enroute to Bavaria

FROM BASQUE COUNTRY, TO PARIS, THEN BAVARIA

I am buggered, as they say in Aussie, having spent most of the night up with Paul during our spontaneous rendez-vous at a hukkah bar. Passed out on the car seat, my dad's driving us from Paris to Frankfurt at dangerously high speeds. Its curious the need for adrenalin in order to secure focus - whether its in fast cars, waves, or leaving a 10 page paper for the last minute. But that's another story; what happened on the drive to Germany requires more pressing attention!

I awoke from a pseudo-conscious slumber as we drove in the town of Reims, an hour east of Paris. In typical style, my father claims here is THE cathedral to see in Europe, and indeed it is absurdly fantastic. huge, ornate Gothic spires, skylights of stained glass illuminating everything. The stone is so heavy yet the feel is light. To think what this place represents is baffling: longing for divinity, hierarchies of power, all the wars in its name. The cathedral contains the spectrum of good-bad in humans, it is so thick with meaning. And these are thoughts of a 20th c. science-indoctrinated Brasilian/American; what would the peasants, nobility, monks of the time have thought??

When we visited the Bilbao Guggenheim museum in Spain I also felt some awe. The building is INCREDIBLE, an organic mix of titanium scales, stone, and glass. Like a curvaceous fish going through electric shock treatment. And inside is equally impressive, no right angles anywhere, the modern art exhibitions fitting in perfectly. But why build a $100 million craziness in an industrial, trashy city on the Basque coast? what better way to revive the economy than create a magnet for tourism, a focal point for creativity and wealth. Like the cathedral, the cost of this place to society is disproportionate, but what emerges is excitement and imagination. The medieval, institutionalized Church had its degenerate aspects, and wonderful sides; but isn't the tourism, science, the overall modern vision which binds society also somewhat degenerate? only with the luxury of hindsight do we indulge in criticism, but perhaps neither is worse than the other. Then again it might matter little compared to the stoke that people (like me!) get from seeing these monuments... as a wise man who never existed once said, the inconsequentialities of frivolity!

arriving in Frankfurt I realize I am due to begin work at Hotel Chiemgauhof very soon. And i am struck by a need for my own time, space, after these non stop 3 weeks - or is it 3 months? Though I hope to escape into the anonymity of youth hostel life for a few days, or perhaps a week, this is not to be. A friend is conveniently driving to Munich tomorrow, and once I arrived I found myself boarding a train for Lake Chiemsee, just like that. It felt like I'd been wading in a stream, but it vortexed into a fast river; I could have jumped out, but the view was beautiful all the rapids were swirling; and when the river dumped into the ocean there was a big storm, which uprooted many trees and threw things to Chaos. So I had a night to rest but already in the morning there was much clean-up work to do at the hotel, and pretty soon I was in the kitchen doing dishes.

For 10, 11 hours a day in the kitchen, I learnt how to say plates silverware pots pans in German, and eat yummy salads and ice cream of course. The work was disciplined, not sure if its the German ethic or the restaurant business, but the intensity was high. But outside was paradise, long swims in the morning, warm still sunshine enveloped by the Alps around us. On my day off I rode a bike (cruiser!!) around the 68km lake, charging through the forest in search of the next ideallic pebble beach to cool off in. energy begins to dwindle, however, when the whole workday is spent in one stuffy place washing dishes. I didn't want to leave, these were my parents friends working hard, so who was I to just bail out, and maybe a bit of post-college manual labor is what I need. But that compulsion for time, space, beckoned so strong, my own creativity and exploration. So I left, though the decision wasn't at all easy to make, and I still feel very confused and sad, though relieved. The ocean I'd been dumped into was too big and I had to keep going.

My last weekend at Lake Chiemsee was fantastic when out of sheer coincidence both Lauren Slater and Paul decided to visit me. Riding the ferry all day long, between isles with little castles, playing around the wooden piers; then in the evening drinks at the outside bar at the hotel, watching the piercing colors; and finally rowboat out to the lake for a nudey sunset swim. my friends all extended their stay at Chiemsee, and I was so glad to give them the chance to be here. Then the next day I left, feeling awkward but excited as I hop on the train to Vienna, where I'm staying with Lauren for several days.

She's in an internation dance festival, blowing her mind during the day with inspiring dancers and playing at night. I roamed around the city, the vestiges of Austro-Hungarian empire still standing, stylish coffeshops with smoooooth coffee. This is a transition stage though, as I'm riding another train this afternoon, this time with Paul and girlfriend Abby, heading to Croatia. Things are 'up in the air' like never before, but I see like sparks of opportunity in the horizon and I hope to grasp them.