings still have their original roofs attached. he same cobbled streets which held up panicked feet at the eruption of Vesuvius held my calm stroll. I preferred to think of Pompei when its citizens walked as I did—calmly, no doubt going to the store, or to visit a friend, or seal a deal. I visited the home of the senator who laid the first strike against Julius Caesar, sat where ancient scholars sat, and ran my fingers along Latin inscriptions when perhaps some Roman child, waiting with his mother in the Forum, idly ran his fingers. I saw drawings scratched into the walls, political messages scrawled along the streets. There were perfectly preserved paintings inside some houses—beautiful paintings, of a form that would not be rediscovered for a thousand years.
It is true that Pompei is not cared for properly. Many priceless images on the buildings, once covered by glass panes to protect them, are now exposed, their covers being broken. Something like that should be fixed within an hour of its being damaged. Many entrances to restricted areas were guarded by only flimsy wooden gates which were closes with a simple bolt. Some of these gates were broken down anyway. Where some buildings were covered over with metal roofing, most were not. For one of the greatest cultural treasures of the world, is it too much to provide proper shelter for its treasures? Just two weeks earlier the Hall of the Gladiators collapsed in the early morning, presumably from rainwater inundation in the cement. And yet when I had arrived no measures seemed to be taken to protect the other structures. You would think that someone would have scrambled to patch things up as quickly as possible. Even if we disregard the historical richness of the site, let us consider if the Hall had collapsed just three hours later, when the area opens to tourists? What if an entire building of stone collapsed on some poor cruise-goers on a day trip? It’s not like they expected the Hall to collapse. Any other structure is just as likely to fall.
Well, Pompei is the one place that I do wish I had my good camera, as there were so many things that I simply couldn’t get my head around. I also wish I had arrived earlier, just to be better able to put myself in the Pompeian mindset, to reconstruct the life there in my head (using my extraordinary research in Roman life owing to a thorough viewing of HBO’s Rome) and to become in some sense a part of it for that brief moment of daydreaming hallucination I am so keenly capable of.
Que sera. I ended up getting lost in the city as it got darker and darker, and was utterly creeped out. I didn’t find my way out until forty minutes after it had closed. Christ, you could make a home there and no one would be the wiser.
Anyway, on my way back to the hostel it began to rain and I knew for certain that I couldn’t stay any longer abroad. I was too tired of being cold and wet and not knowing where I was going to sleep. I was tired of cities and tired of towns. Tired of people and being alone. Tired of seeing just how damn similar we all are—tired of that overwhelming understanding of one species, all made of the same starstuff (as Sagan would have it), unified in riding spaceship Earth (as Asimov would have it). And tired of bad customer service.
But while I weighed the pros and cons of not seeing Greece and Morocco, I knew that I had to see Venice before I left. To return before such a visit would be deeply lamentable, and no matter how exhausted I felt, no matter how much I wanted to grab my bag and head straight for the airport, I organized myself to arrive in Venice the next day and to stay for two nights.
I fell asleep on the train and awoke in Venice. When I stepped out of the carriage and into the terminal I realized that it looked like every other terminal in the Western world. This being my first thought I immediately guarded myself against my consuming jadedness, and forced myself to renew a spirit of adventure.
The thing is, I knew right away that I needed to go home. Walking through Venice to my hostel, all I could feel were two things: one, that Venice was…well, nifty if the only way I can think to put it; and two, that I was bloody irritated that the layout was so complicated I was having a hard time finding my lodging.
I dropped my stuff off at an old Doge’s palace (i.e. my hostel, which was, admittedly, awesome) and since I couldn’t pay yet since it was too early, I went for a characteristic wander about the city.
Now, truly, Venice is like no other place in the world. Composed of over a hundred small islands all separated by only a few meters of water, it is remarkable. But it’s not particularly beautiful. I know it wasn’t the weather, since it was dry, sunny, and only slightly chilly. The atmosphere was alive and well, with the gondoliers out and people dressed up in Venetian costume to advertise concerts and operas. I got food (again, not surprised) and spent a long time staring through the window of a paper shop where they sold the most beautiful old pen and ink sets I’ve seen, with some beautiful handmade journals. I wandered the Rialto, and walked to San Marco Piazza, which was completely flooded. I walked the planks and visited the church. I went back to the hostel. I sat on my computer making plans for my return home the day after Thanksgiving.
That night dinner was served at the hostel, and I ate briefly before rushing off to San Marco for a Vivaldi concert.
The next day I tried to buy tickets for a showing of La Traviata, but it was cancelled that evening. So I boarded a train to Verona—which was as much of an extraordinary disappointment as I expected (and not the good, fun disappointment like the Mona Lisa—just plain, sad, how-can-a-city-that-embodies-the-deepest-beauty-and-tradgedy-of-romance-be-such-a-dull-spot kind of disappointment). So I did the only next logical thing: I jumped on another train to see the one last thing I truly wanted to see before returning home: Bologna. Or, more specifically (because Bologna, too, is a dump) the University of Bologna, founded in the eleventh century and now the oldest continually run university in the world. I got an Il Pecorino from McDonalds (f-ing BRILLIANT sandwich, by the way) and set out in search. I found the school of mineralogy, the school of ecology (yes! I was in the science area), and finally the school of mathematics, which I entered. I slipped past the guard station and began to explore, snapping photos of a bust of Leibnitz, sitting in what looked to be an antique bench, and reading scientific journals in the halls. Then it was time to head back to Venice for dinner.
I enjoyed my dinner, and had some god conversation with a really nice Aussie (made me nostalgic for Oz; kinda want to go back again) and some others. Then I hit the sack and prepared for my journey home the next day—today.
When I awoke I realized immediately that the good weather had broken and it was cold inside the hostel and I could see through the windows that it was wet outside. I knew then that any doubts I had about returning home were out the window. As I walked in the rain, with each slippery step further soaking my feet in cold Adriatic through my boots, I knew that I could not wait to get home. I imagined walking not to the bus to the airport, but rather to the train to Athens, and I knew that I would have been grieving such a decision.
Soon I was at the airport and bought a meal, checked in, passed through security without incident (they didn’t even take my toothpaste away!), and bought three kinds of proscuitto. I waited for the plane. I began this day’s entry. I flew to Heathrow. I watched Annie Hall. I ate prosciutto. At Heathrow I encountered minor difficulties with securities, but still managed to retain my toothpaste. Score one against the terrorists. I bought all the candy that I had not yet tried in England. I waited. I boarded. I just watched Die Another Day, possibly the single most unintentionally funny Bond film ever, and ate my British candy. Now I’m typing.
But I think I’ll save the reflections, the wrap-up, the epilogue, for home.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
11:34 PM
Rome, Italy
2 Ducks Hostel Kitchen
I’d like to bitch and reflect, but I feel that I need to catch up on the story thus far before I can really do that. I won’t write much now because I must get some sleep, but I’ll at least try to get us out of France.
Anyway, so I went to my room, settled in and went out for some food. I never did eat, tired as I was, and I soon found myself back in bed. Only to be awoke about an hour later by the guy running the hostel at that time. He had come in and was questioning one of the other guys in the room and I only really woke up when I realized he was staring at me. “Yes,” I said. The man proceeded to grill me, asking me if I had paid for my night. I said of course I had, and then he asked me for my name. I gave it to him and he said I didn’t pay. Well, now I was pissed off. I grabbed my receipt and thrust it at him. He looked at it and sheepishly said, “Fine.” I crawled back into bed and went to sleep.
I woke up late, having done that wonderful trick I do where I shut my alarm off in my sleep. I bolted for the train and made it with only about two minutes to spare. The train was from Paris to Irun where I’d transfer to a train going the rest of the way to Madrid. Well, my train never made it to Irun. With absolutely no translation of French (on a train presumably filled with Spanish speakers), we were apparently told to get off a full stop before Irun. I had no idea until a kindly drunkard informed my in slurred and severely broken English to get off and go to my left. At least I figured out he had said left later, after I had gone to an information desk to find out just what the f happened. It turns out there were transferring us to the metro system to go the rest of the way. Of course, they never told me which stop to get off once I got on the metro. So I ended up all the way in San Sebastian, lucky enough to find some Kiwis just as confused as I, but who had realized that San Sebastian was the stop after Irun and that we could get on there.
I explored this unexpected city for a bit, enjoying the warm air and waves crashing violently from the Atlantic against the shore. I finally got on the train and, if memory serves, slept most of the way to Madrid. Once at my true destination I had no trouble finding the hostel and was extraordinarily pleased to find it welcoming, warm, and friendly. A far cry from the Parisian nightmare I had so recently come through. All the same, the next day I headed to Barcelona since Madrid didn’t look very exciting.
Barcelona was nice. I enjoyed a comfortable room, dinner, and the next day wandered around the city, taking in the vibe and experiencing all the Gaudi architecture, including the unfinished cathedral (quite a sight!). But, Barcelona just wasn’t doing it for me and if I headed back to Paris I’d be just in time to spend a full day at the Louvre and attend a writer’s circle at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. So that’s what I did.
I hoped a train to Cerbere where I had an hour wait for the night rail to Paris. I explored the very tiny Mediterranean town of Cerbere. There wasn’t much to see, but it was very quaint. I skipped rocks on the water.
In Paris, again, I went to a writer’s circle, wrote some stuff that is going to make for an awesome story, and hung out at an American bar with some awesome American writers. The next day I finally went to the Louvre. The Louvre is indeed huge, but after spending a lot of time at the Met I felt I could handle it, though I can understand how some inexperienced museum-goers could be overwhelmed. I already know what sort of art I like and I’m able to brush by what I’m not a fan of. I saw the great works. The Mona Lisa, as stunningly a letdown as I have been led to believe. It was wonderful in how anticlimactic it was. A tiny painting on a wall separated from the viewers by about eight to ten feet by a barrier, with two guards at either side. The sculptures were the true winners at the Louvre, especially the “Winged Victory of Samothrace” and at least two of the pieces depicting the love of Cupid and Psyche (so glad I read Metamorphoses before I left).
I also took another visit to the Sacre Couer as I have been wanting to, and finally saw the Moulin Rouge. The next day I jumped on the first random train and went a few stops until I was in the country. I walked around Creil, where I landed, got on another train, and kept going. I landed in a town I can’t remember the name of at the moment, and explored for about three hours. Really, incredibly quaint. Like, dirt roads, old walls and buildings, curing around and up over tiny hills, nestled against a small mountain. One bakery, one restaurant, one school. I hiked up a trail and found a mansion at the end. It was a really magical sort of place in that it was the place I’ve seen a million times in movies.
After Paris it was time to head for CERN.
Rome, Italy
2 Ducks Hostel Kitchen
I’d like to bitch and reflect, but I feel that I need to catch up on the story thus far before I can really do that. I won’t write much now because I must get some sleep, but I’ll at least try to get us out of France.
Anyway, so I went to my room, settled in and went out for some food. I never did eat, tired as I was, and I soon found myself back in bed. Only to be awoke about an hour later by the guy running the hostel at that time. He had come in and was questioning one of the other guys in the room and I only really woke up when I realized he was staring at me. “Yes,” I said. The man proceeded to grill me, asking me if I had paid for my night. I said of course I had, and then he asked me for my name. I gave it to him and he said I didn’t pay. Well, now I was pissed off. I grabbed my receipt and thrust it at him. He looked at it and sheepishly said, “Fine.” I crawled back into bed and went to sleep.
I woke up late, having done that wonderful trick I do where I shut my alarm off in my sleep. I bolted for the train and made it with only about two minutes to spare. The train was from Paris to Irun where I’d transfer to a train going the rest of the way to Madrid. Well, my train never made it to Irun. With absolutely no translation of French (on a train presumably filled with Spanish speakers), we were apparently told to get off a full stop before Irun. I had no idea until a kindly drunkard informed my in slurred and severely broken English to get off and go to my left. At least I figured out he had said left later, after I had gone to an information desk to find out just what the f happened. It turns out there were transferring us to the metro system to go the rest of the way. Of course, they never told me which stop to get off once I got on the metro. So I ended up all the way in San Sebastian, lucky enough to find some Kiwis just as confused as I, but who had realized that San Sebastian was the stop after Irun and that we could get on there.
I explored this unexpected city for a bit, enjoying the warm air and waves crashing violently from the Atlantic against the shore. I finally got on the train and, if memory serves, slept most of the way to Madrid. Once at my true destination I had no trouble finding the hostel and was extraordinarily pleased to find it welcoming, warm, and friendly. A far cry from the Parisian nightmare I had so recently come through. All the same, the next day I headed to Barcelona since Madrid didn’t look very exciting.
Barcelona was nice. I enjoyed a comfortable room, dinner, and the next day wandered around the city, taking in the vibe and experiencing all the Gaudi architecture, including the unfinished cathedral (quite a sight!). But, Barcelona just wasn’t doing it for me and if I headed back to Paris I’d be just in time to spend a full day at the Louvre and attend a writer’s circle at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. So that’s what I did.
I hoped a train to Cerbere where I had an hour wait for the night rail to Paris. I explored the very tiny Mediterranean town of Cerbere. There wasn’t much to see, but it was very quaint. I skipped rocks on the water.
In Paris, again, I went to a writer’s circle, wrote some stuff that is going to make for an awesome story, and hung out at an American bar with some awesome American writers. The next day I finally went to the Louvre. The Louvre is indeed huge, but after spending a lot of time at the Met I felt I could handle it, though I can understand how some inexperienced museum-goers could be overwhelmed. I already know what sort of art I like and I’m able to brush by what I’m not a fan of. I saw the great works. The Mona Lisa, as stunningly a letdown as I have been led to believe. It was wonderful in how anticlimactic it was. A tiny painting on a wall separated from the viewers by about eight to ten feet by a barrier, with two guards at either side. The sculptures were the true winners at the Louvre, especially the “Winged Victory of Samothrace” and at least two of the pieces depicting the love of Cupid and Psyche (so glad I read Metamorphoses before I left).
I also took another visit to the Sacre Couer as I have been wanting to, and finally saw the Moulin Rouge. The next day I jumped on the first random train and went a few stops until I was in the country. I walked around Creil, where I landed, got on another train, and kept going. I landed in a town I can’t remember the name of at the moment, and explored for about three hours. Really, incredibly quaint. Like, dirt roads, old walls and buildings, curing around and up over tiny hills, nestled against a small mountain. One bakery, one restaurant, one school. I hiked up a trail and found a mansion at the end. It was a really magical sort of place in that it was the place I’ve seen a million times in movies.
After Paris it was time to head for CERN.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
1:38 PM
Milan, Italy
Train from Milan to Rome
I’ll be honest—I’ve been putting off writing here for a while. I’ve been rather grumpy again and most of the time simply haven’t felt much like writing. But now seems a good time to return, hopefully with proper consistency again, as I am currently repeating the action which I was last describing.
My last time to Rom I arrived fairly late in the evening and set off, iPhone map in hand, for my hostel. There wasn’t much to see. In the dim streetlight glow of night Rome looked much like the rest of Europe. My hostel turned out to be on of the loudest I’ve ever been in. All night there were people in the hallways shouting and whooping it up. I found rest only by my severe exhaustion.
The next day I grabbed a map from the reception desk and set out to find the great ruins of the ancient world. Working my way south-west, towards the central river and the Coliseum, I found Rome increasingly peppered with historical sights and I was making frequent unexpected stops to investigate sites, such as some old Roman baths. I found my way to the Forum and stood near a small British tour group, listening to their Irish guide explain some of the finer details of the history. It was a rather incredible experience, seeing the original triumphal arch, at first built as a proud monument, then neglected, and thereafter buried in a garbage dump, only excavated around two hundred years ago. There were the steps where supposedly Julius Caesar had been stabbed by every member of the senate, and there was the spot where the Vestal Virgins kept a flame perpetually burning. These were the stones which great thinkers trod, their intellects expressed in discourse, those words vibrating the path along with their steps.
I next went to the Coliseum, a truly magnificent structure, especially when viewed in the context of the time in which it was built. To picture it in its heyday brings to mind an almost inconceivable image of grandeur and beauty. I bought my ticket and an audio guide and proceeded to make my way around. As I read the information boards and listened to the audio, I set my mind to musing over the realities of life in the stadium. As I climbed the steps between levels I focused on the two millennia past jostling of crowds as they made their way to their seats, discussing business, family, and the games-to-be in a tarnished, colloquial Latin. As I looked down to the area I thoughts of the floors splashed with blood, the thousands of men who must have looked up desperately into the crowds as they bled out, as knives sliced open their skin, as blades tore through their organs, as darkness closed over their eyes as the roar of an appreciative audience grew dimmer. I studied the graffiti, the drawings of great fighters. I thought of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, Kane and the Undertaker, and their inevitable dissolve into obscure history, as the great showman-fighters of Rome did. Such passion, such great fame—and we know next to nothing of it.
I thought of going on to the Via Appia Antica, but the sun was already setting and I made my way towards the Circus Maximus, where I knew I could also find a subway back to the hostel. I got dinner near the subway and then returned to my bed where I worked some more on applications, made phone calls, and eventually went to sleep to the sounds of screaming in the hallway.
The next day I spent in the library, typing up my Barrett application essays. That night I wandered around the neighborhood of my hostel, ordering dinner at a restaurant where no one spoke even the smallest bit of English. I got some gelato. I wandered in the dark, listening to my podcasts. Eventually, I went to sleep, prepared for a visit to the Vatican the next day.
I woke up late and instead of walking across the city to the Vatican I took a subway. I found Vatican City easily enough and was surprised to find that “crossing the border” is nothing at all. You just walk into the plaza from the street. I was immediately accosted by persons trying to sell me a tour, but I turned them down. Well, at least until I saw the line to get into the museum. I thought about the cost of the museum and the relative inconvenience of standing in line and soon found myself back at the tour person, asking them to sign me up.
The tour itself wasn’t particularly great. I couldn’t understand the guide very well since he spoke with a very thick Italian accent, but I got in quickly and learned a few amusing facts about the world’s smallest country. I wasn’t a huge fan of the museum itself, but perhaps I simply didn’t have enough time to explore it as it deserves. The highlights were finally seeing some to the great originals of works of art that I have seen many times over in many other places. Seeing the Sistine Chapel in person was astounding. Viewing the sheer immensity of Michelangelo’s work was really powerful—the opportunity to step up close to the painted figures and see the detail of the delicate brush strokes that formed the bodies was awesome.
After the museum I went to the cathedral which was large and impressive as far as pure engineering prowess goes, but fell a bit flat as far as artistic excellence goes. Not exactly the Sacre Coeur. Inside I had the chance to see the Pieta, which, after all the hype, was not quite as mind-blowing as I was hoping. The stone from which it is carved was described to me as milk white, absolutely pure, but, well, it was just stone, in my opinion. There were some nice paintings and sculptures around the rest of the building but I didn’t quite get a “wow factor” from any of it. The intellectual recognition of the history of the place had far more of an impact than anything else.
With nothing left to do I took a long walk through the rest of Rome all the way back to my hostel, passing through a variety of famous piazzas and wandering down commercial avenues and planning for my return to England for Guy Fawkes’ Day (it’s also worth mentioning that during my walk, near the opera house, I encountered a presumably homeless man walking my way who was pointing furiously to his right and shouting at me. Not wanting to upset the crazy guy I stepped off to that side to let him pass, but this was clearly not good enough for him as he thereafter grabbed me violently by the arm and swung me into the street. A woman on the opposite sidewalk stopped, stunned at the interaction, and I, admittedly terrified, bolted down the street, looking back only when I had reached the corner and a more populated area. The guy was still back there, shouting at me).
The next morning I headed for the train and wound up in Pisa. I was unable to secure a night train anywhere from Pisa and discovered that I would have to find somewhere to sleep. I was lucky in finding the only hostel in all the city, but they told me they had no room for me. A sad, puppy-dog face, however, got me a bed. With my things dropped off in my room I set off to find the famous Leaning Tower.
As I made my way north it seemed to me that I had found yet another city in which I was comfortable. There was nothing quite remarkable about Pisa, but it was small, old, and surrounded by a medieval wall. The Tower of Pisa poked its head above a few colorful buildings before I was even prepared to see it. A lot of great pieces of architecture seem to do that. The Tower Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower. Now that I write it out, this seems to be a matter of towers more than anything else. But I appreciate that quality, the way it peaks its head to greet you. It’s a very real glimpse of something that faced at first head-on might render itself just another postcard image. I went to the tower and was really taken with it. It’s a dull white, and shows clearly the signs of its formidable age and angle. It does lean, and the further back to you step to look at it, the more precipitously it appears to.
I was hungry by this point and stepped off to a nearby restaurant and sat down with my notebook and started to write a story. I stopped writing to enjoy a few courses. I ordered gnocchi first, and afterwards…well, I can’t remember at the moment. I had a single small glass of the house red wine, and finished off with dessert, a handful of almond cookies with a very small portion of sweet white wine. Then I enjoyed two cups of espresso while I continued to write. When I finally decided to leave I wandered around the Tower and the church, walked along the wall, and briefly beyond it. I listened to Richard Feynman’s “Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman.” I walked down to the river and say by it. I crossed the bridge and walked to my hostel. I made some brief phone calls and then decided I need to walk some more. It was drizzling, but I didn’t care and I continued to listen to the Feynman book as I ate Kebab, and wandered back to the river, walking to the city’s eastern edge, and back around, poking my head in abandoned, Medieval-looking buildings with no markers. All while listening to the book whose text has now become intrinsically connected to my experience in Pisa.
The next day it was raining—hard. I ran for the train station and prepared for a long series of trains that would take me back to Paris. A train to Genoa. A train to Nice (where I watched “The Social Network” while waiting for the night train). A train to Paris. I met with one host in the morning and spent nearly the whole day in her house, reading and studying. In the evening I went to a very nice library (I’ll have to find the name and insert it here) which was large, dark, and full of books, The main reading room had levels of shelves, and was oval shaped with a very high ceiling. That library closed early so I went to the Library at the Centre Pompidou, an incredible library, full of information and young minds, and free internet! The next day I met my next host who would not let me go to my libraries, but insisted that I join her and her friends at a bar. I acquiesced, considering it a good opportunity for an authentic Parisian experience. It was indeed a good time and I enjoyed the company of her friends well enough, but the next day I made my plans for England.
I walked all the way along the Peripherique of Paris to the bus station at Gallieni and book a night bus for the next evening. Then I took a metro to the city center to return to the libraries.
The next morning I set out early and went to visit yet another library which I had heard of, said to be the repository of all texts printed in France (again, I must find the name and put it here). It was a marvelous library, with four large, book-like towers, at its four corners, mostly empty, waiting to be filled over the years. Daunting dark stone steps led up to the main level of the library and then escalators took you into the center, where a forest grew. Inside they had massive reading rooms for everything you can think of, but you had to pay to use it. And I don’t believe in paying for libraries, so I left and walked all the way to my favorite libraries, crossing a magnificently curved bridge, and descending a set of stairs that had a waterfall built into it in the process.
My night on the bus was simply too horrible to describe my utter frustration and anger at it. The ladies behind me spoke loudly throughout the entire trip, while the bus driver in front blasted his music so terribly loudly that it vibrated my seat. The exchange at the border was a joke. One leaving France (I guess) had us go in, put our bags in an x-ray machine and show our passports. I say bravo to them for not patting me down, or putting me through a metal detector. No K-9’s around either. Smuggling virtually anything into the country would be a joke. Then, going into England (I guess), we we told to leave the bus again. This time sans bags, to be questioned by a man holding my passport, asking the most absurd questions.
When I finally arrived in London I went across the street to a place that looked like it served breakfast, what with its advertisement sign standing outside, its lights on, and the door open. I was told to come back in an hour. I asked if there was a bathroom. They said there was in the train station. It was closed. I was pissed. No sleep and in soggy London, I walked around Hyde Park in the dark of the early morning as I made my way to my hostel. At the hostel I was told I was not allowed to check in yet. Then the internet didn’t work. I was getting ready to lose it so I asked them to hold my bag as I went for a walk to, you guessed it, the British National Library. When check in time came around I went back dropped off my stuff and planned out where I would go for Bon Fire Night. There were a ton of options and I decided to go with a small community affair that would include performers, a bonfire complete with effigies, and fireworks. Plus it was free.
After a frustratingly challenging trip on the Tube (not to mention that the headphones I had bought in Nice were now broken in one ear as I tried to listen to the next Feynman book, “What Do You Care What Other People Think”) I ended up stuck in the wrong place with little time left until the fireworks display. I tried to follow my map, but I was just off the edge. I wandered blindly for around forty minutes until I somehow stumbled onto a street with a name I recognized from studying my map. I turned down and found the party.
The performers were terrible. First, you had two guys in bright jester outfits eating fire and trying to engage the audience. It was painful to watch. But while they were bad, they at least had some spirit. The performers in the next area over were as deficient in skill and even more lacking in showmanship. The two women were dressed up in dark, striking costumes meant to be alluring and sexy, and they weren’t too bad looking either, if a little old for the shtick. They were of the fire poi spinning brand, I suppose, although they somewhat mindlessly brought out fire staff and fire fans and other tools which they clearly (at least to me) did not know how to use. On top of being incapable with their props, with which one performer nearly burned the audience with her fire staff, they had no idea how to perform, going through the motions of a routine they had rehearsed, but with no music. When a traditional drumming group started up nearby the lady had the perfect opportunity to integrate, but she let it pass, going through the same banal motions over and over.
Soon they lit the bonfire, which was comprised mainly of stacking pallets stuffed with wood, and with wooden panels (the kind you see outside construction sites) bordering it. On top were a few effigies which began the inferno. Oh, and it was stuffed with fireworks. No, seriously. That’s why the wood panels were there, to block the fireworks from mowing the audience down. But someone didn’t think that the panels would burn and render them useless as a defense and soon there were fireworks shooting at the feet of the crowd who began dancing backward. The fireworks were amusing, but again, there seems to have been a misunderstanding of how to most effectively entertain. You can’t just have a guy strap himself onto a wheel that spins as fireworks shoot out. You have to have some presentation to it. The fireworks shot out, but with no pattern, without any rhyme or reason. They were nice, and amusing, but not striking as an American fireworks display might be. Then again, perhaps if I had gone to on of the larger displays I might have thought differently.
The next day I headed up to Oxford to stay with Sam Sussman for a few days. I met him at his house and we enjoyed some tea as I described my experiences in Europe. Then we set out on the streets, Sam giving me a tour of the Medieval colleges, taking me on a walk along the river, then to a famous old pub, and ending up by taking me to the Christ Church dining hall for dinner (where Harry Potter was filmed for the Hogwarts dining hall). Everyone wore traditional academic robes, and the food was incredible, served to us at long tables by waiters.
After dinner we left to go to one of Sam’s friend’s homes for a housewarming party. There we mingled with some of the college’s intellectual elite—Harvard grads studying at Oxford with envious internships and experiences lining their resumes. I had the opportunity to learn a bit about the physics research going on there, discuss Medieval paleography, and listen in on intense political debate.
The next day I wandered about town and enjoyed the Christ Church library, and on Monday I went to one lecture on formal logic and another on peasant women in England from 1000-1300 AD. Then, after one more night of good conversation with Sam, it was time to head back to the Continent. I ended up on a nicer bus ride this time, and we crossed the English Channel by ferry, allowing me the opportunity to watch the white cliffs of Dover shrink away, and muse over the many adventures made on those choppy seas of the millennia as I watched the dark water crest white and spray in the rough wind.
I spent the night in Paris where I encountered the worse customer service of my life. Upon entering the hostel I was told at the desk that I needed to wait twenty minutes because they were changing shifts (mind you, this is ten at night now, clearly check-in time). When I went back at the appointed time I was ignore—blatantly—as the man behind the counter folded sheets and put them away. When he finally deigned to help me, he was curt, and I went off to my room quite irritated.
1:38 PM
Milan, Italy
Train from Milan to Rome
I’ll be honest—I’ve been putting off writing here for a while. I’ve been rather grumpy again and most of the time simply haven’t felt much like writing. But now seems a good time to return, hopefully with proper consistency again, as I am currently repeating the action which I was last describing.
My last time to Rom I arrived fairly late in the evening and set off, iPhone map in hand, for my hostel. There wasn’t much to see. In the dim streetlight glow of night Rome looked much like the rest of Europe. My hostel turned out to be on of the loudest I’ve ever been in. All night there were people in the hallways shouting and whooping it up. I found rest only by my severe exhaustion.
The next day I grabbed a map from the reception desk and set out to find the great ruins of the ancient world. Working my way south-west, towards the central river and the Coliseum, I found Rome increasingly peppered with historical sights and I was making frequent unexpected stops to investigate sites, such as some old Roman baths. I found my way to the Forum and stood near a small British tour group, listening to their Irish guide explain some of the finer details of the history. It was a rather incredible experience, seeing the original triumphal arch, at first built as a proud monument, then neglected, and thereafter buried in a garbage dump, only excavated around two hundred years ago. There were the steps where supposedly Julius Caesar had been stabbed by every member of the senate, and there was the spot where the Vestal Virgins kept a flame perpetually burning. These were the stones which great thinkers trod, their intellects expressed in discourse, those words vibrating the path along with their steps.
I next went to the Coliseum, a truly magnificent structure, especially when viewed in the context of the time in which it was built. To picture it in its heyday brings to mind an almost inconceivable image of grandeur and beauty. I bought my ticket and an audio guide and proceeded to make my way around. As I read the information boards and listened to the audio, I set my mind to musing over the realities of life in the stadium. As I climbed the steps between levels I focused on the two millennia past jostling of crowds as they made their way to their seats, discussing business, family, and the games-to-be in a tarnished, colloquial Latin. As I looked down to the area I thoughts of the floors splashed with blood, the thousands of men who must have looked up desperately into the crowds as they bled out, as knives sliced open their skin, as blades tore through their organs, as darkness closed over their eyes as the roar of an appreciative audience grew dimmer. I studied the graffiti, the drawings of great fighters. I thought of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, Kane and the Undertaker, and their inevitable dissolve into obscure history, as the great showman-fighters of Rome did. Such passion, such great fame—and we know next to nothing of it.
I thought of going on to the Via Appia Antica, but the sun was already setting and I made my way towards the Circus Maximus, where I knew I could also find a subway back to the hostel. I got dinner near the subway and then returned to my bed where I worked some more on applications, made phone calls, and eventually went to sleep to the sounds of screaming in the hallway.
The next day I spent in the library, typing up my Barrett application essays. That night I wandered around the neighborhood of my hostel, ordering dinner at a restaurant where no one spoke even the smallest bit of English. I got some gelato. I wandered in the dark, listening to my podcasts. Eventually, I went to sleep, prepared for a visit to the Vatican the next day.
I woke up late and instead of walking across the city to the Vatican I took a subway. I found Vatican City easily enough and was surprised to find that “crossing the border” is nothing at all. You just walk into the plaza from the street. I was immediately accosted by persons trying to sell me a tour, but I turned them down. Well, at least until I saw the line to get into the museum. I thought about the cost of the museum and the relative inconvenience of standing in line and soon found myself back at the tour person, asking them to sign me up.
The tour itself wasn’t particularly great. I couldn’t understand the guide very well since he spoke with a very thick Italian accent, but I got in quickly and learned a few amusing facts about the world’s smallest country. I wasn’t a huge fan of the museum itself, but perhaps I simply didn’t have enough time to explore it as it deserves. The highlights were finally seeing some to the great originals of works of art that I have seen many times over in many other places. Seeing the Sistine Chapel in person was astounding. Viewing the sheer immensity of Michelangelo’s work was really powerful—the opportunity to step up close to the painted figures and see the detail of the delicate brush strokes that formed the bodies was awesome.
After the museum I went to the cathedral which was large and impressive as far as pure engineering prowess goes, but fell a bit flat as far as artistic excellence goes. Not exactly the Sacre Coeur. Inside I had the chance to see the Pieta, which, after all the hype, was not quite as mind-blowing as I was hoping. The stone from which it is carved was described to me as milk white, absolutely pure, but, well, it was just stone, in my opinion. There were some nice paintings and sculptures around the rest of the building but I didn’t quite get a “wow factor” from any of it. The intellectual recognition of the history of the place had far more of an impact than anything else.
With nothing left to do I took a long walk through the rest of Rome all the way back to my hostel, passing through a variety of famous piazzas and wandering down commercial avenues and planning for my return to England for Guy Fawkes’ Day (it’s also worth mentioning that during my walk, near the opera house, I encountered a presumably homeless man walking my way who was pointing furiously to his right and shouting at me. Not wanting to upset the crazy guy I stepped off to that side to let him pass, but this was clearly not good enough for him as he thereafter grabbed me violently by the arm and swung me into the street. A woman on the opposite sidewalk stopped, stunned at the interaction, and I, admittedly terrified, bolted down the street, looking back only when I had reached the corner and a more populated area. The guy was still back there, shouting at me).
The next morning I headed for the train and wound up in Pisa. I was unable to secure a night train anywhere from Pisa and discovered that I would have to find somewhere to sleep. I was lucky in finding the only hostel in all the city, but they told me they had no room for me. A sad, puppy-dog face, however, got me a bed. With my things dropped off in my room I set off to find the famous Leaning Tower.
As I made my way north it seemed to me that I had found yet another city in which I was comfortable. There was nothing quite remarkable about Pisa, but it was small, old, and surrounded by a medieval wall. The Tower of Pisa poked its head above a few colorful buildings before I was even prepared to see it. A lot of great pieces of architecture seem to do that. The Tower Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower. Now that I write it out, this seems to be a matter of towers more than anything else. But I appreciate that quality, the way it peaks its head to greet you. It’s a very real glimpse of something that faced at first head-on might render itself just another postcard image. I went to the tower and was really taken with it. It’s a dull white, and shows clearly the signs of its formidable age and angle. It does lean, and the further back to you step to look at it, the more precipitously it appears to.
I was hungry by this point and stepped off to a nearby restaurant and sat down with my notebook and started to write a story. I stopped writing to enjoy a few courses. I ordered gnocchi first, and afterwards…well, I can’t remember at the moment. I had a single small glass of the house red wine, and finished off with dessert, a handful of almond cookies with a very small portion of sweet white wine. Then I enjoyed two cups of espresso while I continued to write. When I finally decided to leave I wandered around the Tower and the church, walked along the wall, and briefly beyond it. I listened to Richard Feynman’s “Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman.” I walked down to the river and say by it. I crossed the bridge and walked to my hostel. I made some brief phone calls and then decided I need to walk some more. It was drizzling, but I didn’t care and I continued to listen to the Feynman book as I ate Kebab, and wandered back to the river, walking to the city’s eastern edge, and back around, poking my head in abandoned, Medieval-looking buildings with no markers. All while listening to the book whose text has now become intrinsically connected to my experience in Pisa.
The next day it was raining—hard. I ran for the train station and prepared for a long series of trains that would take me back to Paris. A train to Genoa. A train to Nice (where I watched “The Social Network” while waiting for the night train). A train to Paris. I met with one host in the morning and spent nearly the whole day in her house, reading and studying. In the evening I went to a very nice library (I’ll have to find the name and insert it here) which was large, dark, and full of books, The main reading room had levels of shelves, and was oval shaped with a very high ceiling. That library closed early so I went to the Library at the Centre Pompidou, an incredible library, full of information and young minds, and free internet! The next day I met my next host who would not let me go to my libraries, but insisted that I join her and her friends at a bar. I acquiesced, considering it a good opportunity for an authentic Parisian experience. It was indeed a good time and I enjoyed the company of her friends well enough, but the next day I made my plans for England.
I walked all the way along the Peripherique of Paris to the bus station at Gallieni and book a night bus for the next evening. Then I took a metro to the city center to return to the libraries.
The next morning I set out early and went to visit yet another library which I had heard of, said to be the repository of all texts printed in France (again, I must find the name and put it here). It was a marvelous library, with four large, book-like towers, at its four corners, mostly empty, waiting to be filled over the years. Daunting dark stone steps led up to the main level of the library and then escalators took you into the center, where a forest grew. Inside they had massive reading rooms for everything you can think of, but you had to pay to use it. And I don’t believe in paying for libraries, so I left and walked all the way to my favorite libraries, crossing a magnificently curved bridge, and descending a set of stairs that had a waterfall built into it in the process.
My night on the bus was simply too horrible to describe my utter frustration and anger at it. The ladies behind me spoke loudly throughout the entire trip, while the bus driver in front blasted his music so terribly loudly that it vibrated my seat. The exchange at the border was a joke. One leaving France (I guess) had us go in, put our bags in an x-ray machine and show our passports. I say bravo to them for not patting me down, or putting me through a metal detector. No K-9’s around either. Smuggling virtually anything into the country would be a joke. Then, going into England (I guess), we we told to leave the bus again. This time sans bags, to be questioned by a man holding my passport, asking the most absurd questions.
When I finally arrived in London I went across the street to a place that looked like it served breakfast, what with its advertisement sign standing outside, its lights on, and the door open. I was told to come back in an hour. I asked if there was a bathroom. They said there was in the train station. It was closed. I was pissed. No sleep and in soggy London, I walked around Hyde Park in the dark of the early morning as I made my way to my hostel. At the hostel I was told I was not allowed to check in yet. Then the internet didn’t work. I was getting ready to lose it so I asked them to hold my bag as I went for a walk to, you guessed it, the British National Library. When check in time came around I went back dropped off my stuff and planned out where I would go for Bon Fire Night. There were a ton of options and I decided to go with a small community affair that would include performers, a bonfire complete with effigies, and fireworks. Plus it was free.
After a frustratingly challenging trip on the Tube (not to mention that the headphones I had bought in Nice were now broken in one ear as I tried to listen to the next Feynman book, “What Do You Care What Other People Think”) I ended up stuck in the wrong place with little time left until the fireworks display. I tried to follow my map, but I was just off the edge. I wandered blindly for around forty minutes until I somehow stumbled onto a street with a name I recognized from studying my map. I turned down and found the party.
The performers were terrible. First, you had two guys in bright jester outfits eating fire and trying to engage the audience. It was painful to watch. But while they were bad, they at least had some spirit. The performers in the next area over were as deficient in skill and even more lacking in showmanship. The two women were dressed up in dark, striking costumes meant to be alluring and sexy, and they weren’t too bad looking either, if a little old for the shtick. They were of the fire poi spinning brand, I suppose, although they somewhat mindlessly brought out fire staff and fire fans and other tools which they clearly (at least to me) did not know how to use. On top of being incapable with their props, with which one performer nearly burned the audience with her fire staff, they had no idea how to perform, going through the motions of a routine they had rehearsed, but with no music. When a traditional drumming group started up nearby the lady had the perfect opportunity to integrate, but she let it pass, going through the same banal motions over and over.
Soon they lit the bonfire, which was comprised mainly of stacking pallets stuffed with wood, and with wooden panels (the kind you see outside construction sites) bordering it. On top were a few effigies which began the inferno. Oh, and it was stuffed with fireworks. No, seriously. That’s why the wood panels were there, to block the fireworks from mowing the audience down. But someone didn’t think that the panels would burn and render them useless as a defense and soon there were fireworks shooting at the feet of the crowd who began dancing backward. The fireworks were amusing, but again, there seems to have been a misunderstanding of how to most effectively entertain. You can’t just have a guy strap himself onto a wheel that spins as fireworks shoot out. You have to have some presentation to it. The fireworks shot out, but with no pattern, without any rhyme or reason. They were nice, and amusing, but not striking as an American fireworks display might be. Then again, perhaps if I had gone to on of the larger displays I might have thought differently.
The next day I headed up to Oxford to stay with Sam Sussman for a few days. I met him at his house and we enjoyed some tea as I described my experiences in Europe. Then we set out on the streets, Sam giving me a tour of the Medieval colleges, taking me on a walk along the river, then to a famous old pub, and ending up by taking me to the Christ Church dining hall for dinner (where Harry Potter was filmed for the Hogwarts dining hall). Everyone wore traditional academic robes, and the food was incredible, served to us at long tables by waiters.
After dinner we left to go to one of Sam’s friend’s homes for a housewarming party. There we mingled with some of the college’s intellectual elite—Harvard grads studying at Oxford with envious internships and experiences lining their resumes. I had the opportunity to learn a bit about the physics research going on there, discuss Medieval paleography, and listen in on intense political debate.
The next day I wandered about town and enjoyed the Christ Church library, and on Monday I went to one lecture on formal logic and another on peasant women in England from 1000-1300 AD. Then, after one more night of good conversation with Sam, it was time to head back to the Continent. I ended up on a nicer bus ride this time, and we crossed the English Channel by ferry, allowing me the opportunity to watch the white cliffs of Dover shrink away, and muse over the many adventures made on those choppy seas of the millennia as I watched the dark water crest white and spray in the rough wind.
I spent the night in Paris where I encountered the worse customer service of my life. Upon entering the hostel I was told at the desk that I needed to wait twenty minutes because they were changing shifts (mind you, this is ten at night now, clearly check-in time). When I went back at the appointed time I was ignore—blatantly—as the man behind the counter folded sheets and put them away. When he finally deigned to help me, he was curt, and I went off to my room quite irritated.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
10:50 PM
Paris, France
Eurolines bus to London, waiting to leave Gallieni
My oh my, it’s been a while since I last wrote. In many ways much has happened since last I ventured an exposition here, and in other ways not much. I have visited Genoa, Rome, and Pisa. I have seen the great monuments of out ancient past—the toddling age of our intellectual burgeoning. Yet, that is only about four days of collective experience. Much of my time has been spent in preparing myself for my self-proclaimed next-stage-in-life. I’ve prepared applications, registrations, and begun studying again. I have been reworking my mentality to focus itself as it once did six years ago.
I suppose it is most prudent to revisit these past two weeks chronologically. I was trapped, so to speak, in Nice; or, more accurately in France. The French were on strike, protesting the government trying to change the retirement age from sixty-two to sixty-five. Transportation all over the country was extremely difficult to find. Only the private companies would work. Getting out of the country was damn near impossible, requiring one to travel to the border and then hop over by foot, bus, or commuter train. Felt like something out of “Casablanca.”
So, I settled down into Nice. The hostel was very comfortable, the weather was warm, and the city pleased me. I spent much time wandering around and walking down to the beach to eat, relax, write, listen to podcasts, and think. I spent much time in the hostel, working on college applications and talking with my friendly Australian roommates who were also stuck, trying to get to Barcelona.
Eventually, we all got tickets for our respective destinations. I set out for Rome on Tuesday morning. I had a layover in Ventimiglia, a small Italian town, the first I’ve ever been in. The first thing I noticed was that conversation seems very important to the Italians, as one might imagine from their usual depiction in media. The city lay along the Mediterranean and, for the hour I was there, I delighted in walking along the sea, looking out at the precariously perched buildings along the rough hills, and seeing, far inland, a mountain capped in snow.
The next layover was in Genoa. I had about three hours there and I put my feet to work, crossing much of the heart of that incredible city. I visited the university, peeking my head into the classrooms and seeing the unbelievable splendor they have classes in. I can only imagine that those classrooms haven’t been touched since the Renaissance. The walls and ceilings are covered in magnificent paintings and all is framed by dark, carved wood. The places where the students sit seem quite ancient themselves.
The whole city is a convoluted mass of hills and twisting streets, alleys stretching out in a seemingly boundless maze with seemingly endless places for discovery. Walking through one alleyway I found my self next to the entrance to some very old building, some very beautiful building, marble with columns, appearing forgotten, buried as the city expanded in its complexity around it.
I had my first taste of genuine Italian cuisine in Genoa, stopping off in a restaurant for a pizza. Mine has prosciutto on it. I don’t think anything else need be said.
Down one of the alleys I found a gelato store and had a chocolate gelato.
An appetite for Italian food would soon become nearly all consuming. For nearly every memory I have of Italy I can picture an accompanying food. Pizzas, lasagnas, pastas, gelati, pastries. I ate it all, and all the time.
Next was Rome. But, I’m getting nauseous trying to write this on the bus. So I’m going to stop for now.
10:50 PM
Paris, France
Eurolines bus to London, waiting to leave Gallieni
My oh my, it’s been a while since I last wrote. In many ways much has happened since last I ventured an exposition here, and in other ways not much. I have visited Genoa, Rome, and Pisa. I have seen the great monuments of out ancient past—the toddling age of our intellectual burgeoning. Yet, that is only about four days of collective experience. Much of my time has been spent in preparing myself for my self-proclaimed next-stage-in-life. I’ve prepared applications, registrations, and begun studying again. I have been reworking my mentality to focus itself as it once did six years ago.
I suppose it is most prudent to revisit these past two weeks chronologically. I was trapped, so to speak, in Nice; or, more accurately in France. The French were on strike, protesting the government trying to change the retirement age from sixty-two to sixty-five. Transportation all over the country was extremely difficult to find. Only the private companies would work. Getting out of the country was damn near impossible, requiring one to travel to the border and then hop over by foot, bus, or commuter train. Felt like something out of “Casablanca.”
So, I settled down into Nice. The hostel was very comfortable, the weather was warm, and the city pleased me. I spent much time wandering around and walking down to the beach to eat, relax, write, listen to podcasts, and think. I spent much time in the hostel, working on college applications and talking with my friendly Australian roommates who were also stuck, trying to get to Barcelona.
Eventually, we all got tickets for our respective destinations. I set out for Rome on Tuesday morning. I had a layover in Ventimiglia, a small Italian town, the first I’ve ever been in. The first thing I noticed was that conversation seems very important to the Italians, as one might imagine from their usual depiction in media. The city lay along the Mediterranean and, for the hour I was there, I delighted in walking along the sea, looking out at the precariously perched buildings along the rough hills, and seeing, far inland, a mountain capped in snow.
The next layover was in Genoa. I had about three hours there and I put my feet to work, crossing much of the heart of that incredible city. I visited the university, peeking my head into the classrooms and seeing the unbelievable splendor they have classes in. I can only imagine that those classrooms haven’t been touched since the Renaissance. The walls and ceilings are covered in magnificent paintings and all is framed by dark, carved wood. The places where the students sit seem quite ancient themselves.
The whole city is a convoluted mass of hills and twisting streets, alleys stretching out in a seemingly boundless maze with seemingly endless places for discovery. Walking through one alleyway I found my self next to the entrance to some very old building, some very beautiful building, marble with columns, appearing forgotten, buried as the city expanded in its complexity around it.
I had my first taste of genuine Italian cuisine in Genoa, stopping off in a restaurant for a pizza. Mine has prosciutto on it. I don’t think anything else need be said.
Down one of the alleys I found a gelato store and had a chocolate gelato.
An appetite for Italian food would soon become nearly all consuming. For nearly every memory I have of Italy I can picture an accompanying food. Pizzas, lasagnas, pastas, gelati, pastries. I ate it all, and all the time.
Next was Rome. But, I’m getting nauseous trying to write this on the bus. So I’m going to stop for now.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
9:10 PM
Nice,
Pastoral Hotel, Room 8
Ah! The French Riviera—the perfect place to relax and recharge my traveler’s batteries. It is a comfortable climate here, somewhere around seventy degrees, I imagine. Everything feels like summer here and I feel my spirits lifting. With a brighter outlook it’s time to reflect on the past couple of days, I think.
The last I wrote I was sitting in a Starbucks, in
The only real problem I had with
But I can’t be too hard on the city—it was magnificent. I was disappointed that the grand library there was closed—it’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the world, but oh well. There is a bridge that connects the city across a river. It is easily one of the most incredible bridges I’ve been on. The entire bridge is marked every twenty or so feet by very impressive statues of stone, bronze, and gold. All along the way people stop to pray at the figures, rubbing their hands on what I’m guessing are saint’s images. On the other side you can make your way up steep corridors, past ancient pubs and quaint bakeries that sell cylindrical pastries, to the castle atop a hill. The castle is guarded by two men in crisp uniforms, who I believe are meant to not move, much as the guards at Buckingham. The man on the right did very well, but you could see the younger soldier on the left squirming, fighting very hard not to laugh as cute girls circled him for photographs and whispered in his ears (god knows what).
From
I went to my hostel and dropped my stuff off and made a list of places to go before I lost the good sense to understand what I was seeing. I went to the library but I imagine I must have gone to the wrong one as this one was terribly dull. I left almost immediately and made my way to the
I then went on a hunt to find the red lights of the Red Lights district. I was promised hot babes dancing in windows and dammit I was gonna find them! After a good half hour of wandering aimlessly through the streets I finally saw the crimson glow. The windows were filled with a good share of attractive young ladies, arching their backs and curling a finger for you to join them…but, there were also the rather horrifying women who I can only imagine make their money off of a very special niche customer base.
Having soaked up the sights I went in search of a coffee shop to try out some stress-free marijuana. I can’t recall the name of the place a chose, but it was well-lit, with a separate room for smokers, and it was relatively quiet. I went in and ordered a joint filled with “NYC Deisel,” a weed that supposedly tastes of red grapes and provides a “cerebral high”—exactly what I was looking for. I had decided against the space cakes since I read that the high lasts much longer and I was uncomfortable with that idea.
I went into the smoker’s lounge, relieved myself in the bathroom, bummed a light, and breathed deep. I took around three or five hits and set the joint down to wait for some effect before continuing. Well, I didn’t have to wait long. The high hit me fast and hard just as I started to try writing about my experience in my notebook. My hand began to shake, which you can see in my writing. My heart began to race and I began to sweat. My body went numb, then fizzed, as if all my skin went to sleep. My vision became multi-colored spotty, like looking at a television screen up close. The music became dull, as if I waslistening from behind a door. And I was panicking. I tried to be rational, to calm down, but the paranoia that grabs me any time I smoke took hold. I was scared stiff, stuck to my seat, unsure weather to go to the bathroom (I was also nauseous) or go outside (I was scared to go out). I just sat and hoped the high would go away.
It did, finally, calm down. I settled into a calm high after about five minutes of pure terror. That’s when the amusingly stereotypical high set in. I started to have really weird ideas, some of which I wrote down in my notebook. When I finally did get up to go for a walk and listen to Nightwish as I had planned, it felt as if I was moving because—get this—I had a loop of frictionless string around my ankles that pulled and swung me forwards. My path meandered all over the road as the string had its way with me. When I finally turned on the music all I could think of was those big stacks of meat that they make gyros from being carved in the most epic manner possible.
I promptly went to a Kebab stand to get some food and experience the wonders of eating while high. I really didn’t get a sense of the taste of the food, but rather of the texture. I could feel eat piece of the meat as my teeth ravaged it. Very strange.
Belly full I worked hard to focus my mind and headed for the hostel, Nightwish’s “Once” album blasting into my ears. It felt like all I did was stare at my feet while I walked, thinking up really strange and stupid ideas, but somehow I made it back. I put on a movie, just to see what that would be like, but fell asleep rather quickly.
The latter part of the high was alright, and genuinely interesting, to be honest. I had a humorous paranoia for that part, in that my mind’s pareadolia went into hyperdrive, and suddenly every sound was someone talking behind me and there were people everywhere watching me (which turned out to be walls). It would have been interesting to have someone to talk to, but otherwise I got everything I wanted out of the experience. I don’t think I could ever do it again; while the latter part was interesting and at times amusing, the first five minutes were so utterly, hopelessly terrifying that I couldn’t bear to go through it again.
I took the train to
When I finally got to
When I finally got off the train I was greeted by a warm breeze—hallelujah! I found my way to a McDonalds and booked myself into a hostel—it’s too nice here in Nice to leave. It only got warmer as the day went on and I took a train to
When I got back to Nice I bought some snacks and made my way to the beach, complete with smooth stones for sitting, and crystal-blue Mediterranean water for swimming. I stuck my hand into the water (and my boots, unfortunately) and marveled at how incredibly warm it was. It was like bathwater! I sat back and opened my notebook, hoping for some inspiration from the colorful vistas. Off to my right the sun was setting, lighting the sky orange and red over the west of the
I got one poem out, at least.
And then I came back here, to work on figuring out what to do about college and whatnot. I think I’ll stay in Nice for a while. There’s apparently an English library, the weather is incredible, and the hostels are cheap. I’d like to get to know this city, I think.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
12:20 PM
Starbucks along Václavské náměstí
I’m sick of cities. I’m sick of towns. They’ve bored me to exhaustion—they are, in essence, all the same. I mention this first because I know it colors my thoughts. I hope it will pass as I make my way down to the ruins of the classical civilizations.
There are buildings. They are either bland modern structures, elaborate edifices from two to three hundred years ago, or Medieval churches. Sprinkled around are monuments. Everywhere, the same brands follow me. McDonalds, Starbucks, H&M. In
The terrible monotony of it is driving deeper into me. I’ve tried different approaches. I’ve gone from city to city, a new one every day. I’ve spent multiple days in large cities, and small towns, or spent only a little time. I’ve mingled with locals and fellow travelers. But there is an unfortunate tedium that is beginning to define my explorations. I’m less than one month into my three month train pass. Something needs to change.
That’s why I’m headed south. I’m headed for
I have planned a trip to CERN as well, for the 18th of November. For those who don’t know, that’s where the heart of particle physics lies, where the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) every day brings us closer to a greater understanding of the universe.
Added to that is my return to England, where I will be going to the town of York for Guy Fawkes day, and then possibly going to Oxford and Cambridge after that to visit the Medieval academies. I might also swing through
My eventual trip to
There is a silver lining to this growing discontent, though. It’s giving me exactly the perspective I was looking for. Where others go overseas and find the differences, I focus on the similarities. Food, architecture, people, nature, driving patterns—I focus on what is similar. And it’s focusing me. It’s helping me to see how I want to be a part of this world.
Anyway, I suppose I should get to some of the travel notes themselves. First off: no one over here says anything when you sneeze! Isn’t that weird? I have nothing else to say about this…it’s just really weird.
Okay, so the last time I wrote I was planning to attend the Tivoli Halloween themed amusement park, which I did, the next day. It was really nice, and kind of funny in the way they went about it. It’s a holiday basically copied from the Americans and you can kind of see them working the kinks out of their imported holiday. It has the trappings, some of the spirit, but they’re still struggling with some of the core concepts. It’s kinda cute,actually.
The paths were lined with pumpkins and orange lights; the vendors were all selling Halloween themed foods and souvenirs. The rides themselves were decked out, one roller coaster being transformed into a haunted house—pathetic though it was—, and the Ferris wheel, which usually has a big balloon above each of the gondolas, had pumpkin heads.
I bought some candy at the candy shop—and here I must provide a warning to any who would try the horror that is Danish candy. Oh, please, enjoy their pastries, but avoid their gummies. They cover their gummies, not in sour powder, but in salt. SALT! And nobody warned me! The poor, unsuspecting American bought a bunch of candy which thereafter nearly cause him to vomit. I picked out a few pieces of skull shaped sour candy. Or so I thought. It was black liquorices (which I already hate) covered in salt. Definitely goes in the top three of worst things I’ve ever tasted. Even their sour belts—which were, marginally, sour, mind you—were missing something. Very strange. Avoid the candy at all costs.
Of course, I must balance out this caution to suggest that you spare no expense in obtaining Norwegian chocolate, which is exceptional. It has a completely different texture than the chocolate we get over here. It almost crumbles as it melts, and is very smooth. German chocolate too, which is very thick and creamy.
So, back to the amusement park: they had two shows that day which I was extraordinarily excited to attend. One was a Halloween circus, and the other a vampire story told through pantomime and break-dancing. The Halloween circus was an utter travesty. They clearly took employees at the end of the summer, handed them some random circus stuff they picked up at a Toys R Us, and said, “Here, do something.” I guess it was supposed to be funny, but it wasn’t even that. It took extreme self-control not to hop up on stage and grab the unicycle and really wow the audience.
The Vampire show, on the other hand, was incredible. It was well choreographed, well staged; creative, funny, provoking. It was worth the price of admission itself (seriously).
Beyond that, my final observation about the Scandinavians is that they wear their age very well. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen a woman whose face was not visible and assumed she was an attractive twenty-something, only to be very surprised when I saw her face (which, in itself usually looked younger than it obviously was).
After
From there, on to
I’ve never seen so many Picasso’s before. It was a surprising journey, to have my eyes travel along his paintings and trace his development as an artist, to see the Blue Period give way to the Pink, over to a form of Impressionism and then a complex Cubism, followed by a more realistic period in the mid-20’s, and then finally on to a simpler, essential Cubism for which, I believe, he is most famous. There are many artists and works of art for which this can be said, and Picasso is definitely among them: his paintings are something that need to be seen in person to truly appreciate. When you look at them on the page, all you really see are strange shapes and a creative mind doing something different, “stirring things up” as it were. But when you view them up close, well, you see so much more. You see the fine detail, and there is much of it. You recognize the thought behind a stroke, the necessity of a misplaced nose, or a distorted torso. The body, so expertly torn apart in his work, is pulled together in a meaningful way.
From
I set off to wander the streets and find a wifi connection to figure out what sights to see. I found one at a McDonalds (the only reason I’m grateful for their ubiquity), and set of or the
From there I made my way back down to street level, wandered some back roads, and then dragged myself up an even bigger mountain to where I had seen a massive statue standing atop. At the base of the mountain I noticed a really interesting waterfall that looked manmade, but fell down along the side of the huge rock face into a small pool. At the top of the mountain I saw even more incredible, 360 views of
(Speaking of things I knew nothing about, I finally looked up the story of Lucretia, who seems to show up at least a dozen times in every museum I go to. If you go to an art museum, make sure you do a quick review of Lucretia, Christ’s Passion, and St. Sebstian’s martyrdom—that covers about a fifth of all the paintings from 1200-1500 in most museums, it seems.)
I took a little more time to walk along the river. Which got me to thinking: what is it about rivers that I like so much? It seems that no matter where I go I can’t help but walk along a river. Aside from going to a good museum or seeing a sight I’ve always wanted to see, it is my single favorite thing to do in any place. For every place I’ve visited that has a River I’ve either walked along it, or sat beside it. Curious…
Alright, well, I think that about covers it. I took the train last night and had a layover in
It’s my new thought-mission—figure out why I feel this way about the places I’m visiting. And figure out its significance. I think it’s probably a good thing because, while I feel depressed because things are not what I had expected and are not giving me the supreme thrill I was hoping for, I am discovering some of the fundamental qualities of the cultures of the world—well, at least the Western world. It’s why I think I’m anxious to visit
But I don’t think I will find a difference. Not anymore. I think I’m starting to get to the root of what so many artists have been trying to express from time immemorial. Painters, writers, filmmakers—they are most often trying to get at the root of human experience. That is the power and purpose of art. It feels like seeing the Matrix (but not quite understanding it yet).
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
11:50 PM
Airport Hostel; Lounge
No Northern Lights.
I was kind of disappointed, but what can you do? At least that is one of the European sights which will not go away in my lifetime.
I’m glad, nevertheless, that I went to Narvik. I got to experience the
After that I was pretty much done with the cold, done with the north, done with
One thing I realized is that I’ve been completely disillusioned with
Anyway, I’m in
That’s all for now. It’s really loud in here—too many people talking. I can’t think inside my head. I’m trying to drown it out with Medieval Choral music, but it’s not enough. So I’ll say goodnight for now.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
12:30 PM
Riksgränsen; above the
Train headed to Narvik
It is snowing. I can barely make out the vast arctic wasteland through the white haze. It has become progressively worse, my further passage into the north marked continuously by how deeply covered this land is by snow.
I have finally found a place where the world behaves differently. The clouds are different. They are low everywhere, rounded smooth at the bottom and coming loose at the top like wild hair. Further north, everything is covered in a thick white cloud. It is just past noon here, yet the sun is angled as if it were dusk. Dead trees and fresh snow sparsely cover short, rocky mountains which slide down to dark, choppy waters.
We have just passed the border between
This feels like being in a movie, maybe on Hoth. It seems incredibly surreal, this landscape. It’s something wholly natural, yet, up until this time, entirely contained in media for me. It is like something out of a fantasy novel.
I see all the houses (though there are not many of them) and the dilapidated train stations, everything separated by uncommon distance, and I remember that it is only October. January and February are still to come. And I think now, more than ever, Who the heck got here, put down their bags, and said, “Oh, yeah, this is a great place to raise a family”? Who survived their first winter and said, “I want some more!”
Wow, I have to comment on what I’m passing now. The train is travelling alon the upper ridge of one side of a big rocky vally. It looks as if someone took a hatchet and just chopped a wedge into the ground. Though the distance to the bottom is not terribly great, a cloud sits below us, nestled in the tiny space.
The whole place keeps getting more and more covered in snow, and the houses and other settlements are fewer and farther between. We frequently pass through these old, falling apart wooden tunnels. It’s like something out of a Disney ride.
I’ve entered, now, some sort of winter wonderland. The houses are all red. The snow falls softly, but continuously. Everything is blanketed thickly. We are at
When I get to Narvik, I will still not be as far north as Tromso, a major city. I will still not be as far north as Karasjok, the Sami capital I wish to visit. And now I’m rethinking my idea to travel to those places, so utterly remote are they.
Now I am somewhat unnerved. We are riding along the edge of a mountain, a very thin edge, very high up. All I can see are rocks and frozen trees below, and an utterly unforgiving place to land.
This is all incredibly beautiful, and incredibly unnerving. It is the incredibly juxtaposition of things that are gloriously majestic and deadly. I cannot even see to the bottom of the mountain for how many clouds there are. I cannot even see to the top of the mountain for how much now there is.
Wait, now I see a bit, what appears to be a fjord we are travelling along. I feel so lucky to be able to see something as rare and incredible as this. For all the people who travel to
I need to stop writing because all I think I’m doing is rambling as I attempt to write and be awe-filled at the same time. Just know that this is a part of the world that I have been looking for. I have found it, at last.
1:02 PM
As we get closer to the coast the landscape changes further. The clouds are clearing up (hopefully I will see the Aurora Borealis tonight), and the snow is not present around the base of the mountain fjords. There are more houses, a suspension bridge. In the distance is a mountain that looks like a miniature Everest. The faces of mountains nearest me look, well, almost like faces, straining out over the water. Alongside the train I saw the foundation for what clearly must have been an old house. Along the water are a few sad attempts at towns, or something of the like. They are modern houses, colorful and strong, but spread out haphazardly, with nary a supermarket in sight.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
8:35 PM
Heltne 2 dorms
I’m not feeling very energetic at the moment, and therefore not particularly in a writing mood, but I need to at least record the events of the past few days before they start piling up.
Upon arriving in Volda I spent the better part of an hour or so wandering around town trying to find the “university canteen” where I knew I should meet my host, Natasza, at some point if I could—y’know—get in contact with her. I eventually did find her and
I spent the night at
The next day we were supposed to go on the overnight trip to the inner Norwegian wilderness, staying in a cottage, reaching a peak of fifteen hundred meters and all, but there weren’t enough cars. I was mildly disappointed, but they still decided to go hiking so we went into the nearby mountain ranges and made our way through some beautiful forest. That night we ended up going to a bon fire in the forest with a bunch of local college students. I bought hot dogs for the occasion, of course.
Then, today, I finally ascended the great
Back at the Heltne dorms I’m relaxing, washing clothes, and setting things up for the next few days, reflecting on the past few days, and thinking more about my future. I’ll be travelling to Narvik tomorrow and arriving on Tuesday (after more than twenty-four hours of nearly ceaseless travel). It’s above the
After that I’m hoping to travel down through
I’ve been doing a lot of reflection, especially with all the time in my head afforded to me while hiking. I think a lot about what makes Americans Americans, actually. I’m absolutely fascinated by it, our virtues, our faults. I think back to
I’m also experiencing a new level of awe as I look at the extraordinary nature that surrounds me on all sides. These mountains about the fjords each seem to have a character all their own. How could one fault the ancient Norwegians for believing them to be sleeping trolls?
And I’m still finding concern with where I wish to direct my future. As I further consider my options I feel absolutely torn, each interest growing strong by the day, although I have my suspicions that some are leading the race. I kick myself often for not having explored certain options further while at
Well, it’s almost time to watch a movie. I’m not too happy about how much it cost to get here, nor am I thrilled that I’ve lost so many train-days here, but I’ve really enjoyed my time. I’ve had the socializing benefits of a hostel, even the internationalizing benefits, without the mindless bullshit that goes along with drunk teenage tourists just out of home for the first time. So I consider this a win. I can’t believe how much I’ve seen and experienced already, and it’s only been about two weeks on the Eurail pass! I’ve had my rest and now I’m ready to hit the road again!
Thursday, October 07, 2010
11:00 AM
In a bus, driving to from Bergen Volda, surrounded by Fjords
This—this—is nature unmolested. The fjords cut steep, rocky valleys through the coast of
You don’t have room for a Wal-Mart here. Where would you build it? And how would people get to it? Even in a but we had to cross by ferry and one point, and the roads we’ve been driving now are terrifyingly small—it seems the edge of the bus hangs over the edge as we are forced to pass the occasional eighteen wheeler close enough to joust. Even in the larger towns it seems that the buildings are subservient to the land, and not the other way around.
Sheep graze along the side of the road. When th sun breaks through the clouds over the top of a fjord-mountain it sheds light like a god’s blessing. The more I see of the natural world the more I understand the minds and motives of our ancestors.
You may be wondering why I’m on the road again. Shouldn’t I be in
And so I won’t.
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