Just two quotes…
Martes Octubre 27th 2009, 0:57 am
Archivado en: General

Reflexive i am these days somehow… two pieces  of two books that i like, from Hermann Hesse:

Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.”  (Siddharta)

Conclusion: beware what you dream of… because maybe it becomes reality…  nothing surprising in this thought.

I have a  ‘finding’  feeling  in the last times… even if i have a lot of seeking still …

“‘One never reaches home,’ she said. ‘But where paths that have an affinity for each other intersect, the whole world looks like home, for a time.'”  (Demian)

For how long?  Would Ulysses have said the same?



Ich bin ein Berliner auch!
Lunes Octubre 26th 2009, 19:31 pm
Archivado en: Around the world ...

Coming back to Germany, nearly 10 years ago after the eclipse, was a good experience. As I swore to myself, I’d just come to Germany learning little bit of Deutsch… but the experience was quite different. First of all, I went to Hannover, train to Göttingen and got in that marvellous hotel… and, as always, northern countries like to greet me with rain and cold. I roamed around and next day I went to explore properly. I went to the Markt, visited the center, I went all the way to the ‘planetenweg’ and also to the Theather and, of course, the Botanical Garden. This Hortus wasn’t so impressive but was nice. Göttingen was a good place for the meeting (well, it was actually in Lindau), and there was lots of fun and sushi. 4 days of work and fun there!

After that, on saturday, my proper holiday started. I got the ICE to Berlin, in 2 hours I was there. I arrived to the Bahnhof and made the way to Kreuzberg by Jannowitzbrücke. The hostel was nice and well located in Oranienstrasse, full of Turkish shops, Indian restos and other lots of good food. I go walking to the Checkpoint Charlie, that was pretty crowded, and then I went to the Jüdisches Museum, nice architecture but I thought the content could be more interesting. Leaving the museum late (good to know that some museums in Berlin close at 20h), I went walking to the Brandenburg Tor and the Holocaust Memorial, to Postdamerplatz. Arrived again and went for good vindaloo around. There is were I started to feel the Berliner spirit: open and nice, unpretentious, and when you got stacked with German, they just speak English. Same like people in Madrid: when there are so many people that are not from there, it makes a very special environment, and I love it. Quien vive en Madrid es Madrileño,  who stays in Berlin is a Berliner. Easy like that.  Ich bin ein Berliner auch.

On Sunday, I prepared myself for the ‘big museum round’: I went to the Pergamon, Altes and Neues Museum. The Pergamon is soo amazing, I got so impressed by the babilonian Ishtar gate and all the asyrian engravings…wow. That part even impressed me more than the 3 whole greek temple gate, yards included… good part of Arabic art and good amount of greek sculptures, … Altes had lots of greek sculptures, mainly all of that, and … one of the deceptions: Nefertiti was on tour around and I couldn’t see it!! The Neues museum was nice, romantic painting, some expressionist…after that I went to Alexanderplatz (for Spandauerstrasse, Rothaus, Nikolaus kirsche) to meet friends and we went to a nice burgerplace with good 70s music and nice veggie burgers.

Next day, Monday, was an unlucky day for museums. After moving out, I tried to go to the Bauhaus archive in the rain…. And Bauhaus was on ‘bau’ and couldn’t visit it. After that big deception of the day, I walked along the Tiergarten to go to Postdamerplatz. That day, like all the time in Berlin, was so rainy and cold, … I decided to go to the Bundestag, all the way along the Spree river to the Kulturenhaus, the Grote Stern and after having lunch in Hansaplatz, I went to visit the Bröhan museum… closed. So I watched Charlottenburg palace and went to the old broken church and coffie to go the Urania boulevard and the Zoo platz.

On Tue, I went to the Botanical garden and the Bröhan museum. The first one was as good as expected, the greenhouses are soo amazingly large… wow.There were lots of carnivorous plants, as I like, good tropical section, and… other dissapointment: the Victoria waterlily wasn’t there! Where can a waterlily go? The outdoor part of the Garden was really nice, the ‘arboretum’ was a good forest, and some ponds and lots of colors by autumn… Nice veggie omelette in the Botanical, and prepared to go to the Bröhan. This jugenstil museum was ok, lots of german and French art-deco, but I missed the mentions to the relationship between the functionalism and the Bauhaus and, of course, just a mention to MacIntosh! There were a reference from Knox, it’s ok, but not MacIntosh. After that we went to Nikolakirche area for a coffee, nice area, and for pizza in Kreuzbeurg.  Next day to VLC again with the willing of coming back one day to Berlin for a long stay there…



Hiroshima- no words
Domingo Octubre 25th 2009, 22:30 pm
Archivado en: Around the world ...,How far Japan...

The night before i didn’t felt very well, but i just decided that if i was ok the next day, i’d go to Hiroshima. I have this city stuck in my mind since the date of the bombings was one day before my birthday (i was born 25 years and 1 day later). Of course it’s not the date that make the idea of going there impressive. It was the first city on Earth destroyed completely by an atomic bomb, and somehow where physics lose its innocence. Science is not an innocent game, as Nobel realised, or other sciencients who made some politics knew, as Galileo, Newton… So I had to go to Hiroshima.  I woke up very early, at 4.30, and actually that night i couldn’t sleep at all. Anyway, i went there with my bike, couldn’t get a matcha frappucino (too early for that) and i got the train and after the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, nearly 4 h, i slept all the way. Just woke up in the Hiroshima eki, arrived there and took a coffee and walked to Hiroshima center. It was 11.30, i knew that i couldn’t arrive on time at 12, and it was so hot and humid…  just went waking with my map, was a common city like every other in Japan… i arrived to the first milestone: a bronze plate which said that we were at 850 metre from ‘the impact’. Kept on walking, and heart run faster and sadder, as if it was shrinking…. 450m… more walking and i just see that: the ‘A dome’: the symbol of all destruction and all hope, as it was just one out 3 buildings that survived. Nothing else in the city, well, another two bridges. Nothing else at  8.15. Nobody. Nobody? some people survived in the bunkers or in a some lucky way… i arrived to the ‘Park peace’, and i was so impressive: so many people, and so many tsuru as symbol of longevity, as that little girl wanted, just being alive to make 1000 paper cranes… i listened to some concerts and went to the museum. Also very impressive: copies of the letters of Einstein, sent to the American president, Oppenheimer’s replies…. all of it was exposed in a very simple way, any self-pity feeling  or so. I found something that also i was looking for there: some declaration saying that yep, Japan did it wrong in the war, of course, and ‘all of us should work together with our mutual pain as a gift for the future’.  I also saw all the telegrams that every Hiroshima mayor send to every president who carries out atomic tests, ..maps with nuclaer arsenal and so… after so much stuff, i went to see some of the survivors: some pine trees that were very close to the area, and to the human ones: I listened, but it was in japanese, an speech of one of the of the survivors, was pretty impressive to me. I’m still sad as i knew that the president used to meet them in such an important occasion, every 6th of August since then, and now it’s not being done anymore. In an institutional way, Japan wants to forget its past… some gaijin want to remember. We can’t forget. We shouldn’t forget. At least, i’m relieved because the Hiroshima people, the affected ones, don’t wanna forget, and it can be felt that they know the meaning of the word ‘Peace’.

After that i went to roam around… to the Memorial, also quite good, and i made some more origami tsuru, to leave them in the Memorial. After another concert and an okonomiyaki, i kept my way to he Hiroshima castle, reconstructed of course, and went to the Hiroshima koen, nice park, very relaxing and full of turtles. Tired of that intense day, i came to the station at 6, got the shinkanken and slept all the way to Tokyo.