kusiot al ofanaim

ok, so after getting over my fears i did some scientific research about danish byciclists, as they're everywhere and somebody has to do something about it.
I counted 100 cyclists, and managed to divide them in the following groups:
10 men
90 women, out of which:
50 extremely good looking
20 quite good looking
15 somewhat good looking
5 look like a patient, though might have been good looking around the time of napoleon.
everybody is thin, which is guess is what you get when you cycle all day.

this is just too ridiculous.

scary movie

they will come to you from behind, when you least expect them.
they will scratch your car if you piss them off.
they are the kings and queens of the road, and their reign is unshakable.
they are *drums drums drums*
the bicyclists.

welcome to copenhagen, the city of bicyclers. everything else doesn't really count, unless you're a minority, and then you might get the time of day, but only if you've suffered a lot (or can fake it).

bicycles outnumber cars, and i think people as well. parents drive their bicycles carrying their babies in a special bicycle cabin.
there are roads and traffic lights dedicated to bicyclers, and if you cross over to their side you just put your faith in the lord, and may I say even he has standards for salvation, and i'm not sure he'll be willing to take up against them.

so, my best advice to all you people coming to copenhagen - if you can't beat them, why not join them.
get on a bicycle, and enjoy this lovely city. it's flat (the highest point in denmark is 147 meters, i'm told), it's not too big, and it's very convenient to drive around.
so go for it!

hookers with style (or no style, depending how you look at it)

i'm kind of used to seeing people in uniform. for example, in the hospital everybody has a uniform. the docs do, the nurses do. the ED nurses do, as well as the guys doing the cleaning. and then, business people have a suit and tie, that's kind of a uniform as well, and so do subway drivers etc.
this is why you might not expect me to be surprised when i walked downtown berlin one night at 3 am and found many women standing around, looking pretty much the same - long white boots, long, straight white-to-blonde hair, ridiculously thin waist, and of course, a pouch of money (and condoms, I was told). a pink jacket or skirt is common, though not obligatory.
for a second there i thought i am in the middle of shooting a madonna clip, but then realized this is a workers neighbourhood, if-you-know-what-i-mean.
I guess it makes things easier, you spot the employee of your choosing, and then... i'm not sure... do you have to pay for insurance as well? do they make you sign some forms? that wouldn't be too fair, when you're drunk (a popular target population).

downtown holocaust

The germans are still thinking about the holocaust. One might say they don't have a choice, as they keep being reminded of it, but it also seems like a personal journey. One might think a massive holocaust monument existed here for the last 50 years, but actually if was finished only about 3 years ago. For twenty years before that they were debating on how to put it together. Above other things, this feels to me like a german need to put that thing up .
And I kind of like it. Fields of concrete. Rectangular, in all sizes and shapes. Some more than 4 meters long, some just a few centimeters. A place to get lost in.
and there is an underground bunker, of course.
The bunker contains the real explosives – a walk through exhibition of used-to-be-living-jews. I found it quite impressive. And not worn or boring. Very accurate. Every room tells a story in a different way – from the history by historians, to notes written by victims themselves, to the family room where the history of a few families is discussed, to a dark room naming all the names of the victims (yes, it will take a long time to go over it).
it's kind of funny to see tourists walking around the concrete walls, some playing hide and seek, some posing in a funny way. i'm not sure that's what they intended, but i don't mind so much.

a more personal an intimate are the bronze pebbles you can find all across berlin. "her lived chanah goldman, born 1902, deported 1942, died 1943". that style of thing, written in small plaques on the road, next to houses that used to be inhabited by jews.

berlin 1

Berlin is my favorite city so far. I haven't been doing much other than the usual pub, walk around, get lost, ask for directions, get lost again etc., but still I am have lots of fun. Berliners are FRIENDLY. “sure”, commented one of my german friends, “nobody here is from berlin”. While that may be, I have never had so many people asking me where i'm from, what i'm doing here, where do I need to go, and one old lady even gave me a suspicious smile and saying something about having an extra cardboard for me.

germans in germany and nudists in the park

i arrived to munich late at night, and tried to enjoy this city for a couple of days.
it was hard, but i think i managed it, somehow.
as i was told before, this is a rich city, in a rich state (bavaria), with a lot of people dat ar vorking all ze time. a BMW factory is around that place, as well as other big industries.
so indeed, people are quite busy. and haf to vork.
but when zey are not vorking, they can be nice. and friendly, to an extent.

so after getting this impression, you might understand why I was very surprised to sit in the park one day, and seeing a man, just a bit far ahead, showing... ahm, more skin than usual.
thinking that it is an optical illusion, or perhaps it's the sun, i went on with my reading, as yet another woman passed by, with a very nice bathing suit, WHICH SHE WAS HOLDING IN HER HAND. ahm.
as i looked around me, I realized I am in either a mass production of a porno movie, or, simply, in the middle of a nudist colony.
the place is called the English park, a lovely, huge park, where lots of people like to hang out. in a particular spot it is quite common to take of your clothes and bath in the sun, and apprarently that's exactly where i chose to sit.
for those of you who are wondering, the age average of those lovely nudists was about 60.

a cultural hub

the people of vienna are heavy consumers of art. they talk about it, they need it, they do it. everybody plays something. everybody has a taste. talking about a piano concerto might very well come up in a daily conversation, so be warned!
art exhibitions are all over the place too. you can see it in posters from every corner, including a few israeli ones.

in that sense, not much has changed from the times of mozart, beethoven and schubert.

the city of benches

so ok, vienna is beautiful. And the parliament and the museum, and statues, and art. And fairly clean. And very cultural. But what strikes me the most about this city is the number of benches.
vienese just love to have a seat. I don't have any other explanation to the thousands of benches that are spread around the city. I once went into a small park and started counting – go tired at 50.
vienese also love lying down, which is an advanced version of having a seat. How else could you explain beach chairs in outside coffee shops, or just in the university garden? They also have tons of those big monsterous purple thingies that, let's face it, are a little ugly, but damn they're comfortable. At first they look like an environmental statue of bad taste, but then you lie on these mamas and it actually feels soft. No wonder they are always packed and it's not that easy to get one of them. Now there's a startup idea for the mayor of tel aviv.

a silly pun

i had yet another fine meal in the pub. working on my laptop, as usual.
I called the waiter and said "check?"
he looked at me and said "yes", but kept looking at me an not moving.
"check", i said
and he said "yes, check"
it kept going for a few times, until i realized - he thought i was asking him if he is czech.

i don't even know why I am posting this, it was too stupid even for this blog.

but oh well.

I am tired

more on prague.

praguians can't stand me.
it's not personal at all, it's just that i am a tourist. and as such, i am stealing their town away. it is a well known fact that you can hardly hear czech in the center of town. and prices are so expensive there anyway.
being one of the most visited cities in the world, but much smaller than it's colleagues like london or paris, the tourist attack is felt very well. especially now, in the summer.
they are still nice though, but just don't like us tourists that much.
i can't really blame them.

i actually like them quite a bit.
they are diverse. and enjoy hanging out. and in love with their dogs, which go everywehre with them, including the restaurant, the pub, and even (i saw it myself) the bathroom. the bartender wouldn't really mind giving a bowl of water (or vodka?) to a tired doggie.
and they have millions of tiny pubs. they are absolutely everywhere. just spit, and wherever it lands you will find five. and you can do everything here. you can study. you can eat lunch. you can have beer. provided, of course, that the thick cigarette (or cigar, or other things) smoke doesn't bother you.

I thought it is a metaphor when i was told that beer is cheaper than water. but it's not. half a litter of beer in the local pub is a little under 1 euro. try to find bottled water for that price in a restaurant.

haven't seen many drunken czechs so far, which is also very encouraging.

so, i think i will stick around for a couple more days.

off to vienna next, most probably.

beauty in (almost) every corner

a bus, a train, and a sleepless night away, prague is here.
It has really become cliche to say that prague is beautiful.
but prague is beautiful.
my favorite thing is the fact that wherever you turn your head in the street, something nice and interesting will look back at you. it can be a small statue sticking out of a wall. it can be a door knob. a park. the river. spiders weaving beautiful webs. a modern architecture statement. a church. a square. a pavement. whoever made this town was a freak of esthetics, and he has it going.

Krakow is, indeed, good looking like a 15 year old girl heading on a night out in town. Tourists are all over the place, as well as ridiculously stuffed pigeons playing soccer with pieces of bread thrown by the former. There are castles and churches and monks, and a couple of nazi crosses, but not too many.

We stayed a couple of days in the jewish area. it is, indeed, very nice. the tourists are coming. to enter a synagogue you usually pay 8 zloty, around 2 euros. i don't believe in ghosts, but they are there.
there is a presence in that part of town. it is screaming from the synagogues and the streets and the hebrew letters on occasional houses.
and i want to get out of here.