Dribs and drabs

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!


After long enough in Italy, you notice that Italians might be used to a sunny Mediterannean climate, but you also notice they all walk on the shady side of the street, wear hats, and generally fight the heat through the powers of strategic cloth choice and architectural design. I'm not crazy: heat is #bad!

I have seen probably 50 Salvador Dali "exhibits" advertised in places from Kotor to Berlin. Presumably they're targeting the tourists only hitting one city on their trip to draw them in what has to be a pretty bleh exhibition, no?

Florence: I passed a cafe right near the Accademia (where Michaelangelo's "David" sits) and it took me about a quarter-block to realize the reason I'd instinctively gone "nope" was that it was called the Mona Lisa Cafe. (The Mona Lisa being by Da Vinci and in Paris, so the level of rube-targeting going on in this name/location is pretty impressive!)

There are few things that make me love Vienna/Austria more than the fact that their ATMs give you the choice of denomination when you make withdrawls. No €50/100 notes, thankyouuuuu

I would like to open a restaurant of global cuisine where we translate all the sexy foreign dishes into the prosaic/gross things they mean in their native tongue. (Inspired by an Italian restaurant serving panna cotta, or "cooked cream.")

I love the humility of the Brits, particularly in the Midlands. Northampton's got the best shoemakers in the world, but they're all pretty down to earth. They also have an amazing, delicious cafe/bakery which advertises "The Best Bacon Sandwich in the Midlands!" Always aim for the defensible claim, guys!

Scotland's Arts Council has roughly the same budget as the NEA. America is garbage when it comes to where we put our money.

One of the best things in German culture: the belief that all humans have a right to culture. If you're unemployed or disabled, you qualify for a card that gets you free theatre/music/cultural tickets, because even the poor deserve these things. Probably a relic of the prestige-wars that defined the hundreds of principalities and dukedoms that made up "Germany" til late in the 19th century.

This might not be true, but it sure seems like Brits aren't as obsessive as Americans about whether people "deserve" the money they get. Both in hearing how arts grants are given out (without a lot of the huge lists of qualifiers that attach to private and public nonprofit funding in America) and in seeing how people in poverty are treated. I found most Londoners almost automatic in giving change to people asking for it on the street or in community spaces. Contrast that with how often Americans (even moderates!) bring up poor people owning TVs or using food stamps on junk food as evidence that they don't deserve support. Lots to learn from here.

And this, from the day that I left Boston, waiting for a train. A group of kids are walking down the track; one guy asking another for advice, says earnestly "I think you're, like, the only teenager I know."

Let's all be the knowledgeable teenager to one another!

In coming weeks: perhaps a little Chicago city post, perhaps some long-horizon domestic travel daydreams, perhaps some larger-life reminiscences. As my travel plans will shift in light of work (and my profound gratitude for a nest of my own in Chicago proper), this space may become a bit more miscellaneous and diffuse, or it may ebb and flow depending on how often I duck out of town for friend visits across the states. Only time will tell.

For now, though: another moment to reflect on how insanely fortunate I am for the last two years' tide of rest-of-my-life-I'll-remember-this experiences, for the friendships and relationships that grew or were born along the way, and for a future that feels bright thanks to the incredible folk that surround me locally and across the globe. Keep being stardust, gang!