After walking 3 miles through Czech apartments, we arrived at the contemporary art museum, DOX. The exhibit was small, but really interesting and dense. Rain was not in our plans for the day, since we hadn’t brought an umbrella… We ducked into a warm pub/pizza place decked out in old car parts, nik naks, and quickly hand made furniture. The perfect retreat from tourists and the rain.

A fine example of a toilet not up to full flushing capacity in our hostel.
Really nice place…. Except for stolen cereal, and finger scooped peanut butter by gypsies…

Alex’s sweet new specs.

I personally could not get over the swarm of tourists that filled the streets and stared intently into the same ole crystal, marionette, or fur hat shops. If I was able to look past that I’d see the beautiful and perfectly preserved city that Prague really is. Cobblestone streets, castle on the hill, bridges, and narrow alleyways between century old cathedrals.

And while I’m complaining… The Czech people were possibly even worse than the out of control tourism. On multiple occasions, rude servers would tip themselves out, cab drivers tried to charge 10x the going rate, and lastly, the evil guards of public transportation fined us 1,400 Czech corona for not stamping our purchased tickets and threatened to call the police. My crying and Alex’s extreme niceness got it halved. Don’t worry, they gave us change using a wad of cash bigger than a large man’s fist and took extra money from the young tourists in line after us I am sure.

Phew. Well anyway, here is our first day where we explored the Jewish quarter and went wandering through a park on the hillside.

So as posted earlier, Alex desperately needed new glasses. He easily got his eyes checked and a new prescription. Finding good frames was a different story. Luckily we stumbled upon Opti King which had hundreds of vintage 1950s+ frames. Found a great pair.

I also found some fab vintage sandals and a pixilated floral skirt. Dinner consisted of Russian cabbage pasta and a full liter of beer. O yaaa. It was a good evening.

Our walkings through West Berlin. Plenty of interesting architecture. Civic buildings, libraries, museums, concert halls, and Lego giraffe. We ended our trek with Mies van der Rohe’s Neu museum. Mmm loved that collection of work. Will post fav pieces later.

We started our museuming journey with a brat from a one woman wiener stand. I loved the Pergamon museum because if how it made me really understand the types of enormous spaces that existed in ancient times. Not just artifacts in a box. Alex did get yelled at in German for getting too comfortable with those extra large columns.

The best part of the Altes Museum was definitely the ancient erotica section. There was a flying penis with penis tail and of course its own penis. Those ancient Romans loved their erect genitalia. (for once the gift store didn’t have a replica, otherwise it would have made great gifts)

We did a 180 from the traditional museum and went over to this art house/famous piss covered squatters haven. Dozens of off the grid artists and craftsmen work here and sell their “art” for on the cheap to eager tourists.

Such a collection of “seasoned” people, but why? No doubt the gardens are delightful, the children are buckets of fun to watch, but is that a reason to have half the park over 65?

Then the answer showed itself….

SLOTS!

Every Sunday, thousands upon thousands of Berliners and tourists go to Mauer Park for the grungiest, funnest, biggest, foodiest flea market I have ever seen. Bartering is a must, as we consistently go prices cut in half just by asking. A floor length fur coat got down to $45 which was so tempting… If only I could lug around another 20 pounds of mink for the next three months. Obviously I love fur, and it was tempting me around every corner. Instead I held out and bought only a leather sketchbook bag, brass mug, and a twisted silver spoon.

In addition to the amazing market, an amphitheater on the hillside attracted another few thousand to watch street performers and karaoke. We had such a good time swinging, that Alex lost his glasses lens and we didn’t even notice for a few minutes. It was lost forever and he walked around winking at everyone for the next few days.

Our hostel room was themed “giraffe”, hence the decorations.

Fun house hamster wheel. Alex conquered.

Tivoli park is what Disney World sought to be but failed because of it’s abundance of cheap plastic parts and kitschy rides. Tivoli had such an authenticity to it due to much of the landscaping and buildings originating in —- when it was first opened.

We were the first and only people in most of the lines for a good hour. A dream I’ve always had while waiting in hour long 6 flag lines. The most amazing ride was a little 4 person bomber plane that dive bombed and spun. G forces high enough to black you out. Alex screamed “may day may day” for a good portion of the ride.

I had the most fun in the kiddie fun house. Big oles slides, conveyor belts, spinny things, hamster wheel. So dangerous and would never be in the US. Only the strong survive in Copenhagen.

Tivoli is one of those places that has to be experienced in both the day and night. So of course we came back. Thumbillina the ballet was showing and we rerode the best rides at night.

After the sick break, we hobbled our way to the Danish Design Museum. The fact that it’s free on Wednesday is what got us up and going. Once we got there, I was even more happy it was free… The objects displayed were beautiful, but the museum was a disaster. Poor signage, unfinished rooms, and an obnoxiously loud play in the courtyard. We were happy to escape.

With our hopes slightly beat we walked a couple miles over to Christianhavn, the island community that ounce was know for having its own currency, free lifestyle, and thriving legal drug trade. The first step for us was to conquer this huge spiral tower known for its view of the city. The stairs got so narrow at the top we had to pass awkwardly one at a time. The view was terrifying and amazing as we hung off the sides of the tower.

After our thigh burner, we followed the fairy mural through a park and into the “Green Light District”. Something was in the air, but not what you’d think… Tear gas. About thirty police were scattered and blocking off certain warehouses. There had been a riot where rocks were thrown after a drug bust right before we wandered in. We bought a locally brewed beer and watched a young woman arrested while kicking and screaming. Most of the time while exploring the commune, Alex and I were speechless.

After a hot, muggy night in the dorm, Alex woke up pretty gnarly feeling. I wandered around while he slept in the lobby and found some hopefully stronger than American cold medicine. After medicating and a loooooong nap we tackled the day. Impressive.

We have generally spent the first day in new cities exploring with no particular motive. Yesterday was no different. We took a short walk from our 8 bed hostel to the Rosenborg Castle. We saw the crown jewels and pushy Italian tourists.

From here we meandred our way to lunch and happened to get lucky this time. We found a hidden gem of a cafe where we were served curry herring and capers with two different types of schnapps, both of which were on the house as we are cute Texan tourists. The yummy elderberry schnapps was home made.

After lunch we window shopped and visited with local jewelry and pottery craftsmen. It’s really interesting here how the storefront is both shop and work studio so were able to ge a peek at the process.

We really enjoyed the botanical garden and it’s huge variety of plants and beautiful glass green houses. Here we took some time to play and sketch. After our picnic dinner we ate gelato and wandered some more. Then bedtime with our 6 roommates.

Our “luxury” cruise ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen. Since we are so far north, that the sunset lasted extra long giving us plenty of time to bask in the first direct sunlight we felt in Norway.

We were definitely in the minority being young Americans, but almost felt at home when the steakhouse promised “fresh North American beef”.

Our visit to the Edvard Munch museum was splendid. Unlike the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, “The Scream” was very accesible.

The poem Edvard wrote for it:

One evening I walk along the Hillside Path near
Kristiania – together with two friends. It was a
Time during which Life had ripped open my Soul –
The sun went down – had dipped quickly below the
Horizon – It was as if a Flaming Sword of Blood
cut across the Firmament – The Air turned to
Blood – with cutting Veins of Flame –
The Hillsides became a deep blue – The fjord – cut
in a cold blue – yellow and red Colours – that
shrill, bloody red – on the Road and the Railing.
The faces of my Friends became a garish yellow –
White- I felt a huge Scream – and I really did
hear a huge Scream – The Colours in Nature –
broke the lines in nature – the Lines and Colours
quivered with Movement. These Vibrations of Light
caused not only the Oscillation of my Eyes –
my Ears were also affected and began to vibrate,
so I actually heard a Scream – Then I painted
The Sceam –
E Munch

The Oslo Opera house
A sunny afternoon. The number of people buzzing around a piece of architecture for the sole purpose of viewing it was both exciting and surprising. While jazzy and overbearing, it has quite spectacular qualities. The cleverness of the seamless edge made the building seem to extend off into the sky. The cold, white stone work created a wonderful napping spot in the sun until the attendee asked us to wake up and move out of view of an upcoming shmoozer dinner.