Wrapping up my last-stray-thoughts posts from this summer's Euro-hopping, this post is just a straight-up collection of notes I jotted down at some point in my pocket notebook (the ones about travel specifically; for once I'm keeping my personal thoughts to my self). After the jump: think-o-blots!
October 21, 2017
October 18, 2017
Scotland: An attempt at guidance!
I would never have guessed, when I left for my first massive trip last summer, that Scotland would become one of my most-revisited destinations, but after three visits in a little over a year, it's safe to say I love that land something fierce. This post is an attempt to organize my experiences into a semi-useful tipsheet of sort for any pals thinking about skipping over to the land of heather, tartan, and haggis. After the jump: thoughtblobs!
Planning Your Time
It's inconceivable that you'd spend any time in Scotland without hitting Edinburgh, but I'd recommend giving Glasgow about an equal shake of the stick, and I would strongly suggest that on any trip longer than a weekend, you err on the side of time outside Scotland's two major cities. On a packed long weekend, I'd say a day per city isn't crazy, and I'd use the third day on one of the van-or-bus day trips on offer. (You'll have more variety booking a departure from Edinburgh, and it's worth opting for the longest trip possible.) These typically give you some kind of trio chosen from the pool of a Loch, a castle, a distillery, a Glen or other natural landscape, or maybe Hadrian's Wall, though that would likely be its own thing. The caveat here is that I never did one of these tours, opting instead for DIY options, but spending time in Scotland without getting out into the wilderness is something of a waste, frankly.
Ideally? Spend at least a week in Scotland, and don't spend more than half of it in Edinburgh and/or Glasgow combined. Where should you go? Read on, cats n kittens!
Edinburgh
What to do
The two things I think are essential Edinburgh are Arthur's Seat and the Royal Mile. The former, a crazily windswept mountain, gives you great views of the town and is just a fantastic physical climb. With good weather this is a great way to fight jetlag your first morning in Scotland. The latter, while the tourist epicenter, is picturesque, a cobblestoned path up to the really-impressive castle. It's also worth exploring Regent Gardens, a less-daunting climb with some appealing and half-finished monuments at the peak. For me? This is about it. Edinburgh is a lovely city, but its cultural attractions aren't to my taste, with much more afoot in Glasgow that struck my fancy.
Beyond this, the reason you might spend more than a day in Edinburgh is if you're there for the Fringe. If so, some notes: first, the Royal Mile gets insane. If you want to see busking and weird street theatre and lots of "come see our show!" pleas, you're in heaven. If you're there for the architecture or atmosphere, it'll be lost if you're not there at the crack of dawn. The Fringe is a hoot, though, and if you're in the theatre/performance world, worth taking in just to careen around trying your luck on whatever you can catch. Grab the impressive program and see what looks good! Most of the high-profile stuff will sell out fast, but the fun is in gambling on the unknown...
What about food though
Edinburgh was where I spent time with my Fancy Food Friend Anne, so my recommendations here are all a bit tony, but that's right for Edinburgh. Gardener's Cottage is a delight, hearty seasonal fare served in an unassuming communal-style dining environment, where you're likely to befriend neighbors over an ever-changing menu. Ondine is rather a bit more sleek, a seafood-oriented spot with an impressive wine list, and more city-centre. Also near the thick of things is The Dogs, a kind of gastropub with delicious, seasonal, creative riffs on traditional Scottish cuisine. All three offer affordable and/or set menus at lunch, which is as ever the best way to save money on eating out on the road. (As usual, my advice is lunches out, dinners in, use the markets, and you'll feel more extravagant than you're actually being.)
Glasgow
What to do
Full disclosure: my fondness for Glasgow has a lot to do with having friends who live there, and for the ease with which we've used the city as a springboard to get out into the countryside. But the city's got a lot on offer too! GOMA is the most iconic, the modern art museum with the Wellington Cone (look it up) out front. That's about the best distillation of the Glaswegian spirit: here's this impressive sculpture, let's stick a traffic cone on its head. Look at these clowns...
Apart from GOMA, there's a robust art scene fed in part by the city's affordability and anchored by the Kelvingrove Gallery and Remy Mackintosh's Lighthouse, the latter of which offers views of the admittedly grubby city. Near the gallery, on a pleasant day, make the most of Kelvingrove Park, a superb sprawling green space cut by a river and climbing to a hilltop.
If you're interested in Scotch and won't have much time outside Glasgow and Edinburgh, you may consider a half-day excursion to Auchentoshan distillery. Just off the commuter rail line out from Glasgow, they offer tours and tastings, with a friendly and scruffy staff happy to walk you through the distilling process, highlighting what makes them unique from most of their Scotch-distilling brethren across the country. (I'd suggest opting for a notch above the baseline tour, for a bit more personal touch and a wider tasting of their offerings.)
Finally, performances! There's a robust music scene year round, and Glasgow is also home to the National Theatre of Scotland, a stupendous and inventive organization, as well as the Scottish Youth Theatre, which counts among its alumni Gerard Butler, Karen Gillan, and lots of others I'm not hip enough to know. It recently expanded to a national ensemble, drawing performers from across Scotland. Both do excellent work, and there's also solid ensemble and devised work in the fringe scene. Glasgow is a city to go and do, not to go and look; take in a show and go for a drink afterwards. Explore. Adventure!
Food and drink?
You've got some stellar Indian options here, starting with Mother India's small plates and Ranjit's Kitchen for some of the most delicious vegetarian Indian you'll ever have. Ashoka Lane boasts a few more curry shops and pubs, and will put you in the relatively trendy West End, with a solid student trade from the nearby University. As you may imagine, coffee shops proliferate; Artisan Roast is a favorite for both the brew and the atmosphere.
Finally, Glasgow has potentially the best Scotch bar in the world: The Pot Still. My guy at Auchentoshan pointed me there, and as a relative newbie (now much wizened and educated) there couldn't have been a better introduction. My bartender listened to me describe my tastes (mostly a bourbon fan at the time, but looking to edge into peat/smoke) and then grabbed five bottles from everywhere: up a ladder, around a corner, along the bar, up another ladder. She talked me through them, let me take a whiff and pick one to start with. (Later, another bartender would disappear down a trap door because he remembered off the top of his head having a specific vintage of Lagavullin 12 Year stashed in the basement.) Incredibly friendly, approachable, and un-snobby, the combo of this and Auchentoshan are as likely as anything to turn a curious visitor into a whisky enthusiast. Note that this'll be a madhouse on the weekend, so adjust accordingly if you can. Also note, after sampling whiskies here and elsewhere ranging from £2-10 a pour (and those £10 pours are rarities) you will permanently resent the pricing of Scotch back home.
Skye
If you can spend a few days outside the main two cities, this is where I would send you. Inverness may be a more convenient tourist hub (proximity to Culloden Battlefield, Loch Ness and the Cairngorns make the sales pitch) but Skye is a place like no other, up there with Norway's fjords in the land of "the air is different, and I cannot capture this landscape on film."
If you can, come here with a car, and off-peak-season. While a surprising stretch of the island is served by one-lane highways, it's actually easier to navigate than the more bustling two-lane highways in northern Scotland, without abrupt curbs, and with more communication between drivers. Look, if I did my Northern Scotland driving in this beast, you can do it too:
Driving will let you get an early start exploring The Old Man of Storr, the Fairy Pools, and Quiaring. It'll also let you roam a bit beyond your home base (likely Portree) for food and drink. Talisker Distillery is well worth a visit, on a moody and mist-sprayed coast. Given Scotland's strict laws on driving under the influence, you'll want to follow that visit with a walk up to The Oyster Shed, whose name completely lit up the face of a weaver I chatted with on Skye, and for good reason. Cured, raw, or simply-steamed seafood and other provisions sold out of a sortakinda market stand, with picnic benches to the side. Grab some oysters, a shellfish plate, or maybe some pate, and look out over the landscape. At the other end of the rustic-refined spectrum is the "oh my god every BBC inspired daydream come to life" Kinloch Lodge, a worth-the-trek hotel/restaurant in the wild landscape of southern Skye with satisfying food and enough relaxed countryside-elegant atmosphere to choke a horse (this is I THINK their official motto).
Finally, if you can, stay 2-3 nights and take your time. Find out what artisans (weavers, artists, potters, etc.) have their studios or shops open and arrange visits if they're by-appointment-only. They'll be delighted to discuss their work, and at least in my experience, won't pressure you to buy (though you'll probably want to...)
Further Afield
One of the reasons I keep going back to Scotland, beyond the presence of excellent friends, is its seemingly endless variability. I've yet to make it up to the Shetland Islands (a real dream), into the Caigorms, or out to Islay; I'd like to spend more time in Glencoe than my drive down to Glasgow from Skye; and I'd like to spend a bit of time in Oban. There's a lot still on my horizon, but what's nice is that nothing's all too far away. Inverness is only a three-hour drive from Glasgow or Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow are only an hour apart, and even the long haul drives (John o'Groats or Skye to Glasgow) max out at about six hours. Almost any trip can bounce you out into some adventure depending on what you like. Here, a few of the miscellaneous spots I've gotten to see...
Near Inverness
Culloden Fields are the grounds of the last battle fought on British soil, and is beautifully converted into a grassy, expansive park; on a gray day (odds are you'll get a gray day, if not a rainy one) it's somber and desolate, counterbalanced by its frequent use as a dog park. Doggos > war, is I guess the point?
Clava Cairns is nearby Culloden, both an easy drive from Inverness; these ancient burial grounds are pretty impressive, not so much visually as for how accessible the cairns are. Walking among them you get an easy sense of their scale and significance. Again, if you can do this outside the summer crush of bus tour season, all the better.
Food: just northwest of these two spots, the Cheese Pantry has an awe-inspiring cheese cave with overwhelming selections to choose from. It's a nice stop on your way to Elgin if you're thinking of taking in the Johnston's factory for an overview of Scottish wool manufacture, which why wouldn't you.
Loch Ness: I just drove by this on my way to Skye, and most of the Ness kitsch isn't to my taste, but it's gorgeous, and on a fine day, probably worth one of the many boat tours that take you out into it. But I don't know if it gets better than viewing it from the road at dawn on New Year's Day... And personally, I wouldn't work too hard to make your itinerary work around it. (My apathy regarding Ness and Edinburgh makes me the outlier, I know.)
Eilean Donan Castle: En route to Skye, this is one of the most stunning castles in Scotland. I'm usually a "meh" on touring the inside of these buildings, unless they're well-contextualized, but even stopping by on a day which saw the castle closed, walking the grounds and seeing the surrounding lakes was a real treat.
Near Glasgow
The Highlands are stunning and windswept, but don't sleep on the lowlands! The countryside near Dalmellington or Craigengillan is serene and varied, and you're much less likely to be sharing space with tourist groups. Likewise, Loch Doon is an impressive body of water for water skiing, boating, or hiking around (with a castle we never got around to seeing). It may not be as dramatic or otherworldly as Skye, or as famous as the Inverness-adjacent sites, but it's a beautiful corner of the world nonetheless.
In short, not much in Scotland disappoints. (Aberdeen isn't on this list, largely because I've only spent a late night and a morning there, and while it's lovely I didn't feel I missed an ocean of adventure by not sticking around longer.) There's a lot I still want to explore, but if you're looking for some starting points, hopefully these are useful! Me, I'd steer you to a day or two each in Edinburgh and Glasgow, a night or two on your way up north, whether in Inverness or (my preference) a small town near Glencoe or the Caigorms, two or three nights on Skye, and a sweep back down on your way out. But who knows; maybe a few visits from now I'll be pleading with everybody to catch a puddle jumper to Shetland, or a ferry to Islay. What I know for sure is, it is worth the return just about every time.
Up next: miscelanea, and the future of this space!
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| Spoiler alert: it is my recommendation that you get out of the cities for quite a bit of time? |
Planning Your Time
It's inconceivable that you'd spend any time in Scotland without hitting Edinburgh, but I'd recommend giving Glasgow about an equal shake of the stick, and I would strongly suggest that on any trip longer than a weekend, you err on the side of time outside Scotland's two major cities. On a packed long weekend, I'd say a day per city isn't crazy, and I'd use the third day on one of the van-or-bus day trips on offer. (You'll have more variety booking a departure from Edinburgh, and it's worth opting for the longest trip possible.) These typically give you some kind of trio chosen from the pool of a Loch, a castle, a distillery, a Glen or other natural landscape, or maybe Hadrian's Wall, though that would likely be its own thing. The caveat here is that I never did one of these tours, opting instead for DIY options, but spending time in Scotland without getting out into the wilderness is something of a waste, frankly.
Ideally? Spend at least a week in Scotland, and don't spend more than half of it in Edinburgh and/or Glasgow combined. Where should you go? Read on, cats n kittens!
Edinburgh
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| The apex of the Royal Mile, I guess this is fine if you have to hang out in a dumb ol city. |
The two things I think are essential Edinburgh are Arthur's Seat and the Royal Mile. The former, a crazily windswept mountain, gives you great views of the town and is just a fantastic physical climb. With good weather this is a great way to fight jetlag your first morning in Scotland. The latter, while the tourist epicenter, is picturesque, a cobblestoned path up to the really-impressive castle. It's also worth exploring Regent Gardens, a less-daunting climb with some appealing and half-finished monuments at the peak. For me? This is about it. Edinburgh is a lovely city, but its cultural attractions aren't to my taste, with much more afoot in Glasgow that struck my fancy.
Beyond this, the reason you might spend more than a day in Edinburgh is if you're there for the Fringe. If so, some notes: first, the Royal Mile gets insane. If you want to see busking and weird street theatre and lots of "come see our show!" pleas, you're in heaven. If you're there for the architecture or atmosphere, it'll be lost if you're not there at the crack of dawn. The Fringe is a hoot, though, and if you're in the theatre/performance world, worth taking in just to careen around trying your luck on whatever you can catch. Grab the impressive program and see what looks good! Most of the high-profile stuff will sell out fast, but the fun is in gambling on the unknown...
What about food though
Edinburgh was where I spent time with my Fancy Food Friend Anne, so my recommendations here are all a bit tony, but that's right for Edinburgh. Gardener's Cottage is a delight, hearty seasonal fare served in an unassuming communal-style dining environment, where you're likely to befriend neighbors over an ever-changing menu. Ondine is rather a bit more sleek, a seafood-oriented spot with an impressive wine list, and more city-centre. Also near the thick of things is The Dogs, a kind of gastropub with delicious, seasonal, creative riffs on traditional Scottish cuisine. All three offer affordable and/or set menus at lunch, which is as ever the best way to save money on eating out on the road. (As usual, my advice is lunches out, dinners in, use the markets, and you'll feel more extravagant than you're actually being.)
Glasgow
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| People Make Glasgow |
Full disclosure: my fondness for Glasgow has a lot to do with having friends who live there, and for the ease with which we've used the city as a springboard to get out into the countryside. But the city's got a lot on offer too! GOMA is the most iconic, the modern art museum with the Wellington Cone (look it up) out front. That's about the best distillation of the Glaswegian spirit: here's this impressive sculpture, let's stick a traffic cone on its head. Look at these clowns...
Apart from GOMA, there's a robust art scene fed in part by the city's affordability and anchored by the Kelvingrove Gallery and Remy Mackintosh's Lighthouse, the latter of which offers views of the admittedly grubby city. Near the gallery, on a pleasant day, make the most of Kelvingrove Park, a superb sprawling green space cut by a river and climbing to a hilltop.
If you're interested in Scotch and won't have much time outside Glasgow and Edinburgh, you may consider a half-day excursion to Auchentoshan distillery. Just off the commuter rail line out from Glasgow, they offer tours and tastings, with a friendly and scruffy staff happy to walk you through the distilling process, highlighting what makes them unique from most of their Scotch-distilling brethren across the country. (I'd suggest opting for a notch above the baseline tour, for a bit more personal touch and a wider tasting of their offerings.)
Finally, performances! There's a robust music scene year round, and Glasgow is also home to the National Theatre of Scotland, a stupendous and inventive organization, as well as the Scottish Youth Theatre, which counts among its alumni Gerard Butler, Karen Gillan, and lots of others I'm not hip enough to know. It recently expanded to a national ensemble, drawing performers from across Scotland. Both do excellent work, and there's also solid ensemble and devised work in the fringe scene. Glasgow is a city to go and do, not to go and look; take in a show and go for a drink afterwards. Explore. Adventure!
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| There's some ril stupendous mural and street art here toooooo |
You've got some stellar Indian options here, starting with Mother India's small plates and Ranjit's Kitchen for some of the most delicious vegetarian Indian you'll ever have. Ashoka Lane boasts a few more curry shops and pubs, and will put you in the relatively trendy West End, with a solid student trade from the nearby University. As you may imagine, coffee shops proliferate; Artisan Roast is a favorite for both the brew and the atmosphere.
Finally, Glasgow has potentially the best Scotch bar in the world: The Pot Still. My guy at Auchentoshan pointed me there, and as a relative newbie (now much wizened and educated) there couldn't have been a better introduction. My bartender listened to me describe my tastes (mostly a bourbon fan at the time, but looking to edge into peat/smoke) and then grabbed five bottles from everywhere: up a ladder, around a corner, along the bar, up another ladder. She talked me through them, let me take a whiff and pick one to start with. (Later, another bartender would disappear down a trap door because he remembered off the top of his head having a specific vintage of Lagavullin 12 Year stashed in the basement.) Incredibly friendly, approachable, and un-snobby, the combo of this and Auchentoshan are as likely as anything to turn a curious visitor into a whisky enthusiast. Note that this'll be a madhouse on the weekend, so adjust accordingly if you can. Also note, after sampling whiskies here and elsewhere ranging from £2-10 a pour (and those £10 pours are rarities) you will permanently resent the pricing of Scotch back home.
Skye
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| Skye is a not-unpleasant place to be even when it rains. But also when it's sunny it's maybe ancient and magical. |
If you can, come here with a car, and off-peak-season. While a surprising stretch of the island is served by one-lane highways, it's actually easier to navigate than the more bustling two-lane highways in northern Scotland, without abrupt curbs, and with more communication between drivers. Look, if I did my Northern Scotland driving in this beast, you can do it too:
Driving will let you get an early start exploring The Old Man of Storr, the Fairy Pools, and Quiaring. It'll also let you roam a bit beyond your home base (likely Portree) for food and drink. Talisker Distillery is well worth a visit, on a moody and mist-sprayed coast. Given Scotland's strict laws on driving under the influence, you'll want to follow that visit with a walk up to The Oyster Shed, whose name completely lit up the face of a weaver I chatted with on Skye, and for good reason. Cured, raw, or simply-steamed seafood and other provisions sold out of a sortakinda market stand, with picnic benches to the side. Grab some oysters, a shellfish plate, or maybe some pate, and look out over the landscape. At the other end of the rustic-refined spectrum is the "oh my god every BBC inspired daydream come to life" Kinloch Lodge, a worth-the-trek hotel/restaurant in the wild landscape of southern Skye with satisfying food and enough relaxed countryside-elegant atmosphere to choke a horse (this is I THINK their official motto).
Finally, if you can, stay 2-3 nights and take your time. Find out what artisans (weavers, artists, potters, etc.) have their studios or shops open and arrange visits if they're by-appointment-only. They'll be delighted to discuss their work, and at least in my experience, won't pressure you to buy (though you'll probably want to...)
Further Afield
One of the reasons I keep going back to Scotland, beyond the presence of excellent friends, is its seemingly endless variability. I've yet to make it up to the Shetland Islands (a real dream), into the Caigorms, or out to Islay; I'd like to spend more time in Glencoe than my drive down to Glasgow from Skye; and I'd like to spend a bit of time in Oban. There's a lot still on my horizon, but what's nice is that nothing's all too far away. Inverness is only a three-hour drive from Glasgow or Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow are only an hour apart, and even the long haul drives (John o'Groats or Skye to Glasgow) max out at about six hours. Almost any trip can bounce you out into some adventure depending on what you like. Here, a few of the miscellaneous spots I've gotten to see...
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| I liked this pit stop more than most rest stops in America, frankly. MOST, anyway. |
Culloden Fields are the grounds of the last battle fought on British soil, and is beautifully converted into a grassy, expansive park; on a gray day (odds are you'll get a gray day, if not a rainy one) it's somber and desolate, counterbalanced by its frequent use as a dog park. Doggos > war, is I guess the point?
Clava Cairns is nearby Culloden, both an easy drive from Inverness; these ancient burial grounds are pretty impressive, not so much visually as for how accessible the cairns are. Walking among them you get an easy sense of their scale and significance. Again, if you can do this outside the summer crush of bus tour season, all the better.
Food: just northwest of these two spots, the Cheese Pantry has an awe-inspiring cheese cave with overwhelming selections to choose from. It's a nice stop on your way to Elgin if you're thinking of taking in the Johnston's factory for an overview of Scottish wool manufacture, which why wouldn't you.
Loch Ness: I just drove by this on my way to Skye, and most of the Ness kitsch isn't to my taste, but it's gorgeous, and on a fine day, probably worth one of the many boat tours that take you out into it. But I don't know if it gets better than viewing it from the road at dawn on New Year's Day... And personally, I wouldn't work too hard to make your itinerary work around it. (My apathy regarding Ness and Edinburgh makes me the outlier, I know.)
Eilean Donan Castle: En route to Skye, this is one of the most stunning castles in Scotland. I'm usually a "meh" on touring the inside of these buildings, unless they're well-contextualized, but even stopping by on a day which saw the castle closed, walking the grounds and seeing the surrounding lakes was a real treat.
Near Glasgow
The Highlands are stunning and windswept, but don't sleep on the lowlands! The countryside near Dalmellington or Craigengillan is serene and varied, and you're much less likely to be sharing space with tourist groups. Likewise, Loch Doon is an impressive body of water for water skiing, boating, or hiking around (with a castle we never got around to seeing). It may not be as dramatic or otherworldly as Skye, or as famous as the Inverness-adjacent sites, but it's a beautiful corner of the world nonetheless.
In short, not much in Scotland disappoints. (Aberdeen isn't on this list, largely because I've only spent a late night and a morning there, and while it's lovely I didn't feel I missed an ocean of adventure by not sticking around longer.) There's a lot I still want to explore, but if you're looking for some starting points, hopefully these are useful! Me, I'd steer you to a day or two each in Edinburgh and Glasgow, a night or two on your way up north, whether in Inverness or (my preference) a small town near Glencoe or the Caigorms, two or three nights on Skye, and a sweep back down on your way out. But who knows; maybe a few visits from now I'll be pleading with everybody to catch a puddle jumper to Shetland, or a ferry to Islay. What I know for sure is, it is worth the return just about every time.
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| Even in the gross, cold, damp. Just a dang heckin' good place. |
October 10, 2017
World Mental Health Day
A quick post here for World Mental Health Day. Jump!
Obviously most of this blog is about travels and fun and adventure, and those things are all real, and generate my profound and enduring gratitude. But I've tried not to shy away from the rough, hard edges of the past couple of years. That's partly because I've learned - thanks, therapy! - that I function best when I function openly and without operating in fear of voicing What's Happening. But it's also at least a little bit because of what today's about, which is: it's important to talk, and to create a culture that normalizes the discussion of things like depression, anxiety and a whole arsenal of mental health issues.
World Mental Health Day is about raising awareness of mental health issues; there are lots of ways to interpret this. In the US, for instance, we have spectacularly poor policy around mental health (and the repeated attempts to repeal the ACA would restore an even worse regime in which treatment for depression could lead to uninsurability, and basic insurance plans failed to cover essential mental health treatments). But at an individual level, I think it's most useful as a day to talk about and destigmatize mental health from a personal standpoint.
I'm lucky that I came to a crisis point of depression and anxiety late in life, a quick and unpleasant spiral driven by a combo of internal self-perpetuating behavioral patterns and external triggers and stress factors. I don't stack up my experience against anybody else's, and count myself incredibly lucky to have had university sponsored mental health care at hand to catch me, and an army of friends and family to help me back onto my feet. But two things are worth emphasizing in this: first, that I did go through it, and second, that way way way more people than I had assumed would be there for me stood up when I reached out.
Being vulnerable in the paralysis of depression is difficult to the point of seeming impossibility, but if and when you do reach out, you find people more patient than you hoped they'd be. You find kindness you didn't expect. And you find that many more people than you knew have struggled with the same. It's not perfect, and some people will be jerks. (Some People Will Always Be Jerks is the mantra in my sequel to Glengarry Glen Ross.) But it is so much better than going it alone, however wrong that may sound before you start reaching out.
So yeah. If you struggle with stuff, you're not alone. Reach out, talk to friends you can trust, talk to loved ones who have been there for you in the past, find a therapist. If your therapist sucks, find a new therapist. Interview your therapist. It's normal to be nervous about therapy; pop culture, even if it hasn't been hostile to therapy per se, uses it as a narrative device when catastrophe strikes (West Wing PTSD!) or to explore rich psychological trauma for dramatic effect (Tony Soprano!). But if you find the right therapist for you, it's not about confirming that there's something wrong with you or that your world is on fire, it's about a medical professional giving you tools you didn't know existed, and telling you you're not the only one dealing with what feel like completely individual, isolating issues.
For those of you who have people in your lives who struggle with depression or anxiety: I get it. It's a drag. It can be hard, it can feel like you're rolling a rock up a hill forever. The two best pieces of advice I've seen to help in moments of frustration are these:
1) This is water. David Foster Wallace's so-famous-it's-a-cliche-but-nevertheless-brilliant commencement speech is a powerful call to live outside the natural urge toward self-centeredness, the misery-inducing tendency to forget that everyone around you is fighting a battle.
2) Comfort in, dump out. I love this model. Even when going through the divorce, I tried to keep it firmly in mind. Everyone is fighting a battle, and supporting your friends and loved ones does take something out of you. Comfort in, dump out. Get the help you need and support the people who need you. It's a big old world, and we can all make it work if we're good to each other this-a-ways.
Happy World Mental Health Day, gang.
Oh, and a bonus shoutout: check out The Hilarious World of Depression, John Moe's excellent and frank podcast exploring depression with comedians, actors, musicians, and all kind of folk. It's a mosaic of coping strategies, shared stories, and funny from-the-future perspective on dark, hard times. It's goooood.
Obviously most of this blog is about travels and fun and adventure, and those things are all real, and generate my profound and enduring gratitude. But I've tried not to shy away from the rough, hard edges of the past couple of years. That's partly because I've learned - thanks, therapy! - that I function best when I function openly and without operating in fear of voicing What's Happening. But it's also at least a little bit because of what today's about, which is: it's important to talk, and to create a culture that normalizes the discussion of things like depression, anxiety and a whole arsenal of mental health issues.
World Mental Health Day is about raising awareness of mental health issues; there are lots of ways to interpret this. In the US, for instance, we have spectacularly poor policy around mental health (and the repeated attempts to repeal the ACA would restore an even worse regime in which treatment for depression could lead to uninsurability, and basic insurance plans failed to cover essential mental health treatments). But at an individual level, I think it's most useful as a day to talk about and destigmatize mental health from a personal standpoint.
I'm lucky that I came to a crisis point of depression and anxiety late in life, a quick and unpleasant spiral driven by a combo of internal self-perpetuating behavioral patterns and external triggers and stress factors. I don't stack up my experience against anybody else's, and count myself incredibly lucky to have had university sponsored mental health care at hand to catch me, and an army of friends and family to help me back onto my feet. But two things are worth emphasizing in this: first, that I did go through it, and second, that way way way more people than I had assumed would be there for me stood up when I reached out.
Being vulnerable in the paralysis of depression is difficult to the point of seeming impossibility, but if and when you do reach out, you find people more patient than you hoped they'd be. You find kindness you didn't expect. And you find that many more people than you knew have struggled with the same. It's not perfect, and some people will be jerks. (Some People Will Always Be Jerks is the mantra in my sequel to Glengarry Glen Ross.) But it is so much better than going it alone, however wrong that may sound before you start reaching out.
So yeah. If you struggle with stuff, you're not alone. Reach out, talk to friends you can trust, talk to loved ones who have been there for you in the past, find a therapist. If your therapist sucks, find a new therapist. Interview your therapist. It's normal to be nervous about therapy; pop culture, even if it hasn't been hostile to therapy per se, uses it as a narrative device when catastrophe strikes (West Wing PTSD!) or to explore rich psychological trauma for dramatic effect (Tony Soprano!). But if you find the right therapist for you, it's not about confirming that there's something wrong with you or that your world is on fire, it's about a medical professional giving you tools you didn't know existed, and telling you you're not the only one dealing with what feel like completely individual, isolating issues.
For those of you who have people in your lives who struggle with depression or anxiety: I get it. It's a drag. It can be hard, it can feel like you're rolling a rock up a hill forever. The two best pieces of advice I've seen to help in moments of frustration are these:
1) This is water. David Foster Wallace's so-famous-it's-a-cliche-but-nevertheless-brilliant commencement speech is a powerful call to live outside the natural urge toward self-centeredness, the misery-inducing tendency to forget that everyone around you is fighting a battle.
2) Comfort in, dump out. I love this model. Even when going through the divorce, I tried to keep it firmly in mind. Everyone is fighting a battle, and supporting your friends and loved ones does take something out of you. Comfort in, dump out. Get the help you need and support the people who need you. It's a big old world, and we can all make it work if we're good to each other this-a-ways.
Happy World Mental Health Day, gang.
 |
| Art Shay, Be Kind Now |
October 8, 2017
Berlin: Arguably Useful!
Wow, remember this blog? I sure (vaguely) do! Been a madcap set of weeks between a series of writing and short-stint work assignments, and the excellent but exhausting goodness of a move into Chicago proper after a transitional month in the burbs. I'm rooting and nesting in an excellent deal of a place and getting my feet under me in a more long-range way, and now, almost a month after my last post and ages since my return, I'm catching up on some Useful posts. Up first: Berlin! After the jump, random advice from a dubiously educated cat.
Logistics
Berlin has one of the all-time great transit systems in the world. Sleek, fast, reliable, and relatively affordable; it's also run on the "no barriers, but transit cops may check for tickets and fine you hundreds of euro if you're cheating" system. I went almost a month without encountering a check, but that's not a bet I'd advise making. Instead, go with a pass that matches your time there - you can go with a tourist pass that offers local discounts, or the more local-oriented time-linked passes. If you're there long enough to consider a monthly card, you might also consider the "10-Uhr" card, which is valid from 10 AM til 3 AM daily. I slightly regretted going with this (you save €20-30, as I recall) but if you're there for fun and not for work, you can ensure you take relaxing neighborhood morning time and save on transit to boot.
Beyond this: get to know your Kiez! These micro-neighborhoods will always have a bakery (or two), usually a local grocery outlet, and a few cafes/bars/etc. If you're there for any length of time, it pays to become a regular - try the rich variety of breads at the bakery over the course of a week, get to know the folks at your favorite cafe, etc.
As language goes, you'll have no trouble finding English-speakers anywhere you go. If you're looking to practice your German, spend more time out of the major tourist zones (Alexanderplatz, neighborhoods near Museuminsel) - but even in Charlottenburg or Prenzlauer Berg you'll find lots of spots where German is the go-to language.
Food
Berlin's a stellar street-food and fast-food city. Dönner kebab and currywurst are the famous ones; most major U-Bahn stops will have stands nearby serving these, though the stand near the Ka-De-We (huge shopping mecca in West Berlin) has locally-sourced, tasty options. Currywurst stand Konnopke's in Prenzlauer Berg is famous, and... fine? There's not a lot of quality variation here, to be honest; I can't even tell if Curry 36, my favorite, is just my favorite because it's the first I had last year. If you're not feeling street food, still keep an eye out for places called imbiss - these tend to be cheap options, though some are still from-scratch, daily-changing menus.
International food is thoroughly on the scene; there's been a ramen explosion, and a weekly Thai market in Preussen Park offers legit homemade stuff that's cheap and tasty. Kantstraße is another area to seek this out. The big player here, tho, as the origins of the Dönner kebab suggest, is Turkish, with Neuköln still the place to look for a range of delicious options. (Imren grill may have given me the best kebab of my life.)
Beyond this, options abound and the city changes relatively quickly. Some specific recs from this summer: Italian restaurant Lavanderia Vecchia offers a steal of a lunch menu, and is reputed to have fantastic family-style feasts at night. Shiori is excellent for clean, slightly forward-looking Japanese food in a killer environment: less than a dozen guests at a bar surrounding the two chefs for the night. The Bird is a highly-praised steakhouse whose burgers are viciously good. The people at all these spots were a huge part of their excellence, but the food was right on across the board.
Entertainment
Because of the timing of my trips, I've not been able to be in Berlin during the full swing of their cultural season. There's tons of summer programming (movies in the park, dance classes in the parks, an open-air theater near the river) worth digging into, and in the regular swing of things you'd want to check out affordable access to concerts and opera, but I'm me so we're gonna focus here on theatre!
The big houses in town (at least within my limited early-stage experience) are Volksbühne, Schaubühne, Berliner Ensemble and Deutsches Theater. There are a few others that probably belong in the conversation, but these are the ones I've seen, so we'll focus on them.
Volksbühne recently had its artistic director pushed out after decades at the wheel; his house style had been fairly political, energetic, and playfully avant-garde. (I saw their Apokalypse, whose text was the Book of Revelations, and which was funnier and livelier than just about anything I saw that year.) In my (again, extremely limited!) experience, Schaubühne, while similarly experimental, was more dour and grim in their approach to Schiller's Wallenstein Trilogy (even cut down to a 3-hour no-intermission rendition). I can't speak to the Deutsches Theater's approach much beyond their rowdy, throw-everything-at-the-wall-who-cares-what-sticks Ubu Roi, which I loved. And Berliner Ensemble is probably, to most casual theatergoers, the most famous, Brecht's old company, still performing a repertoire of his work along with a rotating array of new pieces and classics from the canon. Their artistic director left this past season as well, though most of their productions will stay in rotation for the time being; I believe their Robert Wilson collaborations may be departing, however.
All companies offer extremely affordable tickets, with starting prices at €7-15, depending on the company, the theatre space, and in some cases the production. If you're a student, you have tons of discounts available to you for advance purchase, starting as cheap as €5. Same day returns and standing-room tickets are similarly cheap.
Finally, most theatres will note if they have performances with surtitles in English; if you know the shows well, it seems to me it would be just as fun to attend without them, but they're there if you want 'em.
Museums
Berlin has a stupid-huge number of museums, with focus areas ranging all over the place. They're strong on antiquities - Germany being where, in large part, the 19th-century vogue for archaeology first took root. The Neues, Altes, and Pergamon Museums work in tandem on this; the Neues and Altes are a bit more traditional as museums go, where the major appeal of the Pergamon is their full-scale reconstruction of relocated buildings/facades from the ancient world. At present, the eponymous Pergamon Altar is off limits to the public, but the Ishtar Gate and a Roman forum facade are both on display. Particularly if your travels take you to Berlin and you're unlikely to make it to, say, Rome, this can be a great way to start getting a sense of scope.
All three are on Museuminsel, where you can get a combo ticket; if you want to see the Pergamon, however, make sure you book in advance with a timed reservation. The lines out of this place are outlandish, so just hack through their website. More on this later in this section.
My favorite museum from a collections standpoint was the Hamburger Bahnhoff, a converted train station that's now the modern art museum. They've got a great, succinct collection of twentieth-century artists (Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, many others), a central gallery with rotating installations, and another wing of exhibitions that, on my visit, showed a retrospective of installation artworks since the mid-twentieth century. It's a handy short walk from the central train station, should you find yourself in that area.
Finally, if you're visiting for a week or longer and plan to spend a decent amount of time in museums, seriously explore getting an annual city museum membership. For €25, you get time-limited access to seventeen museums and a few more cultural and research institutions (basically off-peak entrance hours daily). At €50, you get entrance without time restrictions, and even better - if you're a student, you can knock that €50 down to €25. Note that if you go this route, you may want to book timed entry tickets (free) to the Pergamon or Neues museum, lest you get stuck in line. Those tickets will come via email, but you can just show your phone when you walk up to the door past the queue.
Miscelaneous
Berlin is an all-time great thrift city. Shops are fine (again, probably better for womenswear than menswear) but the weekly "flohmarkets" (flea markets) are what you want to find. The biggest and most famous one is the one in Mauerpark, with its karaoke pit and a huge sprawl of vendors. But it's very much been discovered, and a lot of what's there is new made-in-China cheap stuff designed to be sold in that environment rather than what you're really after, which are the oddball finds, whether that's Cold War era tea tins or military surplus or discarded A-frame dresses. For those - well, check out Mauerpark, because it's a scene worth seeing, but also check out the neighborhood flea markets on Saturdays and Sundays. Neuköln's is quite good, as is the RAW Flohmarkt in Friedrichshain.
Finally, I'll just add that Becketts Kopf ("Beckett's Head") is a thoroughly great cocktail bar in Prenzlauer Berg. Not just because last summer I had a sprawling discussion with a pair of Swedes, an Irishman, and a German about Brexit and the EU and Whether Sweden Was Any Good, although that helps - but it's a great, swank little spot with solid cocktails and good folk running the joint.
Up next: some UK usefulness! See you in 2019, probably!
Logistics
Berlin has one of the all-time great transit systems in the world. Sleek, fast, reliable, and relatively affordable; it's also run on the "no barriers, but transit cops may check for tickets and fine you hundreds of euro if you're cheating" system. I went almost a month without encountering a check, but that's not a bet I'd advise making. Instead, go with a pass that matches your time there - you can go with a tourist pass that offers local discounts, or the more local-oriented time-linked passes. If you're there long enough to consider a monthly card, you might also consider the "10-Uhr" card, which is valid from 10 AM til 3 AM daily. I slightly regretted going with this (you save €20-30, as I recall) but if you're there for fun and not for work, you can ensure you take relaxing neighborhood morning time and save on transit to boot.
Beyond this: get to know your Kiez! These micro-neighborhoods will always have a bakery (or two), usually a local grocery outlet, and a few cafes/bars/etc. If you're there for any length of time, it pays to become a regular - try the rich variety of breads at the bakery over the course of a week, get to know the folks at your favorite cafe, etc.
As language goes, you'll have no trouble finding English-speakers anywhere you go. If you're looking to practice your German, spend more time out of the major tourist zones (Alexanderplatz, neighborhoods near Museuminsel) - but even in Charlottenburg or Prenzlauer Berg you'll find lots of spots where German is the go-to language.
Food
Berlin's a stellar street-food and fast-food city. Dönner kebab and currywurst are the famous ones; most major U-Bahn stops will have stands nearby serving these, though the stand near the Ka-De-We (huge shopping mecca in West Berlin) has locally-sourced, tasty options. Currywurst stand Konnopke's in Prenzlauer Berg is famous, and... fine? There's not a lot of quality variation here, to be honest; I can't even tell if Curry 36, my favorite, is just my favorite because it's the first I had last year. If you're not feeling street food, still keep an eye out for places called imbiss - these tend to be cheap options, though some are still from-scratch, daily-changing menus.
International food is thoroughly on the scene; there's been a ramen explosion, and a weekly Thai market in Preussen Park offers legit homemade stuff that's cheap and tasty. Kantstraße is another area to seek this out. The big player here, tho, as the origins of the Dönner kebab suggest, is Turkish, with Neuköln still the place to look for a range of delicious options. (Imren grill may have given me the best kebab of my life.)
Beyond this, options abound and the city changes relatively quickly. Some specific recs from this summer: Italian restaurant Lavanderia Vecchia offers a steal of a lunch menu, and is reputed to have fantastic family-style feasts at night. Shiori is excellent for clean, slightly forward-looking Japanese food in a killer environment: less than a dozen guests at a bar surrounding the two chefs for the night. The Bird is a highly-praised steakhouse whose burgers are viciously good. The people at all these spots were a huge part of their excellence, but the food was right on across the board.
Entertainment
Because of the timing of my trips, I've not been able to be in Berlin during the full swing of their cultural season. There's tons of summer programming (movies in the park, dance classes in the parks, an open-air theater near the river) worth digging into, and in the regular swing of things you'd want to check out affordable access to concerts and opera, but I'm me so we're gonna focus here on theatre!
The big houses in town (at least within my limited early-stage experience) are Volksbühne, Schaubühne, Berliner Ensemble and Deutsches Theater. There are a few others that probably belong in the conversation, but these are the ones I've seen, so we'll focus on them.
Volksbühne recently had its artistic director pushed out after decades at the wheel; his house style had been fairly political, energetic, and playfully avant-garde. (I saw their Apokalypse, whose text was the Book of Revelations, and which was funnier and livelier than just about anything I saw that year.) In my (again, extremely limited!) experience, Schaubühne, while similarly experimental, was more dour and grim in their approach to Schiller's Wallenstein Trilogy (even cut down to a 3-hour no-intermission rendition). I can't speak to the Deutsches Theater's approach much beyond their rowdy, throw-everything-at-the-wall-who-cares-what-sticks Ubu Roi, which I loved. And Berliner Ensemble is probably, to most casual theatergoers, the most famous, Brecht's old company, still performing a repertoire of his work along with a rotating array of new pieces and classics from the canon. Their artistic director left this past season as well, though most of their productions will stay in rotation for the time being; I believe their Robert Wilson collaborations may be departing, however.
All companies offer extremely affordable tickets, with starting prices at €7-15, depending on the company, the theatre space, and in some cases the production. If you're a student, you have tons of discounts available to you for advance purchase, starting as cheap as €5. Same day returns and standing-room tickets are similarly cheap.
Finally, most theatres will note if they have performances with surtitles in English; if you know the shows well, it seems to me it would be just as fun to attend without them, but they're there if you want 'em.
Museums
Berlin has a stupid-huge number of museums, with focus areas ranging all over the place. They're strong on antiquities - Germany being where, in large part, the 19th-century vogue for archaeology first took root. The Neues, Altes, and Pergamon Museums work in tandem on this; the Neues and Altes are a bit more traditional as museums go, where the major appeal of the Pergamon is their full-scale reconstruction of relocated buildings/facades from the ancient world. At present, the eponymous Pergamon Altar is off limits to the public, but the Ishtar Gate and a Roman forum facade are both on display. Particularly if your travels take you to Berlin and you're unlikely to make it to, say, Rome, this can be a great way to start getting a sense of scope.
All three are on Museuminsel, where you can get a combo ticket; if you want to see the Pergamon, however, make sure you book in advance with a timed reservation. The lines out of this place are outlandish, so just hack through their website. More on this later in this section.
My favorite museum from a collections standpoint was the Hamburger Bahnhoff, a converted train station that's now the modern art museum. They've got a great, succinct collection of twentieth-century artists (Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, many others), a central gallery with rotating installations, and another wing of exhibitions that, on my visit, showed a retrospective of installation artworks since the mid-twentieth century. It's a handy short walk from the central train station, should you find yourself in that area.
Finally, if you're visiting for a week or longer and plan to spend a decent amount of time in museums, seriously explore getting an annual city museum membership. For €25, you get time-limited access to seventeen museums and a few more cultural and research institutions (basically off-peak entrance hours daily). At €50, you get entrance without time restrictions, and even better - if you're a student, you can knock that €50 down to €25. Note that if you go this route, you may want to book timed entry tickets (free) to the Pergamon or Neues museum, lest you get stuck in line. Those tickets will come via email, but you can just show your phone when you walk up to the door past the queue.
Miscelaneous
Berlin is an all-time great thrift city. Shops are fine (again, probably better for womenswear than menswear) but the weekly "flohmarkets" (flea markets) are what you want to find. The biggest and most famous one is the one in Mauerpark, with its karaoke pit and a huge sprawl of vendors. But it's very much been discovered, and a lot of what's there is new made-in-China cheap stuff designed to be sold in that environment rather than what you're really after, which are the oddball finds, whether that's Cold War era tea tins or military surplus or discarded A-frame dresses. For those - well, check out Mauerpark, because it's a scene worth seeing, but also check out the neighborhood flea markets on Saturdays and Sundays. Neuköln's is quite good, as is the RAW Flohmarkt in Friedrichshain.
Finally, I'll just add that Becketts Kopf ("Beckett's Head") is a thoroughly great cocktail bar in Prenzlauer Berg. Not just because last summer I had a sprawling discussion with a pair of Swedes, an Irishman, and a German about Brexit and the EU and Whether Sweden Was Any Good, although that helps - but it's a great, swank little spot with solid cocktails and good folk running the joint.
Up next: some UK usefulness! See you in 2019, probably!
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