Frankfurt International Autoshow

17.09.07

Part of working for an automotive company is that you get to go to sweet auto shows. We boarded the train early in the morning and headed to Frankfurt for the show and to meet up with our good friend Jakob. When we arrived at the show, it seemed to me that the entire city took the day of to check out what their nation had to offer up for the next model year. And offer it up they did.
Of the many cars at the show, there were two that really ran away from the others. The Renault Laguna Coupe concept and, my favorite of the show, the VW Up! concept . Check 'em out...

I love my german cars, but I especially love my veedubs, and VW announced today that they are going to have a production ready version of the Up for 2011 and if I am living in any sort of major metropolis at that time I will be looking into this amazing car.

Also, Audi was the only company to have the balls to bring out a "real" race car. I say real because all the other race cars that were there had never been driven on a track. This Audi R10 won the 24 hour LeMans race this year, and there it was in the flesh.


After the show we join Jakob for a spin around the city in his BMW 1er and settled in for some food before heading back to the train station.

Cheap German Guitar

14.09.07

I needed a new creative outlet to help me out here in Munich. And one thing has been constant in my life has been my guitar. So with a little research and a pair of legs, I headed out to a second hand music store and scored this bad boy for 15 Euro! Feeling pretty good now.

Fairytales at 144 mph

This weekend was maybe the most fun I've had since I've been out here, and definatley the fastest I've ever driven in my life. Allen and I rented a 2007 Audi TT on saturday and set out on th autobahn towards the German/Austrian border. Our destination was the small town of Fussen, Germany. Resting above the town are two castles buit by a king and his son in the 1800s. The castles provided a great reason to drive a car insanely fast, so we picked up the TT and jumped on the autobahn.
German's don't buy white cars, so we stuck out like...well...like two Americans, but it's OK because the TT is at it's best when dressed in white, just pure and simple, graphic. And being an autobahn virgin, the color suited me well. Allen drove first cause he did the leg work to secure the car, and we were off. 220 km to get to Fussen from Munich, lets see how long this takes.
The autobahn began just like any other freeway. Instantly I was transported back to LA. It's been over a month since I've been in a car I thought. The trip was off to a good start and I riding in the passenger seat of a brand new Audi TT, snapping photos and flipping through the poor German radio stations. Until a Porsche Carrera 4s ripped past us and the mood in the car changed. Up until then we had been unsure how to tell when the speed limit dissolves and the road is opened. The radio went down as fast as Allens foot and we were off. I'll just say that you cover a lot of ground really fast when you don't have speedlimits...before we knew it we needed to exit the freeway and see some castles.

The two castles in Fussen are quite the tourist attraction. The first king built his home there, a modest castle overlooking his people in the town below, then when he died, his son built a second home adjacent. The son was infamous King Ludwig II who somehow earned the reputation of being crazy, which eventually led to his "mysterious" death in a lake near by...probably cause he was dilusional and built a rediculous castle in the 19th century for his "knights" other medieval fairytale dreams. But while the castle is stunning from the outside, the interior remained unfinished after the king's death. I've heared that this castle is the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disneyland, which makes perfect sense.
We wrapped up at the castles and headed back to the car. It was my turn to drive. I eased out of the parking lot and we casually made our way back to the autobahn, taking in many of the small towns that are nestled at the edge of the Apls, along the way.
The TT was still asking for more, so I naturally gave it some. The interesting thing about the auto bahn is that because you can drive as fast as your can go without any reprecussions from the local Polizei, your attention is entirely focused on the road ahead...not looking out for cops like in America. And although driving at 240 kmph (~150 mph) is not really the safest way to oporate a motor vehicle, it sure as hell feels good. Around 160 kmph your going really fast...100 mph fast. The Autobahn is built for this though. German efficiency shines on the autobahn. Hitler had certain criteria for the construction of the highway sytem in Germany which allow for the highest rate of speeds.
Can you see it in my eyes? Pulling past 220 kmph, the autobahn welcomes my foot through the floorboard, the turbo charged 2.0 liter engine of the TT screaming for me to release the pressure, but I was unwilling. I dropped into 6th gear to ease his pain for a few seconds while the RPM's pulled ever higher. At 230 kmph, the vision of the autobahn is realized...the car never has to slow down for the road. 235, 236, 237. I held the pedal down, eagerly awaiting every new number. The car had pushed to just below 240 kmph before a speedlimit warning showed it's face up ahead. The bright red circle showed 120 as the marked limit for the area, and I released the throttle and cruised to speed.

Yeah, so we saw some castles and whatever. The lasting memory will be the bright red needle of the speedometer forced clockwise beyond all reason.

Religiously Cold

The past couple days have been mired with unpredictable weather. The sun peeks through the clouds which hang over the city endless and purple-grey, only for minutes at a time. I wish it would just go away. I love rain, but I hate when it's wet outside and the sun comes out. It's all too contradictory for my tastes. I prefer the weather to stay in one state until I sleep again. Waking to find a new world. Different but the same.

Regardless, this recent pattern has hampered my bike excursions slightly. I used my bike to get to work in the morning yesterday, and by the end of work it was raining. The bike got left at work. This morning it was overcast and sprinkling when I took the train there and the bike home. I watched a cyclist get hit by a car today. He jumped up and began screaming at the driver of the silver BMW in german. The extent of his anger transcended the language barrier. This briefly reminded me to proceed cautiously along the slick streets of Munich, but the warning light faded into the back of my head as I dropped the chain into gear and lowered my head. Weaving through traffic reminds me of a San Francisco winter. The cold takes be back there.

Today was the coldest day thus far in Munich, and it's only september. Through the passing hours, the winds kick up fierce and the cold burst through the passing clouds. The wind here cuts though everything. The wind that comes off the alps creates chill that could not exist in Los Angeles. The city would eat it alive, and spit it back out over the sea. The cold makes it comfortable inside, alone. I have taken the opportunity to read page after page of my rapidly depleting book collection. Which brings me too my final topic.

I am growing ever closer to exhausting my english book supply, and have yet to find a bookstore here that can meet my demands of english language. So if you have a book that you're done with, kick it down the way to me. I'll bring it home with me in december. I'll come hoe and buy a drink for anyone that sends their favorite book overseas and we can talk about the subtleties of the protagonist, the anti-social message, the evil of man, or what have you.

I've been reading all sorts of work recently. Noir has been a good friend. I tend to stick to fiction, but that doesn't mean that some random philosophy will fall on deaf ears.

Curtis Evey
Buttermelcher Str. 21
80469 Munchen, Germany

I'll be anxious to see if anyone takes me up on this. Feels like a mild social experiment wrapped in friendships...delicious.

Cheers.

Whirlwind Wien

Well, I finally made it out of Germany. I haven't been trying too hard because Munich has been so damn great, but when opportunity strikes...go to Vienna. Having learned a great deal from the previous weekend's lack of planning, I got together a game plan on thursday to get on a train to Vienna, Austria and see what it had in store for me. Courtney had come from there when she visited, and she left me a map of the city and a recommendation. I was going it alone this time. It would be the first time I've ever travelled somewhere that I didn't go with or meet someone there, a whole city just to myself. How exciting.

I decided to book a bed at a hostel, rather than sleep on the streets again. So that worked out well. I had a map and a bed to sleep in. Everything was comin' up Curtis...Austria is a German speaking country so the language I was used to, and it worked tremendously in my advantage. I was easily able to handle the communication, although people in Vienna seemed more eager to help me out with my German than in Munich. I felt good being able to order food, ask directions, etc., without having to "impose" my language on them. There was a good flow to the whole trip, here's how it unfolded.

I arrived in Wien at 1 in the afternoon and immediately set out for the cathedrals. I studied Romanesque and Gothic architecture before moving to LA and the interest has not subsided. In fact, coming to Europe has only sparked my interest even more. I visited St. Stephan and St. Vincent cathedrals one after the other. St. Stephan's is the largest church in Wien, and is the landmark for the center of the city. The city has actually passed a law that nothing can be built taller than it within a certain radius so that no buildings obstruct it's view. The tower was so powerful from the ground that all I can do is show you a picture. St. Vincent's cathedral was a beautiful example of high gothic architecture, complete with vaulted ceilings and flying buttresses, immense alters, and a serious case of verticality. This was a great taste of the European cathedrals, and I only hope that as I see more of them, the differences will stand out from the obvious similarities.

Following the cathedrals, I headed over to the hostel and dropped of some of my stuff before going out on the town. Unlike Munich, a night out in Wien doesn't only consist of only beer swilling, you can watch Opera while you down the local brews! A little class never hurt anybody. During the summer months, the city hall acts as an open air cinema which plays films of operas and classical music. I headed over there around 7:00 and got some great food and drink, mingled with the Wieners and settled in for "Il Travatore", a tale of two brothers who sacrifice the woman they both love because of their personal beliefs. As the screen went black and the 500 audience members scrambling for public transportation, I decided it better to head back to the hostel and get some rest for the day ahead.

Rothaus Opera Film Festival


Pretty nice room for a hostel
I woke up at 8 am and was ready take in the museum scene in Vienna. The city is literally packed with museums. They've devoted several city blocks within the center to what is called Museum Quarter, and outside of that are several more museums to be had. I started off with the Sigmund Freud Museum which was based in the apartment he and his family called home from 1890-1938. He actually used the apartment for his practice during this time as well. From there I headed to the Belvedere Palace, home to 90% of Gustav Klimt's art work. An impressive collection of work housed in an opulent baroque palace overlooking the city. It was just a short train ride back to the Museum Quarter where I took in the Leopold museum and the Museum of Modern Kunst (kunst=art). Both museums were very impressive.

Belvedere Palace = Baroque extravagance
While I tend to lean towards the modern side of the arts, the Leopold Museum had nearly the entire works of Kolo Moser, one of the founding artists in the Austrian modernist movement, which was utterly astounding. His career began designing graphics for stamps and currency, moved into furniture and interior design, and ended as a respected painter in a variety of mediums. They also had a large exhibit of Paul Rotterdam's drawings. His style is strikingly graphic, but his strokes of graphite extend beyond the perceived boundary laid out by the form.

Pattern by Kolo Moser
The MOMOK was appointed with all the standard modernists, but a few exhibits stood above the rest. An entire floor was devoted to the post-modern movement in America, including a large collection of pop-art and found objects as well as study's in performance pieces(Happenings and Fluxus) and sound(John Cage). The most exciting artist of the trip, however, was Markus Huemer. He's a contemporary artist working in both digital and classical media. His large paintings were absorbing, intrusive statements; distorting natural subject matter into a poster-like graphic. His digital work was more conceptual; motion sensing computers juxtaposing the viewer and the work, and Rothko-like minimalist statements done in shades of Process Blue, the same color the projector displays when it is displaying "nothing."

"I could have painted you a political painting" Markus HuemerSo Wien was amazing. The perfect amount of culture and history to fill my head. The museums kept me inside my head and I didn't feel the need to converse aimlessly to pass the time. It felt very much like a Germany that wasn't utterly decimated in the war, so there was a greater since of heritage in the architecture of the city, and that was in-turn reflected in the attitude of it's citizens. Although I didn't have enough time to see it all, I feel that the little I did see will be enough to bring me back again. And next time I'll make it a point to extend my stay in the beautiful Austrian city of Vienna.

STRAIGHT HOONAGE

Rallye Deutschland 2007 - Trier, Germany

So I'm just starting to recover from the hectic weekend I had. But the greater the risks, the greater the reward; and risk it all we did. I left the house on saturday before anyone else to enjoy a peaceful day of history, little did I know that I would end up in Germany's oldest cities. As I was riding the train back from Dachau (read below), Allen sent me a text message to meet him at the train station at 5 pm. Why you ask? So did I. It was 4:40 and the train takes over 25 minutes to return to Munich. I called him up to see what was going on. He let me know that the last train to Trier leaves at 5:37 and the World Rally Championships are making their only stop in Germany tomorrow. Needless to say I stepped off one train and got right on another.

Getting to Trier was easy. To quote H.S. Thompson, "Buy a ticket. Take a ride." I think he meant that in a slightly different context, but I digress. We knew where we were going, and where to look for fellow race fans for advice; but we had nowhere to stay, no tickets to the race, no idea where to buy said tickets. We did have huge amount of optimism, and the desire to see racing that doesn't generally make it across to America. Six and a half hours and two trains later we pulled into the station at Trier. Part one: Get to Trier; complete.

Trier is a small city on the border of Germany, maybe 30 minutes from Luxembourg. It was founded by the Romans in 16 BC and the historic tone of the city is echoed in it's appearance. The city Center is home to the Porta Nigra, a Roman gate to the former city border, built in the second century. It's starting to sink in. So we've come to the oldest city in the country to see modern monsters, rip around tight, winding streets at breakneck speeds...Sweet. Nothing was going to stop this from happening.
First we needed some information. We met a group of Subaru fans outside a a cafe and managed to get a map of the race events off of them. It told us that the info booths opened at 7 am, but didn't mention anything about buying tickets. So we had to wait. It's now around 1 in the morning and we haven't found anyone else to help us out. We tried 4 hotels for a room, but of course there's no rooms, 120,000 people have come from everywhere to see the races. We continued to walk around town looking for a place to sleep, which by this time, did not exclude cozy places on the street or on a bench.

Around 2:45, we posted up in front of a large stone building near one of the turns on the racetrack. Our thought was, if we wake up within the gates, maybe they won't check for tickets. Um, yeah right. We just needed a place to stay close enough to the track so we could get there in the morning. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I slept in a nook on the stairs until I couldn't take the cold anymore, and decided to get the heart rate up by walking around. It would be sunrise soon and that meant we needed to find tickets. We found coffee and bread at the train station before heading towards the racetrack to find tickets. The night was gone, and I had spent my first night homeless...something I'm in no rush to do again.
The entire race was sold out. What? Wait we came all this way, slept on the street, and can't see the race? Sympathy is not a German strong point apparently. I had previously learned how to ask for tickets in German(read further down for that one), so I made up a sign from a poster I found on a phonebooth around the way, and we headed towards the entrance. This was at 7:30 am. The rally started at 11:11, so I figured we had a good shot, plus there was no way we were leaving this city without seeing the race. At 10:04, a stroke of luck: A woman with a large group of people, had 1 extra ticket. That will do...now for the other two guys I came with....uh, you guys have any luck? Nope, but that didn't matter. We could get inside the gates now.

We spent the next 3 hours watching some crazy Hoons throw hyper-tuned, AWD machines around an ancient city. The excitement throughout the city was electric. After all the cars on the ticket had run their times, they brought out the vintage rally cars. Audi Quattro, Renault Elf, BMW 2002, and something called the LANCIA STRATOS? hmm, what could that have been...only the sickest rally car ever built. A Lancia Stratos in the flesh(steel); running balls out, through the streets of Trier. And only 7 hours ago I was sleeping on the stoop of some building in the cold night.
The smell of octane in the air and melted rubber from the street will last forever, but not to worry, I took a few pictures and some video. I'll get the video up as soon as RTT unblocks youtube, or follows through with getting us internet access at the flat. Here's a couple shots to wet your appetite.

Audi Quattro

Mitsubishi Evolution

Dachau

A somber morning, partially cloudy, led me to the Hauptbahnhof(central station) and 25 minutes outside of Munich to the first concentration camp built under Hitler's rule. I took the trip alone. The experience of the hallowed grounds really needed to be done that way, alone. There is a dark history to the quite bavarian town. Over 12 years,from 1933-1945, thousands of people were forced through the gates of the camp, and astounding numbers would never leave. In 1944, at the height of the Nazi brutality, more than 120 people a day were executed there. These numbers leave me dumbfounded.


Prisoner entrance. The gate reads "Work will set you free"

I could not imagine trying to take in the historic relevance of this place with others interrupting my experience. Even after the fact, I'm finding it hard to put into words the emotion I felt as I walk around the grounds. It was a history lesson that you have to see to understand. Nothing I read during any of my education could have taught me as much as just being there and taking it in. Amidst the stories of the evil which was brought upon innocent people, the memorial stands as a beautiful shrine to hope and understanding. It shows the world that the atrocities committed there will not be forgotten, nor repeated.