Beatles, Italy, and Candy Scandal

out that Halle has a really coolThis last week has been absolutely jammed packed with excitement! Sorry in advance that this will probably be a really long blog entry. The beginning of the week was spent showing Robby and Mark around Halle and doing lots of fun local things. The best part of this was going to some of the crazy museums that Beth and I hadn't gotten a chance to go to visit yet. It turns Beatles museum, which although it was all in German, was very through and has a really wonderful collection of documents, original albums, and other funny paraphernalia. My favorite thing there was a cut out from a magazine that you held up to your head to show your hair stylist how to give you a Beatles cut.
In Halle there is also a chocolate museum that it is one of the oldest chocolate factories in Europe, and probably the world, called Halloren. The beginning of the museum was sorta disappointing, with few visuals and just lots of German explanation of the history of chocolate, but the last 2 rooms made the visit COMPLETELY worth it. Inside there were dozens and dozens of small candy sculptures of people in various poses, many which were quite scandalous! There was also a section of candy people posing as characters in famous paintings which was totally over the top chocolate furniture,. I just couldn't believe it. Totally ridiculous. Then to top it all off, the very last room was almost entirely made of chocolate. Chocolate walls, books, chocolate furniture, chocolate cat, chocolate violin...you get the idea. Quite an experience. I give the Halloren Chcolate museum an A+.

Another important event of this week's beginning was Wednesday night when Beth and I gave our artist talks at die Burg. The evening began with all of our new friends and faculty having a giant pot-luck dinner outside in the rose garden for us. There was soooooo much delicious finger food. They really went all out for us. It was super nice and Beth and I really enjoyed seeing almost our entire studio in such a nice social atmosphere. Afterwards Beth and I gave our presentations under the giant vine covered trellis in the middle of the garden. I will be incredibly shocked if I ever give a presentation in such a beautiful place again. I think our talks went pretty well, and we got lots of nice positive feedback afterwards. Mark, Robby, and Pablo all came to listen too, so it felt great to have some friends in the audience too. Afterwards we all went and got a drink at a Bier Garden with Hannis and Merium (a student who just got back from a year in the US studying with a potter).
So as if this wasn't a great week already, Friday morning at 4 AM, Mark, Robby, Beth and I ran as fast as possible to catch a train to the Berlin airport to fly to Milan, Italy! We had been planning on taking a trip together all week, but it wasn't until Wednesday that we finally decided on Italy. Mark was able to buy all the tickets while Beth and I worked on our presentations, and everything fell into place.
The trip there was a little rough since we were all pretty sleep deprived and worn out from running and almost missing our train. Then after we landed, we had interaction with several really rude people in a row, and even though I was trying really hard not to judge the city that soon, it was hard to not be a big discouraged. Soon everything changed though. Our hotel ended up being quite nice and that afternoon we walked to the downtown area and saw all the beautiful old buildings. Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world, so Beth was in heaven seeing all the designer stores and I loved seeing some new architecture. The city was really beautiful, and we got to see the Duomo Cathedrial which is considered one of the most important examples of Gothic architecture in all of Italy. That evening we ate at a cafe and got a good night's sleep to make up for the night before.
Saturday we spent almost the entire afternoon at at the Kandinsky exhibit at the big art museum downtown. It was a really excellent show. It was a really great thing to see with my friends too, since I feel Kandinsky's work is so accessible and everyone can get something out of it. Even Robby, who is legally blind and can see very little was able to really enjoy the exhibit and left saying he felt the most inspired he had been in a long time.
But Saturday evening is when the real fun started. It turns out that half of Robby's family is from Milan and he was able to get some contact information for them. Although I was skeptical that we'd actually beable to get a hold of them, several hours later we were being picked up by Andrea (Robby's male cousin....it's a boy name in Italy) and given a driving tour of the city. We met 2 of Andrea's friends and went to an amazing pizza restaurant on this beautiful canal lined with pubs and shops. Real Itallian pizza is amazing, and we had so much fun talking to our new friends. After dinner we went for a drink at a beautiful outdoor pub that is next to the remains of an old church and we made plans for the next day. Andrea's parents invited us to their house for lunch in one of Milian's suburbs, and of course we didn't refuse.
The next day was the best. Andrea picked us up from the train station, and we were driven through some more modern parts of town and eventually ended up at his family's house (which was really more like a condo). Robby's family was absolutely amazing. Even though they knew very little English, and we knew no Italian, they were some of the most
warm and loving people I've ever met. Lunch was especially amazing. Andrea's mom brought out course, after course, after course of wonderful homemade food which included one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. The Italian ice cream for dessert was one of the best desserts ever too. And just when I thought the meal was over and we would probably be leaving soon, Andrea's family led us upstairs where Andrea and Robby played piano and guitar and sang Beatle songs. With in 5 minutes everyone in the room was singing along. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever witnessed. Even though these people didn't know English, they knew tones of Beatle lyrics. It made me realize that Beatle music is an international language, and it gave me goosebumps to be able to come together with this many people from such different places and histories and have an entire repratory of music to share. This went on for at least an hour (maybe two!) and it was one of the specialist experiences of my life.
Afterwards, we finally said goodbye and Andrea drove us a few towns over to Pavia where he lives and had been attending school to show us around. He insisted that we would really like the city, and said that it was much prettier than Milan. As expected, he was right. The town was amazing. It was almost surreal. Beautiful allies every direction you looked and a stunning church around every corner. After a nice long walk, we ended the evening in another pizza restaurant where we had fun cracking jokes with Andrea. That night he drove us back to our hotel and we returned to Halle the next morning.
Last night Robby and Mark got a taxi to the airport and now Beth and I have only a week left in Germany. I'll be sad to leave.

Candles in the Duomo

Robby's family's kitchen in Italy

The ceiling in the subway station in Milan

Robby with his "girly pop" icecream on a paddle boat
(girly pop comes equipped with a glitter make up tube stick)

Candy scandals

Beth caught in the middle of a pillow fight

Friends!

There have been quite a few changes in life since last week. One of the biggest started last Tuesday when my neighbor Christian (who lives upstairs and is very very good with English) knocked on my door and said “May I present you with Pablo! He’s from L.A.” At this point Beth came speeding from the other room and we both stood with our mouths wide open. Up until this point Beth and I were convinced that we were 2 out of MAYBE 5 Americans living in Halle, so to find out that an American was going to be staying directly above me for several months was extremely surprising. It turns out that Pablo is 28, a poet, grew up in an artist commune just outside of LA, and even has dual citizenship between Germany and America because his father is German. He’s a pretty interesting addition to our English speaking posse. That evening they invited us out for Italian food and Christian’s official tour of the city, which was really nice since no one had really told us much about Halle’s history and it’s individual buildings. The next day Pablo went to die Burg with us to see the castle and helped us make a big stir-fry for dinner that evening.
Saturday Beth and I had to take the train up to Berlin to pick up my friends Mark and Robby (good friends from TN) from the airport, and since Pablo and Christian wanted to go too, they shared train tickets with us and we all spent the day together until Mark and Robby’s plan landed. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we had a lot of fun helping Christian show Pablo the highlights of the city. We also got to see some new places that we missed on our first visit to Berlin, like the Reichstag and the Jewish Holocaust memorial. The Reichstag is one of the main government buildings in Berlin, and it was fun to see, but my favorite sight of the day was definitely the Holocaust memorial. It consists of rows and rows of large stone rectangles, but the ground is somewhat wavy, and the rectangles very in size, so while some are only a foot or two tall, other parts soar far above your head. It was a really amazing experience to literally “get lost” and sucked into the monument, just like getting lost in the huge numbers of lost victims. The stones were cold, and plane and they reminded me how the Jewish people were stripped of their own personal identity and given the same cruel fate. Quite a powerful experience.
That afternoon we ate at an AMAZING Indian restaurant, and then parted with Christian and Pablo to go meet Robby and Mark. Needless to say I was quite excited to see my friends. They had been traveling for several weeks throughout England and France and are staying with me for about 12 days before heading home. Our train was a bit late getting to the airport, but we met up just fine and spent the rest of the evening giving them a taste of Berlin before we caught the late train back to Halle. One of the highlights of the evening was stumbling upon an outdoor public opera being held in the large square across from Humboldt University. They had even closed off one of the most main streets in Berlin to allow more room for the opera and there were tons of people in the audience. It was the perfect temperature, the perfect setting, and the perfect sounds. I really enjoyed staying to listen for a bit, and was quite impressed that the city had gone to so much trouble to have a free public opera. It says a lot about the importance of the arts in Germany’s culture.
Sunday was spent giving Mark and Robby a walking tour of Halle and relaxing in a café downtown sipping gourmet hot chocolate. Then we went home, made an amazing dinner, and sat on my roof listening to Mark and Robby’s wonderful travel stories.
This week Beth and I plan to finish up our ceramic projects and hopefully this weekend the four of us can all take a trip together…perhaps to Milan if our travel plans work out right. Beth and I have been asked to give artist talks on Wednesday night to the ceramic department, which should be quite the adventure too. I have never had to give an official artist talk before, so though it will be a great experience, it is a little daunting since my audience members don’t all know English. I also plan to sneak out late tonight and put my houses out in the park so I can start documenting their decay tomorrow. Hopefully everything will go well and I will get good results. Wish me luck!

The Opera

Some modern German architecture

Pictures from my roof.

Dresden!

This past week has been wonderful! Bella stayed with me until Friday, and Beth and I really enjoyed her company. During the day, Beth and I worked in the studio while Bella attended school, and then in the evenings we all ate together. Wednesday night was especially fun. We all went the die Burg to hear a lecture Antje (one of the professors) was giving , but we didn’t know the topic. When we got there, it turned out to be about her trip to NCECA! It was quite funny to see pictures of everything we had just lived through, and even some pictures of Athens. After the lecture we were invited to Susie’s house with Bella, Paula, and several other new friends. There everyone spoke English and we had wonderful conversations about our cultural differences.
Friday Beth and I woke up early to go work in the studio, but arrived to find that someone was doing a luster firing (which realizes bad toxic fumes) so no one was allowed to work. Although we were a bit frustrated that no one had told us, we decided we should take advantage of the forced day off and try to travel. We walked home, consulted with Bella, and with in an hour had booked a hostel in Dresden, packed, and were on the train. It was amazing how perfectly everything worked out, and by early afternoon we were there!
Dresden is really an amazing city. While most of it is very new and modern due to the terrible bombings, there is still a cluster of beautiful old buildings downtown by the river. This really gives the city a neat feel. On one hand there is a strong contrast between old and new. It defiantly feels like parts of town were re-built as quickly as possible, which means many buildings are much more modern and plane looking. The rebuilding process also left the city a little less congested. There are many nice little green areas and backyards between residential buildings which really let things feel nice and airy. Even though things are sometimes a little hodgepodge, the city really has a wonderful charm to it.
Friday evening we spent walking around town learning our way and looking for things to do during our stay. We checked into our hostel and got lots of good advice about attractions and night life, and then relaxed for the rest of the night at a jazz club a few blocks away. It was really great to hear some live music, and we met a few new friends who gave us even more recommendations. Even before we went to bed we knew one more day wouldn’t be long enough to see everything we wanted, but since our hostel was booked for Saturday we weren’t sure if we could stay another night or not. Apparently there was a large Dixieland festival in town which had drawn many travelers, but luckily one of the hostel employees was nice enough to call around and find a student apartment building that rented out dorm rooms while the students were home for the weekend. We went to bed excited for the next two days to come.
Saturday morning Beth and I got up, grabbed some bread at a bakery for breakfast, and high-tailed it out to Pillnitz castle, which a classmate had recommended we see. The castle, which turned out to be more of a palace, was amazing. It was built with an “oriental theme” and had museums inside about the history of the building. There was also a gorgeous flower garden and “pleasure garden.” The long bus ride out to the palace and back was also a treat because it took us through many small villages on the outskirts of the city that looked straight out of a story book. There were many small houses, gardens, orchards, wineries, and chateaus up on the hills.
That afternoon we went back to the center of the city to the Zwinger museum complex. There we saw an entire exhibit of the large porcelain collection of Frederick Agustus I (King of Poland). It was quite a treat! Although most of the pieces were functional oriental vessels, there were some very interesting sculptural works as well. My favorite part was a room filled with big porcelain animals by Kaendler that were made special for the King. The large scale really made their creation a technical challenge, and we learned that pieces were only fired once and then painted since they would have fallen apart in a second glaze firing.
That evening we went to a pub to relax for a bit and later hit one of the big discothèques. The highlight of the evening was meeting 20 eighteen year old boys wearing lederhosen who were walking through the streets singing in unison. They stopped to talk to us, and we learned that they were from Munich and there to celebrate being done with their school exams.
Sunday we slept in a bit, packed up our things and found our way out to the Volks Wagon factory. All I have to say is wow. Everything about this place was amazing. The building was designed just as well as the cars are, and everything worked together to really create a strong image. I especially liked the large sphere that was filled with old commercials to watch and the huge glass cylinder that was filled with new cars on a spiraling ramp.
Afterwards we still had a few hours before our train home, so Beth talked me into going to the German Hygiene Museum. I was skeptical at first, but it really ended up being a pretty cool place. There was an exhibit on Hitler’s attempt at creating a perfect race, which was really quite depressing but also fascinating. There were lots of articles and pictures about the wide-spread killings and sterilizations of Jews and anyone else who was not “ethnically pure.” Pretty scary stuff. The other exhibits in the museum were much lighter, but unfortunately contained very little English translations of descriptions. Since half the time we weren’t positive what we were looking at, it was really funny to try to figure out the themes of some of the rooms. For example, one room had large diagrams of cell structures, a giant (perhaps 6 by 6 foot) fly, a fish tank, and a computer station with an acupuncture computer game on it. It was still fun to see, and gave us some good laughs.
What a weekend! I give Dresden an A++.


Brand new Volks Wagons.


The German countryside.


The roof of the Dresden train station.







Inside of the castle.


A neat winery on a hill.




A picture for Steve.