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Hey -- Please don't squeeze the Charmin, fella! This great big window ad is just one of many "a little bit more explicit" advertisements you wouldn't quite see in America. Busty broads in billboards -- sure, we got them all over the U.S. -- but a gentleman lending a hand?...no no no. |
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| This particular subway station is covered in art, which shows especially contemplative motifs. The banner here reads Wir trinken was Wir pinkeln, "We drink what we piss." Other banners in this thoughtfully aesthetic gallery translate, "We are the skin disease of the earth," and, "We are rolling in death." |
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| Another lovely little souvenir from the radio tower shops. What you see here is key chain, shaped like a smiling hamburger. On the back are written the immortal words of Jack Kennedy, "Ich bin ein Berliner," demonstrating -- perhaps for the first time -- that the patronizing words of an American politician know no bounds. |
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| Ah, that was an educational week. I took the night train back. But before I nestled into my cozy berth, some good soup and conversation in the dining car. I happened to meet this fellow -- oh what was his name!? -- he's Canadian. The thing that first caught my attention was his T-shirt. That's a universal symbol of a human figure, dropping a hammer-and-sickle into a trash bin. Such is Berlin. |
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| Soon as I got back to my crash pad in Utrecht, I knew I wanted to move on. Rested up a bit, then went down to the internet cafe and booked a hostel bed in Belgium. That night, 4 trains later, I was in Bruges (we use the French word, rhymes with rouge...but it's a Dutch speaking part of the country -- they say Brugge, with a rolling R and a lot of phlegm in the G -- it's Flemish). Very Beautiful old buildings right on (or in) the water! |
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| A good spot for tourists of the old world -- and they know it. When I was there the town had a big festival about their history, all over the downtown area. Here you see little ballerina's gesturing reverently as a great puppet records the amazing (and of course often bloody) history of Bruges. |
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| There I am, climbing yet another ancient tower, to get a bird's eye view of the town. |
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| Because some of these ancient buildings also have modern functions, I found myself sneaking glimpses of the modern Flemish taste. Here's something I found especially distasteful: It's a 4-year-old girl doing a sex tease with a little piece of white sheet. Cute? I guess! |
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| And here's something rather impressive. In the bowels of the blood-of-Christ church, in a little dungeon cell, you can sit with a life-size statue of old J.C. on the eve of his execution. It's kind of creepy. (They still have the blood sample from the 12th century on hand...I don't think it's taken the DNA test yet). |
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