Thursday, October 4, 2007
Capellagarden
I took a class called "Life of the Chair". It was on the island of Oland, off the coast of Sweden. It turned out to be a very positive experience, making chairs and making friends. We all designed and knocked out some pretty cool chairs and had plenty of fun along the way. The island is a way chill spot. You're basically stuck in this bucolic little compund with 60 other people, in the middle of nowhere for 2 weeks. You live in these little houses, eating food from the garden, and at times working your ass off in the shop. There's one bar down the road a ways, and one little town several miles away you can stock up at if you can bum a ride. You dont really need much though...we spent most of the time making our chairs, with other people painting, sewing, making pots, growing stuff, whatever they were there to do... you spent the rest of the time socializing. We had little parties... we'd stock up at systembolaget (the state liquor store, kinda like utah) and people would dance and flirt and do whatever else folks do at parties in the middle of nowhere... all in all it ended up being very cool, and I have a chair to glue together upon my return... I have photos up from the time there click here to check 'em out.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
2 months later...
Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I am in Europe, traveling around...lets see if I can get some pics up from the last 7 weeks or so... this blog thing isn't proving as convenient as I would like...perhaps because i am far to lazy to publish such a thing when on the road, as there are various other stimuli that capture my attention almost continuously...
Long story short, the trip has been going like so: First, I went to London... I stayed with my old buddy Durbin which means I saw the insides of pubs mainly, and some pubs that had outdoor areas, then it was onto Copenhagen on my way to Oland, Sweden where I took a 2 week class and made numerous friends and also a chair, highlight of the trip so far... then to Malmo, SE, where I saw a pretty boring festival and concert... then to Copenhagen for over a week riding bikes and attempting infiltrate the local population while trying not to go broke right off the bat, then to Prague where I realized that you get a little more bang for your buck in eastern europe, then to Cesky Krumlov,CZ, where its friggin beautiful and all around pretty bitchin...then to Bratislava, SK, for a day, on to Ljubljana, SL for a day or so, via Austria, then 5 days Bled and Triglav National Park Slovenia, which is the alps, you know, and SO beautiful and fun, more mountain bikes, rafting, canyoning, swimming, hiking and socializing...the friendliest people in Europe so far, the Slovenians, cool group of folks, sitting on a GEM of a country... Zagreb Croatia was cool for the day and onto Budapest Hungary, where i must return someday because its far to cool to be experienced in only a day, but I had to move on to Tallinn Estonia, which is really, really cool and a MUST see for anyone in the area, a party town bigtime, and so picturesque and well preserved... one can get along there quite well, but I had to move on to Helsinki Finland where I am now, having met up with my sister Rachel after 6 weeks traveling more or less solo but having made friends and acquaintances from around the world... thats pretty much how its been going... you would think that seeing so many churches, castles, and cathedrals would get old, but you know what? it totally does, I am over it, and same with museums, too, cool, but enough already. that being said, there is so much to sample I have barely scratched the surface... its all about the people, the travelers and the locals, all cool generally, assuming they are not naked..and hostels are interesting, they only way to go and an absolute fixture everywhere you go, but hit or miss and very communal, sometimes thats just what you need and sometimes you get athletes foot from the shower... all in all its been about food and beer and the activities and the scenery...and making new friends...sometimes easy, sometimes you're making cold calls at bars... but even those usually warm up after you get past the george bush questions...THAT GUY isn't helping me at all, btw... solo traveling is cool and a good experience, but I am also glad to have companions from here on out...the "table for 1" thing can be pathetic at times, and thats why I usually eat at the counter or the 7-11 or wherever...
Long story short, the trip has been going like so: First, I went to London... I stayed with my old buddy Durbin which means I saw the insides of pubs mainly, and some pubs that had outdoor areas, then it was onto Copenhagen on my way to Oland, Sweden where I took a 2 week class and made numerous friends and also a chair, highlight of the trip so far... then to Malmo, SE, where I saw a pretty boring festival and concert... then to Copenhagen for over a week riding bikes and attempting infiltrate the local population while trying not to go broke right off the bat, then to Prague where I realized that you get a little more bang for your buck in eastern europe, then to Cesky Krumlov,CZ, where its friggin beautiful and all around pretty bitchin...then to Bratislava, SK, for a day, on to Ljubljana, SL for a day or so, via Austria, then 5 days Bled and Triglav National Park Slovenia, which is the alps, you know, and SO beautiful and fun, more mountain bikes, rafting, canyoning, swimming, hiking and socializing...the friendliest people in Europe so far, the Slovenians, cool group of folks, sitting on a GEM of a country... Zagreb Croatia was cool for the day and onto Budapest Hungary, where i must return someday because its far to cool to be experienced in only a day, but I had to move on to Tallinn Estonia, which is really, really cool and a MUST see for anyone in the area, a party town bigtime, and so picturesque and well preserved... one can get along there quite well, but I had to move on to Helsinki Finland where I am now, having met up with my sister Rachel after 6 weeks traveling more or less solo but having made friends and acquaintances from around the world... thats pretty much how its been going... you would think that seeing so many churches, castles, and cathedrals would get old, but you know what? it totally does, I am over it, and same with museums, too, cool, but enough already. that being said, there is so much to sample I have barely scratched the surface... its all about the people, the travelers and the locals, all cool generally, assuming they are not naked..and hostels are interesting, they only way to go and an absolute fixture everywhere you go, but hit or miss and very communal, sometimes thats just what you need and sometimes you get athletes foot from the shower... all in all its been about food and beer and the activities and the scenery...and making new friends...sometimes easy, sometimes you're making cold calls at bars... but even those usually warm up after you get past the george bush questions...THAT GUY isn't helping me at all, btw... solo traveling is cool and a good experience, but I am also glad to have companions from here on out...the "table for 1" thing can be pathetic at times, and thats why I usually eat at the counter or the 7-11 or wherever...
Monday, July 16, 2007
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)