Something ripe and something rotten

There was one thing I did really like about Denmark: the Louisiana Modern Art Museum (I try to like older art but always end up loving the contemporary stuff most). There was a big exhibit of works by Sophie Calle, a French artist, that I absolutely loved. One installation was on an address book she found on the street. She got to know the owner, Pierre, strictly through encounters with the people in his address book. 

Another was a series on East Berlin neighbourhoods, photographs of places where something had been removed after unification. She asked local residents to tell her about their memories of the thing that was removed.

The most extensive piece, which made me laugh and also almost brought me to tears (I’m not sure why), revolved around an email from a lover that ended their relationship. Sophie (I would like us to be on a first-name basis) asked 107 women -- painters, writers, analysts, chefs, etc. -- to interpret the letter. A dancer danced about it, another sang, a judge declared it to be a violation of their contract, another analyzed the verb structures, it was fed to a bird.....all in all, fantastic stuff.

speaking of relationships...

In Denmark, Great Success in the Men Department Followed Almost Instantly by Shocking Defeat

I am single and travelling alone; therefore (according to many female friends) I am going to meet someone amazing during my travels and live happily ever after in some exciting, far-off country!

Well, I certainly have met some...unique...men, but none quite as interesting as a man at church in Denmark.

(I hear your seats creaking as you lean forward with interest...)

He was fairly good-looking; articulate; seemed intelligent; and spoke English fluently -- in fact, he was from BC also. AND he asked me what I was doing that afternoon. AND offered to take me on a tour of the city! (I’d already toured it quite extensively but, I'm such a nice person, how could I say no?)

I wafted home from church exalting that someone had finally made a move and without wasting any time. Probably he was attracted to my intelligence, I thought, or my very good looks, or my spiritual presence, or my impressive professional background. 

I tried not to wonder if he could be THE ONE (but I have to admit I did imagine telling him I wouldn’t be able to live in Denmark)...

So maybe I jumped the gun a bit, but at least there was some indication he was interested. At least, that's what I thought until we met later, not for a tour after all but for a party with 20 of his closest friends. Who of course, naturally, asked how his FIANCE was doing.

Who knew that the stages of grief could be experienced at lightning speed?! Shock and denial; pain and guilt (ooohhh, the pain);  anger and bargaining; depression, reflection and loneliness; the upward turn; reconstruction; and acceptance and hope...I felt them all in the course of an afternoon.

Overrated castles

Christiansborg, one of the palaces of the Danish Royal Family:












Sorry, no pictures allowed. But these are what I had to wear on my feet while I toured the place.

There were some tapestries I was excited to see:














but they were so unbearably ugly I cannot even post reproductions on my beautiful blog.

If you're really curious, go here -- but don't say I didn't warn you.

*   *   *

This is the famous castle in Elsinor, the one Shakespeare used as his setting for Hamlet.



Crossing the first of two moats...

the view:

Unfortunately, the castles were like the rest of the Denmark I saw: only kind of cool, if you didn't stay too long. Sorry, Denmark.

In a nutshell:

You can see the rest of the pictures (yawn) here.

Copenhagen. Do you know where your mermaid is?

Copenhagen: the "Venice of the north" (along with about 12 other cities).

Continuing the adventures of staying with strangers...in Copenhagen my host was Carl, another friend of a friend. Carl is actually a fellow expat from Nova Scotia (wait, do I count as an expat yet?).

He took me to see the view from one of the oldest churches in the city.

Copenhagen was mildly interesting....for one and a half days. (I was there for four.)
Especially after the edginess of Berlin, I couldn’t get into the quiet, the calm, the well-ordered-li-ness of this city. And the true “Danish” pastry, which here they call of course (?)“Vienna-bread", was not that special. Probably a good Toronto bakery could create something of the same quality.

But it would only be fair to try as many Danish bakeries as possible, just to be sure.

Yep, popular guy, this Andersen. You might know that his "Little Mermaid", a bronze version, sits in Copenhagen harbour. Well, she usually does, but right now she's in Shanghai, representing Denmark at the World Expo.


So that the Danes don't miss her too much, a screen has been installed in her place with a 24-hour live video projection of what she's up to in that pavilion in China.

[still not making this up!]

Memorable adventures in Berlin

- Meeting the extravagant British family Mathias

Susie, who was my translator at church, was exceptionally friendly and warm. Her husband, soon to be a full-time chef, referred to everyone as “darling”, whether it was wife, daughter, family friend or me. They had about fourteen people at their place (none of whom were Berliners) for a proper English supper in the heart of Berlin. Jokes flew fast, the roast and Yorkshire pudding was quickly consumed, and afterwards a daughter played gentle harp melodies.

[I’m still not making this stuff up!]

When they learned I had no fridge and therefore no dinner at my hostel, they zoomed around their kitchen, raiding cupboards and fridges to fill a shopping bag full of stuff I could eat.

- An outdoor concert with the Berlin Philharmonic + movie themes.

Again with the Mathias family....and we danced like crazy when they broke out the funk tunes!

pre-mosh

- spending a rainy Saturday blogging in an old factory, converted into a tragically hip cafe and hotel

- meeting a German friend of a friend who turned out to be mostly a "welfare bum"

It's true what they say:

And I've finally found the perfect three words to describe myself, so thank you, Berlin!

I'm back online!

It was a whole week without internet at my new apartment. It was strange to experience life pre-world wide web!

Anyway, I'm back online now and am anxious to post the final bits about the Scandinavian part of the trip, so that I can get to the Italian part of the trip! Quick update for now: I've been in Genova for a week. Today I attended my first day of school -- for the first time in eight years!

I think this Italian adventure is going to be quite incredible...

How to say “have a good trip” in German

"Gute fahrt."

That is all.

Berlin's more unusual tourist attractions

1)

[DDR=Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the official title of the former country of East Germany]

West jeans: real Levi's. East jeans: really horrible kncok-offs!

Socialist toilet-training: everybody goes at the same time. If not, everybody waits until everybody's finished.

2) The Ampelmann store
Ampelmann = the pedestrian crossing signals of former East Berlin. Now an iconic symbol that's making somebody a lot of money!

 

 3) the Berlin bears (like the Toronto moose)

4) a big birdcage next to a mall (thank you Dirk for pointing this out)

5) an interesting metal sculpture

[That's Walter, another one of those Italians roaming Europe. Our conversations included a lot of singing, as he is a HUGE fan of glam rock!

Here’s something I like about Italians. It’s the way they respond when you try and speak the language: “Bravo!”

It makes you feel like you’ve done something stupendously grand and worthy of applause... when in fact all you’ve done is managed to say something like “I am not scared of elephants.”]

6) Oranienburgerstrasse Tascheles Artists' Collective/Squat

Can you make out the message?

I felt like I required more tattoos (and by more I mean an increase from zero) or much less hair to be seen here.

Berlin's top tourist attractions

1) Checkpoint Charlie, which, while the Wall stood, was the only border crossing for foreigners into East Berlin



Ultra cheesy!

He, er, it was really hot.




2) The Brandenburg Gate (meant to be a symbol of peace but was incorporated into the Wall)

3) The Bundestag, the German parliament building



4) Berliner Dom

An old, battle-scarred church in the centre of Berlin.
Look closely and you can see patches over bullet holes. (You see this quite a lot in Berlin...)

5) one of the largest Jewish synagogues

6) The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The memorial covers an entire city block. It was quite controversial when it was opened in 2005. It's not very much to look at, but I decided that I like it. To me, the sheer size of it demands your attention and contemplation, and the stark simplicity of it is the artist asking how a tragedy of this extent could ever truly be captured.

7) Schloss Charlottenburg, a palace with a really big public park.

8) Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, partially destroyed during WWII.

inside the addition:

at the entrance of the church you could help yourself to an apple if you made a donation!

I love getting fruit at church.

the East Side Gallery

This is part of the Berlin Wall that has been re-decorated by artists from all over the world.

this is what happens if you eat too much currywurst