Graffiti Walk

Something I've noticed about Europe is that graffiti enjoys a very different status within the culture than it does in the US. Whereas in the US, graffiti is generally something frowned upon, to be cleaned off an afflicted building immediately, and generally located in less-than-savory areas of town or signaling the presence of crime, European graffiti seems to be a point of pride. It doesn't get painted over quickly (if ever), and it can be found in abundance in any location. There are even some spots specially reserved for artists to come practice their spraying art.

As expected, many sprayers are angsty teenage boys searching for an outlet, some advertising anarchy or other political messages, but sometimes the art is cute, sweet, or even poetic. Here's a collection of some of my favorite, most noteworthy small graffiti works I've seen over the past few months. (My favorite one, due to its striking contrast, was mentioned in an earlier post.)

Oerlikon Nord train station

Choose Your Leader

Not graffiti, but nonetheless interesting building; I like to think it's home to anarchist squatters

"She's My Baby" in Verona. See if you can spot it!

Zurich tram

Stuttgart artist, photographing his work

"The rock of truth and the water of righteousness form life for eternity." outside Zurich

Though I don't have a picture of it, one of the most inspirational graffiti works that I often think back on is painted on a sidewalk on Euclid Avenue in Berkeley. It's a simple, blue, stenciled-looking work with a picture of a small tree branch with leaves on it and the message "breathe, you are alive."

Mild Anarchy

I paid a quick visit to Strasbourg, France, and I have to admit, I was more pleased with France than I was expecting to be. The Petite France area was quaint, the Notre Dame impressive, the Rhine calm, and the trams comfortable, but it was the food and atmosphere that impressed me the most. We all hear about French cuisine being so great, but I figured it was just European snobbery; after all, food in Italy was good, but not all of it was fabulous, and same goes for most other places in Europe I've eaten. But every meal I had in Strasbourg was really good and well-prepared.

On top of that, there's a feeling of light anarchy, layered on top of shallowly-hidden hot tempers attitudes. I feel this disregard for organized rules is best exhibited at crosswalks. Pedestrians pretty much walk when they feel like it, though they generally do it when there's only a little traffic coming; with this attitude, I almost got myself run over back in Switzerland. I suspect the anarchy would be dialed up a notch in other parts of France that aren't tempered by Germans as the Alsace region is.

The Strasbourgeois seem to stay up very late, with streets not emptying until well past midnight, and in the dark of night, there were large numbers of people hanging out in the Orangerie park, chatting, making guitar and bongo music, and generally loving life. (Despite the reputations of France and Italy, however, I still think Switzerland seems to sport the most PDA of anywhere I've been in Europe.)

Lord help me, but I kind of want to move to France now.

"The Other Place" and "The Other Other Place"

My UK tour finished up with visits to Cambridge and Oxford, back-to-back. In Cambridge, I got to go punting for the first time, and the weather was lovely the whole trip, if a bit too windy.

Oxford was also quite nice, and a lot of the students had examinations that day, which meant they were running around in their navy uniforms with little pink carnations pinned to their blazers.

Neither is a school of slouches, with both places having lots of famous names associated with them: for starters, Cambridge has Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin; Oxford, Lewis Carroll and JRR Tolkien. Both have lots of character created by the lovely old stone architecture, spared from the bombings the rest of England experienced during WWII. The main differences I perceive in the two towns is that the colleges in Cambridge play a greater role in shaping the image of the town (or is it city? I get confused about the European standards); Oxford's colleges tend to be a bit more hidden, and Oxford itself has wider streets that seem a little more car-friendly.

I always figured myself for an Oxford type, based on the fact that I have friends associated with Oxford, but I have to admit, I think that when it comes down to it, I'm more of a Cambridge fan.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit

I just got back from an excellent 2-week trek across the UK, and I thought I'd share my thoughts about the cities I visited in a fairly organized manner. For each city I visited, I will list the best and worst things about it. Coincidentally, I've also started watching some British trash television, including a show called "Snog, Marry, Avoid," and I will be assigning one of these three judgments to each city I present. (Snog = kiss/make-out, for you non-Brits.)

First off, Scotland, and more specifically, Edinburgh!

Let there be no mistake: I love Edinburgh. I think it's my new favorite city. I had consistently seen this seat of Scottish Parliament as the Top City to Visit by many people's standards, but I just had no idea. Originally, I wasn't even planning on staying a full day there, so I'm quite happy I ended up making it a slightly longer stay! As it was, I could have stayed for a week and not been tired of looking around.

Best about Edinburgh: Where to begin... it's clean, the architecture is absolutely beautiful, the skyline when you walk to the city centre from the bus station is just stunning, the weather was a nice sunny/cloudy/sprinkling mix, stores are open on Sundays (!), the museums and Parliament are mostly all free to visit, the Leith River walkway is a lovely 12-mile stretch of walking path, the Caledonian Backpackers Hostel was fantastic, and THE CASTLE (enough said).

Worst about Edinburgh: That I can't just up and move there (thanks for nothing, EU).. also, you won't find too many unintelligble Scottish accents here.

Snog, marry, avoid? Marry, baby; this city is awesome!


Next up, Aberdeen.

Bleh, the City of Granite is not high on my list of places to re-visit, despite its having a nice Robert the Bruce statue.

Best about Aberdeen: seeing a pod of dolphins swim by at the beach on the North Sea, the cool Kordova Klub pub near the train station, proximity to Edinburgh (only 3 hours by coach)

Worst about Aberdeen: that everything's made of this gray, institutional-looking granite; every museum in the city is closed on Mondays (when I was there)

Snog, marry, avoid? I'd avoid Aberdeen. Sorry, this place was just gray and not much fun.


Final stop in Scotland: Inverness.

Inverness is a pretty nice little place. It was chilly and super-windy, but fortunately, I was prepared for a little northern weather in the Capital of the Highlands.

Best about Inverness: ceilidh bars with traditional music, cool travelers in the Student Hotel, nice bridges over the River Ness, Loch Ness, Culloden Battlefield, walking from the Battlefield to Clava Cairns and Milton of Clava, the castle near the city centre, lots of good restaurants, tons of whiskey distilleries (including the small Bendromach distillery; the Malt Whiskey Trail goes through the area), thick Scottish accents, rainbows everywhere (I saw on average one a day)!

Worst about Inverness: needing to take a bus/train to get to a lot of the good cultural stuff, though it wasn't too complicated or expensive, and the view was nice; the damp chill and high winds that kept me somewhat chilled the whole time, especially when I didn't dry my hair after showering one morning

Snog, marry, avoid? Snog and maybe marry. Inverness seems pretty nice, though I don't know what it would be like to live there. I'd probably spend more time in the Highlands than in Inverness, quite frankly.


As for the title of this post, "No one attacks me with impunity" is the motto of Scotland, and it's written in many places: over the doorway of the Edinburgh castle, on coats of arms, and even in one of the holy chapels in Edinburgh! Fun fact.

Stop and Stare

No sooner had I stepped through Customs in the Zurich airport when I felt the renewed presence of the Staring. Having been in the UK for 2 weeks, I had mostly flown under the radar in crowds, never feeling like I was being scrutinized and examined by strangers. But once back in my Swiss train station, I could feel the eyes following me. Granted, at the time I looked like I was traveling in from Scandinavia, comparing my backpack, jeans, and two jacket layers to the Daisy Dukes and spaghetti strap camisole a nearby girl eating an ice cream cone was wearing. However, I quickly adjusted my wardrobe to the weather here (which feels simply tropical compared to Inverness, Scotland), and the staring continues days later.

Contrary to some belief, it's not just young guys staring. In fact, in terms of gender, staring seems to be an equal-opportunity profession. Sometimes it's older people, no doubt checking out the younger generation and shaking their head sadly as they think back fondly on the Good Ol' Days of their youth; if they hear me speak English and they're particularly right-wing, maybe they even harbor some ill-will towards me and all the other foreigners who've flocked to Switzerland in recent years. Sometimes those staring are young, and the most off-putting things is that I'm not quite sure why they're staring. When I feel the heat of so many eyes on me, I don't know if it's good attention or bad attention, so I go through a quick checklist: do I have on pants? A shirt? .. Yes on both counts? Well, that's pretty much the whole checklist, so I remain stumped.

Other English and American expats in Switzerland have noted this baffling phenomenon as well and offered different theories about it, but I guess regardless of the reasons behind being stared at, good or bad, we should just enjoy the attention... and maybe practice making faces at people and freaking out the Starers.

In the Shadow of the Matterhorn

Words can't really do justice to the Matterhorn. It's simply striking and even somewhat creepy at night when its dark outline is still visible against the twilight sky. Pictures can't fully do it justice either, but that doesn't mean I didn't try by taking about 50 pictures of the Matterhorn in its different phases of cloud cover.

Zermatt is mostly closed between the winter and summer seasons; it's very bizarre seeing a town full of grand 5 star hotels and restaurants that are simply closed down for the next 2 months. Unfortunately, it's still very snowy on the mountain peaks, so the hiking trails to the Schwarzsee and Hoernli Hut (base station where the mountaineers start their climb) were closed off, which was quite disappointing. On the other hand, it was great not to have the town and paths swarming with tourists, so I guess it was a fair tradeoff.

There's a graveyard outside the main church dedicated to those who have died on the surrounding mountains. Most of them were male and between the ages of 17 and 27 (surprise, surprise). Of course, maybe they made the initial mistake of trying Gusti's Viper poison in the village of Zmutt.

Also, only in Switzerland will you be on a tough uphill Wanderweg hiking path and suddenly run into a mom pushing a stroller with 2 kids alongside her.

Tour de Southern Deutschland (Minus the Bike)

I've been stressing myself out for the past week over my job hunt and my upcoming trip to England that I just planned last night (and leave for this evening). So this post is going to be a slightly lazier one, pictures of a few highlights with a little description.

Southern Germany is awesome. Fuessen is the best little hidden gem Bavaria has to offer, holding both the Forggensee (which dries up to a stream in winter time, that you can throw bicycles into if that's your thing) and Castle Neuschwanstein. The LA Hostel is pretty cool too, with lots of interesting and eccentric travelers, and the train ride from Fuessen to Munich is gorgeous.

Also in Bavaria is the Koenigssee, the Dear Leader's favorite vacation-ing area, not without good reason. It boasts the "most drinkable" water in Germany (though I wouldn't drink it.. there are tons of boats and stuff that go through all the time) and the (debateably) highest waterfall in Germany, the Roethbach.

When it's nice out, crazy people surf in the Munich English Garden. It's great to see the good ones and even better to see the wipe-outs.

Stuttgart has a great zoo, complete with a Peacock Guard patrol; the birds work together and protect each other from annoying little kids that chase them.

It also seems to have its own Angry Bird, starved for attention and biting its cage, possibly wanting to bite me even though I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything to offend it.

Then I almost bricked my phone, so I don't have any pictures of Tuebingen's castle. The phone is okay now, but alas, I have no pictures of the great view of Tuebingen and the Albs (not the Alps).