Copenhagen is for Lovers

Allrighty, so i promised to put up some pictures and tell a story so heres the story of the first INTL stop on mainland Europe; DENMARK.


As some of you may know, I talked a lot about moving to Copenhagen in the months leading up to embarking on this trip. Well, after visiting, i must say my conception of this place has changed. Yeah, its a pretty bike friendly place, yeah the politics are progressive and yes its very green, clean and the aesthetic of the entire place (from skycrapers to toilets) was very sleek indeed. The problem is not with the city (its big, busy and open till dawn), its with the uniformity of the people. a good three quarters of the people there were wearing pretty much the same get-up, and this pissed me off to no end, Black pants, black shoes, black coat, and a brightly colored blouse or shirt, conveniently covered up by the black coat... BORING.....! We were fortunate to meet some cool cats out there though, but widely the people were not very open or exciting.


We did meet one cool cat named Jesba in the groovy hippy artist commune island of Christiana (a reccomendation of our hostelmate Lars). No photography allowed in there, but plenty of hash smoking and live music. We popped into this "area" of town, and things changed immediately. you go from walking a rather urban/suburban street to stepping foot into handmade slanty shanty music halls and vendors. Everything is covered in graffiti, the streets are gravel and there are woods and paths and open fires all around, unleashed hounds at your feet. The policy there is "No Hard Drugs" but pretty much everything else gos. Music and smoke billows from every crack in the rick-a-rack facades of these buildings. The place was, in a word, "dope". We asked around on where to score some of the sticky stuff, and ran into Jesba, a 19 year old who is currently attending "Folk School" in Denmark, and spends his weekends around Christiana. He pointed us in the direction of the hash sellers (selling hash on the street is totally legit there) and we shelled out 25 euro for some good danish hash that we managed to conserve for most of the trip, and a kabob (yes, the hash man was also the kebab vendor, how convenient ! ) We went back to where Jesba and his friends were sitting and he showed us how to roll a bomber Danish style, and laughed when we messed it up "No no! Your trashing it, here let me show you!" He was gracious enough to outfit us with the proper tools to create one of these things, which are a real pleasure to consume. Some pre-rolled "cones" and a Christiana postcard folded into what looks like a boat, for breaking down the stuff. We puffed away, Alex had an allergic reaction and threw up Curry for about 45 minutes while Jesba and i laughed and smoked more hash. around 4:00am we walked back to the metro, but not before painted a dope mural on our way out. Residents coming home to the building we were painting on said things like "Cool" and "Make sure its a good one" which was very relieving. I must say the hash helped the creative process ab it as well...

WE got to the metro, and exchanged contact info with Jesba, he showed us that we didn't really have to pay for the metro because no one checks your ticket. The Copenhagen metro is super cool too, its 3 stories underground, perfectly smooth and silent. Looks like the future. Jesba told us ours in the states will look the same in about 10-15 years. WE bid him adieu and would have gotten back to the hostel and went to sleep if we hadn't run into some more hip young people and had a chat around 4:30. WE had been looking for a antiques store to buy a pocket watch (something we never accomplished) and they showed us around the walking street/shopping district.... One weird thing about all of Europe is that, although the streets are generally clean, it also generally smells like sewage, and, because of the high tourist traffic, the sidewalk garbages are nearly all overflowing by about 8:00pm any day of the week. We got back to the hostel around 5:30, and i decided to just pop in the shower and go make some tea and go for a walk, which i did. I witnessed some Danes hopping in the river and taking a morning hangover plunge, which was fun, they waved, and i thought maybe there are some interesting, box-breaking folks here in Denmark.

This box breaking would be further expounded when, while taking a nap under a statue, Enrico and Alex awake to the sound of some 300 Danes shouting "Fri Hash!" and participating in a Legalisaton protest.






We of course joined in and, after receiving a complimentary (no shit!) hash joint to smoke, walked along with the crowd, next to the big Hash-mo-bile, which was equipped with turn tables and a PA, overwhich were heard all the accolades of this magical substance. The highlight of this moment, was probably when the man on the PA said "Hello Foriegners, we are here because we like to smoke hash! you should try it, come join us!" To which my brother and I gave a big "Hoorah" allready being part of the march.



After "marching" for about 5 blocks or so, we took a side street, bought some fresh strawberries and chilled in the central plaza.



we also met this fellow, who finally made me realize that there are some crazy eccentric people in Copenhagen after all ....



ALLRIGHT, so thats about it for copenhagen, the next stop in Denmark was the city of Koge, where we WOOFed with our Norweigian friend Siri and ate tasty vegan treats, among other things... but that is a story for another day, hopefully tomorrow. Until then, heres a picture from Koge....




Enrico

The trail of life has its ups and Downs

Hey so obviously all good things must end some time. So I'm back in the Chi and bought a few bikes, peep them here:

(Big Bike auction this weekend too ill be helping out at - get at me if your in the area)







The Raleigh Rapide i really like, super light single speed, unlike my PGH Schwinn, brand new wraps on the bars always make me feel so good too...




The other bike my brother is straddling we have named "The Gorilla Bike". It is a marrige of a Huffy Ranger touring bike and a mountain bike fork, along with a few other monster modifications: My personal touch - Gorilla bent rear fender holders, check the pick. The ultimate plan is to rig up a pair of handlebars to the back and use it to skitch someone in a gorilla suit... also, it has a banana peel dropper to disperse any adversaries.

But, as i said, life has its ups and downs... all bike related in this case. The big downer is my brother severely seperated his shoulder (3rd Degree?) today while we were riding trails and is now "permanently disfigured", though not "disabled". The word "permanent" really stuck with me and shocked me, as not much has been permanent in my life recently. Dont worry folks, hell be okay after a few weeks.


see hes okay, smoking and smiling :)-*


This event really shook the family up though, and made me realize i cant live with them anymore, and i should probably live alone/travel for a while, because i have a tendency to bring undue harm to those around me, even if it is no fault of my own (as was the case here)

Love and Light,

Enrico

Allright, so let me tell you a story about 24 hours in Germany:

After meeting Tareek on the CBH -> Berlin train
(Which actually drives INTO a cruise ship
to cross the Baltic Sea [pictures to come] )
we agreed to paint a mural in the sunroom of her new flat in Hannover.

Arriving in Hamburg we met two Canadian travelers
painted a roll down at "The Hottest Dog" American Style hotdogs
and then walked 1km to the romantic gardens where we met Selma,
whose 25th birthday it was. After drinking 5 bottles of champagne and smoking many a hand rolled cigarette on the sidewalk with a total of 8 germans and 2 foreign travelers, all over some delightful, light hearted german conversation, we were ready to check into the e-tap hostel. Alex passed the F out, but I was ready to see more of Germany, so I called up
Tareek and we met on
THE RIPPERBAHN!

The Ripperbahn is the redlight district of Hamburg,
but unfortunately (or fortunately) it was Monday, so the place was completely dead. Tareek and i stepped into one of the delightful shops there, for an informative and insightful 45 minutes. After purchasing some erotic cookware and raunchy pins, we took a cab to the Binnenalster canal and walked under the stars.

Tareek taught me a lot in the short time we had together. Most importantly,
I'm starting to see that more can be understood from being attuned to how you feel,
rather than mulling over what you hear and say. Words and people tell many different tales, but the heart and soul will always steer you onto the right path.

...i think I got back to the hostel around 3:30 am. After a spot of sleep and some great German
breakfast (I now crave soft-boiled eggs at breakfast). It was time to pick up the packs and travel once again. We met back up with Selma's mom and Tareek and took the slow train through the countryside of Germany, finally arriving in Hannover a bit after lunchtime.

Hannover is a smaller city in central Germany. It was totally bombed flat in WWII and the buildings are all 50-60s Architecture with modern buildings interspersed. It has a decent graff scene. We got a great little tour of the city and public transportation system there. (Oh, one of the best things about Europe is no one checks to see if you paid to ride the metro. Alex and I must have ridden city street cars and buses at least 20 times without paying!). We dropped off our packs

alas - more travel -- !

Holy Jesus - not even back in the states for 24 hours and Enrico is called on again to hit the proverbial road - this time up to the farm in Michigan where we'll be installing a 16' spiral staircase.

It is, as they say "No rest for the wicked"
gotta hate those armchair philosophers.....

I PROMISE i will post pics and stories when i return, and come to your birthday party and kiss your mom on the cheek

Cheers!

Enrico

PART I : EUROPEAN TRAVEL AMERICAN STYLE

14 Days -13 Cities - 5 Countries -

1. Galway (IRELAND)
2. Dublin (IRELAND)
3. Copenhagen (DENMARK)
4. KØge (DENMARK)
5. Hamburg (GERMANY)
6. Hanover (GERMANY)
7. Berlin (GERMANY)
8. Amsterdam (NETHERLANDS)
9. Rotterdam (NETHERLANDS)
10. Antwerp (BELGIUM)
11. Bruges (BELGIUM)
12. Gent (BELGIUM)
13. Brussels (BELGIUM)

*referred to as The "GDCKHHBARABGH" package when you talk to your travel agent...

Most people would think this is an insane agenda, most people would also consider me to be pretty much insane.

well, most people are idiots, but in this case, they were right.

the onlz waz to travel...

(european kezboards have the y and z switched, so do some mental kalestetics and switch the two....=)

They saz the best waz to see anz foreign countrz is to travel with someone know knows the locale personallý. we have found that someone in Tareek. She is a beautiful, 25 year old from Eritreia, who has lived in Hannover(D) for quite some time. We met her bz missing the 1323 train from CBH to berlin, and, upon taking the next, shared a traincar.

Tareek is a wonderful person, nobly sharing her knowledge, spiritual wisdom and generositz with us, and taking us on a lovely(IMO, Al disagrees] thru Hamburg and Hannover, culminating in much outdoor alcohol consumption and painting. We painted her new flat in Hannover with a bangin mural of a sun and moon, exchanged goodbyes, profitted a baller pete Doeherty hat, and used the terriblz efficient german train system to catch the last train from Hannover to Berlin (we waited less than 60 seconds at each of three train stations before reaching Hannover central, where we were privvy to the escapades of a futbol game that had just gotten out, the Hannover boys defeating the challenger , or so we heard in song)

We arrived in Berlin at 2:00am and checked into the Circus Hostel http://www.circus-berlin.com/. (what other place would anz enriquebeans staz?) The people here are interesting and eccentric to saz the least, and the rooms and showers are modern, funky, and more than enjozable. (also european bathrooms are teh bomb.com) Last night we drank some outside after linking up with 6 blokes from ireland and the UK and two birds from NYC, hitting up a kareoke bar and meeting more birds from Australasia and the states.

Kareoke in europe totally blows bz the waz. The song list is about 4 pages long, the interface with the lzrics is piss poor, and no one knows how to sing. Needless to saz, i impressed them with mz yankee stylings of "Celebration" "Brown eyed girl" and Pinks "get this partz started" among others. Imagine all the lesser qualitz kareoke songs from teh states, being filtered bz an french monkey, and then typed onto a banana peel, and youll have a prettz good concept of what im working with here.

So, crayz night in berlin, after kareoke, late night painting of course. wake up todaz, time for a bikeride thru east berlin, then 1600 trainride to Amsterdam. Life is Grand.

Schuhe!

Enrico

(oh, also, i cant reallz upload anz photos until i get home, so zou can see teh pictures and the updated, edited version of the travelblog when i return on the 15th. ill make it (YOU!) mz highest priority :) ) apologies again for all the ys and zs......