Help me plan my European trip!

Asher "Anarcho-Kyke Federation Of Aotearoa"
Posts: 779 Joined: 18-03-06 Location: Aotearoa / New Zealand
Submitted by Asher on 16 May, 2007 - 04:15.

Hey folks,

So, in late July, I'm heading over from this side of the planet to that side (ie - Aotearoa/New Zealand to Europe & the Middle East). Going to be in Europe til probably early December (then I fly to Tel Aviv).

Any suggestions for places that I should go or avoid? Any good conferences/gatherings etc worth going to?

At the moment, it looks like I'll be seeing friends in Germany, then in the UK for 3-ish weeks from mid-August onwards, then maybe to Italy to travel with another friend in mid-September for a couple of weeks maybe. Other than that, I'm pretty much free...

Places I feel like I want to visit are Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Poland (want to visit the camps and see where my grandparents were from) and the Netherlands..

Not so sure about France - I feel like I should but it doesn't overly excite me yet...

Anyway, everyone's thoughts are welcome. I generally want to avoid typical tourist stuff (although a little bit never hurt) and spend most of my time with good anarchist crew, seeing what sort of projects are going on, helping out if I'm anywhere for long enough etc etc..

Of course, any offers of couches to crash on are more than welcome wink

Devrim "Enternasyonalist Komünist Sol"
Posts: 2849 Joined: 15-07-06
16 May, 2007 - 07:13
Quote:
Poland (want to visit the camps and see where my grandparents were from)

I was actually at Auschwitz a couple of weeks ago. There are two sites there. Auschwitz II, which we visited first has not been 'developed', whereas Auschwitz I has been turned into a museum.

We arrived early, 6.36 am, and saw Auschwitz II first. There was nobody there, and it was quite peaceful. I would recomend going at that sort of time. We arrived at Auschwitz I about 10.00. By which time, it had completely turned into 'Nazi death camp as theme park mode'. I am not saying that this is in anyway a reflection of the presentation, but is simply a result of mass tourism today.

"Gee Mom, this is where they shot people. Can I have my photo taken by this wall of death, where they killed those jews, please Mom?" was my main memory of the day.

Devrim

Asher "Anarcho-Kyke Federation Of Aotearoa"
Posts: 779 Joined: 18-03-06 Location: Aotearoa / New Zealand
16 May, 2007 - 07:43

Yeah, I've heard similar stories from friends who've been to Auschwitz I...sadly, it doesn't surprise me. I've also heard stories from people who've been confronted by boneheads doing Nazi salutes. Lovely.

rkn "Root Knot Nematode"
Posts: 7628 Joined: 17-07-06 Location: London
16 May, 2007 - 09:54

Sure we can get some libcommers down to a pub when you are in London... and not screw up like we did with Aketus roll eyes

Steven. "not online much for a while"
Posts: 1506 Joined: 27-06-06 Location: London
16 May, 2007 - 10:01
rkn wrote:
Sure we can get some libcommers down to a pub when you are in London... and not screw up like lone wolf did with Aketus roll eyes

x357997 "go ahead, make my day...punk"
Posts: 1851 Joined: 04-12-06 Location: Yay Area
16 May, 2007 - 10:10
Asher wrote:
Yeah, I've heard similar stories from friends who've been to Auschwitz I...sadly, it doesn't surprise me. I've also heard stories from people who've been confronted by boneheads doing Nazi salutes. Lovely.

you should just hide in the bushes and wait for any nazis to show up and give them a good kicking.

rkn "Root Knot Nematode"
Posts: 7628 Joined: 17-07-06 Location: London
16 May, 2007 - 10:17

Also if you are into that whole 'cool-cultural-Jewish' thing, that stuff seems to be kicking off here (a la NYC) at the moment... checkout http://jewdas.org/ they do parties and stuff, there are a couple of similar outfits.

Thora "differently ethical"
Posts: 1572 Joined: 17-06-04 Location: London, England
16 May, 2007 - 10:31

Where abouts in Germany are you going to be? I'll probably be in Berlin in the summer, but I don't really do much anarchisty stuff.

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
16 May, 2007 - 10:55
Quote:
"Gee Mom, this is where they shot people. Can I have my photo taken by this wall of death, where they killed those jews, please Mom?" was my main memory of the day.

yeah my girlfriend saw tourists taking photos of themselves pretending to put their kids in the ovens when she went. pretty sickening to be honest.

re. european tours, i'd recommend Croatia, particularly Dubrovnik and Split, plus the islands off the coast. also go to Assissi in Italy - very catholic but one of the most beautiful and peaceful places i've ever been.

Lone Wolf "Conor - At Peace with the World, Having Meaning in his Life"
Posts: 4087 Joined: 01-03-06 Location: E. London UK
16 May, 2007 - 16:42
John. wrote:
Sure we can get some libcommers down to a pub when you are in London... and not screw up like I did with Aketus - i really must make sure i listen to Lone Wolf at all times as otherwise, socially, I am doomed embarrassed

Lone Wolf "Conor - At Peace with the World, Having Meaning in his Life"
Posts: 4087 Joined: 01-03-06 Location: E. London UK
16 May, 2007 - 16:45

Asher

Yeah we will do you a drinks do at a venue which will NOT change from the first one agreed and you are welcome to chill for a couple of days at the Lair if you can muster up the courage to so do - you can have yer whole own bedroom if you are lucky ... tongue

Love

LW X

alegria
Posts: 99 Joined: 09-01-06
16 May, 2007 - 18:04

when youre in poland theres a really great permanent exbition of jewish community life at a former synagogue in krakow you might want to see... unfortunaelt i cant remember which synagogue it was but it should be pretty easy to work out/ ask. it was quite near the market square.
if poss go to prague! i liked anyway. in the corner of the square with the tyn church theres this little music shop which has sooo much klezmer and east european music you could spend all your money there. also you have to go to the Hrad because its go the most beautiful stained glass in the world. i think so anyway.
also if youre gonna be in italy, go to torino, its beautiful, its where primo levi was from, its got mountains all round, also has an impressively huge synagogue building. and friedrich nietzsche went mad there, in the piazza san carlo ( you could stay in a hotel in that same piazza ... )
supposedly you havent lived till youve seen sevilla and granada and the alhambra. i guess i havent lived yet.
if you wanna go to some really oldey kind of place in germany theres this town in the south called Esslingen am Neckar - mmm real pretty , got a church called the Frauenkirche with stained glass windows of The Tree of Life. but then i do like stained glass.
if you like soviet era aesthetic theres the communist statuepark outside budapest. bit of a mission to get to from budapest though let alone if you were only going for that. there is a very nice veggie restaurant too.
if you want to go places in the UK i guess in terms of pretty you could see cambridge, in terms of anarchist-y you probably want to be about for the bookfair if theres anything significant. or perhaps dsei? and maybe visit bristol, brighton... i would say come to norwich, but the norfolkian revolutions fairly dormant tbh. there are some nice alternative technology centres in wales and the south, if thats your thing.
wherever you end up have fun!

Alan "Getting drunk, playing punk on a stylophone"
Posts: 5054 Joined: 28-09-04 Location: Mexico City
16 May, 2007 - 18:13

Granada is fuckin beautiful to be fair. Sevilla's nice but hardly spellbinding. The weather's fuckin good there all year though (more or less). I'd also recommend Barcelona for its awesome mix of revolutionary history, modernist art/architecture and contemporary culture (bars, clubs, shops). It has loads of minimal techno clubs if you're into that. Haven't been to Madrid but my girlfriend says it's like London minus all the good bits.

Fuck off France it's shit. Only ever been to holiday resorts in Italy which were nice but I hardly feel like I can inform you re: urban life there. I think southern Italy's really incredible though, like stepping back in time 50 years. I could almost hear Captain Corelli playing his mandolin when I was on some beach 3 hours' drive south of Naples. Go to Amsterdam cos everyone does. I went to Copenhagen over New Year and had the fuckin time of my life. It's really pretty, great for drinking and the girls are fuckin beautiful.

Do what every Aussie/Kiwi backpacker does and stay in some crappy hostel in West London and leer at girls all night in Wetherspoons round the West End. And then go to some shite techno night in Shoreditch that your mate told you about. And don't shave for 3 weeks and tousle your hair to make it look spontaneous. And then of course talk about this really loudly on the tube, cos every fuckin "Pom" wants to hear your inane chatter. wink

jef costello "Beautiful, just like Nuremburg"
Posts: 9181 Joined: 09-02-06 Location: Self-flagellation: bad for the skin, good for the soul
16 May, 2007 - 19:43

France is brilliant, it has lots of rave reviews:

Serge gainsbourg wrote:
The girls take it up the bum

Michel Foucault wrote:
The boys take it up the bum

Hakim Bey wrote:
Sadly the kids don't.

everyone when we fight the police daily wrote:
Sous les paves la plage

John. wrote:
It's full of cute girls in scarves

Revol wrote:
You can wank on Jean Seberg's tomb

Jean Anouilh wrote:
Everything ends this way in France - everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs -everything is a pretext for a good dinner.

Charles De Gaulle's heavily repressed autocritique wrote:
I am a cunt.

Roland Barthes wrote:
Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness is a consequence, never an intention. A drink is felt as the spinning out of a pleasure, not as the necessary cause of an effect which is sought: wine is not only a philtre, it is also the leisurely act of drinking.

one million yank tourists wrote:
OH MAN ITS SO COOL I CAN'T SPEAK QUIETLY I NEED TO BUY A NOVELTY HAT TO PROVE I'VE BEEN HERE!

On the down side I live here and I never say anything memorable.

Devrim "Enternasyonalist Komünist Sol"
Posts: 2849 Joined: 15-07-06
16 May, 2007 - 19:51
Napoleon Bonaparte wrote:
If the world were an empire, its capital would be Constantinople

Devrim

Asher "Anarcho-Kyke Federation Of Aotearoa"
Posts: 779 Joined: 18-03-06 Location: Aotearoa / New Zealand
17 May, 2007 - 03:31
Quote:
Do what every Aussie/Kiwi backpacker does and stay in some crappy hostel in West London and leer at girls all night in Wetherspoons round the West End. And then go to some shite techno night in Shoreditch that your mate told you about. And don't shave for 3 weeks and tousle your hair to make it look spontaneous. And then of course talk about this really loudly on the tube, cos every fuckin "Pom" wants to hear your inane chatter. wink

Sounds like a plan wink

Cheers for all the suggestions so far folks. Think I might have to extend the amount of time I spend in Italy...sounds like there's heaps of places to go and see there.

Thora - I'll mostly be in Berlin while in Germany, thats where two anarcho friends of mine (ex-New Zealand) live.

rkn - Yeah, I've seen Jewdas before. It's a remotely amusing website. If there's something on while I'm there, I'd probably head along to it.

Steven. "not online much for a while"
Posts: 1506 Joined: 27-06-06 Location: London
17 May, 2007 - 08:28
Alan wrote:
I went to Copenhagen over New Year and had the fuckin time of my life. It's really pretty, great for drinking and the girls are fuckin beautiful.

Ditto Sweden. Well, not that great for drinking. I've only been to Gothenberg but I have heard good things about Stockholm. Ed's going there soon...

rkn "Root Knot Nematode"
Posts: 7628 Joined: 17-07-06 Location: London
17 May, 2007 - 11:20

Isn't it ridiculously expensive though?

Steven. "not online much for a while"
Posts: 1506 Joined: 27-06-06 Location: London
17 May, 2007 - 11:38

Not really no, bout the same as here, maybe a little cheaper.