CouchLogging

Hippie Live in Beach Town Santa Cruz

Time was about to run out. For weeks, I just lived and traveled to the next city, whenever I felt like. But now my flight back home was getting closer and closer. Ten more days? Even less? And I was still in Oregon. So i took this looooooong bus ride down to Santa Cruz, CA. Clever as I am, I decided to take the over-night service and save me a whole day worth of traveling. It kind of worked out! As I was already used to buses and other annoyances, I could actually sleep several hours and got to Santa Cruz at 3pm next day. After a lot of changes and delays… Greyhound at it’s best.

I found a place at the house of Jasons former CS host. It’s an almost co-op house with 9 more or less frequently UCSC Students. I was picked up at the station, fed and taken care of. More than I could ask for. I spent the days exploring the city the evenings cooking and eating and the night partying. And the people here are good at partying. They don’t really make any difference on what day it is.

One day, I went to this amazing Farmers Market to get some veggies for dinner. After my hard time finding any good groceries on the east cost (still can’t understand how the people in the south can survive…) it was a delight seeing all these still dirty organic vegetables… Generally the west coast is big in organic food. There’s huge whole foods makets and other organic shops way bigger than we have them. (Well there’s also way bigger conventional groceries stores…)

On my last day in SC we went to UCSC campus, a huge forrest-y patch of land with several colleges. There are some great spots! So we hiked on narrow trails and over tree trunks until we reached the legendary tree nine. A tree that seemed to be grown just for hippie students to climb it! It used to be a great adventure, now it’s a little bit easier as someone installed a sting-ladder to get on the tree and you only have to get from branch to branch after. Apart of that, it’s still a great thing to climb up such a big tree, sit on one of the top branches and just enjoy the view, the bird sounds and the breeze.

After some picnic and visiting the “whish tree”, we went to get some adrenaline action at the swing. Check out the pics. It’s almost like free falling. Well, almost.

Oh yes, not to forget Santa Cruz also has a great beach live. Especially for surfers, there’s a lot of nice places. but it’s also fun, just walking or biking along the water front.

I bet there’s way more, but it’s been a while, since I was there, I only didn’t have the time to write it all down…
The Flickr Set for Santa Cruz

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | 2 Comments »

Greenspace in Portland

It had to be a good sign, after the whole drama in Olympia and a lot of rain the sky cleared up and I could feel the sun rays, when I got off the train in Portland. Walking to the street car station I found this furniture store called “Hive” that uses almost the same graphics as the night club in Zurich with the same name. Made me smile. Somebody was heavily inspired here…

Anyway I met Scott and Rose half way to their house and we had great vietnamese food for dinner. I stayed with them for three nights, before I switched couches to Noel and Dan in south west Portland.

Next day I spend walking around down town and trying to figure out a typical Swiss dessert. Another couchsurfer was going to cook vegan lasagne and I decided to add something sweet to it. As we thought about planning a Zurich meets Portland event for Internatinal Couchsurfing day (June 12th, I guess) chocolate fondue was not an option, so I had to figure out something else. I ended up making a “Schwarzwälder Torte”. It’s not really Swiss, but Swiss enough to make some couchsurfers happy. And it really worked out. Thanks to my sister who texted me my favorite recipe for “biscuit” (french) - not biscuits - the base for the layered cake, I finally succeeded in making a “Schwarzwälder Torte” with fresh cherries, lots of Kirsch (kind of a cherry distillate) and lots and lots of whipped cream and chocolate. All organic, too.

Well, the Lasagne was already really rich, so we had to go for a walk first, where we found this suspicious slides (Dia-Positive) , a hotel room key card, some business cards and matches. We felt that this was part of a big thing. Like CSI Portland… We still work on the first episode of this exciting new crime show.

Scott took me to the columbia gorge, along the old highway (a windy street, almost like a Swiss “Passstrasse”) where all these waterfalls are. Luckily we went there during the week, when there are almost no tourists. It felt really good, just walking out in the nature, getting a lot of oxygen and relaxing the eyes in the never ending green of Portland’s surroundings.

The city itself is also really green. There are a lot of parks and also trees just along the street. And they have this wonderful park on the east side of the city where also a great Japanese Garden and the Rose Test Garden are. Gives also a wonderful view over the city, when you’re standing at the top.

So I got my stuff and changed houses to Noel in the south east. They were a great couple, too. They have chicken and grow some own vegetables. And they got me a bike. I should spend a lot of my time biking this weekend. As I already had a lot of bussing before and the weather was so nice, I always biked downtown, sometimes stop on my way to check out Hawthorn District or eat something at the Press Club at 26th and Clinton SE. It’s in the middle of nowhere, this crossing with a few restaurants a shop and a theatre. The Press Club itself is definitely worth visiting. They cook fantastic breakfast and lunch for really modest prices. Ich mein find mal en Ort, wo für 2$ en riisige “Biilagesalat” überchunsch. So i de grössi vomene grosse Blattsalat für 12 Fr… Sogar na mit Nüss und allem krasse feine züg!

Yes, so I biked downtown, up the hill to the Japanese garden, back again. Was a great day.
En the evening we gathered up near Powell’s the biggest independent bookstore ever and prepared for a Freeze event. Was quite fun, it only bothered that most people weren’t really impressed.

On the weekend, the Portland Gay Pride was taking place at the waterfront. I biked downtown again to check it out and got kind of stuck there. As I entered the place, this great funk band was playing. So Jonas ends up dancing in front of the stage and everybody else either sits on the benches or stands way back just slightly moving around. What happened to Portland, that they don’t dance to great funk music? Anyway, my dancing solo had an effect. After the concert, one of the sound techies walked over to me, greeting me with “Hi, Dance boy” and we chatted for a while, before he had to get back working. We kind of kept running into each other the whole weekend. By the end of the weekend knew his name and his number, although “Dance Boy” and “Sound Man” sound cooler than “Jonas” and “Bill” I think. There were actually quite a lot of these people, that I run into again and again. Like this guy working at a booth fundraising for some organization. Portland seems to be quite small and everybody knows each other.

Well, I saw some more concerts, like the one of Sophe Lux - definitely check that out! - a local band, that mixes electro with classical music, pop and strange costumes. Amazing!

I almost got sun burned on my right side of the body, as I was always standing in the same direction, facing the stage and the sun was shining down on me. I was amazed by the fact, that they had somebody on stage instantly translating all the songs in gestures. There was always somebody there, so the mute people could also enjoy the concerts and the moderation. Which was brutally honest. I’m not sure if it really helps, when I drag queen stops her show, getting some huge pile of paper saying “Now it’s time for our sponsors. I know you don’t like that, but we have to do it…” I mean, did any body really listen to what she read from these papers? But now I know, that bank of america is the gayest bank ever. At least they were the main sponsor.

So I partied until late night on Saturday, slept in on Sunday drank a lot of water (Ein stutz für en softdrink macht das echt eifach.) talked to random people and some, ate the typical festival catering food and bought some cheep rainbow stuff.

In the meantime Noel and Dan climbed tree hood. They had to get up at 5 am, just shortly after I came back from clubbing, and got far up to where they have snow. Well, I was quite glad I wasn’t in the cold snow but in the warm sun.

After all, I must say that Portland is an amazing city. A lot reminded me at home. The green, the environmental friendly people (they recycle here!), the good beer, decent public transport, the trees again, the river, bikes all over the place (they even have a lot of dedicated bike lanes and bike trails!) and the friendly people in general. I have definitely to come back, one day!

Portland on flickr

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | No Comments »

Olympia failure

That’s probably the shortest post ever. I went to Olympia, Washington after Seattle. I already booked my greyhound and was about to get up early, when Mel, the nice roommate of my Seattle host, told me she’s gong to drive down anyway and could give me a ride. That’s way more fun than Greyhound and so I got to Olympia with her and she dropped me of at my hosts place. Driving away she shouted “Give me a call, when something goes wrong and you can stay at my parents place.”

That’s exactly what happened. I could not reach my host for already two days. He neither replied to emails, nor answered his phone. And now I was sitting on his porch, calling his landline and hearing the phone inside. But nobody was around to open the door. So after sitting there several hours calling his mobile over and over and getting cold, I decided to go for Mel’s offer and stay at their place for the night and get down to Portland early.

So Mel showed me around Olympia next morning and I got on the Amtrak in the afternoon. Getting down to Portland. Which was one of these nice things that happen just because they have to. Portland was amazing. Stay tuned.

Olympia on Flickr

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | No Comments »

Space Needles and Foreign Films in Seattle

My first American city on the west coast, after my short trip to Canada was Seattle. This time I was not officially couchsurfing, but staying with a good friend of Jason, who is not yet on the best community for travelers. Actually I did not see my host too often, as he was working all the time. Project deadlines and such annoyances… But - lucky me - he had some great roommates. And so I got picked up in town, taken out to a ladies (and two guys) night out and had some great talks. And lots more.

The whole time in Seattle was quite rainy. And as I still hadn’t fully recovered from my cold, I spent a lot of time in Cafes and other indoor places.

I got here on the expensive Clipper from Victoria. Make sure you get some sandwiches or other food, when you get on one of these! There’s only a horrible tiny bar on board. And their “dinner baskets” are not much more than some crackers and some sticks of this generic cheddar.

Anyway, I got to Seattle, walking up the stairs to the historic Pike Place Market with my big old bag on the shoulders, searching for a place, where I could lock it in for the day. I ended up at the - tada - greyhound station. At least they have this hightech lockers! For customers only. Whatever.

After having late lunch at this chinese restaurant at Pike Place (don’t know the name but its in the very north, long-streched building and has a nice view on the waterfront, getting a haircut at Broadway on Capitol Hill (traveling is great with really short hair) and a late to go at the Vivace booth, I met Sam, one of these roommates and got to my new home-for-some-days.

Later I found out, that Vivace was actually the Cafe, that Brian (one of my DC hosts for those who don’t remember) recommended me as “probably the best coffee place on the west coast”. And yes the latte to go (3 shots, 16 oz) was really good. Perfect foam and all a nice flavour. But it was to go, and as Vivace also has a full-grown cafe with over 80 seats, I decided to find that one and get a good cappucino and some pastry. It was definitely worth the effort! Check it out, if you have the chance. Cafe Vivace on Capitol Hill.

What followed was this ladies night out with me and the ex-boyfriend of one of the girls as the only not-females. I had definitely a lot of fun that night. And I tell you, these girls know how to drink beer! And they’re obsessed with their titties. And with dresing up. We went to this place where the girls could dress up in fancy glittery clothes while waiting for the food.

As it was still raining next morning, I decided to check out the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) that was going on at the moment and saw two movies. This one documentary called “This Way Up” about the wall in israel being built from the perspective of a man living in a home for old people in Palestine. Really nice pictures, slow, gives you time to think, great character, this old man, witty he is! The world would be better if old people and kids would lead it! And the other movie was “The Wave” or “Die Welle”. A german movie about a schooling experiment that actually took place in california in the late 60s. It was about a week-long intense “real live” course on autocracy that got out of hands. Definitely an impressive movie. I also really enjoyed that the original teacher and two students from the californian class back in the 60s were on stage for a Q&A after the movie. Made the experience even more intense.

On the “free Thursday” I decided to see the SAM (Seattle Art Museum). Might be great if you like rather old art, but was not really my thing. At least is was free. But their sculpture park at the waterfront, which is free every day, was amazing. It’s really nice how the architecture, the plants and the actual art pieced work together.

I must have seen a lot more, but that’s enough for the moment. One more. The space needle, I have to make my title work… It’s one of these super tall buildings that a lot of cities have. And Seattle has one, too. It’s high. And no I did not get up. Cities look all about the same from above.

Seattle on Flickr

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | No Comments »

Vancouver and the Islands

It’s been a long and busy time since I left Montréal. Everything started with me getting on the plane, sick and cold, drinking tea and Pretuval C to help me get well again. After driving the whole round downtown Vancouver, that the Airporter bus offers, finally getting of the bus and meeting Scott I had to complete a “long” walk back to his place. It felt long, but was quite short, actually.

Scotte, whom I have been writing with since St. Augustine, but never managed to meet up with when he was at the east cost, was well prepared for me. He even baked brownies and made this strawberry and rhubarb sauce and opened a bottle of desert wine. But dumb me, I told him it was unwise to drink alcohol, when I have a cold and missed the whole trio of taste bud delights. Well, at least my cold got better after drinking even more tea and taking echinacea, vitamins and a warm bath.

So I could walk around, see town and do all the things I normally do, when I get in a new city. Like finding a nice coffee place. I found one on Davie street, just “around the corner” from Scotts place. Forgot the name, sorry.

Friday night, Scott took me to se the musical “The Producers”, that the company, he works for produced. He actually raised the funds to make that musical possible. Generally, he’s really into musicals and so we had a great topic to talk about… I had kind of split feelings about “The Producers” as it is about two guys producing the worst musical ever “Springtime for Hitler” and culminates in a 5 minute parody about the 3rd Reich. I guess it’s us Europeans, who still have a hard time dealing with the whole thing, where as - apparently - the North Americans have the needed distance (physical and also in time) to laugh about it. I mean, their history is no 200 years long, so “last century” is really far back, where as for us it’s just yesterday… Anyway I liked the stage design and the costumes a lot. And in the first half of the musical I was laughing a lot.

It seems to me, like I should really getting on the bike more often. Saturday we made this great bike ride. All around and through Stanley Park, and on to the Spanish Banks and Wreck Beach. Stanley park is a almost island just north of Vancouver down town and a wonderful place. Quite touristy, but nice. It does not take too long to bike around and there are a lot of nice places in the forest, too. For example, this one lake we passed by. There was this concert of a group of musicians who specialize on canadian music in outdoor settings. They played this wonderful piece for the flute, the trumped and vocals, really slow, douce and kind of meditative but really suiting the setting…

The back on the other side of the downtown island, we biked along all these beaches, where people were BBQing, playing, chatting and whatever else. I really felt like sitting down and staying for a while. But we would have BBQ later that night at Scotts place, so no use to stay. I decided to bike on, up the hill, where University of British Columbia is on and check out Wreck Beach. A nude beach, but on the weekends more like a meeting place for any kind of fun people with drums, surf boards, guitars and lots of beer. Really peaceful, but the sun just disappeared behind big clouds, when I came down to the beach. No sun and hanging out for me, but climbing back up the 444 steps to the street. This and the fact, that I’ve already been biking for about 6 hours, up and downhill, made me realize, that my legs were quite sore. So I gave my best getting back to Scotts place. Another 45 minutes, but not as bad as I thought. It’s all about the motivation and mine was a great dinner! And it was actually delicious! With a lot of red wine. Gosh, how I live wine! And food!

Ah yes, I also tasted the night live in Vancouver. But I could not really find “the place”. Some places were ok, some rather less. One place, I’ve been on Thursday night with these Mexican guys I met at this bar, I’ve been to with Scott and his frieds (long link here, huh?), this place was quite bad. It’s called Odyssey, looks a lot like last century and the first 5 (five!!!) songs, they played when I got in there were from Madonna, the next hour some strage technoy kind of noise. Saturday was a little better, some more clubs but nothing ground braking. Friday was the best. Just food and red wine!

And it was already Sunday, strange how quick time passes some times. Time to get on the ferry.

A long ride with nothing to do but taking pictures. Nice boat and nice nature. Ah yes there’s this bus company that drives from downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria and takes care of all the Ferry tickets. Pacific Coach Lines was the name, I guess. Quite nice, too.

Victoria itself, located on the Vancouver Island, is actually worth more than just a day. Don’t believe people who tell you different. But as I had just a day and two nights (more than most people would advice you to stay) my experiences here are quite limited. To some great talks to my two hosts Danno and Sarra and a trip on one of these “greenpeace boats”, you know the rubber ones, to go and see some killer whales. Danno actually just moved in his place the day I got there and still hosted me! That’s probably the youngest couch ever hosted! I should get a record for that. And Danno a kind of certificate for being a great host! Next night at Sarra’s we played silly games, wrote and draw on the table and watched a movie. Thanks for the great night!

Ah yes and the whales! I saw them. Big boys! Was definitely worth getting on the boat, although it must have been a challenge for my body, that just recovered from this stupid cold. Well, I’m not cold again, so that’s good news. And there’s more animals than whales in the ocean around victoria. But the whales eat seals, so they win.

That said, it’s already all for Victoria. Next stop Seattle.
Flickr set Vancouver
Flickr set Ferry

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | No Comments »

The two ways of Montréal

Ja, es isch nöd eifach gsi. Zersch hani ken host gfunde, denn doch, denn ischs Natel abgschmiert, bez. es het eifach ke empfang zwüsched Boston und Montréal, denn chani min eigendiche Host nöd erreiche, defür en andere, aber die hend scho vier anderei CouchSurfer dihei, denn suechi en andere Host und lande bim Kolleg vo eim woni gschribe han. De isch nödemal uf CouchSurfing. Aber mal abgse devo, daser sini Wohnig uf 27°C heizt ganz en liebe.

Ja, de nöd-CouchSurfer wo mi denn ghostet het, hani chum gse. Mal zwüscheddure, wenn mer zuefällig grad beid i de Wonig gsi sind. Aber zum Glück isch das nöd wiiter schlimm gsi.

Ah ja, isch glaub sit langem de ersti Züridütschi post da… Bin ja eigendli de Meinig, das d Gschichtli am beste chömed, wennis i de Sprach verztell, wonis erlebt ha. Aber da z Montréal isch das eh es riise puff. Französisch und Englisch werded da munter gmischt. Also ja, eigendli wohni ja im frazösischsprachige teil. Grad hinder em Village, so chli wie e Stadt i de Stadt, aber denn ebe doch nöd. Le Village isch wohl eini vo de gröste gay neighborhoods weltwiit. Heisst es isch e langi Strass, bez. de Teil vo dere Strass zwüsched de Metro statione Beri-UQAM und Papineau und di umgebende Strässli. Alles da isch sehr bunt und s het gleub ken lade, wo nöd i irgendere Form d Regebogefahne ufghänkt oder aklebt het. D Metro station Beaudry, di mittleri, isch sogar di einzig Station vo öffentlichem Verkehr weltwiit, wo in Regebogefarbe agmalt isch. Seged jedefalls d Montréaler.

Lustig isch, das obwohl das warschindli eis vo de schwulste Quartier weltwiit isch, sich d Lüt glich abartig vermisched… I de Strassekafis tumled sich Iheimischi i jedem erdenkliche Alter, cheibe vill bärig-bärtigi schwuli Pärli, Touriste im ghobene alter, schicki micki-Tunte, Meitli mit chopftuech und wohl jede Typ Mensch, wo mer sich chan vorstelle.

I guess this diversity of people, is generally one of Montréal’s main characteristics. I spent Sunday afternoon together with Philippe, one of the couch surfers I wrote to. And we went to the tam tam, a gathering of any kind of people in a big park in the Plateau. Imagine thousands of people, some with drums, some with juggling balls, some with a slackline, others with foam-padded swords, fighting each other. Everybody enjoying the nice weather, chatting along, drinking a beer or otherwise savoring the day. Again families, singles, freaks, gays, tourists, girls selling their bad self-written poems, drunkards, aspiring circus artists,… I guess a world where everybody can be him/herself and people don’t rely on prejudice must look like Montréal.

Ah ja, natürlich hets au da e “Altstadt” aber wie so jedi Altstadt isch die gspickt mit Souvenir-Läde und übertürete Restaurants. Also am beste grad usslah und direkt s Plateau und s gay village gnüsse.

Natürli bini au in usgang. Het mi zersch chli agschisse, das min Host nöd würkli uf Konversation und öpis mitenand astelle us isch, aber denn bini eifach mal d Strass abegloffe und nach emene feine znacht bini eifach mal noimed inegloffe. Isch s Cabaret Mado gsi. Isch glaub recht e Intitution, da. Grundsätzlich wider s glich, all Arte vo lüt und e Show wo warschindli sit Jahre ähnlich ablauft. D Moderatorin isch echt 1A gsi. Dere het mer fasch abgno, das si e Frau isch. Chli schillernd, aber guet. Ja, di einzelne darbütige sind gmischt gsi. Teils “Dame” sind nöd so überzügend gsi, schad, wenn mer de Kerl ebe glich mega dure gspürt. Ja und au Playback chan mer übertribe. Ich mein, bi jedem Luut d schnurre ufrisse, als wett mer en Tennisböle veschlucke isch nöd so natürlich. Aber ich mus fair sii, het au ganz gueti gha, eini isch “Bleeding Love” vo de Leona Lewis gsi. Gsunge vonere das mal überzügende Dame und begleitet vo zwei Tänzer. Schön! Aber ja, wie gseit, han eigendli go Party mache wele. Isch aber grad guet gsi, hani mi zersch is Mado verirrt. Will de Club woni nacher ine bin het eh ersch spöter ufgmacht…

Next stop after Cabaret Mado was the night club Unity. Just re-opened and made for the younger generation. Lucky me, as soon as I entered the three story club and walked over to the bar, this guy introduces him to me. It turned out, that he and his boyfriend are form Boston (my last stop) and they come over to Montréal quite often, because night live in Boston apparently sucks. Well, I had company for the rest of the night. Their hotel room was just around the corner. Great so save some money and get drinks there instead of buying them at the bar… It was also this night, when I realized another difference between the US and Canada. The Boston boys were really straight forward, quite bold and to the point, where this nice boy from Montréal, who we met later that night was rather “a little shy” as he said with a nice french accent. Well, it ended up being a really long and fun night and I got back to my hosts apartment when the sun almost began to rise again…
I want this club back in Zürich! PLEASE!

Hmmm ja, ich glaub vill me gids nümm. Usser, dasi umbedingt wider mal da ane cho mus. Isch ebe scho schön da, au wenns Wetter nümm soooo prächtig isch. Irgendwie hani grad mega Lust übercho, mis Franz wider ufzbessere. Isch eifach andersch, wenn noimed inelaufsch und mit de Lüt chasch dirkutiere ohni das si münd für dich uf Englisch wechsle… Ja, die Sprache. Sind ebe doch en schlüssel zur Welt.

UPDATE:

A few small remarks, I forgot to mention:

• If you hear the sirens in Montréal it’s always the firefighters or the ambulance, in the US it’s only the police that doesn’t want to wait until the lights turn green…
• The city of Montréal is nice (I told you…) but the Airport should be considered international territory. All assholes! Worst is CASEY’S bar and grill. Never get any drinks or food there, nor even consider doing something like that. I told you, I caught a cold, to fight it I wanted t get a tea, sounds good. But I never have been kicked out of a restaurant/bar/whatever with less respect than at CASEY’S. And for what? For ordering a tea! Sounds like bad marketing, might be a coincidence, but the place was almost deserted…
• I forgot to get poutine kind of the Montréals kebab… Fries with gravy and sime kind of cheese/”chees making leftovers”. Everybody told me it’s delicious.

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | 3 Comments »

Boston

Well, my time in Boston was short. What I’ve seen was nice. But the people I’ve met were even nicer. All the great people at the couch surfing meeting o Thursday night! And my fabulous host Natasha. Almost a soul mate and definitely the most amazing girl you would ever find in Boston!
We had the best talks you can imagine. Here a small extract of our night-long discussions, something to think about yourself.

Today will feel different tomorrow

The flickr set Boston

Posted in USA & Canada 2008 | No Comments »

New York, New York

What to expect from a city like New York? I had no clue, imagined something big, a lot of business, glamour a lot of cabs and something overwhelming.

What I found was quite different, but still somehow the same. Get the whole story, read on.

I came here on the DC2NY bus, Dupond Circle to Midtown Manhattan. A good ride, but the advertised wireless internet did only work part time… Really part and less time.

Not wanting to loose myself in the city and - far more to get the feeling for the city - I took a cab to my hosts place. Nathan was working during the day, so he left me a key at the doorman. Sound strange for couchsurfers, but makes sense, if you live in a 52 story apartment building in Manhattan. So I got there, got in the elevator, that made the 52 stories incredibly quick and got in the penthouse apartment. It feels quite good, when you open the door and see the skyline out of the window in front of you… Somehow strange, though. OK, this is New York.

I walked through the city, say parts of Soho and TriBeCa and finally met my host for dinner. We ate at a african restaurant, that is led by a well known chef, only nobody officially knows that. So the hipsters queue at the official restaurants of this guy and pay really high prices. We walked in and payed less. Good to have a local with you.

On our way back to the apartement we stopped by at a small cabaret. It’s like the farthest room in the second floor of a gay bar. The showmaster introduced several local artists, who had each 10 minutes time to give their best standup comedy. There was a pair of jewish twins, singing a musical-mash-up with altered lyrics, a hilarious fat woman making talking about skinny models and other disgusting things, another girl that informed us about her newst diet, that should give great shits and a guy that thought the name of a grocery product rather suited an abortion clinic. Great show. Another fragment.

Friday was rainy, so walked to Grond Zero, which is right next to the apartement, and decided to spend the rest of the day at MoMa. Was great, but Tate Modern in London is way cheaper and less crowded and our local museum at Zurich University of Arts has the same Design exhibits… So good, but not really exhilarating, this MoMa day. But that was not all. Nathan told me, I should not make any plans for the night, as he and his friend planed something fun… The only thing he told me was that I should meet him at 7 pm at the SoHo House (worth googling!) for the steam room and dinner.

Dinner was great. And I was glad, that I did not take out my camera (well, I didn’t have it with me any way) for a picture of us at the table - would have been a nice one, great room - because it’s apparently not allowed there, as a lot of well known people dine there and want to be under themselves… Another great experience for me, classy!

The show we were going to after, was kind of the contrary. The whole crowd staying in the middle of a large dark room, electronic music, lights, lights, light, water, actors, everything moving. We too. You can’t stand still during the show, you are part of it. Ah yes, there’s no chairs! An amazing show.

Saturday was a bike day. Together with Nathan, I explored the various neighbourhoods of NYC. Stating at the seaport, just around the corner from the apartment, we went over Brookline Bridge had a drink at a nice little place in Brookline - not one you would find in a guide book though - and rode up north randomly choosing directions until we reached Williamsburg. After riding a terrible unconfortable bike, the Williamsburg Bridge seems to be really long! The ascending part at least. Riding down was fun. We had some lunch in Lower East Side and got back to the apartment.

Aparently to late. All tickets for the musical “Spring Awakening” were sold. I wanted to see it so bad! When I decide to do something and it does not work out, is bothers me a lot. After all I missed the musical in London already. So we decided to have an easy evening, bot a bath each, hang out a little. Well a long time and got to that party way to late. Well, it was great, that we came late. It was the party of one of Nathans friends. This friend was the only interesting person at the party. So I was not too disappointed, when the party ended exactly half an hour after we arrived. Leaving there, Nathan took me to one of this placed, that did not change since the 80s. Say same look, same music, new people.

On sunday we somehow managed to miss buying tickets again. Both shows were fully booked, when we woke up and so we had so settle with some tickets at 2 pm, which we only found through Craigslist. Well, they were cheaper than any other ticket I have ever found on the internet and probably way better, too. A bit more biking - the west side this time, Times Square and all that - a good Coffee in Chelsea (Grumpy Cafe 20th St, between 7th and 8th Av) on the way and some tourist pictures later we locked our mikes in front of the theatre and the show started. What followed was two hours of constant shivering, great music and a truly touching story. I highly recommend anybody to see Spring Awakening. GO FOR IT! I could explain the story and go on for hours, but if you’re interested, google “Spring Awakening Musical NYC” and you get it all. Only that, it’s about adolescents struggeling with live and society, includes a lot of unfairness and makes you glad we don’t live in the 19th century. It tells you, you only live once, fuck society, do your thing and live your live. Only using more swear words and beautyful melodies. Did I say, that Spring Awakening is awsome?

The rest of my stay in NYC was over in no time. Well, 48 hours to be exact, but you get it. Walks in central park. A visit to Apples 5th Av store, a must for a mac freek like me (yes, the cube is nice, but no, I did not take pictures). Chinese food in China Town. A long walk at night, must have been like 70 blocks, that I walked. Some working. Not finding a host in Boston. Eventually finding one. Getting short of time to catch my bus to Boston. A long busride, again. Emotional confusion afterlistening to the beautyful melodies of Spring Awakening and some of my other favourite tunes on the bus. I’m ok, no worries, but I feel like getting a big hug from somebody I know for more than a couple of days. But my Boston host got me down on earth again. I feel like a great time is comming.

Ah yes NYC. People say it is great, special, uncomparable… it is. Kind of. It really makes you want to get more. Although it is different from anything you would expect, what I expected. I guess I have to get back, one day.
Flickr Set NYC

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DC by heart

Yet another big city? Yes and no. The really big ones are yet to come and Washington DC is not like most of the other cities I’ve been to. First of all, everything is walkable, Or at least easy to reach by Metro. DC is the first place that has a real subway system. And a real nice one, too. The big hall like platforms are incomparable with say the London tube. I got to DC on Thursday, I guess, where I first stayed with Bob and Richard, an artsy couple living in their thirties. They did everything possible to help me get started in town. Friday night was fully packed. First we went to this art opening, to see real art made in the district and then we went to Artomatic. 8 floors of a new built building temporarely filled with “art”. Everybody can exhibit. That said, it does not surprise, that there was really bad art and some good in between… After seeing two floors and getting dizzy, Bob decided to take me out to the clubs of DC, together with some of his friend, I got to see about every gay club in the city. As soon as we were in one, they decided that it was a lame/bad/whatever night and we should check out the other clubs, so maybe there is something better.
Thanks to the effort of Bob, I now have the full picture.
Next night was more calm, chinese food and some weird movies from the 70s.

Oh yes, and I did see most of the sights. The Capitol is still there and big as ever, the white house is not white but rather brownish and the monument is still really big and tall. Seems like some man had to reassure himself, when he decided to build that thing…

As I did not find a place in Philly for the next few nights, I decided to stay in Washington and just change to another host. Brian, whom I just wrote to meet up for a coffee (he says no couch at the moment on his profile) offered me his place, which saved me a lot of trouble. He’s a really relaxed, nice coffee-loving man in his 20s and his job at Eurovision (no not for the song contest, they do more than that) gave us some good talks, as he already knows us Europeans quite well. Together we walked through the city, had some good coffee, cooked some nice food… This is what I call a great host. On Tuesday, when he had to work the night shift, his roommate took me out to this 80s-night at one of the bars around the corner. Their apartment is really at a great place. Everything is just around the corner… At least all the nightlife. I recognized the club as one I’ve already been on Friday, but this night should prove to be better… We were actually the first to get on second floor, no one else around, but after one drink, the situation changed rapidly. Soon, the space was more or less full. With mostly - not only - good looking men. I - as a stranger - must have made a good impression on these. I did not have to pay for drinks this night and still always had a full glass… Did I tell you, that US drinks are a lot stronger than the ones in CH? However. James, this one guy I guess a friend of Brian’s roommate, was the only one good for more than just a “hi, mi name is XY” Nice guy this James. And good looking, too.

So after another long night partying I had a last, rather relaxed day in the district, some more nice talks with brian and a good nights sleep, before I left on the 9 am bus to New York. Writing this, I sit on the couch of a nice 52th floor appartement in south Manhattan with a bustling weekend in front of me. Burt that’s another story that has jet to happen. Unique and not to be compared with anything else, I was told.

Anyway, I really like DC. All of it.

And the flickr set of DC

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Out in the Nature

The last few days, I spent in Asheville a small city in the mountains of North Carolina. I only found a a host for Tuesday and Wednesday and I had a ticket for the Greyhound bus, that leaves Charleston on Monday. So after some more couch requests, I eventually found a place to stay. It was actually the best thing that could have happened. It was really bad that I had two hosts in the same city and had to move between the two, choose how much time to spend with each, but it was great, that I had to look for another host on Monday. I stayed with this wonderful couple Cella and Emmet at Warren Willson College. I turned out to be their first surfer ever!

Anyway, the nature in Asheville is beautiful, a lot of trees, flowers, hills. Kind of like home. And, as I said, I had great company. The two are doing their finals this and next week, before the summer break begins and still took the time to show me around the campus and talk to me. I’m so glad I met these two! We might run into each other in New York or Boston, they’re heading north after the finals.

The other host I stayed with was Steve, a really interesting person. For his 50th birthday, he organized a concert for charity. Generally, he is a really giving person, tries to help everybody and make friends with all the people he meets. He took me to some of his friends, where I got delicious Mexican food. Yummy. And the other day, I fixed the printer of another of his friends. I really liked that woman. She travels a lot, is really friendly and has a lot of energy.

And the Flickr-Set for Asheville NC

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