Posts tagged travel
Maursupial
I'm pale and mild; a modern girl
Pipe dreams?
I wish that every time I felt this unsettled I could go abroad. Abroad is where I find answers in losing myself. Travel has always been my most productive lover.
I already miss my travels and am living vicariously through the blogs and social media postings of those who are still bumming around Europe. #FirstWorldProblems
(via cinder-ella10)
The culmination of my study abroad?
Remember how I was in Berlin for a photojournalism study abroad? Well here’s my final project (link embedded in the title), finally posted! Fabian generously let me profile him and his plot to explore the greater issue of community gardening and community at large in Berlin.
What do ya think?
On the road again?
Alex and I caught a flight back into Berlin Thursday morning and, though visions of one last party night in Europe danced in our heads, we were so exhausted that idea was laughable. Instead we grabbed food, meandered around the city we love so much and then began our mission to get back on East Coast time with a nap from 8:30 pm to 4:00 am when we (Alex) needed to leave for the airport for our (Alex’s) 6:00 am flight.
My flight is actually at 10:30, but I wasn’t anxious to navigate the public transit alone or let Alex do so that early, so our last leg of the trip together was spent watching the sun come up on our bus ride.
So now I’m alone, waiting to be able to check in for my flight which is how I begin and end most journeys. I wouldn’t say I like it necessarily (any of my friends would tell you in a second my need for constant company sometimes straddles endearing and desperate) but I think it’s good for me. Being alone during my flights to and from destinations gives me the time to mentally prepare, to get into the right head space for my landing point. I’m sure in the days and weeks to come there will be all sorts of nostalgic posts and communications about my travels, but for now I’m sitting on a bench in the Berlin airport in a quiet, contemplative contentment.
This has been a good trip and, although I think I’ll need a few days to be able to sum it into words, I know I’ve learned a lot about myself and proven a lot to myself. This has been a very good trip.
So come visit me?
We spent our last night in Zurich with a friend of a friend, Phillip who, despite having never met Alex and I before, had sent us a whole Zurich to-do list (although most of it was rained out with the poor weather) and invited us to watch the Eurocup game with his friends at a local bar. Because Zurich is in the the Swiss-German side of Switzerland, it was a great game to leave on: Germany vs. the Netherlands. Alex rooted for Germany and I cheered on the Netherlands (to no avail, they lost 2-1), but it was even more fun talking to the group- international, well-traveled and good senses of humor. All this after me sending a message to Phillip out of the blue and what I can only imagine his preparatory introduction of us to the group was (“I don’t know them in the least, but can these two girls come?”).
From the people we’ve met up with intentionally to the people we met accidentally, everyone has been so incredible in each city Alex and I have visited and I can’t imagine our trip without each and every one of them. You all made Europe so much more personal and fun! I hope we get to repay the favor by hosting by hosting travelers in our town (be they people we’ve met along the way, their friends or people we’ll meet in the future.) We need to repay our good travel karma and I think it’ll be pretty fun doing so.
The Swiss really like their clocks.
On a tip from a friend, Alex and I went to the Kundsthaus Museum on Wednesday to take advantage of free entry. The museum was expansive and beautiful (the two of us decided all museums were meant to look this way) and had an especially impressive modern art collection as well as a small wing with notable impressionists (what can I say? I have a one-track mind). The photo included is a sneak one taken with my iPhone because, once again, photos were “discouraged.”
A few of my favorite pieces I saw were
- With Winds by Lee Ufan
- Brunsktuck Runes Schwarzen Madchens by Albert Muller
- Portrait de Patience Escalier by Van Gogh
- Henri Rocheforts Flucht by Manet
- Blidnis Frau Else Glaser by Edvard Munch
Tuesday night we followed our ears to a bar playing live Latin and salsa music- the rowdiest one we’d seen in Zurich, though that’s not saying much. I’m always more at home anywhere there’s loud talking and laughing but it was also so good to actually dance (Europeans mostly move demurely). The entire bar was feeling the music, so watching the crowd was nearly as much fun as joining the dance floor.
When the bar closed (bars close early in Zurich! Last call at midnight!) Our foursome of friends went up to our room where, once again, hilarity ensued via my green permanent marker which I think has accurately become a symbol of any debauchery that occurred during our trip, although that night was more silly than anything. Aussie Alex and I played repeated rounds of tic-tac-toe on each others’ legs and we took turns drawing on one another (popular themes were Australian and American animals). Some nights it’s more fun to act less than your age.
The view from the University of Zurich.
We took a cable car from city center up to the University of Zurich, a really impressive campus that made for a beautiful walk during a break in the rain.
Sometimes the best nightlife is of your own making. Alex and Alex and Ollie and I grabbed beers at the grocery store and started our adventure sitting by the river, from which we saw a an old Roman fort dating back to B.C. in the distance (first picture is a view from the top), from which we saw a Ferris wheel further out in the distance that we tracked down and rode. Spontaneity at its best.
Eating our spoils from the Lindt chocolate factory under a bridge to escape the rain. No, we’re not homeless…
We would’ve been remiss had we visited Switzerland and not stopped by a chocolate factory.
Since inclement weather meant no hiking or day trips, we just wandered around the city with our umbrellas, ducking into a few churches in between. We saw some pretty magnificent stained glass and the triptych pictured here is by Chagal.
Alex and I generally hit up the grocery store by the train station for meals since Switzerland is so expensive. But we didn’t mind because that just meant we could eat next to the river and watch the sun go down.
