My favorite thing about Rome...

Coconut Waterfalls

For the film geeks

Here is a "stolen" picture from inside the German Filmhaus Museum.  It's a model of the studio in which The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was shot.  Caligari's office in the mental asylum faces Jane's bedroom. Creepy(er).

Miniature expressionism!  I also saw a model for the filming of M.  That was one elaborate set.  Lang diagrammed every square inch (centimeter?) of the space in his attic set to find unconventional angles.  His personal storyboards looked like blueprints.

More film stuff to come!

No, pictures were not allowed inside.

Vask

(vask means "wash" in Danish)

Transformation

Snowpenhagen

Skeletal winter begins.

Mentos Update

MENTOS SIGHTING: On the ferry between Germany and Denmark.  Duty-free, boat-exclusive, massive-tubes filled with Mentos.  The let down(s): the tubes are filled with 5 rolls of Mentos, and they are expensive. I really wanted giant, tube-sized Mentos. In my opinion, going giant is the best step a candy can take (if you disagree, let me remind you of GIANT SWEETTARTS).  I even would've settled for a tube filled to the brim with loose Mentos.  Thankfully, I was able to discern the contents without buying.  A mystery remains, though.  The tube promises the flavors of Watermelon, Mango, and Orange.  Seeing how Watermelon gets one side and Mango/Orange get the other, I assume that Mango/Orange is one flavor.  If not one flavor, it must be a single roll of Mentos with both Mango and Orange inside.  I wonder, though, if there are supposed to be five rolls inside the tube, the distribution of flavors cannot be equal.  There must be an extra roll of either Watermelon or Mango/Orange (if the three should happen to be separate rolls, then there has to be one flavor with only one roll inside).  Is it three Watermelons and two Mango/Oranges? Or is it three Mango/Oranges and two Watemelons?  Or...could it be five rolls containing the odd mix of Mango/Orange & Watermelon? This question will haunt me. Also, if the disparity turns out to be true and, say, there is one more Watermelon roll than Mango/Orange, where did that decision come from?  Someone in this world works for Perfetti Corp and has a serious bone to pick with Mango/Orange, giving Watermelon such an unfair advantage.  Just by the nature of the package, Watermelon is given equal billing, but Mango/Orange is no match for an extra roll.  Watermelon will live on in the minds of the consumers because of its dominance while Mango/Orange will be forgotten.  If I was to buy the tube and get three Watermelons and two Mango/Oragnes, I'd bookend my consumption with Watermelon rolls and layer the underdog rolls inbetween.  This type of neat-eating would leave Watermelon as the last taste in my mouth, memory, and heart (regardless of quality or flavor).  The structure of this type of "special" packaging doesn't allow for a balanced or informed taste experience.   This is the Darwinian battlefield of some marketing guy at Perfetti Corp. I will not indulge unless you give me an even number of rolls. This is taste eugenics.  

I always knew it would start with Mentos. 

Mini Mentos!  Sadly, I couldn't actually buy any Mini Mentos.  This sign overlooks a children's playarea in a Mediamall near Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The playarea is Mentos-themed, though. And by that, I mean that these signs lined the long rectangle of squishy floor and germ-ridden blocks these kids were fortunate enough to have to entertain themselves. I like that you are going for them young, Mentos.  You definitely don't have anything to worry about in terms of a choking hazard, you can definitely go mini.  Or, if you are planning to pull something akin to the Tobacco industry to hook-em-while-they-are-young, you should make your harmful product into candy, like the candy cigarette.  Oh wait, you already are candy. I guess you could try making some lethal form of your candy if you want to go for reserve psychology.  How about you just make a roll of Mentos that is lead-flavored?

I figured it out.  Mini Mentos are definitively made of lead.  Stay away. 

Mentos Green Apple, German-style: still delicious, a little more tart than the ones we have in the States. Grade: B+

Mentos RAINBOW: This is it.  This is the pinnacle of a Mentos roll.  Not only do you get seven delicious flavors, but the individual Mentos sit, geographically, with their external picture on the sleeve.  You always know what flavor is next!  Here is my ranking of the flavors, from best to a slightly lesser best: Raspberry, Lime, Grape, Strawberry, Green Apple, Pineapple, Orange. 

I feel horrible having to rank the flavors.  

Overall: A+

A life in Milan

told through three photos. 

Voca People

One of them has a beard.  He is bass, obviously.

Descending Luggage

The three pieces of luggage are sized according to the height of the girls. Totally subconscious feelings about their place in the friendship emerge. Taken while on a train.

Interesting circumstances

I snapped this picture with my cell phone, covertly, on the train from Milan to Florence. I was seated across from this pair.  On entry to the train, I judged them to be a Father/Daughter team.  Soon, though, she was kissing him and affectionately rubbing his leg.  They spoke English, and from what I could gather, they had just met a few days before in Milan.  They were both lone travelers on a European vacation.  She fell in love with him.  He is around seventy to seventy-five years old, I imagine.  She can't be more than thirty-five. Comparisons to Lost in Translation aside, I started thinking about the stigmas they must face everywhere they go.  Then I started thinking about motivations.  She must be filling some daddy-issue in her life.  She must be taking him for every penny he's got.  She must be piggybacking on his cathartic woefulness. He must be unable to let go of his past.  He must be using his money to buy himself companionship. He must be latching onto her youthful spirit to inject, vicariously,some meaning into his existence. 

They conversed for about a half an hour before she dozed off on his shoulder.  She spoke of elementary education and bliss principles.  He muttered few words, but he pierced her ideas with his understanding eyes. She slept. He read the maps.  He slept.

As I watched them, attached to each other, not willing to let go, I let go.  I forgot for a moment my cultural stigmas.  I reminisced on their conversation, not the words, but the meanings.  She was trying to impress him with her low-key brilliance.  Her face was worn not with signs of age, but with youth.  She was pock-marked, but otherwise pretty, as if some cruel fate had aged her in reverse. He had lines and years on his face, but beneath it all, kind eyes filled to the brim with wisdom, as if they were recording.  These two made a connection.  However fickle or impulsive, I was not to judge.   

 I caught his eye during a readjustment.  It spoke of timelessness. 

I wanted to let him know that I was no longer one of the crowd. Beyond history, apart from history, because of history, they found each other.  Their continued presence had affected a change in me.  I had surpassed that medium amount of time, when their relationship had ripened enough to fill my perspective with joy.  I sent my well wishes to the sleeping couple as I slithered out of my seat to the exit.  

I made sure not to disturb them. 

Brussels

Yes, this pretty much sums it up.

Amsterdam

The first and last photos are of a carnival that occupied city square during the weekend.  This carnival had an intense teacup ride that lasted about 6 minutes and intermittently slipped into hyperseed mode.  I'll try to post a video of it soon. It was the most intense 6 minutes of my trip, reasons abound. The second photo shows the sign to my new favorite restaurant Wok 2 Walk.  You go in, choose a meat, sauce, veggie, and noodle and they wok it up for you right there on the spot.  Then it comes to you steaming-hot in a to-go china box.  Incredibly delicious.  My favorite (yes, i had it four times in a two day period) combination was rice noodle, chicken, broccoli, and teriyaki sauce.  The place feels exactly like a Chipotle inside, with its omnipresent, matte metallic surfaces, streamlined menu, and street-food gentrification. I have a theory about this place that I will be able to test once they franchise to Americatown.  I think that the chef/wokmaster of the day preselects a combination at the beginning of his shift.  If he picks egg noodle, tofu, pineapple, and sweet & sour sauce, and you order egg noodle, tofu, pineapple, and sweet & sour sauce, you get your wok free.  Or a free drink.  Or you get to ring a bell.  I didn't have enough time in Amsterdam to test this theory properly, and I'm glad I didn't have enough time in Amsterdam to test this theory properly. The third picture captures, in reflection and ripple, some smoke hovering over the canal.  If I had staged this picture at night, the duck would have been a white swan (as white swans dominate the canals in the Red Light District) and the smoke...smoke. The fourth picture is of my hostel for two-nights.  I stayed on a boat.  Ask me sometime about the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me, because it happened on this boat. 

More pictures and stories to come.  My sleep schedule is back on track, and its too cold in Copenhagen to go outside for any extended period of time.  I'll be spending a lot more time inside feeling "hygge". 

To begin

Here are five pictures from five different European cities: Paris, Marseille, Rome, Milan, and Amsterdam.  I sense a similar aesthetic.

Back in Copenhagn

I just got back to my apartment in Copenhagen.  After I recoop a little bit, I will update with lots of pictures, videos, and interesting stories.  I documented the hell out of this trip.  I just need to sort it all out.