sajawata

Anna, Sharron and I had been planning our New Year’s trip to Amsterdam, Brussels and Coppenhagen for months. At the last minute they both had to back out (Sharron due to family emergency, Anna due to trains and Poland not being 2 words you want to hear in the same sentence.) After much debate (Lonely and pathetic in Geneva which was totally deserted; or Amsterdam solo where death and disposal of my body into the canal was certain) I decided to go anyways.
Sad to say I think Amsterdam is a little overated. Don’t get me wrong, I did have fun, its just after all the hype surrounding the place I had hoped for more. It is the most filthy city, it feels like one tremendous strand of hepatitis waiting to unleash itself on 5 million people. And the whole city is 1 giant souvenir shop. Not being in the market for wooden shoes, delftware, tulips or bongs I tried to stay away from them but they are everywhere. The only food in Amsterdam is rubbish fast food which would be okay if it were at least cheap but Amsterdam is pricey.
New Years was fun and extremely chaotic. Yes I smoked a little (When in Rome right?) and luckily I met some nice American boys who looked after me so I didn’t have to wander the streets alone (Danger, Danger)
Was really looking forward to the art museums (Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk) but they were under renovation so I was advised not to waste time or money visiting them. Major bummer.
Glad I went. Don’t need to go again.

Spent 1 night in Cologne Germany. Visited the Ludwig Museum which is home to some nice modern art. Cologne is where Gerhard Richter lives so they had a nice collection of his artwork.
The Gothic style Cathedral is massive. I stopped by for a quick look after the museum only to find that there were a few thousand people there, a third of whom where wearing old clothing/costumes. In parades the choir, the orchestra, the catholic figures, and people carrying flags from the old cantons and villages. Some kind of festival service was taking place. Big to do. Cant pretend to understand German. Very cool to see.

On to Berlin for 2 days = Happiness. Berlin definately has the best art of any city I’ve ever visited. Tons of museums. I had time for 10. Having an obsession with all things paper I was most intrigued with the GORGEOUS illuminated Korans, the Egyptian Papyrus and the Bauhaus museum. Heaven for a geek like me.
Photography Museum: Helmut Newton. Line between art and pornography is a thin one huh?
Checkpoint Charlie: Museum at the most famous border station at the Berlin Wall. Very interesting. Stories of escape from East Berlin.
Pergamon: Ishtar Gate (Babylonian, 6th century BC), Pergamon Altar (Hellinistic, 170 BC), Illuminated Korans from Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Iran and India. Fantastic. These guys studied Koran art their entire lives and believed their work would get them into heaven.
Egyptian Museum: highlight was the Papyrus, also the bust of Nefertiti
Old Master Museum: 13-18th century European painting. Very extensive collection.
Old National Gallery: 19th century painting, sculpture.
New National Gallery: Expressionist, Bauhaus, Die Brucke, New Objectivity……. in a building designed by Mies van der Rohe
Museum of Prints and Drawing: was really looking forward to this one as they claim to have a huge collection but was very disappointed that so little was actually shown (Tiny space)
Old Museum: Greek and Roman art and historical artifacts
Bauhaus Archive Museum / Museum of Gestaltung: amazing!!! original art, products and architectural models. Special exhibit recreating original 1930 exhibit of a modern apartment and its furnishings designed by Walter Gropius, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Laszlo Moholy Nagy.

Visited the Berliner Dom (1747 Neo-Baroque Cathedral) Spectacular if for no other reason than it’s uniqueness. Impressive crypts.
Also the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Hall. A cathedral was built in 1895 but was partially destroyed by bombs in WWII. Most of the church was torn down but the damaged tower was left standing (barely). Inside are some remains including fabulous mosaics. A new church was built directly next to the old church in 1963. It is an octagonal building built of blue glass and the juxtaposition of the 2 churches is really interesting. Amazing how architectural styles changed so much in less than 100 years.

When can I go back to Berlin?

Singing praises for weekends like this past one in Chamonix!
Minnesota Dani , Eva and I braved the cold cloudy weather on Saturday and were rewarded with fresh powder and free skiing! Salomon was sponsoring a girl’s weekend on the mountain which meant free lift tickets and demos. Yay!!! We skied the Brévent area which had great snow plus almost no one was there so it was amazing skiing.
Sunday it was me, Dani, Minnesota Theresa and Swedish Ida in the Le Tour area. Sunny blue sky day and my first taste of off-piste.
Great company. Great snow. Great crepes. Going back for more next weekend.

Highlights of the weeks leading up to Christmas break: light festival in Lyon France (Huge chaotic crowd. Cool light installations all over the city) and skiing Le Crozet in the Jura and Villars-Gryon in the Alps.

Yay! Marmy, Pops, David and Ellen came to visit for Christmas! They arrived late Christmas Eve and were understandably exhausted/ jet lagged but I wouldn’t let them sleep due to my jabbermouthing.

Christmas Day we went to Geneva and walked around a bit, then went to Lausanne. Looked for a place open to have a bite to eat and the only thing open was a spanish steak house which made for a unique but tasty christmas dinner. Caught a christmas concert at the cathedral.

The next day we drove to Lucerne where we had an apartment for the week. Lucerne is the perfect little Swiss Christmas town, all snow dusted and charming old architecture. It looks like a snow globe come to life. We walked around a while, crossed the famous wooden bridge. Went to the contemporary art museum, got a bite to eat. David, Ellen and I found an English pub. David found his most favorite beer ever, Feldsclossen.

The next day we trained it down to Lugano in Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland. Beautiful ritzy town on a sunny lake. Window shopped, saw several cathedrals and one particularly amazing frescoe, laughed because there was a hotel called Walter (our surname) with a cafe called Mary’s next to it (Marmy’s name). Stopped in Bellinzona on a whim on the way back to Lucerne and so glad we did! Bellinzona has 3 impressive castles: We boldly walked right into one of them and took the lift to the top which provided the most amazing views. Couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have free and total access to such an amazing space.
Then we looked for a bite to eat and found only 1 place open at 6:00 (super-early to the Italians. Or Swiss. Or whatever they are.) So this place took us in and stuck us in the basement only the basement turned out to be this amazing little grotto-style place that we had all to ourselves. The waitress didn’t speak a word of English and we speak no Italian but that made the whole thing even more fun. Amazing food and wine which after consuming led Marms to hug the waitress and nearly cry. We felt like we were in this Italian woman’s home kitchen. Terrific.

Took a scenic train to Interlaken the next day and then up to Lauterbrunnen > Wengen> Kleine Scheidegg for rosti and Bratwurst al fresco. Then the train up through the middle of the Eiger mountain to the Jungfraujoch, one of the tallest peaks in Europe at 3454 meters. Spectacular views of glaciers in 360°. There was an ice castle built inside the mountain that we had fun sliding around. Took the train back down to Kleine Scheidegg and then down the other side to Grindlewald. The skiing there looks phenomenal, it appears to never end. Am seriously looking forward to going back and skiing from village to village.

Saturday we skied at Meiringen-Hasliberg. Terrific sunny day. The ski jumpers were out and we had so much fun watching their aerodynamic acrobatics. Ellen skied for nearly the first time and rocked it. Major points for the stylish bright blue one-piece thats twice as old as she is. Also the ability to ski over one devilishly hidden patch of grass and not break any bones or skis.

Sunday we drove back to Begnins with a stop at Chateau Chillon on the way.

I cant talk about them leaving

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