“I had found my religion: nothing seemed more important to me than a book. I saw the library as a temple.” Jean-Paul Sartre Monday (Evening) We head out for the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The city is full of people. We stop and point out the architecture. Shell takes all the pictures and I wonder if…
Month: July 2024
Messages From Berlin
“Messages tonight, borne on the lights of Berlin . . . neon, incandescent, stellar . . . messages weave into a net of information that no one can escape. . . .” Thomas Pynchon Monday We try to avoid cities. The car allows us to explore places that are difficult to find. The car is…
Słońsk
“There is a way of being wrong which is also sometimes necessarily right.” Edward Abbey Editors note: The author is aware that ‘Pygmy Wheat’ is fictitious. The wheat is in fact, Triticum Aestivum. I thank the valued readership for pointing this out. Further thanks to the readership for explaining the varying influences on wheat height….
Wejherowo
“It was a rainy night. It was the myth of a rainy night.” Jack Kerouac Saturday Thunder and then lightning wakes me. It is raining outside. There is nothing like rain outside and being in bed. I lay and listened to the rain and fell back asleep. A longer drive today as we make our…
Lithuania Dreaming
“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” George Orwell Friday Our last day in Poland as we push north in search for cool weather. Destination – Kulautuva, Lithuania. It is a buffet breakfast which means we skip lunch. As someone who eats enough for two, and I need to eat enough…
The Road To Wyszków
“Sal, we gotta go and never stop going ’till we get there.’‘Where we going, man?’‘I don’t know but we gotta go.” Jack Kerouac Thursday A day of driving. No fancy breakfast. We strike out northeast for Lublin in search of coffee and lunch. A four hour trip avoiding freeways and tolls. We meander through forests…
Finding Kraków
“The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand” Italo Calvino A good night’s sleep. We are up early to explore the city and hunt down a decent breakfast. Most cities in Poland were destroyed during World War II. Kraków was one of the few to remain…
Kraków – Poland
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” Sylvia Plath I awake to the sound of birdsong and the fast running brook under our window. There are no sounds outside of nature. My only complaint is that the sun rises…
Zázrivá – Slovakia
“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. ” William S. Burroughs You need to be prepared to change your plans. Our initial plan was to explore Romania, but more heat is heading our way. With highs of 37…