The Last Days and The Last Day

Okay! Let me tell about the last two weeks and close up this blog!

The last two weeks in Berlin were mainly filled up with preparing to leave: closing accounts, selling stuff, giving stuff away, etc. Don’t worry though this was interspersed fun, so lets just talk about the fun. Of course, while I could, I visited a few of the free museums I hadn’t seen and enjoyed them. This was also combined with some good movie nights; Toy Story 3D with the other Taylor, and some movies in the Studio with Spencer and Fabrice. I also went out to the clubs and soaked up that part of Berlin culture. With all my goodbyes my most significant event was a picnic I had on the first weekend, which counted as my last goodbye to most of the people I knew in Berlin. About 15 people came with some beautiful food and I brought some music, aka my guitar. It was a super pleasant affair to say the least. The last days in Berlin ended up being very relaxed though which ended up suiting me quite well. And then I rode out of the city via u-bahn with a funny feeling one gets when they know they wont be back to a place for a long while. Thank you Berlin and all that made it what it was.

After leaving by U-bahn I was naturally on the highway thumb out as usual with the destination being Paris via Köln. I made it to Köln after two great rides, first with a small Danish family with some great discussion and then with a Turkish guy with a lot of extra hospitality and a girl named Nara we picked up for a while. I then CSed for the night with an Indian guy named Bharath and man was it nice to hear that accent again and see the mannerisms. On top of that he was a great conversationalist. We spoke about everything from space, to Indian/Pakistani relation, to Star Wars. A shame I was only there one night, but again off I was the next morning with my thumb out. Hitching was kind of crap for the first half, but the second half was with a great young Bulgarian/German couple. More good conversation and this time some good food as well. One more ride after this one and I was in Paris.

So here I am, with Florian and familiar CS face, who I surfed with last time. My last full day in Europe was spent with a walk around Paris, exploring an interesting author’s project, and, of course, sitting in front of the Effeil Tower for a while. Tomorrow morning I wake up early and head to the airport to head home, so goodbye Europe…. or should I say as I’ve been saying to everyone else, “see you soon.”

And so I finish my last official entry for this blog I will say goodbye and thank you for reading. I really can’t say if I will start one up for Halifax, were I will be next, but who the hell knows, maybe I’ll surprise myself. So one last: Peace and Love,  Taylor.

Forest To City

As I left Lukas’ home saying bye to Betina, Yosi, Elias, and Marisa I was handed a jar of Nuttela, they treated me well. The remaining days at Lukas’ here very much the same, very enjoyable and relaxing (we did attend a crazy “bad taste” party though). Lukas drove me to Switzerland, yes it’s that’s close, and after a warm hug and a “I’ll see you on skype,” he was off to work and I was back on the road.

Within minutes I had a ride pretty much exactly to the crossroad I needed. After about 4 hours talking about paragliding, Canada, and fatherhood, my Swiss driver pulled over in a town and dropped me off. I must say an extremely pleasant ride, a terrible drop off point, but after two hours of running from this side of the “highway” to that side of the “highway” I found myself in the car of two beautiful Swiss sisters. Alas though, another enjoyable ride turned into a bad drop off point (you think after more than 15,000km hitching I could prevent this). I was stuck in the city of Locarno and quickly found out how expensive Switzerland was after inquiring about a local bus ticket to my final destination of Spruga. The hour bus ride cost 13 euros! So I started to try and hitch out of the city, an impossible task. Luckily some young Swiss men spotted my guitar and asked if I wanted to have an impromptu jam. So out came the guitar and out came some harmonicas and then next thing you know they’re paying to get me halfway to my destination. After the bus I finally managed to hitch to the mountain village of Spruga.

Now what am I doing in a small mountain village in the middle of Switzerland you ask? Well the next step was to hike an hour and a half into the foresty valley to reach my actual final destination…. a RAINBOW GATHERING. Now I know you readers have nothing against homosexuals, but you’re probably again questioning, “Taylor, why you hanging out with a bunch of gays?” Well you’re mistaken then because Rainbow is a society for ex-hippies, new-hippies, and foux-hippies alike. And if you’re asking why am I hanging with a bunch of hippies then you don’t know me too well. So after my hike and encountering a few of my brothers and sisters I made it to the site of the gathering. It was a beautiful field, with a giant fire pit, an alder grove for the kitchen and to pitch our tents, forest to hike and gather wood, and a gorgeous river with waterfalls and all. People were roaming around naked, music was being played, hash was being smoked, workshops were being cooked, delicious food was being cooked, and nature was being embraced. This is how I lived for the next four days. I now see why my friends enjoyed these gatherings so much.

Unfortunately I had to leave earlier than I wanted, but business needed attending to here in Berlin, but after a little effect of “nature sickness,” (kind of like home sickness) I am quite happy to be back here in Berlin. I am staying at Beni’s flat right now with a guy named Florian because Tobi’s back in Canada and Beni’s down in Vienna at the dance festival I talked about earlier. The first two days were spent at Jan’s old place though, which is just down the street, with Vite, Robert, and new roommate Neil, because I didn’t have the keys to Beni’s and Flo was out of town. They were good days though so no worries were had. Lots to do before I leave. Caio for now. Peace and Love,   Taylor.

Lukas x2

I left off last entry saying that I would attend a bonfire with my Slovakian host Lukas. This I did, but the night ended spiralling into something much more. It starts when we were packing up our meat, guitars, and drinks when four quite attractive girls showed up at the door to join us. After venturing into the forest eating and playing song after song we decided we needed a new location since it was only 23:00. I never expected to end up at one of the girl’s mansions with an indoor swimming pool, ginormous patio, and nice everything else, but I did. So we partied late into the night at this very “un-Slovakian” location until we could party no more. Easily one of my more interesting CS experiences. The next three days in Bratislava would mainly consist of walking around the old town, a little busking, eating many ridiculously cheap Magnum bars, and hanging out at Lebor &  Lukas’ tee house. I guess I’m just attracted to these locations. In the end I had done my part, enjoyed Slovakia, and played with their massive dog Tobino. So off I went to meet my second (but truly first) Lukas, but I had a few pit stops first.

First pit stop was Vienna, which I planned to only stay one day, but plans change quickly. Arriving in Vienna I went straight to (Berlin)  Lukas’ brother’s place. Phillip hilariously has many of the same vices as Lukas, mainly coffee and Nugget Bits. I was amused to say the least, but good conversation permitted me to realize I was being graced by another cool dude. After chatting a while I went to meet up with Beni who is in Vienna for the next month on a 15,000Eu scholarship for a dance festival called Impulstanz, but first I was going to busk for a while. I arrived at Stefanplatz,the main tourist station, and played for an hour and a half and after dancing with a little asian boy for 30 minutes and receiving a 10Eu bill each from two appreciative Viennese kids I racked up a solid 45 Euros. And with that I  met up with Beni in Vienna’s super cool Museum Quarter (MQ), where the festival is taking place, and I quickly met Beni’s newfound Australian buddy, Matt. As we headed of to find a bite to eat we passed an absolutely gorgeous blond on the same pink bicycles Beni and Matt had received for the festival. Of course they knew her and of course we stopped this Swedish bombshell by the name of Linda. We then decided to join Linda for her dinner, but not before she invited two other Swedish babes, Andrea and Alexandra. So off it was to a cheap, traditional Austrian restaurant for one of my first sit down and be served dinners I’d had in a long time. After dinner the crew had to make their way to a free performance they were supposed attend, but before departing they said the opening night of the Impulstanz lounge was the next night and I should stay an extra day. I didn’t take much convincing. I asked Phillip and he was cool with the idea so one more day in Vienna for Taylor. The next day I walked around and checked out some areas I perviously hadn’t on my last two visits to the city I forgot I liked so much. Then I made my way to the MQ to enjoy an exhibit named “Street and Studio,” which showcased the idea of street art and studio made art meeting in an extraordinary fusion. They had work by Bansky and Warhol and many other amazing artists. I then met up with Beni for this lounge opening and danced the night away. The Swedish girl didn’t show up that night, but it still hasn’t deterred the fact that I now have major plans to visit Sweden.

Next stop was a quick stop in Salzburg, mainly known for being the place where most of “The Sound of Music” was filmed. Honestly, a truly gorgeous town. I only stayed for four hours though as I had to make my escape to sleep somewhere out in the nature. I eventually found myself that night at Chiemsee lake, a large lake in Southern Germany. After playing guitar for some locals I finally set up my tent in a nice open area and fell asleep. Around 6:30am I was woken up as the zipper to my tent was being unzipped. All of a sudden an old man’s face appeared grumpily declaring something in German. I quick explained with the little German I have that I do not speak the langauge and did not understand. He quickly switched to English telling me “You’re not allowed to camp here.”
I had no doubt it was true, but I did not want to get up so instinctually I asked this plain clothed fellow, “wait, wait, who the hell are you and why can’t I cam here?”
To which he replied, “I’m the major of Chiemsee.”
“You mean the mayor?
“Yes the mayor, the mayor, now be packed up by 8:00.”
So yes, I got woken up by the mayor of Chiemsee telling me I could not camp in the area I was…. righteous. So I got up at 8:00, like instructed, took a nice morning swim, read a while, and continued my journey.

I arrived at Lukas’ that evening and have been quite enjoying my time here since my arrival. It’s been a mixture of eating some great food, throwing Lukas’ 11 year old brother around various room, visiting “downtown” Bregenz, reading a lot while it rained, and swimming a lot while it was sunny. Lukas’ family is great and I am still loving life. Hope all is well on the other side. Peace and Love,  Taylor.

To Poland With Beni!

My life in Berlin has officially ended. Yes, I will be going there again at the beginning of August to attend to some unfinished business. And yes, I might move back there for some reason or another in the future. And yes, part of my heart will be left in the city. But as far as this chapter goes, it has come to a close.

On Sunday I woke up early and decided to go on a bike ride. Pretty normal right…. that is until I went into the world’s best club, the Berghain, at 10am to party hard for 4 hours. That’s right Sunday morning was spent in a dark dank club blasting minimal electronica while I danced into a trance. I know it’s not the regular thing to do on one’s own on a Sunday morning. Most would go to the park, or the lake, or even church, but I saw this Sunday as one of my last opportunities to go to the club that was voted “the best” 5 years in a row, that happened to be in Berlin. To give you an image of what happens in this club think ripped Stephen Pannekoeks grinding up on each other, mad hippies tripping out, and the most disgustingly trendy people you’ve ever seen in a giant pimped out warehouse. That was my Sunday.

The next three days were mainly spend packing, cleaning, moving stuff to Beni’s, and figuring out my shit before leaving for a month-long adventure. With a little bit of stress, naturally, everything went pretty smooth. Beni got a little sick so we had to leave a day later for a festival we were going to called Openér. So we woke up on Thursday, the starting day of the festival, and I treated Beni to his first day of hitchhiking . Within a few minutes of waiting we were in the back of a moving truck zooming down the highway; an interesting first ride. The rest of that day was fantastic hitching. Unfortunately we did miss a great artist Ben Harper, but as we walked through the gates, wristband and everything, and we ran into the crowd just as the band Pearl Jam was starting. The band I went to the festival for…… amazing. Pure rock and roll power. It was a good sign for the rest of the festival. The next four days of rock and roll and electronica where unbelievably good. Bands such as Massive Attack, Damien Marley (who sang some his dad’s stuff), Matisyahu, and Kings of Convenience absolutely rocked the house.  Lastly The Dead Weather played an amazing show; this was the band Beni came for. I then made sure Beni enjoyed his first festival mosh and his first crowd surfing experience during The Dead Weather. After the festival we visited the city of Gdansk for a day and then CSed with a guy named Marcin for the night, Beni’s first CSing experience. So when Beni left the next day he had, had a long weekend of firsts.

After Beni left I was solo yet again. I quickly found another CSer for that night so I could check out more of Gdansk, which I did. When I got to my host I was pleasantly surprised by a super happy Polish family. Renata, the mom, and Pawel, the dad, had their daughter singing for me the second they saw the guitar in my hand. The rest of the night was spent talking with their other CSer, Slobodan, and doing a little performance for the family. The next day I was off to Warsaw. Again in Warsaw I was met by another family. Ula, a 24-year-old girl, and her mother and father kindly showed me Polish hospitality just outside the city limits of Warsaw. I got sick the first night with a 12 hour flu unfortunately, but I roughed through it and they kindly let me stay for one more day. While I was there, being Ula’s first ever surfer, she invited a bunch of friends over and I played music for them and showed them some of my travel photos on Facebook. Most of them hadn’t met someone from out of Poland. As well I did explore the city of Warsaw. The next city on the agenda was Krakow, a beautiful city to say the least. I surfed with two guys, Tomak and Roger, and their feisty dog. After this I hitched down to the Tatras mountains to a city called Zakopane. I went there to sleep in the mountains and after a day and night sleeping at CSers’, Anna, I finally got the advice I needed to do so. So up to a mountain hut I went and slept in the mountains. It was wonderful. The next day I hitched into Slovakia and that was the end of my Polish experience. Overall Polish experience: 2nd best place to hitch in Europe next to Ireland, super cheap, amazing women, great hospitality, and decent beer.

When I made it to Slovakia I started with some weird rides, one with an overly enthusiastic pimped out salesman all about his “contacts,” and another with a big fat gay guy who seemed very interested in me; I quickly told him I was straight and not interested and he took it amazingly well, even got my pastries from his grandma. The last ride was a good one that brought me to a beautiful lake where I set up my tent and had a great sleep. In the morning I woke up and had a good swim. This pretty much brings us to where I am now. In Bratislava, Slovakia, after a nice hitch, with my CS host Lukas. We’ll have a bonfire in the forest tonight, should be good. Sorry for the entry coming so late. Peace and Love, Taylor.

A Frickin’ Long Post A Comin’

Don’t hold your breath for this one… or you’ll die.

So from where we left off. I said I was going to go out, so I did. It was relaxed, but me and Beni met up and just chilled, ate gelato, listened to music, and talked with a fellow Irish busker Fergal, at Admirals Brücke (Bridge). The next day I decided to make a social experiment and I went out busking in a full suit. I only got to play for 15 minutes until another busker with an actual license came so I had to peace, but in that short time I made 5 euros. That means roughly 20 euros an hour, which is much better than I normally make. I tried this twice more, only able to play for a short amount of time again, with a little less success, but it seems I looked a little more professional so people would assume I did it as a job. Or at least this is what I deduced. The next day was a busy one as I made fudge, booked a flight back to Canada from Paris (for $415CND mid August I might add), and then once again met up with Beni to party with a bunch of his language class buddies. Then that Sunday, after a night of partying, was a recovery day that included watching Forrest Gump for the first time and eating the fudge I made the day before.

Jump forward to that Wednesday and we make it to the last official day of Free Love. The last day Jasmine, Lukas, Kate, and I would be in the same space at the same time… for a long time at least. We were all busy the next day and Jasmine left for a dance tour that Friday morning. So we all got together in Templehof park on Wednesday, bought some beer, wine, and kebab, said “screw you” to staying inside and cooking/dishes and enjoyed the fresh air together. We engaged in a little bit of a guest Oscars recounting the best or most good looking guests we’d had while living together. Names will remain disclosed ; ) We tried to take some unsuccessful late night photos and then toasted to our month together and that was it. A good time spent with much laughter, lessons, love, live and, of course, guests. Thanks Free Love for being my first flat and teaching me many a thing.

The next day my friend Christine arrived. Christine was a year younger than me and one of the people I frequently visited in the art room during my spare to catch the progress of art. When I saw on Facebook she was in Europe I offered her to visit and she excitedly accept. Within a few hours of her arrival Lukas, José, Christine and I embarked on a 60km bike ride to the south east lake of Berlin. Just to give people an idea that’s the equivalent of biking from the inner harbour of Victoria to Duncan… just less hills. It was all worth it though after some good sandwiches and beer by the lake side a good dip in the water. We left around 12:oo and got back around 23:00 and man did it feel good!

The next two days were going from bar to club to bar to house party with Christine, Beni, & Tobi. The most eventful for me being one I went to Tobi and Beni with, which was the first house party I have been to here were everyone except us guys were German. Madness I tell you. Meanwhile when I was at this party I sent Christine with a friend the Goa Dance party. When I got back from the house party at 4am I wasn’t surprised that Christine wasn’t home yet. When I woke up later at 10am I was a little surprised she hadn’t got back yet. When I woke up again at noon she still wasn’t back and she then finally fully surprised me when she walked through the door at 2pm. Apparently it was good party. Quite unsurprisingly the rest of that day was a recovery day that included cookies and The Big Lebowski.

Christine left the next day and minutes after she made her exit Kate came into my room and informed me of Fete de la Music. This one day festival started in France and has spread world wide, but it’s pretty much a full day outdoor music festival. Amazing! From Balkan bands to Electro bands, to DJs, to Punk bands I saw it all and enjoyed it thoroughly. A nice pleasant surprise for a Monday. The next day Lukas and I explored an abandoned/haunted school I came across a few weeks ago and had been itching to break into. We finally did on Tuesday and took a lot of pictures like the one beside this paragraph. Pretty crazy stuff. We explored for 3 hours and discovered we had only found 1/3 of the school. We had to leave at that point. That night two Bulgarian couchsurfers, Kalina and Edd, showed up for one night, but we found ourselves in a random Bulgarian garden party with Tobi. I said goodbye to Tobi as he was leaving for Canada the next morning and wished him good luck in Berlin for once he returned.

Skip to this Thursday and I went MEGA-TOURIST! I woke up early in morning to get to the Bundestag, Germany’s main parliamentary building, to check out the famous dome that looks over the city and into the seats of parliament. I then biked over the west to surprise Brian, the man I took a tour with 3 years ago that got me so pumped on Berlin that I would eventually move here. You can blame this man Mom. Anyway I went to thank him and that’s what I did, but couldn’t hang long as he had to guide his tour. Then I made my way to the holocaust memorial and visited the free holocaust museum, which was pretty heavy to say the least. Very similar to the one in Jerusalem though, just smaller. I then visited the exterminated homosexual memorial, which was finished in 08. Then I went off to the Hamburger Bahnhof, which is the contemporary art museum with the likes of Warhol and Kiefer. Great! I then met up with Brian again as he brings this tour peeps out for drinks after the tour finishes, but again didn’t really get to talk to him again as Aidan called me saying he was back from Southern Africa and needed a place to sleep, which I totally forgot. I grabbed Brian’s mobile number and then went to find Aidan. Once me and Aidan got together we talked for about 4 hours just about his whirlwind adventure over the last 5 months. Some of his stories are so cosmic they should be written in a novel.

Aidan left early the next morning to Denmark to meet a girl he met in Tanzania. So yesterday night was the beginning of the 48 hour Festival in Neukölln so I met with Julie and explored some shows and galleries. Some were quite amazing. So that brings us today and guess what…. I baked cookies! Peace and Love, Taylor.

Inside the Bundestag