It's All Greek to Me

Here comes the Sun. It's getting warmer, oh yes, it's getting warmer. I had that first "I wish I had a big embarrassingly nerdy wide-brimmed hat but I don't care because the sun is beating down on me like the Incredible Hulk" moment. It was walking around the Parthenon at the Acropolis. Couldn't the Ancient Greeks have planted some trees by those huge pillars? But let me tell you - if you're looking for really old things - like things that have a B.C. on the date instead of an A.D. - it's in Greece. Even their postcards say "The Gods Live Here". I think they try to claim the same thing at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, but there, the Gods have to check out by 11am.

Starting this blog off with....a jumping picture! This might be my favourite one yet. I really got some height on this one. I was so excited to come and do one here - this is a building recognized all over the world.




I met some Americans and we all spent at least five minutes trying to capture just the right reflection of the pillars of the Temple of Zeus in our glasses. Notice how we are in the shade.

Did you know video games were invented in Greece? That's culture, baby.



The Ancient Greeks really were excellent engineers and planners. Check out this kind of structural forethought.




This was a pretty cool moment for me. As an actor in school, I studied and revered places like the Theatre of Dionysis. And then I got to go there. How cool would it be to have performed in this legendary place? Not a bad seat in the house.



A short tour of the Theatre of Dionysis....



Nearby, there's another theatre still in use today (for realsies). Right next to the Acropolis!



Here's some pretty cool facts about the Parthenon at the Acropolis.




Athens is just unique: where else are you gonna have modern buildings surrounding this building older than ancient history? I bet though, just like anything you drive by day after day, the locals are over it. But just check out this view of the Temple of Zeus from the Acropolis.




Dogs are everywhere in Athens. And I'm not talking about wild dingos like in Australia or India. These are well-fed Labs and German Shepherds and Shaggy dogs - some even with tags and collars. They're just everywhere, walking around, lying in the shade. Almost as prevelant as pigeons, but way more cuddly and fun. And you can bet their poop won't land on your head. (Yeah, I went there.) They are all so nice and sweet -who could think of anything more awesome than just dogs walking around everywhere? Good job, Athens!




I saw this turtle munchin' on some grass for lunch. I just had to capture this moment.




Ok, here's the "huh?" moment of this city: In the Metro, they have this spinning fan about the escalators. It's just meant to be a piece of ambiance art. But get this: the fan is powered by a solar panel....that has an electrical light shining on it. Does this make sense to anyone? An electrical light, shining on a solar panel, just to power a fan? Just plug in the dang fan!




Another good times moment with one of my hosts. Here we discuss earth-shattering topics like ice cream and traffic.



Saw this walking around town. Who knew ice cream was this romantic? This must be the best tasting ice cream in the whole world - look at how she's basically in nirvana, and he's like "I'm totally the man right now - and I owe it all to ice cream".



Next day I decided to venture off of the mainland and to the nearby island of Aegina. There are over a dozen islands, which could be a whole trip by itself. This boat in the background was my ferry to and from the island. The interior looked like it was taken from a dirty Reno casino.



These two dogs had an hour to get to know each other. They clawed and bit and licked and wrestled each other. How simple and awesome a dogs life is. I wish I could just met a stranger and just start wrestling on a boat. (On the Bucket List now). Who knows - still have 1 and a half more months to go.



I swam and read and lounged by the beach. I wrote thoughts and drew sketches with a hand-shaved pencil and read Hemingway and it was great. I love the way everything smells like beach when you leave the beach. But I loathe how the sand seems to follow you. You shake and shake all your clothes and dust off your feet, but somehow sand still finds a way to hide in the webs of your fingers and even one in your teeth.



I sat in the shade almost the whole time - and I still got so red! My reward to myself in Athens though: shorts and sandals. After 2 1/2 months in jeans and tennis shoes, I can't even tell you how great it felt to be in shorts and sandals. Huzzah.



The island ferry was the most interesting thing in the world to the seagulls of the Greek Islands. Every boat that trudged along these blue-green waters had an entourage of dozens of birds, riding the wind current created by the boat cutting through the air. These birds were brave and curious - they came within feet of the railing on the back of the boat. One guy was even feeding them potato chips directly from his hand.



Check it out - what I'm saying here is "I can almost reach out and touch them". To be a bird, wild and free for just one day - wow.





You have to zoom in and look at this picture, all over it. Teenagers in Athens are experimenting with some crazy wild hairstyles and fashion. Quite a few beehive inspired do's here. No doubt an Amy Winehouse influence. I love how some are looking directly at me in this picture, while boys and girls point at each other in the background.





Flea markets are endlessly entertaining. One moment you're looking at a bunch of useless tourist junk, and the next, you're standing in a shop of old victrolas and brass pocket watches.



I make people stare at me.

I made dinner with my host an another couchsurfer. Broiled fish and greek salad - yum.



It's off to Italy now. A prediction: pasta? It's gonna be great- manacotti, spaghetti, ricotta chesse - oh baby! However - I cannot WAIT for a thick, juicy steak in America. Just have to put that out there. Europeans are all about bread and cheese and small, simple meals. Look out In-N-Out Burger. I've got my eye on you.

InGermany,thisblogwouldbeonelongword

Ah yes, back in Germany. The first time was Munich, where the beer steins are big and the pig knuckles are even bigger. Now I'm in Berlin, which is up there with Paris and London with the big cities in Europe. It's not as geographically big, but these are the kind of cities I thrive in. Vast subways, food everywhere, operas, lots of WWII history, live music. Yeah, I love big cities. So once again here I am in a big Metropolis. I gave myself almost 5 whole days in Berlin, because I knew there'd be much to see. As a result, I believe this is my longest blog yet. Let's get started:

I cant believe I'm leading off with this picture. But this was the first picture I took in Berlin - this was on the way to my hosts house. This guy was in short jean shorts with a tucked in plaid shirt, a wicker cowboy hat, and a blond handlebar moustache. And ps- make sure you wear your sunglasses on the train. I didnt have anyone to share this glorious moment with, so I snuck a picture, and now its here for the world to see. Welcome to Berlin.





I went straight to the tourist information center at the train station. I didnt want to pay for the events guide because Im a Cheapy McCheaperson, so I totally took a picture of what was happening on Wednesday, to reference later. I didnt really intend to put it on the blog, but this is how I do my trip. Ah-thank you, thank you.

(ps- does this guy look like Matt Lauer in 10 years or what?)

Tourist sightseeing 101: This is the Reichstag building, where the Germany government meets and does goverment things. It was so bombed in the war. Now theres this huge glass dome you can climb up a spiral walkway - for free!





Here I am explaining it all:




This is the inside of that dome - there are all these mirrors pointing down into their Congress - for two reasons. 1) to direct sunlight down in there. B) So that anyone can look down on the law-making process at anytime - so secrets in the German governent, thats the idea.





Here's what it would look like if I were twins.




This is a really famous Gate that the Berlin Wall once ran right in front of. It's supposed to stand for freedom, but for over 30 years, it was a symbol of division. Now its back to standing for something good.






In front of the gate: look in the road. Along the path of the old Berlin Wall, throughout the whole city, a simple path of cobblestones traces where the East was once divided from the West.






Nearby is a simple memorial to people who were either shot and killed or drowned trying to get over the wall. This Wall never made sense to me - a city divided against itself. Pointless.





Walking around, I see a lot of things. During lunchtime one day, a bunch of businessmen had to move to the center of the staircase because this model had to have her picture takes walking up and down these stairs a go-zillon times. I felt sorry for her though - it was blazing hot, and we were all watching her by now.





Here's the Momument to the Murdered Jews of Europe (actual name), also referred to as the Holocaust Memorial. This is one of the best memorials Ive ever seen. It obviously looks like a bunch of coffins, but its so much more. The ground is wavy, so you get very disoriented. And the deeper you walk into it, the higher the graves are, and to me at least, it symbolized how the war descended so far down that eventually the Jews felt like the were surrounded on all sides, and it just kept getting worse and worse for them. Its supposed to be open to interpretation - everyone has their own experience.





Here's an idea of how the ground is so wavy. On the blocks, there is this special chemical coating thats supposed to make it real easy to remove graffiti. Get this - the same company that makes the spray coating is also the same company that produced the chemicals that were used in the gas chambers at concentration camps. Crazy huh? But, as my guide explained, they only made these chemicals for other purposes, not humans, and the Nazis just exploited it. When the Jewish community first found out about this, they were all up in arms. But then after a while they were like "Ah, just get it built". And so here it is.




Underground, there is a great museum of letters writting from concentration camps and personal stories about the victims of the Holocaust. There's a room where they just read off victims with a bit of stories of their life. If the names were read like this following video, it would take roughly 6 years, 7 months, and 27 days to read them all. (Sound might be a but tough to hear).




Nearby, ironically, is the site of Hitler's bunker. Now its just a parking lot. It was filled in years ago, and except for this blue sign, it's not remembered or memorialized in anyway.




A little farther away is this really cool monument. Its the Book Burning Monument. This wide open square used to be the site where the Nazis burned all "Un-German" materials. So here is a simple but great memorial: built underground and viewable through only this glass square, is a whire room with nothing in it but floor to ceiling empty bookshelves along all four walls.






The Euro Cup 2008 is being played in June here. I found a cool place and was a German soccer fan for a night. If you look hard you can see German flags - they are everywhere now because of the tournament. When I was in Munich, it was explained to me that in 2006 for the World Cup, it was the first time since WWII that you would see a German flag flying anywhere. It is just now, over 60 years later, becoming barely appropriate to fly the German flag. Germans were shocked and excited to be able to display their colours. Nationalism isnt a big thing in Germany.





Here's the award for "Most Ridiculous Tourist Creation" - Check Point Curry. Seriously? Bravo. James Gandolfini there is about to give me a whompin'.




Here's the Allied crossing between the former East/West Berlin - otherwise known as Checkpoint Charlie. Btw, I found out there's no "Charlie". It's the military alphabet - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc. It's really just "Checkpoint C". These soliders aren't really soldiers now, of course, but for some reason I look so stiff, like Im about to be carted away. Back in the Cold War, this was no man's land. Now it's Tourist Centrale.










People had all kinds of creative ways to try and sneak across the border, like hiding in cars and such. So when a person would hid in a car, they would weigh down the 5 or 10 cars in front and back with these rubber balls, so by comparison, the low riding car with the person didn't seem much different as the other cars around it, so it only received a cursory check. This picture is from the "Wall" museum - proabably the most crowded and disappointing museum so far. Had great info and stuff - but it was all these pictures and writing on whiteboards nailed to the wall. I want interactive video touch screens and soft light.












Ok, so here's the Jewish Museum. There are no right angles in this building, and there are these "voids" that cut through the entire building were there's just absolutely nothing in them, to symbolize that there missing voids in the Jewish community from people who were taken away and never returned.

This void actually had something in it - one of the best artisic creations Ive seen so far. These iron faces number over 10,000.













Here's what it looks and sounds like to walk through here.




I did find something silly in here, to laugh at in the Jewish Museum. Mirrors with moustaches, catch em!







This cool clock tells the time of any time zone - perfect for a Jumping Picture!








Hey check it out - two Jumping Pictures in one blog! (Happy SharDougMarv?) This is a part of the East Side Gallery - about a half mile of wall thats still intact. Check it out - Magic Johnson representin. Larry Bird is also nearby. We are taking a three point shot here.




There's no explanation for this one - just good times.




Here is me and my host, Janine, at the East Side Gallery.






More at the East Side Gallery.




If you're hungry, you can buy a hot dog sausage thing from a guy with a hot plate strapped to him under and umbrella. I never got this desperate for food. This has to be the most ridiculous food delivery system yet.





Ever heard about Knut the Polar Bear? He's my muse.









In this big department store called the KaDaWe, they have everything. This floor was electronics, and I caught these two old men enjoying some free sports.

"Good game, huh?"
"Yeah. Thanks for having me over."
"Of course. Thanks for having me over."
"Your'e welcome".








Pilot to Co-pilot. Go ahead co-pilot. Helicopters are cool, over. Affirmative, copy that, over. Over and out, over. Over, over.
ps-What's your vector, Victor?



Ok, I had to share this. Janine lives next to a kids playground, and they yell and scream early in the morning. Janine has a nickname for these kids. Enjoy.





Ok, so after several days in Berlin of WWII history, making that at least half of the countries so far where I studied war history, I was just tired of it. You can only look at pictures of Hilter and the SS so many times before wanting to put a fist through them. The wartime is fascinating of course, but it was time for a break, and to be a bit silly. I now take you to the Teirpark, one of Berlin's zoos. (There are two parks of course - East and West.) I went a bit loopy in this zoo. Lots of videos here.....Let the tomfollery begin:




This statue was totally free - didn't even require a quarter!






I got close enough to these goats to hear what they were saying. Let's listen in:




In thr Tiger cage:



Check out out happy these elephants are just playing with the dirt:




Monkeys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Off to the turtle races!







Ever have a staring contest with a pelican? I have. I lost. This thing was a pro. He was forraging through the trash for a plastic bottle to take back and play with in the pong. Apparently this happens all the time.










I went to another opera! This one was Beethoven's Fidelio. I didn't understand a word - all in German of course. This opera house is a but older, so no English subtitles at your seat. Something the guy at the box office told me I would have. Oh well. Music is music. I would really like to know what was going on though.





Check out this stage - I caputured this at bows. So surreal.




Off to Athens now! I'd definetly come back to Berlin some day - especially to another opera. Hopefully when I know a bit more German!

Greys and Blues

Poland has been through some tough times. I guess that´s an understatement. Just in the 20th century alone, it was attacked and occupied by one country, only to be "liberated" and then occupied by that very same country. You can see fatigue everywhere - on the domino-style identical apartment high rises, as well as the faces of the middle-aged and elderly who remember the communist era. You can find beauty in Poland - but its earned. Every blue sky in the background of these pictures hovers over a land of rebuilt castles and unmarked graves. But if there´s one place to honor the victims of WWII, it´s Poland.

This is the main square in Krakow. Arguably one of the most breathtaking squares in Europe, once the moltey crüe of street performers, poets, and nuns fill the space in the daytime. Here I am joining in on all the fun being had in this statue.




I couldn´t understand a word this guy was saying, but I think with music sometimes, you dont need to.




Here´s me, fresh off the night train.




And then just a few minutes later:





They have these HUGE underground salt mines in Krakow. Sounds like an adventure to me. I mean, I´ve been to the Peppermill dozens of time, so don´t want to be lopsided here.





There´s really no way to accuately portray how deep this staircase actually was. But at its deepest point, the salt mine is over 550 feet in the ground.




They half joked that if we licked the walls, it would just taste like salt. That was all I needed. I was so thirsty when I left here - I must have licked close to a dozen surfaces. Tastes so good though.








Ok check this out - not even joshing you - this whole ballroom is carved out of salt. The ground, the walls (with murals of events of Jesus´life, btw), all the doorframes, everything. They hold formal dances here. Some Americans I met here - we were challenging each other to lick stuff. I licked the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Thank you, thank you.




The Last Supper, carved in salt. "Pass the sa....oh, nevermind!"





Back in Krakow - this is just a picture of me inside a giant iron head.




Let the crazy wig meeting be called to order! First item of business: stick with the perms or go straight?




These places - translated "Milk Bars" - are basically government subsidized public cafeterias. Kind of college food here. Except it tastes awesome. I had these amazing dumplings...oh man. Cant even explain it. Just really good, cheap food here.




I went to this jazz club later on - thats the owner in the white shirt blowin away on the alto sax. He would fling an amazing solo, and then sit in a chair and smoke his pipe until it was time for him to play again. Sometimes he´d just finish the song from the chair. I liked this guy - he was the kind of guy who took the party with him.




Auschwitz-Birkenau.
We all know what happened here. I don´t need to go into it. But I will share some pictures this time. I´ll spare the grapic ones, but here´s what I saw in several buildings: rooms and rooms of shoes, clothes, human hair made into blankets, combs, toothbrushs, and anything else the Nazis collected from innocent victims of the Holocaust. Here is a brief look at where manz people spent their last days in Poland.

This phrase adorns more than one concentration camp: "Work makes you free".




This is the ´dead zone´. Any attempt to escape was meant with deadly force. Not that it was a piece of cake getting through electrified barbed wire that surrounded the camp.




Another view from inside the camp. These brick buildings are where prisoners stayed. By German law, they were required to have heaters. But there was a loophole: they were never required to be filled with coal. The SS, showing no mercy, just left the unused heaters in the buildings without fuel.





Birkenau. This is giant, main facility mostly associated with Auschwitz. Its about 1 mile away from the actual Auschwitz grounds - and basically designed solely for extermination. These trains tracks lead right into the camp grounds - a sight most people would see for the first and last time.



One thing you notice when you are here is how big it is. It´s unbelieveable. But as big as it is, I have to admit it´s a little hard to really understand what it really looked like to the prisoners, when it´s so empty. Today, it´s a big and silent. Over 60 years ago, I can only imagine with the help of pictures as to what conditions were actually like. But there´s no one there today. I thought this as I walked around, and then my mind absurdly jumped to that scene in ´Blazzing Saddles´where they built all the fake cutouts of the poeople of Rockridge and then just put them everywhere (with little springy heads). I couldn´t help but smile to myself as I thought ´how ridiculous is it that Im thinking of ´Blazzing Saddles´here. At least it gave me something to smile about in this place, if only for a second. And then it occured to me: people had to make friends here, because without some friends to live for and with, there was nothing. And I bet in those conditions, good friends found some pretty absurd things to keep their spirits up from time to time.




Inside the bunkers - the SS guards built these bunks a little crooked on purpose; they stood a little taller as a result, and they could in turn fit more bunks in the room this way.




This is the famous selection platform. After the trian stopped in the grounds and people unloaded, a doctor of all people sentenced people to their fate. Anyone healthy enough to work was sent to one side. Jews, the Elderly, and children - children for crying out loud - under 12 years old were all sent down the path to the right, alongside the brown building, to the gas chambers.




This is one of the gates that led to one of two identical gas chamber/crematoriums. Days before Allied troops arrived, the SS blew them up with dynamite to try to hide their crimes. They sit here in the same condition the Allies found them.




Here´s a close up shot of one of the demolished crematoriums.




After the bodies were creamated, they were filled into a huge hole right next to the creamatorium. Today it is a gravesite.



A quick glance around Birkenau from the main tower:




I´ll finish this section of Auschwitz with this. It is almost impossible to go to a place like this an not jump and forth between two emotions: sadness and anger. I don´t understand this place. I dont understand people. And I don´t understand why God let it happen. I do believe in the sovreign nature of God, but when I see places like this, I just have to admit that I don´t understand why. And I don´t think I ever will.

Warsaw

Again, fresh off the night train. Let´s see if this one is any more lucid.




If I had a nickelf for every H&M store I´ve seen so far, well, I think I´d still only have about half a Euro.




Here´s a bunker where SS soldiers chased Polish soldiers attempting to fight back. Eventually, rather than let themselves be captured by the Nazi´s, the commited suicide. This is their grave.




Guess what I found on a wall! 12 Monkeys, anybody?




In Castle Sqaure, there was this huge exhibit with a bear made for every country recognized by the UN. Irelands had a leprechaun´s hat and Cuba´s bear was smoking a fat cigar.





Here´s a good lool at a lot of the bears. Also, check out the buildings in the backgroud. Pretty much every single building here in Old Town was flattened at the end of the war. Most had been around since the 1400´s. So, in an effort to recapture the old town feeling here, they painstakingly rebuilt. It looks good, but if you get up close to some buildings, it looks authentic in the same way most themed hotels do in Las Vegas. Just the right amount of exposed brick. But hey, the alternative was a heap of rubble.



The towb of the Unknown Soldier. The guard on the left said something to me in Polish when I leaned on one of the pillars.




I almost got in the way here at the changing of the guards.




I saw not one - but FIVE weddings in five different churches. Popular time to get married in early June.



Outside this chruch embedded in the brick is this momument. At the end of the war, a Nazi tank drove itself into this church full of resistance fighters, and blew itself up. Here built into the side of the rebuilt church, is a piece of the tanks tread.



This is the beautiful view I had before boarding the night train to Berlin. Poland has beautiful skies.