EUROPE 2019 - 6 WEEKS - LATE MAY - EARLY JULY, 2019
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, FRANCE, NETHERLANDS, DENMARK, GERMANY
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Beatles statues on 2nd floor balcony of Four-Star Hard Day's Night Hotel, Liverpool. The world's first and only (so far?) Beatles-themed hotel. Extensive interior memorabilia, including blown-up photo-realistic reprints of Merseybeat Magazine that chronicled in real time the Beatles rise to the top of the local talent-rich Liverpool rock scene - and then to the top of the world!
Liverpool Institute for The Performing Arts (LIPA). This was Paul, John and George's former grammar school (ages 11-18) called Liverpool Institute High School For Boys. Paul McCartney spearheaded the movement to create a college for the performing arts in the building, which had been closed since 1985.
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LIPA Grand Opening in 1996. George Martin introduced McCartney to LIPA co-founder Mark Featherstone-Witty, and Martin was instrumental in helping make LIPA a reality.
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"Magical Mystery Tour"
"Magical Mystery Tour" is the name of the great Liverpool company which showed us so many key Beatles Liverpool sites - including Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, the Beatles childhood homes, the Penny Lane roundabout, barber shop, and bank, and Paul, John and George's former secondary school (ages 11-18 - called "grammar school in UK) which is now LIPA - Liverpool Institute for The Performing Arts, co-founded by Paul McCartney in 1996.
Tour guide Jay Johnston (pictured) was a great guy and a Beatles expert. He could answer any detailed question I threw at him no matter how esoteric, and is at the knowledge level of a Ph.D. Beatles historian. For many of us, it was a moving experience, and Jay handled that element well also, leaving quiet time between narrations for us to take it all in emotionally. The pacing and selection of certain Beatles songs over the excellent sound system was also superb. The photo collages above and below here include Strawberry Fields, Liverpool Institute for The Performing Arts, John Lennon statue on sidewalk near Cavern Club (unveiled in 1997), childhood houses of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison, the Cavern Club stage, The Hard Day's Night Hotel and its 2nd floor balcony statues, the Penny Lane roundabout, and a phenomenal Beatles memorabilia store, where every employee was a seriously knowledgeable Beatles fan. Also mixed in are some photos of the anti-Trump rally I attended at Trafalgar Square just a few days after arriving in London.
The Cavern Club of course was famous as The Beatle's primary club where they established their Liverpool reputation. The Beatle's first show at the Cavern was Feb 9, 1961, and they performed there 292 times over a two and a half year period. Brian Epstein, a local entrepreneur who owned a record store and produced local stage plays, first heard about the Beatles when excited fans kept coming into his store looking for Beatles records; at the time none existed! Epstein was curious about this local up-and-coming group. He the Beatles perform at the Cavern and was blown away. He was convinced they had the makings of becoming huge. Up to that point, Epstein had zero rock or pop music or recording business experience but a lot of experience with shows and stage play production. Within two years, the Beatles became the top recording group in England and in three years they had conquered America and the world. On the three year anniversary of their first Cavern Club performance, the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan to 73 million U.S. watchers on Feb. 9, 1964. At the time, it was the most viewed show in television history.
The only slight disappointment for me was the Cavern Club itself. The Cavern Club is a "re-creation" of the original that had been torn down in 1973; the government forced the sale of the building and ordered it razed for a subway ventilation shaft that was never constructed! In 1989 the club was rebuilt at a different location on the same street. The new Cavern Club is smaller with a different floorplan than the original one. It did still use the original bricks saved from the original Cavern, and the iconic brick arched stage area is very nicely re-created. It is a well done Disneylandish facsimile. But to me, the place has an unsettled, busy, tourist trap vibe. People cycle in and out, take a quick look, take photos of themselves, and then leave. The main focus seems to be pushing alcoholic drinks. Not a welcoming atmosphere. After experiencing a great bus tour the Cavern was a letdown. Throughout the tour, the "Magical Mystery Tour" company was pushing Cavern "free gift" cards to get people to stop by there after the bus tour ended. The "gift" ended up being a crappy postcard. I would have gone there anyway and didn't need a free gift card. But you had to wait at the bar for the bartender to hand you your disappointing "gift." Whatever it takes to push drinks I guess. They didn't sell me anything - not one of their cheap T-shirts or cheap drinks. Anyway, I loved the Magical Mystery Tour itself and the tour guide Jay Johnston was phenomenal and quite the Beatles historian. But having the bus tour company hype up the Cavern Club cheapened the experience for me.
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The Beatles played 292 Cavern Club shows over 2 1/2 years between 1961 and 1963. The first 91 shows were with drummer Pete Best, in the above center Cavern photo. Ringo's first Cavern show as a Beatle was in August 19, 1962, though he had filled in for Pete Best at some previous Cavern shows. Ringo is in the upper left hand Cavern photo taken Aug. 22, 1962.Best was reportedly fired at the insistence of George Martin as the the Beatles were negotiating their EMI record deal. Martin has been quoted as saying he believed Best was just not a good drummer and could not keep a consistent beat. Note Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 guitar was originally beige in color. He later had the guitar painted painted black.
Regarding the tearing down of the original Cavern, it is surprising that the City of Liverpool didn't take steps to preserve the original Cavern building as a historical monument. It was allowed to be razed in 1973 - only to be re-created at a different location on the same street in 1984 using the same bricks. That newly built 1984 Cavern went bankrupt three times before closing "permanently" for two years in 1989. A new buyer - the current owner, took over the facility and reopened it in 1991 and continues to run it as well the Magical Mystery Tour bus business, which again is excellent. They also sponsor a huge annual "Beatles Week" festival in August.
One has to ask, what were the city "leaders" thinking in 1973 by letting the original Cavern be torn down? England's National Trust preserves a lot of buildings. Were they that braindead at the time? The entire country of England and the City of Liverpool were slow to finally recognize the worldwide historical importance and the tourist potential of being home of the Beatles. I read that, at the time the Cavern was torn down in 1973 Liverpool was really hurting economically and the long-run historical impact and importance of the Beatles was not fully appreciated by traditional historians who run these types of preservation organizations. It is said that after John Lennon died in 1980, Liverpool started getting more and more visitors coming to Liverpool to learn more about the Beatles history. And of course, now the Beatles are a central part of Liverpool's tourism marketing efforts. But it took a long time for that to happen and the original Cavern was lost in the process.
One has to ask, what were the city "leaders" thinking in 1973 by letting the original Cavern be torn down? England's National Trust preserves a lot of buildings. Were they that braindead at the time? The entire country of England and the City of Liverpool were slow to finally recognize the worldwide historical importance and the tourist potential of being home of the Beatles. I read that, at the time the Cavern was torn down in 1973 Liverpool was really hurting economically and the long-run historical impact and importance of the Beatles was not fully appreciated by traditional historians who run these types of preservation organizations. It is said that after John Lennon died in 1980, Liverpool started getting more and more visitors coming to Liverpool to learn more about the Beatles history. And of course, now the Beatles are a central part of Liverpool's tourism marketing efforts. But it took a long time for that to happen and the original Cavern was lost in the process.
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"Small World" department: Magical Mystery Tours guide Jay Johnson knows a local Santa Barbara band - the Tearaways, who perform the annual Liverpool Beatles Week festival. I am a very casual acquaintance of the guitarist who used to manage a music equipment store in town. Dave Heckhouse is 2nd from right in above photo with greenish t-shirt with wings. The Tearaways have also toured in the US and UK as the backup band for Joey Molland of Badfinger.*
In another odd twist, I recently learned from Jay that the Tearaways have one founding member, John Ferriter (far right in upper left, to right of Dave, in black jacket with red stripes), who is a very successful Hollywood talent agent. The band members had all met while at UCSB in the early 1980s. Ferriter has been a very successful agent and show packager for Piers Morgan, Larry King, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, Drew Pinsky, Jerry Garcia, Claudia Schiffer, and many others. He has also been responsible for co-creating and assembling talent great number of reality TV shows, including Biggest Loser, Kardashians, Planet Runway, and American Idol. All crap shows but still some sort of accomplishment. His resume is impressive and he was a senior executive with the powerful William Morris Agency in Los Angeles for nineteen years, He was also on the William Morris Board of Directors before going off on his own. (Ferriter has freely acknowledged that he is responsible for unleashing some real crappy reality TV shows on the American public and has since apologized.) And I was also surprised to find out that Ferriter is associated with King Troompa Loompa because of his management of Piers Morgan. Below is a picture of Ferriter, Piers Morgan, and King Cheeto Benito when the Mango Mullah was visting London in early June 2019. Tourguide Jay told me of the connection and "airdropped" me that photo as we were chatting before we started the tour. The photo had been taken just a day or two earlier when Troompa Loompa was in London in June of 2019. Ferriter and Morgan are on each side of the Tangerine Tinted Trashcan Fire / Sack of Gilded Lunchmeat / Demented Decomposing Jack-O-Lantern / Cowardly Lyin.
In another odd twist, I recently learned from Jay that the Tearaways have one founding member, John Ferriter (far right in upper left, to right of Dave, in black jacket with red stripes), who is a very successful Hollywood talent agent. The band members had all met while at UCSB in the early 1980s. Ferriter has been a very successful agent and show packager for Piers Morgan, Larry King, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, Drew Pinsky, Jerry Garcia, Claudia Schiffer, and many others. He has also been responsible for co-creating and assembling talent great number of reality TV shows, including Biggest Loser, Kardashians, Planet Runway, and American Idol. All crap shows but still some sort of accomplishment. His resume is impressive and he was a senior executive with the powerful William Morris Agency in Los Angeles for nineteen years, He was also on the William Morris Board of Directors before going off on his own. (Ferriter has freely acknowledged that he is responsible for unleashing some real crappy reality TV shows on the American public and has since apologized.) And I was also surprised to find out that Ferriter is associated with King Troompa Loompa because of his management of Piers Morgan. Below is a picture of Ferriter, Piers Morgan, and King Cheeto Benito when the Mango Mullah was visting London in early June 2019. Tourguide Jay told me of the connection and "airdropped" me that photo as we were chatting before we started the tour. The photo had been taken just a day or two earlier when Troompa Loompa was in London in June of 2019. Ferriter and Morgan are on each side of the Tangerine Tinted Trashcan Fire / Sack of Gilded Lunchmeat / Demented Decomposing Jack-O-Lantern / Cowardly Lyin.
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Shocking Update - about a month after this June 2019 group photo was taken, John Ferriter died in July 2019! Complications of pancreatitis at Los Angeles Cedars Sinai Hospital. Age 59! Ferriter was quite an impressive guy with quite a history of accomplishments. He was a passionate Beatles and 60's rock music fan. There are some interviews with him online and he is a very interesting well-spoken person. I sense that this connection with the corrupt slimeball King Cheeto Benito was a business connection where Ferriter was just holding his nose and supporting his horribly idiotic client Piers Morgan but who knows what Ferriter's political leanings were.
*Badfinger of course was the first band signed to Apple Records and were hand-picked by Paul McCartney to perform the McCartney-penned "Come And Get It" for the Magic Christian movie. Badfinger achieved major international success and had a number of hits, but was victimized by their manager, American attorney Stan Polley, who ripped off both Badfinger and Warner Records. Polley was later convicted of fraud for scamming others. Badfinger was young and like many in that era did not have good independent legal representation. They were talked into signing a bad contract in those early "dark ages" of rock. They tried to break with their manager and then got tangled up in lawsuits between Polley and Warner where their recordings couldn't get released. Further, they were not even able to perform live as Badfinger because of the litigation. Nobody club owner or concert promoter would hire them for fear of the legal repercussions. Their career was dead. The band was in dire financial distress and in a major panic, and artistically unable to even perform live. What a horrible situation. This ongoing stress ultimately led to the suicide of the two main Badfinger singers and songwriters Pete Ham and Ron Evans. It is one of the saddest and most tragic stories in the history of rock. Ironically if they had survived through this turmoil they would probably be touring endlessly today in the classic rock concert circuit playing their hits to Baby Boomers. They would be in the Rock Hall of Fame (even a corrupt, self-serving idiotic organization like the Rock Hall would have recognized Badfinger for induction.)
*Badfinger of course was the first band signed to Apple Records and were hand-picked by Paul McCartney to perform the McCartney-penned "Come And Get It" for the Magic Christian movie. Badfinger achieved major international success and had a number of hits, but was victimized by their manager, American attorney Stan Polley, who ripped off both Badfinger and Warner Records. Polley was later convicted of fraud for scamming others. Badfinger was young and like many in that era did not have good independent legal representation. They were talked into signing a bad contract in those early "dark ages" of rock. They tried to break with their manager and then got tangled up in lawsuits between Polley and Warner where their recordings couldn't get released. Further, they were not even able to perform live as Badfinger because of the litigation. Nobody club owner or concert promoter would hire them for fear of the legal repercussions. Their career was dead. The band was in dire financial distress and in a major panic, and artistically unable to even perform live. What a horrible situation. This ongoing stress ultimately led to the suicide of the two main Badfinger singers and songwriters Pete Ham and Ron Evans. It is one of the saddest and most tragic stories in the history of rock. Ironically if they had survived through this turmoil they would probably be touring endlessly today in the classic rock concert circuit playing their hits to Baby Boomers. They would be in the Rock Hall of Fame (even a corrupt, self-serving idiotic organization like the Rock Hall would have recognized Badfinger for induction.)
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Trump protest from Trafalgar Square to Parliament - London June 4, 2019
EDITORIAL
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THE ONGOING MYSTERY:
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY?
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO THIS
DEMENTED DECOMPOSING JACK-O-LANTERN
SACK OF GILDED LUNCHMEAT
TANGERINE-TINTED TRASH-CAN-FIRE ????
?????????????????????????
AGENT ORANGE
ADOLPH TWITLER
CHEEZ WHIZ
HAIR FUROR
HAIR HITLER
CHEETO BENITO
ORANGE JULIUS
SCREAMING CARROT DEMON
THE TANGERINE TORNADO
KING OF THE OOMPA LOOMPAS
COWARDLY LYIN'
FASCIST CARNIVAL BARKER
AKA: King Troompa Loompa, 70-Year-Old Toddler, Adolf Twitler, Agent Orange, America’s Burst Appendix, Angry Creamsicle, Assaulter-in-Chief, Baby Fingers, Blitzkrieg Bozo, Boiled Ham in a Wig, Boss Tweet Bratman,Bribe of Chucky, Bully Boy, Bumbledore, Butternut Squash, Cancer in a Wig, Captain Chaos, Cheddar Boy, Cheeto Benito, Cheeto Führer, Cheeto Jesus, Cheeto-Dusted Bloviator, Cheeto-In-Chief , Cheez Doodle, Cheez Whiz, Chickenhawk, Cinnamon Hitler Comrade Cheetolino Creep Throat Darth TaxeVader, Decomposing Jack O’Lantern, Dehydrated Orange Peel, Demander-in-Chief, Diaper Donald, Donald Tax-Duck, Fascist Carnival Barker, Golden Wrecking Ball, Gossamer-Skinned Bully , Groper-in-Chief, Hair Apparent, Hair Furor, Hair Hitler, Human-Toupee Hybrid, Humble Cow Pie, King of the Oompa Loompas, Maladroit, Man-Baby Meathead, Mein Furor, Orange Julius, Orange Manatee, Orange Slug, Orangeback Gorilla, Panda Hair, Pander Hair, Peripatetic Political Showman, Pile of Old Garbage Covered in Vodka Sauce, Political Gutterball, Poster Child of American Decline, Putin’s Bitch, Queens’ Reich, Rabble-Rousing Demagogue, Riptide of Regression, Ronald McDonald ,Trump-Bozo, Sack of Gilded Lunchmeat, Screaming Carrot Demon, Scrooge Grinch, McGrump, Serial Feeler, Short-Fingered Vulgarian, Silver Spoon Donald, Snake Oil Salesman, Sociopathic 70-Year-Old Toddler, Stubby Baby Fingers, Stuporman, Tan Dump Lord, Tangello Fruit Roll-Up Stretched Over Cat Litter, Tangerine Tornado, Tangerine-Tinted Trash-Can-Fire, Terroristic Man-Toddler, The Big Cheeto, The Boychurian Candidate, The Cowardly Lyin’, The Emperor with No Balls, The Fomentor, The Germinator, Human Bullhorn, Human Corncob, Man of Steal, Michelangelo of Ballyhoo, New Furor, Predictable Endpoint of Republicanism, Puerile Sophomoric Sniveler, Shambling Sasquatch, Silver Spoon Scion, Sophomoric Sniveler, Spinster, Sinister Spinster, Teflon Don, Tiny Fisted Emperor, Twitter Terror, Wedgie from West Palm, White Kanye, Winning Whiner, Tic-Tac-Dough, Tie-Coon, Trumparius, Trumpdozer, Trumpelthinskin, Trumpenstein, Trumpinator, Trumple-Doodle-Doo-Doo, Trumpocalypse, Trumptastrophe, Two Pump Trump, Two-Bit Caesar, UNA (Unrepentant Narcissistic Asshole), Vanilla ISIS, Vet Evictor, Walking Talking Human Combover, World’s Greatest Troll, Xenophobic Sweet Potato, Agent of Deranged Change, Angry Cheeto, Antichrist, Bag of Toxic Sludge, Bald-faced Crier, Bigoted Billionaire, The Bilious Billionaire Blowhard, The Bouffant Buffoon.
?????????????????????????
THE ONGOING MYSTERY:
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY?
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO THIS
DEMENTED DECOMPOSING JACK-O-LANTERN
SACK OF GILDED LUNCHMEAT
TANGERINE-TINTED TRASH-CAN-FIRE ????
?????????????????????????
AGENT ORANGE
ADOLPH TWITLER
CHEEZ WHIZ
HAIR FUROR
HAIR HITLER
CHEETO BENITO
ORANGE JULIUS
SCREAMING CARROT DEMON
THE TANGERINE TORNADO
KING OF THE OOMPA LOOMPAS
COWARDLY LYIN'
FASCIST CARNIVAL BARKER
AKA: King Troompa Loompa, 70-Year-Old Toddler, Adolf Twitler, Agent Orange, America’s Burst Appendix, Angry Creamsicle, Assaulter-in-Chief, Baby Fingers, Blitzkrieg Bozo, Boiled Ham in a Wig, Boss Tweet Bratman,Bribe of Chucky, Bully Boy, Bumbledore, Butternut Squash, Cancer in a Wig, Captain Chaos, Cheddar Boy, Cheeto Benito, Cheeto Führer, Cheeto Jesus, Cheeto-Dusted Bloviator, Cheeto-In-Chief , Cheez Doodle, Cheez Whiz, Chickenhawk, Cinnamon Hitler Comrade Cheetolino Creep Throat Darth TaxeVader, Decomposing Jack O’Lantern, Dehydrated Orange Peel, Demander-in-Chief, Diaper Donald, Donald Tax-Duck, Fascist Carnival Barker, Golden Wrecking Ball, Gossamer-Skinned Bully , Groper-in-Chief, Hair Apparent, Hair Furor, Hair Hitler, Human-Toupee Hybrid, Humble Cow Pie, King of the Oompa Loompas, Maladroit, Man-Baby Meathead, Mein Furor, Orange Julius, Orange Manatee, Orange Slug, Orangeback Gorilla, Panda Hair, Pander Hair, Peripatetic Political Showman, Pile of Old Garbage Covered in Vodka Sauce, Political Gutterball, Poster Child of American Decline, Putin’s Bitch, Queens’ Reich, Rabble-Rousing Demagogue, Riptide of Regression, Ronald McDonald ,Trump-Bozo, Sack of Gilded Lunchmeat, Screaming Carrot Demon, Scrooge Grinch, McGrump, Serial Feeler, Short-Fingered Vulgarian, Silver Spoon Donald, Snake Oil Salesman, Sociopathic 70-Year-Old Toddler, Stubby Baby Fingers, Stuporman, Tan Dump Lord, Tangello Fruit Roll-Up Stretched Over Cat Litter, Tangerine Tornado, Tangerine-Tinted Trash-Can-Fire, Terroristic Man-Toddler, The Big Cheeto, The Boychurian Candidate, The Cowardly Lyin’, The Emperor with No Balls, The Fomentor, The Germinator, Human Bullhorn, Human Corncob, Man of Steal, Michelangelo of Ballyhoo, New Furor, Predictable Endpoint of Republicanism, Puerile Sophomoric Sniveler, Shambling Sasquatch, Silver Spoon Scion, Sophomoric Sniveler, Spinster, Sinister Spinster, Teflon Don, Tiny Fisted Emperor, Twitter Terror, Wedgie from West Palm, White Kanye, Winning Whiner, Tic-Tac-Dough, Tie-Coon, Trumparius, Trumpdozer, Trumpelthinskin, Trumpenstein, Trumpinator, Trumple-Doodle-Doo-Doo, Trumpocalypse, Trumptastrophe, Two Pump Trump, Two-Bit Caesar, UNA (Unrepentant Narcissistic Asshole), Vanilla ISIS, Vet Evictor, Walking Talking Human Combover, World’s Greatest Troll, Xenophobic Sweet Potato, Agent of Deranged Change, Angry Cheeto, Antichrist, Bag of Toxic Sludge, Bald-faced Crier, Bigoted Billionaire, The Bilious Billionaire Blowhard, The Bouffant Buffoon.
END OF EDITORIAL
(Sorry - I digress ! Now back to European photos ...)
(Sorry - I digress ! Now back to European photos ...)
Abbey Road Studios
St. John's Wood, London
St. John's Wood, London
The range of Abbey Road album cover-inspired art is phenomenal.
Abbey Road Studios are in a beautiful high-end suburban neighborhood of St. John's Wood - about 3.6 miles from central London's Charing Cross station. What a different world it is here compared to busy central London.
Abbey Road Studios St. John's Wood London - such a great neighborhood - very suburban and low key and super wealthy - big estates and luxury apartments and lots of trees - the anthithesis of central London Charing Cross Station which is 3.6 miles away
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Photorealistic re-creations of original Beatles posters and Mersey Beat newspapers from their early days as they were at the top of the talent-rich local Liverpool rock music scene. These were all on the walls and columns of the Beatles-themed Hard Day's Night Hotel in Liverpool.
Chateau de Versailles - Palace of Versailles - I am in Hall of Mirrors
Palace of Versailles - about a 40 minute total travel time from central Paris
Hall of Mirrors, Chateau de Versailles - Palace of Versailles. From their website. A tourist will never get to experience it empty!
Map of Palace of Versailles and Paris. Leaving from central Paris, Versailles is about 12 miles west - a 20 minute train ride to the Versailles train station and a 20 minute walk to the palace.
John Lennon's Childhood Home - Liverpool
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John Lennon's Childhood Home - Liverpool
Above are some interior photos of John Lennon's childhood home "Mendips" from the National Trust website. And a photo of John as a young boy outside of the home with his mother Julia. The top exterior shot taken by me on rainy day from inside the Magical Mystery Tour bus. Other photos from the National Trust website.
The house was owned by John's aunt Mimi and her husband George Smith. Address is 251 Menlove Avenue. Not clear but it is apparently nick-named "Mendips" after the Mendips Hills in southwest England near Bristol. Lennon lived in this house from age five to age twenty-two (1945 to 1963); in fact John was still living at Mendips when the Beatles' first single "Please Please Me" reached #1 in England in February 1963; he finally moved out in summer of 1963, about eight months before the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan in February 9, 1964.
Lennon had moved into the home as a young child after his divorced mother Julia was "persuaded" that it would be more stable for Lennon to live with his Aunt Mimi Smith and her husband George. Before the move, Julia and John had been living with Julia's new boyfriend and eventual second husband. John's father had abandoned the family when John was two. Strongly wanting to have John in her home, Aunt Mimi even secretly filed complaints with the local "child protective services" agency about John's living situation with Julia to have pressure put on Julia to have John move into Mimi's house. One of her complaints was that (age 4-5) John was sleeping in the same bed as Julia and her boyfriend, which Mimi felt was "inappropriate." The two sisters must have had a bizarre relationship that played out in front of young John Lennon. But after John moved in with Mimi and George at age five, Julia spent time with John every day, usually visting him at Mendips.
Tragedy struck when John was age seventeen in 1958. Julia was killed when hit by a car as she crossed the street. She had just left Mendips after visiting with John, and saying goodbye, she rushed off from the house to catch a bus. Not far from Mendipos, she abruptly darted in front of a car to cross the street and was hit by a car and killed instantly.*
A formal police accident inquiry found that the driver, a 22-year-old off-duty cop, was driving safely and under the speed limit. The police report went on to say that Julia's death was partially caused by "misadventure"- an English term implying intoxication. Julia's death had a devastating lifelong impact on John Lennon, who wrote a number of songs about her, the most well known being "Julia" on the White Album and "Mother" by the Plastic Ono Band. And of course, John named his son Julian after his mother.
The Mendips house is "semi-detached" (a "duplex" using an American term). The Lennon house is the grey-green house on the left. (Note the two adjoining fireplaces where the two different colored houses attach.) Mendips is now owned and managed by the National Trust and is open for tours booked months in advance (I was not able to take the tour.) The National Trust had initially refused to acquire the house when presented with the opportunity, because of the belief that Lennon and McCartney did not write any songs there and the house was not of "historical significance." Paul McCartney at the time publicly disagreed, declaring that that all of "I'll Get You" and parts other songs were written at Lennon's home. It should be noted that the National Trust's position was in stark contrast to its enthusiastic interest in the McCartney childhood home, where it was established that over 100 songs were written there by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney's childhood home had been acquired by the National Trust in 1995.
Mendips did eventually fall under the ownership and managment of the National Trust because in 2002 Yoko Ono purchased the house and donated it.
As a side note, it is astounding how long it took for the Beatles to be seriously recognized for their worldwide historical significance by both Liverpool and by England! Today the Beatles are a central part of the Liverpool's tourism marketing efforts. George Harrison's childhood home as well as Ringo's are not in the Trust and are simply part of the local Liverpool housing stock. When I stood in front of Harrison's house to have my picture taken, I was asked to be quiet to not disturb the current occupants!
* Comment about Julia's pedestrian death. For any pedestrian in England, especially Americans and those from countries with "right lane" driving, it is dangerous to cross the street. With cars in England driving on the "left hand side," it is easy to not "look the other direction." One could easily get nailed by a car coming from a lane one doesn't expect a car to be traveling on.
PLUS parked cars on English streets can face "either direction" regardless of the direction of traffic in that lane. This causes added pedestrian confusion. If a pedestrian sees a number of parked cars in a row all facing one direction, he could assume that this is the direction cars in that lane are traveling; the pedestrian might not take the time to look the other direction which could be a fatal mistake. I'm wondering if this was a factor in Julia's death, especially if she was slightly under the influence as intimated by the police report. (See further discussion below.)
Above are some interior photos of John Lennon's childhood home "Mendips" from the National Trust website. And a photo of John as a young boy outside of the home with his mother Julia. The top exterior shot taken by me on rainy day from inside the Magical Mystery Tour bus. Other photos from the National Trust website.
The house was owned by John's aunt Mimi and her husband George Smith. Address is 251 Menlove Avenue. Not clear but it is apparently nick-named "Mendips" after the Mendips Hills in southwest England near Bristol. Lennon lived in this house from age five to age twenty-two (1945 to 1963); in fact John was still living at Mendips when the Beatles' first single "Please Please Me" reached #1 in England in February 1963; he finally moved out in summer of 1963, about eight months before the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan in February 9, 1964.
Lennon had moved into the home as a young child after his divorced mother Julia was "persuaded" that it would be more stable for Lennon to live with his Aunt Mimi Smith and her husband George. Before the move, Julia and John had been living with Julia's new boyfriend and eventual second husband. John's father had abandoned the family when John was two. Strongly wanting to have John in her home, Aunt Mimi even secretly filed complaints with the local "child protective services" agency about John's living situation with Julia to have pressure put on Julia to have John move into Mimi's house. One of her complaints was that (age 4-5) John was sleeping in the same bed as Julia and her boyfriend, which Mimi felt was "inappropriate." The two sisters must have had a bizarre relationship that played out in front of young John Lennon. But after John moved in with Mimi and George at age five, Julia spent time with John every day, usually visting him at Mendips.
Tragedy struck when John was age seventeen in 1958. Julia was killed when hit by a car as she crossed the street. She had just left Mendips after visiting with John, and saying goodbye, she rushed off from the house to catch a bus. Not far from Mendipos, she abruptly darted in front of a car to cross the street and was hit by a car and killed instantly.*
A formal police accident inquiry found that the driver, a 22-year-old off-duty cop, was driving safely and under the speed limit. The police report went on to say that Julia's death was partially caused by "misadventure"- an English term implying intoxication. Julia's death had a devastating lifelong impact on John Lennon, who wrote a number of songs about her, the most well known being "Julia" on the White Album and "Mother" by the Plastic Ono Band. And of course, John named his son Julian after his mother.
The Mendips house is "semi-detached" (a "duplex" using an American term). The Lennon house is the grey-green house on the left. (Note the two adjoining fireplaces where the two different colored houses attach.) Mendips is now owned and managed by the National Trust and is open for tours booked months in advance (I was not able to take the tour.) The National Trust had initially refused to acquire the house when presented with the opportunity, because of the belief that Lennon and McCartney did not write any songs there and the house was not of "historical significance." Paul McCartney at the time publicly disagreed, declaring that that all of "I'll Get You" and parts other songs were written at Lennon's home. It should be noted that the National Trust's position was in stark contrast to its enthusiastic interest in the McCartney childhood home, where it was established that over 100 songs were written there by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney's childhood home had been acquired by the National Trust in 1995.
Mendips did eventually fall under the ownership and managment of the National Trust because in 2002 Yoko Ono purchased the house and donated it.
As a side note, it is astounding how long it took for the Beatles to be seriously recognized for their worldwide historical significance by both Liverpool and by England! Today the Beatles are a central part of the Liverpool's tourism marketing efforts. George Harrison's childhood home as well as Ringo's are not in the Trust and are simply part of the local Liverpool housing stock. When I stood in front of Harrison's house to have my picture taken, I was asked to be quiet to not disturb the current occupants!
* Comment about Julia's pedestrian death. For any pedestrian in England, especially Americans and those from countries with "right lane" driving, it is dangerous to cross the street. With cars in England driving on the "left hand side," it is easy to not "look the other direction." One could easily get nailed by a car coming from a lane one doesn't expect a car to be traveling on.
PLUS parked cars on English streets can face "either direction" regardless of the direction of traffic in that lane. This causes added pedestrian confusion. If a pedestrian sees a number of parked cars in a row all facing one direction, he could assume that this is the direction cars in that lane are traveling; the pedestrian might not take the time to look the other direction which could be a fatal mistake. I'm wondering if this was a factor in Julia's death, especially if she was slightly under the influence as intimated by the police report. (See further discussion below.)
Regarding the above discussion of England pedestrian dangers, even the Abbey Road album cover reveals an example of "opposite direction parking." The two parked cars with arrows are facing in the opposite direction of traffic in their lane. I've seen many streets all over England where nearly an entire block is lined with parked cars facing the opposite direction of oncoming traffic in their lane. The probable result: occasional pedestrian confusion and more pedestrians hit by cars as they cross the street. That is my theory at least.
My conclusion: English motor vehicle laws allowing "opposite direction parking" pose a danger to pedestrians and contributed to the tragic death of John Lennon's mother. These laws therefore had an impact on the creative yet tormented musical expression that emerged from John Lennon - perhaps particularly in his post Beatles years when he was less constrained by his songwriting partner Paul McCartney. If you listen to the song "Mother" he sounds quite unhinged as he was going through his "Primal Scream Therapy" phase. I advance this theory as a self-proclaimed amateur Beatles scholar and armchair psychologist. More will be revealed by the time I get around to my book(s) and Ph.D. dissertation(s). You are welcome!
My conclusion: English motor vehicle laws allowing "opposite direction parking" pose a danger to pedestrians and contributed to the tragic death of John Lennon's mother. These laws therefore had an impact on the creative yet tormented musical expression that emerged from John Lennon - perhaps particularly in his post Beatles years when he was less constrained by his songwriting partner Paul McCartney. If you listen to the song "Mother" he sounds quite unhinged as he was going through his "Primal Scream Therapy" phase. I advance this theory as a self-proclaimed amateur Beatles scholar and armchair psychologist. More will be revealed by the time I get around to my book(s) and Ph.D. dissertation(s). You are welcome!
Paul McCartney's Childhood Home - Liverpool
Paul McCartney's childhood home. 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool. A council house - provided as subsidized housing to the McCartney family. Paul lived there from 1955 to 1964 - age 12 to 22. As was the case with John Lennon, Paul's mother died when he was teenager and this experience was a bond they shared. His mother Mary ("Mother Mary comes to me ... speaking words of wisdom, let it be ...") died of breast cancer when Paul was age 14 and Mary was age 47.
The bedroom from the National Trust website in upper lefthand corner is where Paul and John wrote over 100 songs. I did not get to tour house.
The bedroom from the National Trust website in upper lefthand corner is where Paul and John wrote over 100 songs. I did not get to tour house.
Paul McCartney's Childhood Home
Paul McCartney's childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool. Paul lived there from 1955 to 1964 - from age 12 to age 22. It was a "council house" provided to the family by the local "council" (regional government) as subsidized housing. Over 100 songs were written there - mostly recorded by Beatles and some by others who Paul and John generously let record in their early Beatles years. The house was acquired by the National Trust in 1995 and continues to be maintained and operated for visitors. Reservations must be made months in advance, and I was not able to take the tour.
Paul McCartney's childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool. Paul lived there from 1955 to 1964 - from age 12 to age 22. It was a "council house" provided to the family by the local "council" (regional government) as subsidized housing. Over 100 songs were written there - mostly recorded by Beatles and some by others who Paul and John generously let record in their early Beatles years. The house was acquired by the National Trust in 1995 and continues to be maintained and operated for visitors. Reservations must be made months in advance, and I was not able to take the tour.
Photo collage found online of childhood homes of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey).
Above: photo of George Harrison's cul-de-sac street found online; George's house is on the right.
12 Arnold Grove, Liverpool. George Harrison's childhood home where he was born and lived until age 6.
Ringo's childhood home. 12 Arnold Lane, Liverpool. (from Wikipedia) Is this the same house as the 4-house collage? Not sure. Lots of confusion about which Ringo's house it seems.
Ringo's childrood home on left side towards end of street. A major utility construction project prevented us from getting any closer, plus it was raining with bad visibility. How the Beatles managed to write so many great uplifing songs with the ongoing rainy Liverpool weather is another testimonial to their phenomenal talent and inspiration. Of course maybe they got more work done by being stuck inside during bad weather! There is something to be said about productivity in cold weather climates. "Good Day Sunshine" is so rare, no wonder Paul celebrated it in song.
Strawberry Fields Forever
Tour guide Jay Johnston of Magical Mystery Tours was a phenomenally knowledgeable tour guide - at the level of a Beatles historian and major serious fan. He could answer any question and I put him to the test!
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Tiny Trucks Of Paris
All the Parisian municipal trucks for garbage collection, public works, etc are so tiny! Cute little trucks, small enough to fit on the narrow Paris streets and super small side streets. Garbage is picked up daily it seems by necessity. Small garbage cans and small garbage trucks = frequent pickups. Noisy for those in Paris living in apartments overlooking busy streets - which seems like everybody!
All the Parisian municipal trucks for garbage collection, public works, etc are so tiny! Cute little trucks, small enough to fit on the narrow Paris streets and super small side streets. Garbage is picked up daily it seems by necessity. Small garbage cans and small garbage trucks = frequent pickups. Noisy for those in Paris living in apartments overlooking busy streets - which seems like everybody!
Slightly larger than Tonka toys, they are everywhere and driven by garbage, public works, maintenance, farmers market workers and other municipal employees. With the narrow streets bordered by five story apartment buildings, the garbage trucks seem to make a louder noise than big American garbage trucks as they do daily pickups of clanging empty beer, wine, and spirits bottles that slam together as they are dumped and simultaneously crushed by built in little garbage truck crusher. These are glass bottles consumed the night before by effete Parisians enjoying the cafe lifestyle. Parisians seem to spend a lot of their free time at all hours of the day and night just hanging out at cafes drinking, smoking, and bullshitting while never getting any exercise or getting any work done! The garbage truck glass pickup and crushing is disruptive to those in hostels trying to sleep in summer with the windows open. There is zero air conditioning in Paris either - these old stone foundation buildings are protected by heritage status and aren't permitted to be retrofitted. So a hot day in Paris is super hot.
Parisian Teen Smokers In Training
The level of smoking in Paris by all ages is off the charts insane. Witness these two 12-13-14? year olds hanging out near the Seine. I saw this type of thing a lot. These kids were totally absorbed as I walked by. Smoking is so frigging pervasive in the French culture. I was told by reliable sources that there are ZERO public health campaigns going on in France to encourage the reduction of the level of smoking. No public service announcements on TV, no warning labels, no nothing. I'm told the cigarette industry owns the French politicians and the citizens don't care that much either. Loot at these kids. There is no "shame" or "embarassment" about smoking in France. It is everywhere. Restaurants now by law must ban smoking inside, but on the patios outside it is the wild west. Do you want to sit outside in a nice cafe and avoid cigarette smoke? Forget it - impossible. There is little emphasis on health or fitness that I see anywhere in the country. And these people are somehow sold to Americans as being sophisticated and advanced?
Seine scenes and scaffolds at recently burned Notre Dame Cathedral, June 2019.
"Climb The O2" Arena complex, London. We are outfitted with climbing harnesses that we strap and get locked into the cable and we then climp up to the top of the O2 tent-dome room to the center viewing area. At the top we hang out, take pics and check out the great views. At some point the group then gets locked back in to our cables and slowly walks back down on the other side. It was cold and windy that day but fun. The O2 is a phenomenal development located in a high activity area. It is easy to get to and is right next to a major tube stop.
Ritz Hotel Paris. The daytime manager, trying his best to look sophisticated and appropriately snobby stuffy French in his rented suit and tie, was brought in when I asked to speak with him. They would not let me explore beyond the immediate hotel entrance area and very front lobby, because I was wearing tennis shoes and shorts and not dressed "appropriately." I noticed however that the Ritz did seem to welcome a number of people dressed in desert robes and headscarves.
Birds of Prey on the grounds of the York Castle Museum, York, England. They were on display by a nearby birds of prey rescue organization and as a fundraiser for the organization one can hold and pet the birds for the price of a few pounds . It was a great experience and I had never held birds of prey before. The large barn owl had a great "personality" if you call it that and seemed to enjoy being petted and seemed the most mellow. The peregrine falcon that I held was not as mellow as the owl but was OK being held and petted. The third bird pictured, the small owl, was a real crybaby seeking attention, shrieking at times until his one favorite woman handler who he was very attached to would hold him. They all were born in captivity, get to fly every day and seem to have good lives.
Various Amsterdam shots. A great, fun city. Took two canal boat tours - one night and one day. The photos are in other sections of this webpage. The world famous Amsterdam "hookers in windows" are in upper lefthand corner. They do not want their pictures taken and there are signs asking people to not take photos of them. So one has to be very sneaky. If they see you with a phone camera they bang on the window. They are good at banging apparently. The range of hookers in the window was staggering - from young to old, frumpy to stunning. Probably all price ranges!
Amsterdam has extensive dedicated bike paths. 249 miles worth. It is by far the most extensive inner city bike system I've ever seen. Everybody rides bikes. Beautiful blonde Dutch women dressed up in fancy clothes ride bikes. It is a great system integrated into the entire city.
The combined bike, motorcycle, pedestrian, and car traffic however is intense and for a pedestrian one has to stay alert. Next to your standard pedestrian sidewalks are very busy bike paths, then tram/train tracks - sometimes two parallel tracks next to each other, then regular streets for cars.
Here is what I learned about biking in Amsterdam. Hopefully my sources are accrurate:
-Smaller motorcycles/ scooters that can't go over 25 km per hour (15.5 miles per hour) are required to use the bike path. They can't ride on street.
-Motorcycles that "aren't capable" of going over 45 km per hour (28 mph) are also allowed to use the bike path. The speed limit is 25 kmh but motorcycles that can go 45 mph are allowed. So they all go fast. It is bizarre.
-Official stats are that 80% of the motorcycles that are on the bike path are easily capable of going over 25km per hour. And they do!
-There is a new 2018 Dutch law that allows cities to ban all motorcycles from bike paths that are capable of going over 25 km per hour on bike paths, but Amsterdam has not enacted that law. Perhaps Amsterdam is afraid of a backlash from angry cyclists? So motorcycles go fast in the bike land and many bicyclists complain. But the bicyclists also travel surprisingly fast.
-No bicyclists or rider of the 25kmph bikes were helmets. Helmets are required just ust those on the larger motorcycles that ride on the streets. Nor do the children being transported wear helmets. This helmetless father pictured here has his helmetless daughter straddling the center bar or sitting on a little seat on the center bar. She has bare feet also - looks like little foot rests on the bike for her feet. He is wearing some sort of sandal. I saw a lot of these situations. To me is a disaster waiting to happen. And there is so much going on between the sidewalk, bike path, train/ tram tracks and street, that a tourist pedestrian like me has to be very cautious. And the bike riders go amazingly fast, assuming that no idiot tourist like me will make an unintentional bad pedestrian move. I didn't see any accidents but there must be lots of them. Amsterdam locals say they have been riding bikes practically before they can walk so they supposedly know what they are doing!? If you read the Amsterdam bike information they seem to assume that anybody going 25km on a bike couldnt' get hurt anyway, so who needs a helmet is their attitude. I would be very curious to see the bike accident and injury stats in Amsterdam. Oh well, I guess their system is very successful - it is sure better than America's lack of dedicated bike paths. Sharing a road with a car is a non starter for me. Bike lanes painted on the side of the street are a joke. In America I ride on dedicated paths of fire roads only and never on a painted bike lane. I ride on sidewalks on the way to dedicated bike paths and fire roads .
The combined bike, motorcycle, pedestrian, and car traffic however is intense and for a pedestrian one has to stay alert. Next to your standard pedestrian sidewalks are very busy bike paths, then tram/train tracks - sometimes two parallel tracks next to each other, then regular streets for cars.
Here is what I learned about biking in Amsterdam. Hopefully my sources are accrurate:
-Smaller motorcycles/ scooters that can't go over 25 km per hour (15.5 miles per hour) are required to use the bike path. They can't ride on street.
-Motorcycles that "aren't capable" of going over 45 km per hour (28 mph) are also allowed to use the bike path. The speed limit is 25 kmh but motorcycles that can go 45 mph are allowed. So they all go fast. It is bizarre.
-Official stats are that 80% of the motorcycles that are on the bike path are easily capable of going over 25km per hour. And they do!
-There is a new 2018 Dutch law that allows cities to ban all motorcycles from bike paths that are capable of going over 25 km per hour on bike paths, but Amsterdam has not enacted that law. Perhaps Amsterdam is afraid of a backlash from angry cyclists? So motorcycles go fast in the bike land and many bicyclists complain. But the bicyclists also travel surprisingly fast.
-No bicyclists or rider of the 25kmph bikes were helmets. Helmets are required just ust those on the larger motorcycles that ride on the streets. Nor do the children being transported wear helmets. This helmetless father pictured here has his helmetless daughter straddling the center bar or sitting on a little seat on the center bar. She has bare feet also - looks like little foot rests on the bike for her feet. He is wearing some sort of sandal. I saw a lot of these situations. To me is a disaster waiting to happen. And there is so much going on between the sidewalk, bike path, train/ tram tracks and street, that a tourist pedestrian like me has to be very cautious. And the bike riders go amazingly fast, assuming that no idiot tourist like me will make an unintentional bad pedestrian move. I didn't see any accidents but there must be lots of them. Amsterdam locals say they have been riding bikes practically before they can walk so they supposedly know what they are doing!? If you read the Amsterdam bike information they seem to assume that anybody going 25km on a bike couldnt' get hurt anyway, so who needs a helmet is their attitude. I would be very curious to see the bike accident and injury stats in Amsterdam. Oh well, I guess their system is very successful - it is sure better than America's lack of dedicated bike paths. Sharing a road with a car is a non starter for me. Bike lanes painted on the side of the street are a joke. In America I ride on dedicated paths of fire roads only and never on a painted bike lane. I ride on sidewalks on the way to dedicated bike paths and fire roads .
Taken at night when Eiffel Tower lights start flashing for maybe 15 minutes. Taken from the top of the Arc d' Triumphe. Because of darkness and distance the image is pixellated but you get the idea. Stunning. Thrilling. The Eiffel Tower far exceeded all expectations.
Some fellow travelers staying at the Paris Hostel on Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter. "The Young and Happy Hostel." Worst name in history but a nice place, centrally located on a great busy and noisy street. Most expensive hostel the entire trip. Paris is so expensive, it is ridiculous. In the lower left hand corner photo, with the guys flashing peace signs: the guy on far left is from Belgium, next to him is a French guy who works the front desk at the hostel (and who is a college student who had just gotten accepted into an architecture degree program), and the other guy is an American grad student living somewhere in the Midwest. They were about to go out barhopping that evening. I declined the invitation!
This is Lego's flagship store in the heart of Copenhagen's main tourist shopping district. The shopping area has extensive and very crowded pedestrian-only streets. I was told by one of these very friendly employees that Lego has one other "flagship company store" at their corporate headquarters location, which is located in a small town a couple of hours from Copenhagen. So there are only two Lego stores in the entire country! There are many other retailers with Lego products of course but only two company-owned stores. People visit that town to take in the Lego history and see what I understand is the Lego Museum. I did not see too many empty storefronts in downtown Copenhagen with "for rent" types of signs (ie "til leje" ? signs). Traditional retail seems to be pretty strong in Copenhagen - at least that was my surface impression. I did not see any Amazon delivery trucks running around Copenhagen either! Bricks and mortar retail still seems to be the norm there for now.
Three great Aussie hostel-mates in Amsterdam. Very fun group of people. The four of us shared a room with four other people - two women and two guys. Bunkbeds etc. Typical hostel style though most hostels I was in had fewer people sharing the room. These three dragged me out one night after I just got back around 10PM from an evening tourist canal cruise. We walked to central Amsterdam and walked around the red light district. We had a high time. As citizens of the British crown, they apparently can work in London without restriction through a couple of different visa programs set up for Australian citizens. They all recently graduated from college in Australia and all planned to live together in London and finding work after their multi-month Euro trip ends. The woman and the guy in the back are a "couple."
Dublin. Their biggest industry seems to be Guiness and drinking beer. The massive Guiness brewery that takes up acres and acres and acres - a massive facility where brewing and warehousing and distributing takes place in one central location. Was generally not too impressed with the town, though the people generally were quite friendly. Not much there there frankly. Lots of drinking by everyone it seems. Even the tourbus driver said "I hope some of you remember this tour tomorrow after the drinking you do tonight." Drinking is a continue theme everywhere it seems. The stereotype is true. Dublin is overrated as a tourist destination and I would never want to live there, but still there are some great parks and open spaces. Here are shots from the beautiful historic five star Shelbourne hotel where the treaty for Irish independence was signed in 1937. There was even a battle at the hotel itself where Irish revolutionaries fired on the hotel and were promptly put down and executed with extreme prejudice. This was the room where the initial independence treaty, after many years of war and struggle, was finally signed in 1937. I have not seen it yet but the movie "Michael Collins" was all about the Irish revolution and the hero and leader of the revolution Michael Collins and is apparently well done. A very helpful Shelbourne conciege gave me a great tour of the hotel. It is a five star super expensive super luxury hotel. The vibe is very welcoming to normally dressed tourist visitors - quite the opposite of the stuffy faux sophisticated faux snobby Ritz poseurs. As was often the case everywhere in Ireland, even in mid June, there was a lot of rain - the bellmen, dressed in period costumes (I need to find those photos) offered to loan (or give?) me an umbrella which was quite nice of them - a very friendly vibe. I had an umbrella in my backpack so declined their generous offer.
The Paddypower is an Irish lottery office - they were all over the place. I can see somebody downing a few pints of Guiness and then feeling lucky and buying lottery tickets! The two pics in the collage are of someone I sat near and started talking to at a McDonalds where I had stopped to get a cup of coffee and I have to admit in a moment of hunger and weakness one of their burgers! Something I would only do as a tourist in a foreign land. He was a total character and was like a walking savant, probably on the autism spectrum - but very friendly and harmless and super knowledgeable about every movie that was ever made and every movie star. His knowledge was stunning. He had seen every movie it seemed and knew surprising details - it was an interesting conversation. He knew a lot about America and American culture also, though he had only visited America once for a week over a decade ago - visiting relatives in the east coast. He has never been to California. He showed me a photo of his beloved doggie also. Quite the character and quite entertaining.
The Paddypower is an Irish lottery office - they were all over the place. I can see somebody downing a few pints of Guiness and then feeling lucky and buying lottery tickets! The two pics in the collage are of someone I sat near and started talking to at a McDonalds where I had stopped to get a cup of coffee and I have to admit in a moment of hunger and weakness one of their burgers! Something I would only do as a tourist in a foreign land. He was a total character and was like a walking savant, probably on the autism spectrum - but very friendly and harmless and super knowledgeable about every movie that was ever made and every movie star. His knowledge was stunning. He had seen every movie it seemed and knew surprising details - it was an interesting conversation. He knew a lot about America and American culture also, though he had only visited America once for a week over a decade ago - visiting relatives in the east coast. He has never been to California. He showed me a photo of his beloved doggie also. Quite the character and quite entertaining.
Amsterdam - bikes everywhere on dedicated bike paths. 250 miles worth throughout city.
Paris summer carnival near Louvre and Luxembourg Gardens.
This is a summer carnival that sets up every year near the Lourve in a huge open space. Super festive, great colors, without the "carney" vibe of the typical American carnival. The large "Paris wheel" - a "moveable" Ferris Wheel, is nearby though a photo of it is not in this collage. Here the carnies even seemed to have all of their teeth!
York Castle Museum
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At the York Castle Museum in York, England. Birds are from the York Birds of Prey Center in the town of Huby, 10 miles north. York is about 3 hours north of London by train - about 175 miles. The owl was very relaxed and comfortable with people and enjoys being petted. The animals have good lives and their caretakers are dedicated bird rescuers. The birds get to fly every day. An afternoon flying demonstration was scheduled that afternoon at 1PM, but at about 12:45, not long after these photos were taken, a rainstorm hit and flying plans for the day were cancelled.
Great sculpture in "suburban" Amsterdam
Science And Industry Museum, Manchester, England. Mid 1800's era cotton making demonstration. Manchester was the cotton and textiles production center of the world in the early to mid 1800's and many say the industrial revolution started in Manchester because of the rapid growth of the textile industry there. The whole Manchester-Liverpool region came to be called "Cottonopolis."
Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and Westminster Abbey, London
Safestay Hostel in Edinburgh. One of the best hostels on trip, centrally located just off the Royal Mile
National Portrait Gallery in London, near Trafalgar Square. In addition to paintings and statues of once famous English royalty, statesmen, and military heroes (and even George Washington who was born in Virginia but was a former British subject), the gallery had two fascinating portraits on the same wall with great stories. The extremenely obese guy is Daniel Lambert, weighing 739 lbs (52 stone, 11 pounds). He was a London animal breeder and trainer of considerable skill and reputation. Later in his life, hard times forced him to put himself on display to audiences for money to support himself in a "freak show" type of situation. He became quite famous in England for his shows, and apparently was a very witty and entertaining performer. He died in 1809 at age 39.
The super small guy - at 39 inches tall, was Józef Boruwłaski, a professional musician (violin and guitar) from Poland. As a musician he was supported by the court of the Polish royal family for awhile, but when the money was cut off, Boruwlaski emigrated to England. He also put himself on display to audiences for money to support himself. Boruwlaski and Lambert actually toured together for awhile in England. Boruwlaski lived a long time - until age 97, dying in 1837. He eventually relocated to Durham, England, where there is a lifesize statue of him in the Durham town hall. He also published some autobiographical writings in his later years.
The super small guy - at 39 inches tall, was Józef Boruwłaski, a professional musician (violin and guitar) from Poland. As a musician he was supported by the court of the Polish royal family for awhile, but when the money was cut off, Boruwlaski emigrated to England. He also put himself on display to audiences for money to support himself. Boruwlaski and Lambert actually toured together for awhile in England. Boruwlaski lived a long time - until age 97, dying in 1837. He eventually relocated to Durham, England, where there is a lifesize statue of him in the Durham town hall. He also published some autobiographical writings in his later years.
Various sights of the historic walled city of York, which dates back to Roman times. The person pictured is Servas host Simon, who is an attorney (solicitor, barrister? I forget term) living and working in York. As is happened, the timing for my arrival was great: the first night after I arrived by train, we and two others attended a University of York scholarly Beatles presentation. The presenter was a University of York professor and Beatles scholar. The event was attended by maybe 300 people. It was an in-depth analysis of the sophistication of Lennon-McCartney lyrics with many slides and multimedia clips. I was amazed by the level of Beatles knowledge and the quality of questions and comments by those in the audience. There were many seriously knowledgeable Beatles fans in attendance.
The Tower of London - the most famous castle in London dating back to the 1100's and William the Conqueror who built the fortress.
Amsterdam nighttime canal tour
Home and neighborhood of Servas host Ruth, located in Walthamstow village area of London
Lego showcase company owned store in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of two company stores in entire country. Every Lego product currently made is here.
Germans Love Their Candy!
I had once read that the Germans are the biggest candy consumers in world. The truth of this immediately came home to me when I wandered into this high-end supermarket in the world-renowned Potsdamer Platz mega shopping/office/housing complex in downtown Berlin. Potsdamer Platz, completed in 1998, is the largest development project in the history of Germany and one of the largest in European history. At this medium sized supermarket - about the size of a large Trader Joes - there were aisles and aisles packed to the ceiling with chocolates and gummies. Unbelievable. They were almost exclusively German chocolate bars and German gummy bears. Zero of the wonderful Belgian chocolate and almost zero selection of Swiss chocolate. Of course zero American Snickers, Baby Ruths, or Almond Joys either! There was candy everywhere. All to satisfy the German chocolate and gummy cravings.
I had once read that the Germans are the biggest candy consumers in world. The truth of this immediately came home to me when I wandered into this high-end supermarket in the world-renowned Potsdamer Platz mega shopping/office/housing complex in downtown Berlin. Potsdamer Platz, completed in 1998, is the largest development project in the history of Germany and one of the largest in European history. At this medium sized supermarket - about the size of a large Trader Joes - there were aisles and aisles packed to the ceiling with chocolates and gummies. Unbelievable. They were almost exclusively German chocolate bars and German gummy bears. Zero of the wonderful Belgian chocolate and almost zero selection of Swiss chocolate. Of course zero American Snickers, Baby Ruths, or Almond Joys either! There was candy everywhere. All to satisfy the German chocolate and gummy cravings.
Here are photos of two women, above and below, each with candy purchases in their hands walking into my iPhone camera's field of vision. The inclusion of the two women in the photos were unintentional but appropriate. It did seem that there were a lot more women picking up chocolate and/or gummy bear packages compared to men customers when I was there. I wonder if there is a gender difference in rates of candy consumption in Germany? Or are there gender differences in in various other countries? We need to get a major research university to begin this investigation asap, perhaps with a grant from the NIH, World Health Organization, Ford Foundation and the American Diabetes Association.
Statistics show that Americans consume the most sugar per capita in the world - with sugary drinks (Coke, Pepsi, etc) being the biggest sugar source for Americans. USA!! USA!! Meanwhile, Germans are actually second in sugar consumption worldwide but are the biggest candy consumers in the world. The Irish, Swiss, Austrians and Brits come in at #2 - #5. Stats are below. America is not even in the top 10 in candy consumption! Very surprising. Come on America, it is time to show Europe that we are still Numero Uno!
So, purely as a
1) gesture of goodwill and
2) as a small token of my admiration of our industrious German candy-making friends and
3) to show that am one American who believes we are still number one and
4) as a tribute to Germany for creating the entire Gummy Bear industry and
5) as a tribute to Germany for not (yet) starting World War 3.... that I, as an act of purely selfless charity and to help keep the store in business, went ahead and purchased a teeny tiny, minuscule, almost imperceptible amount of some Black Forest gummy bears at this Potsdamer Platz store. The weight of the gummy bears barely even registered on the scale.
And after that purchase I was quite disciplined, limiting myself to no more than three (3) gummy bears in any 24 hour period during my four days in Berlin. What? You don't believe me? How dare you? Why would I ever lie about this?
(data from statistica.com)
So, purely as a
1) gesture of goodwill and
2) as a small token of my admiration of our industrious German candy-making friends and
3) to show that am one American who believes we are still number one and
4) as a tribute to Germany for creating the entire Gummy Bear industry and
5) as a tribute to Germany for not (yet) starting World War 3.... that I, as an act of purely selfless charity and to help keep the store in business, went ahead and purchased a teeny tiny, minuscule, almost imperceptible amount of some Black Forest gummy bears at this Potsdamer Platz store. The weight of the gummy bears barely even registered on the scale.
And after that purchase I was quite disciplined, limiting myself to no more than three (3) gummy bears in any 24 hour period during my four days in Berlin. What? You don't believe me? How dare you? Why would I ever lie about this?
(data from statistica.com)
Most recent candy stats I could find below:
Natural History Museum, London
Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. The chocolate and gummy bear selection in this supermarket within the Potsdamer Platz shopping complex was staggering. Two full aisles of candy packed from floor to ceiling with different products in a store only the size of a very large Trader Joes. And Trader Joes has a lot of sweets also, and many house brands, but this is a stunning array of almost exclusively chocolates and gummy bears from various outside manufacturers. Lots of Haribo and other gummy makers represented. I did not see any Belgian chocolate. Some Swiss but mostly German chocolate. Recent stats are that Americans consume the most sugar in the world per capita, and most of it is from soft drinks (in addition to cakes, cookies, refined flour, pasta, etc.). And that is not good. Germans rank second, and their sugar consumption is higher from candy and less from soft drinks. Entire Potsdamer Platz shopping center is underground, beneath large office and residential towers, other ground level retail, restaurants, hotels and other buildings, all built on top of a major subway and train station. The lighting and air conditioning and spaciousness is very well done so one doesn't feel underground. This is Berlin's largest construction project in the last twenty years and is one of the largest in post WW2 European history.
Sky Garden, London
Sky Garden in London. Stunning views. The Sky Garden does not charge an admission fee and is a great place to just hang out and relax, have a cup of coffee etc. Great atmosphere. It is best to get there first thing in the morning and beat the crowds and that is what the two Bulgarian grad students who I'm pictured with did also. We had a great time talking about Europe and America, and places we have visited. They are well travelled, and have already explored every country in Europe and have lived for a time in both America and Australia.
London Eye - when built in 1998 it was the tallest/biggest ferris wheel in the world at 443 feet high. Today it is the world's 4th largest ferris wheel, with the tallest being the High Roller in Las Vegas at 550 feet. Singapore and China are in 2nd and 3rd place. Prohibitively overpriced. This entire section of the Thames now has a bit of a tacky cheesy feel to it as a result of the creation of the London eye and supporting junk food businesses. Almost a carney vibe. The London Eye, permanently anchored to the ground, is still a very impressive, solid looking structure. On the other hand, the Paris Wheel, less than half the size at 200 feet high, is transportable! The Paris Wheel was in place for the Paris millenial celebrations and has since been moved around and set up in various countries around the world. When I was there, the Paris Wheel (below) was adjacent to a great colorful summer near the Louvre and Jardin du Luxembourg.
This is the 200 ft tall Paris Wheel, which is "moveable." Located at the Paris Summer Carnival near Louvre and Luxembourg Gardens. Still, at 200 ft, it makes a big impact on the skyline, since Paris has so few skyscrapers in the city center but only in select districts at the edge of the "city center."
All the Paris skyscrapers seem to be on the other side of Seine, outside of the core "city center"
Natural History Museum, London.
Natural History Museum, London
Natural History Museum, London
Scottish National Museum, Edinburgh
The Berlin Holocaust Memorial is starkly and appropriately named "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe." It is on 4.5 acres a mile south of Brandenberg Gate.
Palace of Versailles, home and center of government of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the last king and queen of France before the fall of the Monarchy and the French Revolution. About 12 miles west of central Paris.
Amsterdam evening canal boat tour.
National Railway Museum - York, England
National Railway Museum - York, England
Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh, Scotland. A legendary story about a loyal dog named Bobby. Bobby's master was the Greyfriars Church night watchman named John Grey. When Grey died unexpectedly in 1858, Bobby, a two-year-old Skye Terrier, stayed next to his master's grave within the church graveyard and mourned his master for fourteen years until Bobby himself died at age 16 in 1872. The legend has taken on a life of its own over the years. Movies and books have been created around the story, and today the Greyfriars Bobby statue is said to be the most photographed monument in all of Scotland. It is tradition to rub Bobby's nose for good luck.
Abrahams Hostel, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Abrahams Hostel, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The design of this hostel was the most convoluted and Rube Goldberg-like of any hostel I encountered on my trip. It was bizarre. There were many confusing hallways and so many confusing doors; it was easy to get lost in the place. If a fire would have started and we needed to escape it would have been quite dangerous. A place like this would never be allowed in America. I really wonder if Dublin has any building inspectors. If so they probably drink Guiness on the job. This hostel is the result of the joining of two separate buildings that have been merged into one hostel with one front desk and one kitchen ara. The result of the merging of two buidings was many split level hallways, little stairs that join hallways from the adjacent building to the next building, some stairs that were super narrow and super steep, and many doors one would encounter at the end of a hallway with signs that read "turn right for rooms __ to __ ," and "turn left for rooms ___ to ___." And then at the next junction of doors there would be more maze-like directions of "turn right for rooms __ to __ ," and "turn left for rooms ___ to ___." With a new set of room numbers on each sign. An endless maze. I'm reminded how Spinal Tap got lost at the arena before their show and kept cycling around in circles, ending up at the same place they started. There were no elevators; the whole place was a "walk-up." And I was up on the maybe the 4th floor involving maybe 12 flights of stairs. Schlepping my suitcase up when I arrived and and out when I left was a hassle. Half the people at the front desk were unfriendly clueless tatted up women with anger issues and some gender confusion who didn't seem to know what they were doing either, just like those who designed the building remodel. Again, perhaps all heavy Guiness drinkers.
What can I say? I did not like the Dublin hostel or the employees. However, the travelers staying there were friendly as were those I shared a hostel room with (including this American woman from upstate New York.) One positive note: the prices for hostels in Dublin were very reasonable, perhaps reflecting the lack of appeal of the entire city to travelers?
What can I say? I did not like the Dublin hostel or the employees. However, the travelers staying there were friendly as were those I shared a hostel room with (including this American woman from upstate New York.) One positive note: the prices for hostels in Dublin were very reasonable, perhaps reflecting the lack of appeal of the entire city to travelers?
Berlin Map showing Jugendgastehaus Hostel. About a half hour walk to Brandenberg Gate. Only a ten minute walk to the huge Berlin train station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
My hostel in Berlin that served a great buffet breakfast every morning. In true efficient German fashion, the Berlin hostel's buffet breakfast period started and ended at an earlier time than any other hostel's breakfast in the other six major European cities where I stayed (London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen.) But Berlin's was the best breakfast of any hostel. These two front desk people were great and very helpful with directions, etc. They were some of the few friendly Germans I encountered - a rare sight indeed. The Germans are obsessed with punctuality, and when breakfast stops being served at 9AM or whatever it was, they want you OUT of the dining area ASAP. Not only do they closed up the breakfast buffet at 9AM, but they want you out of the dining facility by that time also, which was a bit of a rude awakening - to be yelled at by some German food service employee because I was not finished eating. At those Germans - so unlikeable! What a strange culture! The hostel's name of "Jugendgastehaus" is translated as "Jugs and Food In The House." Not really - I have no idea what it means and a google search did not help. This picture was taken early in the morning as I was getting ready to check out and catch an early flight back to London. I had not yet showered or shaved. That is my excuse.
A phenomenal department store in Mitte district of Berlin, a central hub area. Called GALERIA Karstadt Kaufhof Berlin Alexanderplatz. The store seems to have everything and is very well organized and laid out. In this era of Amazon it was quite surprising to see a successful bricks and mortar department store (assuming it is successful - don't know!) The range of items and selection and level of detail was phenomenal. Not like your typical American "Macy's in decline" with crap and poor selection, etc. Probably one of the most impressive department stores I've seen - not that I frequent these places very often. Just the stationery department alone with its phenomenal selection of paper, pens, notebooks, binders, folders, writing accessories, etc was stunning. Huge selection fo electronics, even washers and dryers and refrigerators, etc. (They apparently use dryers in Germany - they are not as backwards as the Brits with their clothelines!). Huge tools and hardward department also. Astonishing selection of everything. Bricks and mortar retail seems alive and well in Berlin at least for this store for the moment.
Various Berlin scenes. KaDeWe is Berlin's largest and most famous department store - 60,000 sq ft. Viewed from a tour bus - did not go in to this store!
London neighborhood of Walthamstow, back yard of Ruth's home, Walthamstow Farmers' Market, Train To Victoria Station, Victoria Station, friend Mariana.
Reichstag Tower - Berlin
Santa Barbara Airport before departure. From Santa Barbara to Phoenix with a 1.5 hour layover, then direct to London Heathrow. I wish all airports were as nice and low key as Santa Barbara Airport.
Berlin - Huge Range of Electric Scooters / Bikes Hourly Rental everywhere. It appeared that there were more rentable electric bikes, scooters and mopeds per capita in Berlin than any of the seven major European cities I visited.
Berlin Television Tower. This was an East German showcase project completed in 1969. Built to broadcast police state cold war propaganda to the communist East Germans. Today it remains the largest tower in Germany and the fourth-largest in Europe. Total height including antenna is 1200 feet; the rotating restaurant with 360-degree views is 667 feet.
Views were absolutely spectacular and it is well worth a visit and the cost of admission. But I did notice that the photo-maps, adjacent to the huge view windows identifying major Berlin structures, needed some updating. Many major buildings built in recent years were not reflected in the guide map displays.
So I politely asked a managerial type of employee if there were plans to update the guide map display with more recently completed buildings. He looked at me quizzically as if he had zero idea what I could possibly be talking about. This was the typical German condescending passive aggressive arrogant response I had encountered frequently while in Berlin. Anyway, not being at all argumentative but trying to have a semi-intelligent exchange, I gave him one specific example of the "Berlin Hauptbahnhof" train station (pictured below). The largest train station in Europe completed 13 years ago in 2006 after decades of planning and construction. Many in Germany consider it to be a showcase achievement. And I told him that the map inside the tower did not show that the Berlin Hauptbahnhof train station even existed; it was just a vacant lot on the map display. There were many other examples of missing updates.
The German tower employee, now fully offended by the audacity of my innocent question, dismissively responded: "Sir, we can't update the displays simply every time some new train station is built!"
Wow. And I am now thinking, "Here we go again. Another passive-aggressive angry German jerk with a chip on his shoulder. And this guy is in the "service industry" dealing with tourists like me all the time? Who hired this guy? He is supposed to interface politely and be helpful with tourists who pay to view Berlin from the tower? And he wants to get into an argument with me? WTF? He'd be canned in America immediately for his attitude. Who supervises this guy?"
I had by now encountered this personality so many times in Berlin, that I was getting tired of the German anger and passive-aggressive arrogance. So I simply laughed in the guy's face and threw it back at him: "Hey, you and I both know that the Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest train station in Europe and it was completed in 2006. It is celebrated as a major German engineering and construction achievement. And you're telling me that this structure is not important enough to even include on your Berlin display map?"
The German was briefly taken aback. But he was not going to lose the "argument" with the tourist. A dispute that he himself created. Though the guy is a service worker dealing with tourists all the time, he had to be "right" and win the argument. He did not want to engage in an exchange of ideas. So he continued down his argumentative and dismissive path. At that point, I just cut him off, called him an idiot and threw in some other curse words and told him to "go to hell" (actually a stronger epithet) and moved on; it wasn't worth arguing with another insane angry passive-aggressive German. They were everywhere. I was getting tired of the entire German culture. I went to Berlin with an open mind expecting a normal amount of human politeness, and so often encountered rude asshole Germans who get in arguments for no reason. It was becoming a bizarre pattern. Germans were a unique exception to the great peoples I had encountered in every other of the seven countries I visited over six weeks. Most Germans still were OK, but the percentage of jerks was surprisingly high.
So I have to ask: what is with the Germans? We all know that this is the culture that started World War I and World War II. This is the land where the Nazis thrived and where Hitler and his cadre of zealots attempted to take over the world. This is the country and a culture that was responsible for the millions of deaths of innocent people and massive levels of destruction in their attempt at world domination. The Nazis were responsible for the systematic genocide of six million Jews, along with gypsies, gays, the disabled and political opponents. They looted artworks from European museums. The level of atrocities committed is staggering. The Nazi war machine destabilized Europe and created a vacuum that paved the way for the expansion of the Soviet Union into territories that the Germans had occupied during WW2. The Germans have been a significant contributor to suffering throughout the world during the 20th century. Sorry, but in my opinion, just at a human level, I recognized the residual level of sickness of German people when I visited this country. Germany still scares me. We must never let Germany rearm. The country still has so much WW2 Nazi guilt embedded in their society and institutions right now that rearming and remilitarization does not seem possible. But who knows what the future may bring.
The insightful German-American tour guide who I enjoyed speaking with about my experiences gave me some further insight into German character. He said to realize that Germans often seem to perceive any question, however legitimate or innocent, as a potential criticism of them or as an attempt to make them look stupid. He said Germans don't want to be viewed as stupid. That is a major driver in their culture - not to look stupid and not to embarrass themselves. They go to great lengths to be perceived as competent and be efficient. And they are indeed competent and efficient! This manifests in a strong work ethic and Germans are renowned for their precision engineering and great manufacturing capabilities. Germany has a robust economic system, with great training and apprenticeship programs that are effective in creating an excellent workforce. Their educational system seems to work better than America's ridiculous "everybody should go to college" educrat-dominated student loan funded overpriced university system that fills spoiled Millenials raised by helicopter parents with politically correct hokum with at times little practical usefulness. Still, the American university system is a great one and offers great experiences for motivated students to learn a lot about a lot of topics and to decide independently on their career directions. Assuming that 18-22-year-olds with little real-life experience are capable of appreciating college! The German system of training people and directing them into certain professions at a young age via apprenticeships in some ways is a more practical system, though this kind of regimentation would not work well in America, which has a history of the "college experience" and the freedom of choice and the ability to reinvent ourselves and not be stuck in a single career track determined for us at a very young age.
So Germany for sure has some great elements to their country that we can learn from. The bad side sadly is that too high a percentage of Germans, in my opinion, are not pleasant people.
The German-American tour guide referenced earlier had some further insights. He had some good insights about Germany and America. The tour guide was probably about 50 years old - was not a kid - and he was born in America from German parents who returned to Germany when he was in high school. So he knows both German and American cultures well. He was very well-spoken and spoke English and German flawlessly. Germans thought he was German and Americans thought he was American. He told me that the reaction I got from the television tower employee was typical possibly of a disgruntled former East Berliner whose parents grew up in the communist system. The tour guide assumed that the person working at the tower probably grew up in East Berlin. People who lived in East Berlin before the wall fell are generally still there. He said that many from East Berlin are still angry about the West German takeover and absorption of East Germany after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the 1990 reunification of Germany. For some whose families were accustomed to the predictability and stability of communism, the transition and disruption into a free market economy have not been easy and there is residual resentment that was passed down to subsequent generations.
I don't know what the truth is, and I will explore this issue more to get a better understanding of personality dynamics. But all I can say is that Berlin by far was my least favorite city because of the people I encountered.
Views were absolutely spectacular and it is well worth a visit and the cost of admission. But I did notice that the photo-maps, adjacent to the huge view windows identifying major Berlin structures, needed some updating. Many major buildings built in recent years were not reflected in the guide map displays.
So I politely asked a managerial type of employee if there were plans to update the guide map display with more recently completed buildings. He looked at me quizzically as if he had zero idea what I could possibly be talking about. This was the typical German condescending passive aggressive arrogant response I had encountered frequently while in Berlin. Anyway, not being at all argumentative but trying to have a semi-intelligent exchange, I gave him one specific example of the "Berlin Hauptbahnhof" train station (pictured below). The largest train station in Europe completed 13 years ago in 2006 after decades of planning and construction. Many in Germany consider it to be a showcase achievement. And I told him that the map inside the tower did not show that the Berlin Hauptbahnhof train station even existed; it was just a vacant lot on the map display. There were many other examples of missing updates.
The German tower employee, now fully offended by the audacity of my innocent question, dismissively responded: "Sir, we can't update the displays simply every time some new train station is built!"
Wow. And I am now thinking, "Here we go again. Another passive-aggressive angry German jerk with a chip on his shoulder. And this guy is in the "service industry" dealing with tourists like me all the time? Who hired this guy? He is supposed to interface politely and be helpful with tourists who pay to view Berlin from the tower? And he wants to get into an argument with me? WTF? He'd be canned in America immediately for his attitude. Who supervises this guy?"
I had by now encountered this personality so many times in Berlin, that I was getting tired of the German anger and passive-aggressive arrogance. So I simply laughed in the guy's face and threw it back at him: "Hey, you and I both know that the Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest train station in Europe and it was completed in 2006. It is celebrated as a major German engineering and construction achievement. And you're telling me that this structure is not important enough to even include on your Berlin display map?"
The German was briefly taken aback. But he was not going to lose the "argument" with the tourist. A dispute that he himself created. Though the guy is a service worker dealing with tourists all the time, he had to be "right" and win the argument. He did not want to engage in an exchange of ideas. So he continued down his argumentative and dismissive path. At that point, I just cut him off, called him an idiot and threw in some other curse words and told him to "go to hell" (actually a stronger epithet) and moved on; it wasn't worth arguing with another insane angry passive-aggressive German. They were everywhere. I was getting tired of the entire German culture. I went to Berlin with an open mind expecting a normal amount of human politeness, and so often encountered rude asshole Germans who get in arguments for no reason. It was becoming a bizarre pattern. Germans were a unique exception to the great peoples I had encountered in every other of the seven countries I visited over six weeks. Most Germans still were OK, but the percentage of jerks was surprisingly high.
So I have to ask: what is with the Germans? We all know that this is the culture that started World War I and World War II. This is the land where the Nazis thrived and where Hitler and his cadre of zealots attempted to take over the world. This is the country and a culture that was responsible for the millions of deaths of innocent people and massive levels of destruction in their attempt at world domination. The Nazis were responsible for the systematic genocide of six million Jews, along with gypsies, gays, the disabled and political opponents. They looted artworks from European museums. The level of atrocities committed is staggering. The Nazi war machine destabilized Europe and created a vacuum that paved the way for the expansion of the Soviet Union into territories that the Germans had occupied during WW2. The Germans have been a significant contributor to suffering throughout the world during the 20th century. Sorry, but in my opinion, just at a human level, I recognized the residual level of sickness of German people when I visited this country. Germany still scares me. We must never let Germany rearm. The country still has so much WW2 Nazi guilt embedded in their society and institutions right now that rearming and remilitarization does not seem possible. But who knows what the future may bring.
The insightful German-American tour guide who I enjoyed speaking with about my experiences gave me some further insight into German character. He said to realize that Germans often seem to perceive any question, however legitimate or innocent, as a potential criticism of them or as an attempt to make them look stupid. He said Germans don't want to be viewed as stupid. That is a major driver in their culture - not to look stupid and not to embarrass themselves. They go to great lengths to be perceived as competent and be efficient. And they are indeed competent and efficient! This manifests in a strong work ethic and Germans are renowned for their precision engineering and great manufacturing capabilities. Germany has a robust economic system, with great training and apprenticeship programs that are effective in creating an excellent workforce. Their educational system seems to work better than America's ridiculous "everybody should go to college" educrat-dominated student loan funded overpriced university system that fills spoiled Millenials raised by helicopter parents with politically correct hokum with at times little practical usefulness. Still, the American university system is a great one and offers great experiences for motivated students to learn a lot about a lot of topics and to decide independently on their career directions. Assuming that 18-22-year-olds with little real-life experience are capable of appreciating college! The German system of training people and directing them into certain professions at a young age via apprenticeships in some ways is a more practical system, though this kind of regimentation would not work well in America, which has a history of the "college experience" and the freedom of choice and the ability to reinvent ourselves and not be stuck in a single career track determined for us at a very young age.
So Germany for sure has some great elements to their country that we can learn from. The bad side sadly is that too high a percentage of Germans, in my opinion, are not pleasant people.
The German-American tour guide referenced earlier had some further insights. He had some good insights about Germany and America. The tour guide was probably about 50 years old - was not a kid - and he was born in America from German parents who returned to Germany when he was in high school. So he knows both German and American cultures well. He was very well-spoken and spoke English and German flawlessly. Germans thought he was German and Americans thought he was American. He told me that the reaction I got from the television tower employee was typical possibly of a disgruntled former East Berliner whose parents grew up in the communist system. The tour guide assumed that the person working at the tower probably grew up in East Berlin. People who lived in East Berlin before the wall fell are generally still there. He said that many from East Berlin are still angry about the West German takeover and absorption of East Germany after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the 1990 reunification of Germany. For some whose families were accustomed to the predictability and stability of communism, the transition and disruption into a free market economy have not been easy and there is residual resentment that was passed down to subsequent generations.
I don't know what the truth is, and I will explore this issue more to get a better understanding of personality dynamics. But all I can say is that Berlin by far was my least favorite city because of the people I encountered.
Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Berlin Train Station, completed 2006. The largest train station in Europe and a major engineering and construction achievement. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof train station is an example of how Berlin has come back so successfully after being devastated by allied bombs in WW2. (See comments and story above.)
St Albans Abbey - built in 800's. Largest "nave" (section where congregation sits) in Europe at 85 meters - nearly length of American football field.
Hiking to the top of "Arthur's Seat" right outside of Edinburgh. Great views, and very easy walk back to Edinburgh's Royal Mile, where I was staying. A 915 foot ascent - rivaling that of Mt. Everest but without help of Sherpas.
Berlin - Reichstag
Santa Barbara Airport
Abbey Road - Apparently an album? By some band from England? Not sure
Jim Morrison Gravesite - Paris - du Pere-Lachaise Cemetary
Aussie friends / hostel mates having a high time in Amsterdam
Berlin Television Tower - built 1965 East Germany - rotating - great views
"Fernsehturm Tower" - near Alexanderplatz.
"Fernsehturm Tower" - near Alexanderplatz.
Berlin Wall Museum
Manchester, England Library and Government Center
Emmeline Pankhurst, a major British Women's Suffragette Leader, early 1900's. This photo-collage was on display at Manchester Library and Government Center.
Wimbledon ! As beautiful a setting as could be imagined.
On train from London to Wimbledon! As beautiful a setting as could be imagined.
Wimbledon - what a great village. And great event.
Amsterdam's famous red light district - "De Wallen." Quite a range of ages, beauty and presumably prices!?
Berlin double decker bus tour and the great Berlin tour guide.
The hotel in London near Heathrow a couple of days before returning to USA - Park Inn by Radisson - around 11:30 pm one night an false fire alarm (prank? technical error?) went off - people all stream outside - after hanging around and realizing that it was a total false alarm, I found way back to my room an hour before everybody were offically "allowed" to return. Was maybe a half hour inconvenience. I had run outside so fast I forgot to bring warm clothing so was motivated to return. Back to the television and well deserved rest!
Berlin rentable electric bikes scooters and even mopeds were everywhere. More here by far than any other European city visited. Copenhagen perhaps was a close in rentable bikes per capita.
A number of clown images, with the biggest clown in history in the middle, the pathological lying corrupt crook scumbag King Troompa Loompa - the Mango Mullah.
Edinburgh, Scotland. What a beautiful city full of great people. This open space area is only about two miles from King's Road - ie the center of the city near the Castle. Easy walk or busride. It is called "Arthur's Seat."
Amsterdam, Netherlands canal boat tour. Viewing beautiful homes - many hundreds of years old. Many built by merchants with the Dutch East India Company, the world's first corporation that imported silks, textiles, and spices from Asia. The Dutch dominated the world of trade from the early 1600's until the late 1700's. The largest corporation in the history of the world was actually essentially nation-state of its own created initially by the Netherlands.
Paris - Luxembourg Gardens - not far from Latin Quarter - Rue Mouffetard - where I was staying for a week.
Paris - Arc d' Triomphe and The Louvre
Paris - phenomenal neighborhood market in the Rue Moffetard area (Latin Quarter) where my hostel was (Young and Happy Hostel - dumb name). Great salad bar (reasonably priced!) Everything else was expensive as is all of Paris but quality and selection was incredible for such a conveniently located small shop.
Reichstag Parliament view tower - Berlin
British War Museum - London
British War Museum - London
Paris - Eiffel Tower in psychedelic multi colors
Final stop in London to wind down after six weeks of playing tourist before flying home - Radisson Hotel near Heathrow
Final stop in London to wind down after six weeks of playing tourist before flying home - Radisson Hotel near Heathrow. After many hotels and some homes of friends, great to take a sauna and space out and watch TV. Saw Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Fun underappreciated cult movie.
Wimbledon
More hotel TV goofiness - robot soccer - why include this collage? Don't know. Every TV show was fascinating after having been away from TV and basic creature comforts for six weeks!
Bus + Ferryboat Trip from Copenhagen to Berlin. Sat next to great guy who is chief engineer on the the largest Copenhagen construction project - was on his way to join friends in Germany at a coastal town on the way to Berlin for a fishing trip (he is German nationality, married to a native Dutch diplomat living in Copenhagen)
Wimbledon - great village and great event
Berlin double decker bus tour - entertaining fun tour guide
More Berlin electric rental bikes scooters and mopeds - everywhere!
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Flying back from London to Santa Barbara with a stopover through Phoenix, got together briefly at airport with Monte Vista elementary scool buddy Steve Martin (not "that" Steve Martin - the other one). Steve lives in Scottsdale and is a serious baseball fan. Some minor league and major league spring training parks are on his daily walking route. He showed up at the airport with a package of four separately marked and stamped baseballs - one major league, one minor league, and one each from two minor leagues - California and Pacific Coast Leagues. Each baseball made in China. Like everything else. I'm someday going to fabricate a kinetic mini baseball sculpture of some sort. Or glue them together. Or hang on the wall. Or something!
Berlin sightseeing tour with great German tour guide. Reichstag, the East Berlin TV tower, Brandenberg Gate, residence of the German Chancellor, and on far left the bombed out fomer church that still stands as an anti-war monument. Hopefully the Germans learned (finally!)
Various Berlin sites, including the bombed out former church, Berlin Wall museum, Checkpoint Charlie - the famous gate between West and East Berlin, and one corner oif the Reichstag
View taking off from Phoenix to Santa Barbara on last leg of tip in early August. Looks pretty dry and not too green out there!
The stunning Eiffel Tower at night. More mind blowing than expected. One of the biggest thrills of the whole trip. Did not expect to be blown away by it. Walked all the way to the highest area accessible (maybe 8-9 floors up) before getting on elevator with everybody else to the very top viewing area. When the lights go on - for maybe about half and hour each night - it is stunning and thrilling. The sequencing of the lights is brilling. I saw it once from the inside and the next night viewed the light show from the top of the Arc de' Triumph.
More Eiffel Tower color random psychedelic goofiness with Photoshop.
Amsterdam canal tour. Tour guide is upper right corner blue shirt with arm out. Knows his stuff and like most Dutch speaks English perfectly.
More of Radisson hotel near Heathrow. Final two days in Europe spent relaxing at a hotel after spending six weeks in hostels and various friends' homes.
Reichstag Parliament viewing tower.
Paris - Luxembourg Gardens - near Latin Quarter where I was staying.
Wimbledon - deserves it stellar repuation as a village and great tennis event.
Radisson Hotel near Heathrow - can't express how important it was to wind down here for a couple of days before flying back. Logged in much sauna time. And TV and sleep time.
Jim Morrison grave outside of Paris - du Pere Lachais Cemetary
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin, including edge of Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie and outdoor Berlin Wall museum
Berlin
Wimbledon psychedelicized
Berlin - views from East German rotating television view tower. An East German propaganda project built in 1965. Phenomenal views. Many angry, resentful former East Germans working there still! What a bizarre city full of bizarre people.
Reichstag Parliament Building
Tangent - flashback to my youth - local childrens television hero "Uncle Gary" broadcasting to Monterey from KSBW-TV in Salinas. I was in the peanut gallery on one of the shows once. Age 4? 5?
Lego's Main Showcase store in Copenhagen. Lego is a Danish company. Lots of fun and great friendly upbeat atmosphere
Abbey Road Studios - London - St John's Woods
Abbey Road Studios - London - St John's Woods
Tram from Berlin Train Station to Berlin Airport - flying to London for two days before returning to Santa Barbara. The tram was efficient, not expensive, and ran on time. With a driver who was an asshole. Typical of so many Germans working in "service" public-facing businesses. Could not wait to get out of Berlin and away from the incredibly rude, impatient, generally jerky Germans. Can't stand many of the people I encountered in Germany! At least Berlin - frankly did not visit any other area but was in Berlin for five days (four too many). They say southern Germany is much friendlier - ie Munich and Bavaria. I came in to Germany expecting the best - with absolutely zero negative preconceived attitudes. But I left with a lot of attitudes - mostly negative. Yes the trains run on time and Germany is an "efficient" European economic powerhouse I guess. Efficiency and productivity seems to be big thing to them and they have a strong work ethic and are innovative for sure it appears. They have a great social system with apprenticeships and manufacturing and a very practical economic system it seems. That is impressive. But there is an underlying angry impatient unloveable nature to many personalities I encountered. Sorry but that is my reacion. Enough said!
Train to Wimbledon, an hour ride from Charing Cross Station in Central London.
Wimbledon train station - about to return back to London.
My quasi-humorous message to friend Steve Martin in Scottsdale as I'm leaving London on the way to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. I'm going to meet him inside the Phoenix airport during a two hour layover before boarding a plane to return home to Santa Barbara. (Whiff Away is a "urinal cake/deodorizer." Eau de toilette?)
More photos of those ever-present Berlin electric scooters, bikes and mopeds. They were everywhere - more per capita in my estimation than any other European city I visited (which were London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Berlin.)
Berlin - Reichstag - the spectacular Parliament view dome is in background.
Berlin - Reichstag - the spectacular Parliament view dome is in background.
Flags Gone Wild
