bright side.

 Things are looking up since last post. I had a very... interesting... weekend, with some rather unexpected outcomes. I partied at a rave under a bridge (or, as Tracy aptly named it, a "Troll Rave")

Troll Rave DJ's.

Troll Rave Sunrise! 

The next day I partied at the Hochinstitut für Grafik und Buchkunst (in 2 words- art school.) The "HGB," as it's known, is a gorgeous building that looks like this inside, and like this outside. It's one of the oldest art schools in Europe, established in 1764. Their photography program is really super.

I had a class there last semester that I kind of stopped going to because it became apparent that I was at the time very much over my head in that I would have had to give a presentation (in German) on a DDR photographer. I could probably (maybe?) have done it this semester but now Tracy's gone I sort of lost the will.

Anyhow, on Saturday the students of the HGB held their annual shindig, and it was really super. The whole building was a great big partay. I hung out mostly with one of the Erasmus kids, Kaarle, and we had a grand ol' time.

 Both  Friday and Saturday "evening" ended around 6:30 or 7 the next morning. Hardcore party time. I couldn't agree more with that line in the LCD Soundsystem song called "North American Scum" about partying in Germany (well, namely Berlin but it really describes the whole country I think) "we can't have parties like in Spain where they go all night, or like Berlin where they go another night." However, although the parties generally DO go on for 2 nights in a row, I, being said North American Scum, am not quite accustomed to such debauchery. So six in the AM is generally enough for me. Despite my inability to party like a true German, ich hatte viel spaß gemacht. 


In other good news, I found out I should be soon to receive my TAP grant, and also a replacement for my DX3000. I feel like I'm missing an arm when I"m without my camera! It's painful. I have a little canon powershot digital elf, but once you've had your hands on a DSLR it's really depressing to have to go back. So I'm eagerly awaiting both of those things that will ostensibly improve my quality of life in my remaining time in Germany.

Also I've got loads of work to do for Uni, including a Referat (oral presentation) for my Konversation class. I decided my topic will be DDR photography, since I did attend that class back in the Fall, at least now I can make it count for something!

Onward and Westward!

From Florence we continued on to Pisa in our little black Ford Focus, carefully avoiding the expensive Superhighway marked on our map in blue. Despite taking the long way round, the drive was short, but unfortunately once we hit the outskirts of town we began to get lost. A few wrong exits, a few wrong turns, and we were pretty flustered. Finally we got some directions in very broken Italiglish and figured things out. When we arrived in the city, a chilly drizzle had begun to fall, but we piled excitedly out of the car to find The Leaning Tower (or, more correctly,The Tower of Pisa in the Piazza del Duomo) nonetheless.

We had parked the car near the bus station, and decided to seek guidance within. However, the lady behind the counter was less than thrilled to direct us, no maps were available and the Information Center she attempted to send us to was closed. Instead we did some clever manouvering, finding a map posted on a wall, photographing it and using the photo on my camera's screen as a map.

As we walked along the route, we unexpectedly and happily stumbled upon a GIGANTIC Keith Haring wall. Haring is one of my all time favorite artists, so this was nothing short of gasp-worthy for me. I stood in front of it, mouth gaping and entirely flushed with excitement, while the rain started to pour down on us. It was a really significant moment for me; the fact that we just happened to walk down this particular alleyway (it wasn't even a street, it was an alleyway!) and there happened to be a massive Haring mural was pretty flipping epic. After a few minutes appreciation and loads of photos, it was on to the final destination, the tower.

Along the way we encountered a book fair which was surrounded by plywood walls covered with really cool paintings. The book fair itself was inside of an open air market structure, whose vaulted ceilings were supported by wide rectangular columns with a floor and stairs made of grey marble.

After looking at our map and getting a better idea of our intended direction while under that shelter, we began to move on. We walked along the River Arno, encountering the beautiful, elegant and surprisingly tiny Gothic style church of Santa Maria della Spina. This delicate looking and ornate house of worship was originally built in the 1200's but was moved to higher ground to evade a threat of flooding in 1871. (Thanks wiki.)










Next we crossed a bridge over the Arno, and passed by the Orto Botanico de Pisa, which is Europe's oldest University botanical garden. We approached the Piazza del Duomo and saw in front of us the famous Leaning Tower, shrouded in a grey mist. It was unfortunate for my photographic purposes that we arrived in encroaching darkness and a thin drizzle. Most of my photos are fairly grainy and underexposed, as unfortunately I don't have a tripod.

After seeing the tower and taking the requisite silly/cheesy tourist pictures, we were headed back by bus to the place where we parked our car. After momentary panic and subsequent directions from a grandfatherly policeman conveniently situated steps from where we parked, we found the location of the hostel we had booked the previous day so as to avoid the Florence issue of having no place to stay. We checked into our hostel, ready to sleep as long as possible in order to wake up at 5 am the next morning for the journey to Rome.

Florence

Ok, sorry all, but we're going to go back to March now.  I feel like I really should document this Italy trip a bit, in case someone is remotely interested.

Mom, Annika and I journeyed from Venice to Florence in a lovely little rental car, which ironically (despite our predictions that it'd be 1. manual transmission and 2. a Smart Car or a Pugeot) ended up being a very American Ford Fiesta. The journey across Italy from easterly Venezia to westerly Firenze took about 4 hours and cost SEVENTEEN EUROS on the Italian "Superhighway." Which, in my opinion, (corny joke alert!) is highway robbery. However, the drive was straightforward and I think my mom had a pretty good time navigating the Italian roadway.

We arrived in Florence at about 10:30pm, and finding a hotel room turned out to be much more of a hassle than we expected. After we parked the car in an underground car park, we found ourselves walking around the city with our heavy bags for hours and asking for a room at nearly every hotel we passed (many of which had reception on the 3rd floor and no elevators.) At one point desperation set in, and we decided we weren't even concerned about price and were willing to lay down as much money as was necessary just so long as we found a place we could also lay our bags and bodies down.
We ended up, panting and exhausted at around quarter to three in the morning, at the Hotel Argentina, which lucky for us was still a low budget but also very lovely place near the center of town. 

After settling into the room, Mom and I made hitting the pub our first priority. (It had been a very stressful night!) Luckily there was a little spot called Pub il Trip per Tre right around the corner (thank you exasperated-overnight-hotel-clerk for the tip) that turned out to be kind of an 80's hair metal bar. Which was AWESOME. The bar owner, Guiseppe, came over to the table where Mom and I were enjoying our pints of Guiness and offered us free shots! Why? I DON'T KNOW! But it was great. I was drinking Guiness and a free shot in Florence with my rad mom, surrounded by rough old dudes with scraggly long dyed-black hair and leather jackets, and Guns and Roses "Crazy" was playing on the stereo. I'm hard pressed to think of a better scenario.

Next thing I knew, my alarm clock was greeting me, so after about four hours of sleep I sank into a hot bath at about 7:30 in the morning. The significance of the bathtub is this: when you're traveling on a very very small budget, you usually end up in places that have shared bathrooms (ie:hostels) but since this was a hotel (albeit a very, very affordable one) we had our very own bathroom IN OUR ROOM which we hadn't yet experienced and wouldn't again throughout the trip. Obviously I needed to make use of this!

The day in Florence whizzed by, and we made it a plan to leave the city around 4 pm for the short drive to Pisa and in order to get there before dark. 

We headed first to a flea market in a park along the river Arno (kind of a disappointment save the yummy breakfast of olives and cheese we bought from one of the lone food stalls) then took the city's street car back into the center to see the various lovely churches and cathedrals, including Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, Baptistry of Saint John, Santa Maria Novella and Basilica San Lorenzo. 

Santa Maria Novella

The architecture itself was awe inspiring, but when one takes into account that the buildings are made of gorgeous green and pink marble, one's perception of the majesty of such structures immediately skyrockets. The artistry, the beauty, the luxury of the materials, the perfection in execution... it's simply staggering. Interestingly, the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore was dismantled in the late 1500's and it wasn't until the late 1800's that the current facade was designed and completed.

Santa Maria del Fiore

 

Baptistry of St. John

Baptistry of St. John

Unfortunately having only a few daylight hours in the city made it impossible to see very much, and so, regrettably, we missed the Uffizi Gallery (which houses some of the most important Renaissance art in the world,) Ponte Vecchio (the oldest bridge in Florence) and, very sadly, Michelangelo's David.

Train station

Wearing the driving vest... for safety.

Soon after arriving (far too soon, unfortunately,) we left Florence and were on our way to the next destination; Pisa!

1,000 plus!

First off, I have to say I am well pleased... the blog has reached 1,000+ hits! Thanks for looking! Please don't be shy... leave me a comment, let me know who you are and/or what you think. I truly do appreciate you taking time to stop by here.

The past few days have been really super-spectacular. I think I'll start with today and work backwards.

I had my first exam this afternoon... Grammar. Ugggh. I think it went pretty well, though, on the whole. After class I walked over to the train station (inside of which is a massive shopping center) and picked up a bottle of almond syrup and a milk frother, in order to be able to make myself London Fogs a la my lovely friend Jim's favorite Starbucks bevvie. Once home and with said beverage created (unfortunately there's a lot of room for improvement in my technique,) I settled down into a Gmail phone chat with my mom and type up this here blog. An excellent way to spend a chilly evening.

Yesterday I just hung about the apartment, doing not-much-of-anything all day until my GDR photography class. After that was over Tracy and I decided to try this place near the Universität called Maza Pita for dinner- excellent find on her part, it was DEEEELISH. I got a maza plate with baba ganoush, hummus, and lebneh. Yum.  I luuuuurve Mediterranean food.

After dinner Tracy, Melinda and I walked over to Petersbogen to see HARRY POTTER und der Heilige der Todes (or whatever the heck it's called in German.) and it was maaaagnificent.

HP7

I was so, so impressed with the film. It was definitely too scary for kids (I was thinking of the Reading clan the whole time,) and there were some pretty randy moments too, but on the whole it was incredible. Thankfully we waited to watch it in English, because it would have lost so much without the original voices of the actors. I'm really not much for over-dubbed films.

Which, since we're moving backwards, brings us to the weekend, happily spent split between my two Berlinerin friends Peggy and Kristy. I had a blast, as I always do in Berlin with such wonderful friends and exciting surroundings. Friday I walked around the city by myself for hours, snapping a million photos and generally being a tourist.

Siegessäule

Brandenburger Tor

 I picked up a Christmas gift for my baby bro and took in the Color Fields exhibit at Deutsche Guggenheim.

Stella @ Berlin Guggenheim

After a thoroughly satisfying Stadtrundfährt (city tour) I met Kristy around 23.00 at Warschauerstraße and we began our adventures in Kreuzberg, starting off after Berliner (donuts) at our favorite watering hole, Fuchsbau. However, it ended up being much too crowded and not as appealing a scene as our last visit there, so we ventured across the street where we encountered a fantastic DJ spinning some incredible 90's R&B and HipHop and loads of people dancing. It was the perfect spot to start off our night.

The DJ in this bar was so spot on.

Kristy as Jumpin' Jack Flash...

Friday night lasted well into Saturday morning with Kristy and her friends, "the Danish boys," as she refers to them, and a couple of their breathtaking girlfriends at a pub called "ä" in Neukölln.

Danish specimen.

I finally flopped into bed around 7am at Peggy's. I am so lucky to have the amazing friends that I do! There aren't many people as hospitable as the divine Ms. Peg.

Kaffee und Blümen

When I finally woke up in the afternoon, Peggy made some coffee and we sat and had a really nice chat. She's such a sweet and remarkably intelligent person. I'm so grateful to have been introduced to her (thanks Abby!)

Later on Saturday I met up with Elli (a Leipzig friend) and her buddy Jonas at the Warschauerstraße Ubahn station. We had a heiße Schokolade together inside a cafe as an anti-fascist/anit-Nazi demonstration marched by.

Heiße Schokolade mit Sahne

 I ran outside with my camera and made myself a right fool in the name of journalism, jumping up on a chair and taking photos as the crowd marched by chanting and blaring a White Stripes song (maybe it was Icky Thump? I don't remember...) from a huge set of speakers on a truck.

Anti-Fascism march through Friedrichshain

The three of us parted ways soon after finishing our hot chocolates, as Elli was off to see Interpol after having interviewed the band for motor.de earlier in the day.

Alone again, I headed further into Friedrichshain down Simon-Dach Straße and was greeted by Kristy in front of her local cafe, DachKammer. It was one of those lovely, warm, homey sort of places, and we snuggled down for a chat in an antique couch.

DK, Kristy's local coffee shop

After Kristy finished her cappucino we headed to her apartment and acted like complete and utter girls, quatschen (chatting), cooking, listening to music and dying Kristy's hair an intense shade of copper, which I was thrilled to do for her. She was so happy with the results!

We took it easy Saturday night, sticking mostly to Kristy's Friedrichshain nabe and some nearby spots in Kreuzberg, getting home around 3am desperate for pommes mit majo (french fries with mayonnaise,) as the nearby döner place was fresh out. Ever resourceful, Kristy sliced up some potatoes and popped them in the oven, and I whipped up some homemade mayo.

Don't have any mayonnaise? Whip up some homemade at 3:30 AM! 

Sated, we went to sleep with intentions of rising early for the Mauerpark Flöhmarkt (flea market,) and early we did rise, to a bright, crisp sunny Berlin Mittag (Yes. Waking up at noon is early.) We got ourselves pretty and headed out to do some filming for her upcoming documentary, and captured a few shots she'd been wanting to film. After the "work" was done, we took the Straßenbahn to Mauerpark, hoping for the famous Mauerpark Karaoke.

The crowd mourns the lack of Karaoke... or maybe that was just me.

Unfortunately it wasn't going on, probably due to the onset of winter, so instead we frittered away what short amount of daylight there was in a cozy log cabin in the middle of Mauerpark.

Log cabin in Mauerpark.

Glühwein-vision

Kristy, her friend Marie and Marie's Spanish friend and I spent the whole evening drinking Glühwein, which is warm mulled wine. It's called "glow wine" I suppose because of the lovely glowing feeling it gives! Half of mine and Kristy's time was spent making eyes across the table at a group of gorgeous German boys, of which there is no shortage in Berlin.

I was trying to move backwards through this post but I did the weekend in chronological order, so it's with hearty apologies that I skip back to Thursday.

I met my friend Elli in Connewitzer Kreuz here in Leipzig and we headed off to Conne Island where the British band Blood Red Shoes were playing. The plan was, Elli would interview the band and I would be her photographer. I was/am so grateful for that experience! It was so much fun. I hadn't heard of the band before Elli invited me to the show, and I'm happy to report that they were just as great as Elli said they'd be. We met Laura, the guitarist/singer, before the show and Elli conducted an interview with her. I sat at the table adjacent them and snapped a few shots but mostly just felt sort of awkward and intrusive, and tried to be very quiet and not interrupt. I got to take a few shots of Laura and her bandmate Steve.

Steve and Laura

The band is comprised of just the two of them, they both sing and Steve plays drums, though during the encore of the show they did switch off and showcase how multi-talented they both are! During the show I was granted access to the photo pit, but being an ABSOLUTE amateur, I didn't realize photographers could only be in the pit for the first three songs of the set, and so I missed my chance. I still did get some first class shots from my spot in the crowd, using motor.de's Nikon D60. You can read (if you can read German) Elli's interview with Laura of Blood Red Shoes here. I'm really hoping to be able to collaborate more with Elli as her photographer- it was an absolute blast!

Straight rocking.

Laura shreds.

After the show we hung out with Steve, whose exuberant energy and open, positive attitude was remarkable to watch. The night ended, as ever, with POMMES MIT MAJO! Oh, and lots more wine back at Elli's house.

As for the upcoming week, tomorrow Tracy and I plan on taking in Menomena at Skala here in Leipzig. I'll happily report on the show if we end up going. Of course, Thursday is Thanksgiving so the Americans here are of course going to put out all the stops for a delicious meal and share with our British and German buddies. I can't wait for the parade!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks again for reading. I can't believe it, more than 1,000 hits! Yay! V. cool. Hope you keep coming back.

things I do at 2 am...

made another video.
watch it here

2. Plagwitz

The destination on Sunday was Plagwitz; a neighborhood in the west of Leipzig. Leipzig has been referred to as "the Williamsburg [Brooklyn] of Germany," and if there's any truth to that statement, it resides in this neighborhood. 

Eine Brücke in Plagwitz.

There is a communal art/performance space there called 'der spinnerei,' located in an abandoned cotton mill/factory that I've been meaning to see since the second week I arrived. The place is massive, and there are artists of every kind creating and showing there; metal, ceramic, painters, whatever, in addition to a cinema and a theatre. In reality, there is probably lots more than that, but everything was closed when I went, as it was a Sunday. 

RUNWOLFRUNWOLFRUN

The only building I went into was the visitor's center. Inside there was a free library with thousands of art books and zines for anyone to peruse. There was also a small exhibit, which I wasn't too impressed by but whatever.

Love for Sale Library @ spinnerei

Love for Sale, close up

As I was leaving, I noticed an open door around the back, and ventured in. I climbed the stairs and walked into an open space, which was obviously used as a gallery but was completely empty. The light was breathtaking. I was literally gasping, the light was so beautiful, and the space was nothing short of amazing. 

yellow wall

tree shadows

reverse

FF

Something about this... I almost cried when I saw it. The lighting was just... unreal. 

arschgesichte

There were plenty of moments after I left the spinnerei when I was absolutely floored by the incredible beauty that surrounded me. I was trying to be "in the moment," and just enjoying what was happening around me, but mostly I had my eye up to the viewfinder of my camera.

Leer/Voll (empty/full)

Reflection of the factory smoke-stack.

Baumwollspinnerei (cotton mill)

Amazing sky

Golden windows

Turning the camera on myself. 

At this point I was just in the middle of some field, randomly, in Plagwitz. Everywhere I looked; the scenery, the sky, the shadows, the light... it was all awe-inspiringly beautiful. I'm so grateful for that day.

Canal

Sky

Unintelligible writing on a window.

The last shot before my camera's battery died.