Homage to Catalonia

Deciding to go to Barcelona and spend time with David was one of the best decisions this trip. Being with a good friend and exploring the alleys, placas and beaches has been incredibly rewarding, and I feel like these past couple of weeks in particular i've learned quite a bit about myself and where i intend to head over these next few years. During my last night here I was able to go down to barceloneta (one of the more popular beaches here) with David and some new friends of mine and just enjoyed the full moon and warm air over a couple of drinks. Biking back to David's place from the beach was a nice last look at the city as well. Even though there arent many bike lanes here, it is still a joy to navigate around all of the one way streets and race cars and motorbikes(and more often than not, win!). Barcelona is a city filled with diversity and movement, and it has been invigorating getting a brief glimpse of life here.

Today i will take a train as far north as i can go in 24 hours (either to Paris or London) and then spend a couple of days there before hopping on a plane and heading back con mi bicicletta. I am uncertain what returning to the states will be like after my time spent abroad. I didnt experience any culture shock during my stay here, and i don't imagine i'll experience any when i get back either, but i hope i'm able to hold onto what i've learned on the road. Knowingly changing both your lifestyle and living environment forces you to constantly explore new potentialities, and I hope that San Francisco will allow me to continue this exploration. I feel so young these days and more than anything i think this trip has allowed me to touch on precipices of freedom and possibility - both of which have been afforded to me at this age through the help of family and friends. I look forward greatly to returning to the familiar and exploring new adventure with all of the people close to me over the coming months.

See everyone soon,
-ian

p.s. - i added what i think will be my last batch of photos of barcelona this morning as well, which can be found here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/72157600995813378/

Dancing, Borders, Infoshops

I've spent the last few days in Barcelona trying to enjoy the public areas which i know i'll miss once i have to leave. Lots of reading, cycling, and photography have filled these past couple of days. Two days ago I was able to go to an exhibit here which focused on borders. It featured around 12 different modern artists - lots of wonderful photography and video work. Later that evening I spent the night at this guy Mario's apartment, whom i met through Diana. We had a small dance party and it was neat looking through mario's record collection and taking photos from the roof of his building. He works as a reporter here in the city and also plays in a band during his free time. Late last night me and David listened to Sublime on his ipod together and talked about music for a while in one of the less populated placas - this seems to be becoming a tradition of sorts for us now. I've also been able to see some of the anarchist infoshops finally, and it was neat visiting the CNT headquarters too. It seems there are still quite a few anarchists in Catalonia, although i wish i was able to communicate more clearly than I am now with my limited spanish.

I'm planning on flying home early in August, so the trip truly feels as if it's winding down now. It seems like a natural conclusion at this point with money running out and I'm a little tired of living out of a pack as well. I feel like there is so much to look forward to in San Francisco i can't say there is any sadness that is accompanying this 'end' - I've been thinking about my 'beginging' in the bay for a while now. I kind of feel like an astronaut here at times, completely disconnected from the 'real' and having my sense of self becoming rather abstracted. Just being able to take each day as it comes along is very different from the routines i lived under while I was in santa cruz and in the bay area. It's been wonderful and liberating, and I'm hoping that once i get back I'll be able to hold onto this feeling and lifestyle I've had during my travels here. On the other hand, I am looking forward to having something physical to call home. I've benefited from the generosity of so many people over the course of my travels, and I feel very fortunate to have had places to stay almost in every town I came across. However, for some reason i think the introverted side of me likes to have some sort of permanent fortress to retreat to and be able to reflect and relax. It'll be nice to have that again. Of course, being able to see my friends and family is going to be wonderful too - I'm looking forward to that the most. I feel like I've changed quite a bit as the result of a lot of the people I've meet here as well as a result of all of that time i spent alone on the open road with my bike. I wonder if it will be apparent at all to other people when i get back.

David gets off of work soon and he had his last class this morning so he was hoping that we'd all go out to party which sounds nice. I was also finally able to find a couchsurfer for the weekend, so I'm glad I'll be able to give David his room back as I've definitely been crowding it with all of my equipment as well as my tall self. Before I head back to paris for a few days and fly out, I hope I'll be able to see more of the alleys of Barcelona. David's headed for Syria to visit Matt at the end of august and then will travel to other parts of the Middle east as well. It'll be nice to hear about his adventures when he returns to san francisco. I think I'd like to organize some sort of big camping trip with all of my friends whom are in california when i get back, it'd be a nice to way to see everyone again and spend some time together. I'll have to make note of that so i don't forget once i return home. That's all that comes to mind right now. I'd better hurry or I'll miss David.

-i

Placas y Estrellas

Barcelona, as a city, is something that I've fallen in love with during my short stay here. The diversity of the people, architecture and neighborhoods really lends itself to exploration and learning and most people i meet are glad to talk to you and hang out. Me and David have been fortunate enough to spend the last few nights in las placas de Gracia(a working class neighborhood in Barcelona) where lots of young people congregate during the evenings in small clusters of 5 or 6. Also, there are groups of Pakistanis whom wander around the city selling Estrellas(cheap beer) for a euro a can, which helps foster the festival like atmosphere in these public areas even more. A couple of nights ago was truly special, as there was a power outage across a good portion of Barcelona. Lots of people decided to come out with candles and torches and las placas were lively and filled with people whom all were there just to relax and enjoy each others company - truly beautiful. It's also been nice to be able to actually speak the language a little bit. It was a definite handicap in Germany in France being forced to communicate in English, but here I feel like I've been able to make some stabs at speaking in Spanish which have worked out alright. I'm hoping to pick it up a little bit more during my stay here.

Yesterday i went to the beach with Pamela whom is one of David's friends here. I biked there along the coast for while and met her on one of the less crowded sections of the beaches. We stretched out on the sand for a while before i got into the warm waters of the Mediterranean. The beaches here are artificial, and some of them are overcrowded to the point where i couldn't see anyone enjoying them, but if you get out far enough there are some nice spots. Perhaps I'll get out to the beaches again tomorrow, I really enjoy swimming in the warm waters here and I think it will be a harsh shock trying to swim in the Pacific again when i get home after being spoiled. I've been sleeping on the floor in David's apartment, and it's been really great of him for letting me stay there. Another girl from Santa Cruz, Diana, is also in town and i may stay a night or two at her place in the coming days.

I've talked to David about this quite a bit and I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned it in my blog a few times before as well, but being able to travel and experience all of these different places across Europe and seeing the variety of flourishing radical spaces has really inspired me and some of my friends to start serious projects in San Francisco. Radical politics in the Bay Area have been completely depressing since the war started, and it's about time to pick it up and start being an active anti-authoritarian force in society again. I've enjoyed dreaming of possibilities with David over cervesas and imagining what San Francisco could become with so many of our active friends moving into the area over the next year. It's nice to have something to look forward to on my return home. Today we plant the seeds, tomorrow the party of our lives!

Here are some new photos that I finally was able to upload. The two new sets are "Tour de France in Marseilles" and "Barcelona". I've been doing a lot of night photography during this trip, and i think a few from Barcelona have turned out rather well. The link is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/

Adios,
-i

Barcelona

I arrived in Barcelona a couple of nights ago and have been slowly exploring the city via bike over the past couple of days. I must say that having my bike along with me in the larger cities has been invaluable, as it allows me to traverse and explore almost an entire city in one day, rather than being forced onto subway lines or into crowded areas. Again, much like the other places I've been to on my trip, the alleyways and plazas in Barcelona are what attracts me most about the city itself. The layout of the city really changes how you relate to other people and places within it as well, and having the open plazas with lots of young people sitting around and talking is something i've never found in the states (the situationists called this psychogeography I think). In fact, the preservation of at least some public spaces seems to be what separates most European cities from American ones. It lends itself more to spending time with people rather than spending money with people, which is refreshing.

David and I have spent the last couple of nights walking around various parts of Barcelona drinking and talking. The cervesas here are cheap, but not nearly as good as what i found in Belgium or Germany, but it still works. I met some of his friends here as some of us went to park together to enjoy some of the music and we were able to get coffee as well. Over the next few days I plan on visiting a few of the museums around the town and tomorrow i think I'll go to the beach with one of David's friends that we spent time with last night. I've become interested in the Spanish civil war over the past year(David seems to be an expert on it), and Barcelona is a city rich with history concerning the subject. There are still traces of the once thriving anarchist movement scattered amongst the commercial areas, including infoshops and even the current C.N.T. headquarters which we passed by last night. I hope to visit many of them during my stay. There is a vast network of squats in Barcelona too, but most of the people in them only speak Catalan and I have enough difficulty trying to get any understandable Spanish out, so we'll see how much i'm able to explore them without being horribly foreign and alien. It's refreshing to see so many people out in the parks as well, and I plan on perhaps going to spend some more time there today.

As the trip slowly starts creeping towards some sort of conclusion, different feelings are setting in than i was experiencing before. I am really looking forward to moving to san francisco and starting some sort of new track in my life. I have to admit traveling for this long without any permanence other than perhaps my bicycle and camera has been grinding at points. However, the sense of adventure and wonder associated with being able to explore and find so many new and beautiful things on a regular basis has far outweighed any of those other concerns. I imagine I'll spend a few more days (4? 5?) in Barcelona before heading out on the road again, to where I still haven't decided.

I have lots of photos stored up now on my camera, but havent found a computer to upload them on yet, i promise in the next couple of days I'll get them up.

Escribiré otra vez pronto,
-i

Le Tour de France

Hmm, it seems like there is quite a bit to say in this post. Paris wrapped up wonderfully and i was able to do quite a few things during the time i was there. Visiting the museums was wonderful, and it was refreshing to race around the city on my bike without any of the gear on it at all. I feel much more in my environment biking through cities than in the countryside for some reason - it's much more of a thrill. Spending time at the anarchist library was really great, and i was able to cook an Italian dinner for everyone one night. We all played the board game "Mae '68" which pits rioters and students against the police in the streets of Paris. Along with a couple of bottles of wine, i really enjoyed making bad jokes about french rioters with everyone and it was a memorable way to spend a night in Paris. I was able to spend some time on the Seine as well, mostly reading and walking along the beautiful water. Paris is known as 'the city of light', which seemed rather appropriate after seeing how beautiful everything is illuminated during the evenings there. I enjoyed Paris a great deal and i kind of wish that I was able to spend some more time there. Perhaps another trip.

I hopped on a train headed for Marseilles two days ago and arrived rather late at night to what seemed like a deserted train station. I biked a couple of kilometers to meet up with my next couchsurfer, daniel, who had offered me a place to stay for a few nights so I could see the races. Daniel grew up in Mexico city and is just finishing up his studies here in Marseilles with a focus on fluid dynamics(he says only crazy people decide to get PhDs in physics). Its been fun hanging out with him the evenings. Last night he had four more couchsurfers (two from Belgium, one from Chile, One from Italy) staying there as well, and we all cooked dinner together and talked for a while - quite an international group. I was lucky enough to sample both mexican and belgium chocolates for the first time too, as both Daniel and the girls form Belgium claimed their own variety was superior. Tonight we will all go to the city center to go dancing.

The Tour de France was spectacular, in all senses of the word. I got to the route a couple of hours before the cyclists arrived so i was able to get a spot right up against the barrier maybe 15 meters from the finish line. Being around so many bicycle enthusiasts and feeling the excitement build as we all watched the race on a huge projection screen was everything i thought it would be. There were lots of promotional giveaways before the riders arrived as well, with people on bikes and little motorcars throwing candy, water, coffee and everything else to people on the sidelines. When the riders did arrive for the final sprint, the energy of the crowd was amazing. It was the first time during this tour that a Frenchman won a stage, so everyone wanted to celebrate afterwards which lead to some free wine(magnifique) for me. Seeing the riders flash by in the final sprint was something else to say the least. This morning I woke up early again to see them ride off, although they were just doing the procession through the city so it wasnt quite as exciting. Overall I'm really glad I was able to see it all in person and it is something i will never forget.

Tomorrow I'm off to Barcelona to meet up with my friend David. I'll probably be there for a good week and am not sure about my exact plans for what i'll do afterwards. Maybe Madrid? Or Paris again? I have lots of photos from the race and will get them up sometime in the next couple of days. Anyways, enough typing - I'm off to the beach for a few hours!

Au revoir,
-i

Some Photos

I arrived in Marseilles late last night after a scenic train ride. Now I'm about to go get a couple of beers and a sandwich and then go get a good spot to see the Tour De France. All of the riders will be arriving in Marseilles today and departing early tomorrow morning. I'm so excited!

Here are the photos (the new sets are "Bike Trip Belgium-France" and "Paris"):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/

The End of a Trip, Paris

It was truly strange to write the title to this post, finally having realized the completion the bicycling portion of my trip. Did I really bike all the way from Berlin to Paris? To tell the truth as I sit here now typing away it seems a tad unreal and it feels like it will take a long while to process the whole experience and form any sort of concrete narrative. The diversity of experience, the time spent on the road with thoughts and ideas racing through my head like what felt like fire, the couchsurfing hosts who were all so generous and giving and really changed the nature of the trip itself for me - all of these things seem strung across a complex web of memory that will take a while to untangle. What an adventure.

I arrived in Paris late last night after a few days of really long riding. I made it across Belgium in a day, and then through France to Paris in another two. The sun finally came out and made for some beautiful days of riding, although my legs are aching this morning from pushing too hard for several days in row. There are some memories from the past few days which stick out that i suppose i would to get down. I stayed with a wonderful married couple in Belgium who cooked me the most enormous and delicious dinner after my first day of long riding. Afterwards they gave me a tour of the town, which is filled with history from the first world war (there were a lot of victims from gassings on the surrounding hillsides, which made the next day of riding through them a tad eerie). The french seem to love cycling and cyclists both, and i got a few morale boosts from people cheering me on from the side of the road in several small french towns as I passed through. The roads in France and Belgium, aren't nearly as ideal for cycling as in Germany or the Netherlands, but cars were still fairly respectful and there wasn't anything too inconvenient to overcome. For the first night in France on my way to Paris I was able to stay with a lovely girl in a small town near peronne. She studied art history and we were able to talk about Marcel Duchamp for a while which was fun, although it made me realize how much i have already forgotten from some of my history of art and visual culture(HAVC) courses in Santa Cruz.

Paris is a beautiful city. As soon as I arrived I biked around the city to get a feel for things before meeting up with seb, anton, molly and will who have all been staying here. I was able to find a wonderful place to stay in the basement of a anarchist social space in town (it's run by the same people whom wrote 'call'). It's very charming and comfortable here. The building has a large anarchist library, a nice courtyard in the back, and even a full kitchen so I will finally be able to get some cooking in again. Today I'm planning on going to get a free lunch from food not bombs with Will before he heads off to Ireland, and then a, planning on exploring the city using the map that Marla drew for me a while back in Berlin. Tomorrow I'll explore all of the Museums and then the day after I'll be off to see the Tour de France in Marseilles via a high speed french train. As always I'm taking lots of photos and will upload them soon.

Salut,
-i

Rotterdam

The last couple of days that I spent in Amsterdam were enjoyable. Unfortunately the heart of the city is so commercialized and expensive that there wasn't much more to do than walk around and take photos. The layout of the city with all of the canals and architecture is the redeeming part of the downtown area, and was more than enough to keep me enchanted with the city despite the commerce. On my last night in Amsterdam I was able to stay with Maria whom lives south of the city center. She lives in a house which used to be squatted and was rather neat to walk around in. She said that the city center itself used to be full of squatted buildings but slowly over the years the city has been able to evict them. It seems as if gentrification is taking place everywhere I go, but for some naive reason i had only thought about it in the context of San Francisco and the bay area before. After eating a lovely dinner that she had prepared (my first asian dish since i've been on the road), we went down a couple of streets to a bar that some punks had squatted and we shared a few beers. We were able to talk politics for a while and then finished the night by getting stoned in her apartment before going to sleep. It was refreshing to see a different side of Amsterdam.

I left Amsterdam early this morning for another full day of riding. I encountered much of the same weather that I've become accustomed to this trip, and was able reach town earlier than I expected. Most of the riding today was along a beautiful river which had quite a bit of boat traffic. Once I arrived in Rotterdam, my coachsurfing host had already prepared a nice curry for dinner which we sat down and ate, and then he took me on a bike tour around city. Rotterdam was practically levelled during the second world war, so almost all of the architecture is new and several futuristic sky scrapers are scattered around the city. We made a couple of stops at different bars along the way and talked about traveling (he had just gotten back from the Himalayas). Tomorrow after quite a long day of riding i should cross the border into Belgium and stay in a town called Antwerpen.

I finished reading 'Junky' a while ago and enjoyed it a good amount. I then read this booklet 'Call' which some French anarchists had given me in Rostock which seems to be written as a manifesto of sorts ~ an interesting read and I hope to go through it again soon. Now I'm reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' which is resonating with me quite bit as I get through the first couple hundred pages. Reading after a full day of riding is really one of the joys of this trip, and with this novel in particular I've been able to think about my own experiences in new ways as a result of picking up the text. I recommend giving it a read.

I also was able to post a few photos of my riding in the Netherlands, as well as from Amsterdam. After getting tired of the rain getting soaked up in my beard, I shaved it off the other day to just leave a moustache, please spare the jokes. Anyways, here's the link~
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/72157600765829662/

Wish me good weather,
i

Half Way

I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday afternoon after two long days of riding from Enschede. The sun has finally come out it seems, and I was greeted by blue skies and little to no wind on both days of cycling which really brought up my mood. Yesterday was my longest day of cycling yet (over 100 km), which wore me out a great deal, so I ended up going to bed rather early last night. I'm coushsurfing with Jaap, who is an old retired school teacher who has lived in Holland all of his life. He's incredibly hospitable and a joy to talk to (he's interested in photography and sailing as well). His sense of humor is right on, and he had some good advice about what to see in Amsterdam. This morning I woke up at around 8, got a wonderful cup of coffee, and took the ferry into the city center. I hate to spread the stereotypical image of Amsterdam, but as I type in this internet cafe, several people around me are smoking joints, and reggae is playing loudly over the sound system. It seems like a little too much of a tourist trap so far, with some luck I'll find some nice areas today.

Unfortunately, the couchsurfer I had planned on staying with in Arnhem bailed at the last minute. I wandered into an internet cafe in town, and luckily another couchsurfer had gotten back to me. I called up Ronald and biked over to his apartment in the northern part of the city. He lives in a shared house and has a nice room with a balcony on the top floor of the building. He took me on a tour of the city and then we went to a couple of his favorite bars where we shared a few beers. Unfortunately I have to confirm the rumors, the beer here is heavenly, much better than anything I've ever had in the states. They say it's even better in Belgium, which I find hard to imagine, so I'm looking forward to visiting some breweries there. Also, with the weather looking better everyday, I'm thinking of camping through Belgium instead of couchsurfing. We'll see how it goes.

Now that I'm in Amsterdam, I'm officially more than half way done with my bike trip. It's not too much farther now to Paris it seems, and the Tour de France is inching closer by the day. That reminds me to mention a neat interaction i had while cycling the other day. While i was navigating through a small town, another older cyclist came up next to me to ask how much weight i was carrying on the back of my bike and then starting up a conversation, i found out that he actually used to be a professional cyclist and had participated in several tour de france races. He said he was 76, which means it must have been quite a while ago, and after we had finished our conversation about touring, San Francisco and the Netherlands, I drafted behind him for a while(he was quite fast, despite his age). It was one of the many chance encounters which I've really appreciated this trip. Well, I should get exploring before it gets too late in the morning and thins get busy here.

Goodbye from Amsterdam,
-i

Enschede

As soon as I had arrived in Enschede, I let go a sigh of relief. I had finally crossed the German border and entered the Netherlands. I don"t have anything against Germany, but after biking through it for almost a week, I was ready for a change in scenery, culturally speaking. There were some immediate changes, some took a little while longer to notice. First of all, the bike ways in the Netherlands are even better than the bike ways in Germany, which i didn't think was possible. They are much wider and are separated from the main roads by concrete curbs which makes biking around the cities and countrysides a joy - no more worrying about aggressive drivers or semi-trucks. Also, as a result of the wonderful infrastructure, there are a lot more bikes, from families, to people going out to drink together, to delivery persons. There's something very pleasant about biking culture(both here and in the states). It just seems to put people in a good mood for whatever reason. I feel theres also a sense of camaraderie amongst cyclists which is wonderful as well. There have been several times where I've stopped to look at maps and had local cyclists stop and want to help.

Another city, another couch surfer. I had contacted Jeroen through couchsurfing and he said that I could stay in his apartment in the University. It took only a short while to find his place, and he was immediately welcoming upon my arrival. The apartment itself is wonderful. He lives without about fifteen other people. The building itself centers around a huge open air staircase, with each room on the edges of the central stairwell area which goes up 3 stories. It"s kind of like a subcultural techie frat house, and it kind of reminds me of living in the wedge - both the good and the bad (scroll to the bottom of the post for a technical description of the systems they've set up here, some really neat stuff). Shortly after I first arrived in Enschede, Jeroen and I went downtown and shared a few beers over dinner. He filled me in on Dutch beer etiquette (first you chill the glass with a cold water fountain, then fill the beer to the edge of the glass with the appropriate label, scoop off the remaining head, dip the glass into cold water to remove spilled beer from the edges, dry, place the beer in front of the person with the logo facing you, etc) and then we went and saw some free music at a venue in the city center, After that, we walked around for a while and he filled me in on the local history(including the great fireworks disaster of 2000), and then we had a few more beers before biking back to the apartment and watching a movie with his house mates. In short, it's been fun to stay here and relax a little bit before i head on the road again.

Speaking of cycling, I feel that I've finally settled into the rhythm of bicycle touring and my muscles don't get sore anymore or anything of that sort. It's been incredibly enjoyable just cruising along the bike lanes and thinking about things each day along on the road. I've also got into the bad habit of whistling songs while i ride, which has resulted in some odd stares from people in the towns. I hope I'm able to maintain this cycling shape when I return to the states but I kind of doubt it. Maybe I"ll join a cycling club in the bay area like the one my dad"s a part of to keep up the habit when I return. I"ll be in Amsterdam in two days now which I"m looking forward to, and then will head off to Paris, bicycling along the coast most of the way.

It"s still raining but I"m used to it now I suppose and it hasn't been too cold which has certainly helped. I packed for warm weather, so I've had to improvise a few things to deal with the rain which has accompanied me so far. Maybe in France it'll be better? Please? Singing off for now,
-i



(sorry in advance for talking about all of the tech stuff)
The apartment is incredibly networked, with a main terminal in the living room which accesses the entire campus network. The guys here have even coded their own gui for navigating the file systems (i think it's their own custom linux distro), and you can even watch regular television stations through the terminal. It has a random episode selector, so for example you can just select the Simpsons and it will start playing a random episode, and the server automatically downloads all new episodes from all of the main series when they are released(Lost, 24, family guy, etc). Theres a touch screen on one of the walls where you click your name if you take a beer to keep track of supplies. The computer itself in the main room is also uses an old beer box as a case, which adds to the aesthetic of the house. It even emulates. I was thoroughly impressed by the whole thing. Apparently this campus is kind of infamous for its warez scene, and has been the target of several raids over the past years. Sorry for letting the technology dork inside of me express itself in the blog, it won't happen again :-).

Skulptur Projekte Münster

I just got done spending a whole day biking around Münster looking at all of the sculpture scattered around various parts of the city center. I was impressed by some, confused by others, and simply couldn't find a few despite maps. I arrived into town late last night and meet up with Annabell whom I'm couchsurfing with. She and her housemates all study here in town and it's been fun hearing about their experiences. She studies biology here and was able to slip me into her lab this afternoon to show me what she's working on. Later on tonight a few of us are going to all go out and share a couple of beers before i go to sleep and head off again tomorrow morning. I don't think there's been a single day without rain here since I started my bike trip - what luck. I'm hoping by the time I arrive in Amsterdam whatever storm has been tormenting me will have dissipated or moved on to annoy some other pour soul. Forecasts say tomorrow will have heavy showers. Tomorrow will also be my last day in Germany as I expect to cross the border into the Netherlands at around 3 or 4.

Münster above all is a college town it seems, with students constantly bustling around every corner and conversing in every nook. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the nature of the city is the way bikes seem to be what brings life to the streets. There are more people biking than there are driving or walking, and if you stop in the wrong place you'll be sure to hear the ringing of bicycle bells warning you to move out of the way. It's as if a critical mass has been spread out and expanded over the entire city, and everyone just considers it a normal part of everyday life. There are tangled jungles of bikes of all kinds in the bike parking structures which are found on the main streets and yards, and few people seem to worry about even locking them up.

I found out my cousin from Scotland will be doing a bicycle trip of his own in France later this month. It would be neat to try and meet up and talk. A few years back he visited us in California, but that was a while ago and it would be fun to see how we've both changed. I'll cross my fingers and hope our schedules line up in one way or another. Anyone at home following the Tour de France? I'm getting more excited by the day that I'll get to see a couple days of the race in person. Hope all things are well, adios.
-i

I uploaded more photos to the Berlin bike set which can found here (mostly photos from Münster and Documenta): http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/72157600572299665/

Documenta 12

Just finished a full day of going to all of the different museums across Kassel that were a part of Documenta 12. It was nice to bike around town without all of the gear on my bike, and the weather remained fairly nice as well. The variety of the art was truly amazing, with performances going on in several of spaces, tons of digital video and digital photography, as well as public sculptures spanning across the city itself. I'll be going to a film later this evening that's a part of the program as well. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like this. Having an entire town reorganized to support modern art in the way Kassel has is invigorating. The cafes and restaurants that surround the main square are charming as well (I indulged and bought myself a fancy lunch with some students visiting from China). Documenta takes place only once every five years and I was thinking that it would be fun to try to come back when it's up again, perhaps with other people this time. I wonder where(who) I'll be in five years? I took lots of photos and will post them sometime later this week.

Couchsurfing in Kassel didn't work out so I ended up staying at a hostel for the past couple of nights. It's a hostel specifically for backpackers, and the two people that run it are really friendly and talkative. One is from Chile, the other from Germany. They both listen to a lot of ska in the downstairs hangout area (I swear, no matter where I go in Germany, ska is playing), and it was fun to hang out last night with everyone and play table soccer over a couple of beers. I also finished reading 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', and will start reading William S. Burroughs's 'Junkie' which David Z. lent me. The g8 seems to be what everyone wants to talk about, which is fine although it seems really long ago now.

I'll head off to Münster tomorrow to see the sculpture project. It should take a couple of days by bike and I should be able to camp in between here and there if there isn't any rain. This area of Germany actually has some hills, so we'll see how I do with all of that gear. I always hear that everyone gets addicted to cigarettes while there in Europe and (don't worry mom) I'm glad to say that I haven't, although I do feel that I have become a tad dependant on coffee. I've really enjoyed being able to stop mid-ride in a cafe to get a cappuccino and read a little bit, then head back out on the road. After Münster I should be able to bike out of Germany in less than a day, and to tell the truth I'm looking forward to seeing new places that have less bratwurst stands and more radical spaces. That's it for now. Until the next internet cafe,
-i