Luke's Travels

2005-11-27T23:45:00.000-08:00

Bus ride to the Mekong Delta.

2005-06-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm "hanging out" in New York until July 5th. Waaah waah wah.

2005-03-31T20:57:00.001-08:00

Light Show at Sony Center.

2005-03-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

Street light in front of Diahmler-Chrysler Building.

2005-03-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

The sun trying to peak its way through at a tree across the street from the Neue Nationalgalarie.

2005-03-31T20:43:00.000-08:00

Sun setting under the Brandenburg gate. When Napolean conquered Germany, he had his troops take down the sculpture and bring it to Paris(!)

2005-03-31T20:39:00.000-08:00

Entrance to the largest castle in Eurpe during the changing of the guard. So many tourists in Prague, ahhhhhh!

2005-03-31T20:36:00.000-08:00

Czech Cubist Museum, see it if you're in Prague. It's small, and focused mainly on cubist architecture and furniture created between 1910 and 1918.

2005-03-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

Street vendors peddling their wares next to the cemetery.

2005-03-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

900 year-old Jewish Cemetery in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Prague was the first city that the Jews settled in Europe. They were restricted to a small area, the Jewish Quarter, and built a 14 foot-high wall around the area. Becauase of the limited space they were given, and the belief that a grave should never be moved, they stacked the graves on top of each other. About 12,000 graves are found in the space of about 1 city block.

2005-03-31T20:29:00.001-08:00

Close-up of Church in Prauge at night.

2005-03-31T20:29:00.000-08:00

Close-up of sculpture against Diahmler-Chrysler building.

2005-03-31T17:12:00.000-08:00

My dad at the Berlin Wall.

2005-03-31T16:58:00.000-08:00

AJ at the Pergoman.

2005-03-31T16:57:00.000-08:00

My brothers and sisters. Smile!

2005-03-31T16:56:00.000-08:00

Dad and AJ in front on the Brandenburg Gates

2005-03-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

Riechstag, the German Parliment building.

2005-03-31T16:52:00.000-08:00

Colorful graffiti meets the vines.

2005-03-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

A sculpture that combines nickel and stainless steel sets on a round-about between 4 hotel buildings. Jake says it belong as a cheesy art piece in a mall.

2005-03-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

Sky changing colors after the sun sets on the Sony Center Dome.

2005-03-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

Another Government Building in Berlin. On top of the building, in the picture, you can see a matrix of German words. The words were illuminated, and they individually alternated their brightness. Curious, I looked up the phrase on Google and came up with this:

on the other hand to be able my wrongly - say us to them it therefore - for it ask we think - clearly if it liked off truely - however that I which not - be correct is correctly it that

Since that made no sense at all, I searched for another translator. All of them came up with the same result, except PROMT.

to can against it believes wrong - to us to them say it, therefore - for it
them asks we thinks - clearly if from might truely - but that I what - do not
vote is right them to him

Still confused, but still curious. Anyone out there know the translation? Maybe it's a German government conspiracy to confuse american tourists.

2005-03-31T14:06:00.000-08:00

Topology of Terror museum at a piece of the Berlin Wall.

2005-03-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

The ceiling from inside the top floor of Mies Van Der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalarie.

2005-03-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

Just arrived back in Portland a couple hours ago. The flight wasn't too bad. I miss Europe already, but I am glad to be home. I'll post more later.

2005-03-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Random hotel courtyard lit at night. Heading off to Prague in the morning. Ciao.

2005-03-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Franzosische Kirche (French Church) under repair.

2005-03-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

The Gedenkstatte Grosee HAmburger Strasse in an area that was one of the main streets in the Jewish Quarter.

2005-03-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Former East German headquarters, soon to be destroyed. Zweifel is German for "doubt." The sign was added by an artist a few years ago.

2005-03-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

Gemaldegalerie

2005-03-22T03:01:00.000-08:00

Building in Postdammer Platz.

2005-03-22T02:56:00.000-08:00

Sculpture near Diahmler-Chrysler Building in Postdammer Platz.

2005-03-22T02:53:00.000-08:00

Berlin, near Tier Garten.

2005-03-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

Last time I have to type Sony Center... for now.

2005-03-21T14:14:00.000-08:00

Same.

2005-03-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

Sony Center.....

2005-03-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

Sony Center.

2005-03-21T14:08:00.000-08:00

One of the many new buildings in Postdammer Platz.

2005-03-21T13:42:00.001-08:00

Jake!

2005-03-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

You guessed it.

2005-03-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

Sony Center. This page has more information on the structure. I don't know that I like the building, but it certainly is striking.

2005-03-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sony Center in Postdammer Platz. The original Postdammer Platz was where the intellectuals and artists gathered before the war. It was completely destroyed during the war, and was blocked off by the Berlin Wall during the cold war. More recently dozens of new buildings have been built, most of which are centered around the Sony Center.

2005-03-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

Graffiti by our Berlin Condo.

2005-03-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

Random street art.

2005-03-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

Inside the Brandenburg Gates.

2005-03-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

From my bedroom window in Berlin I can see the 2700 concrete blocks for the Jewish Memorial, which is expected to open in May.

2005-03-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Some federal building.

2005-03-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

Vegetarian food in Germany?1?! Actually, it seems pretty common here.

2005-03-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

Every other block has a building under construction.

2005-03-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

Russian looking TV tower between a couple buildings in Friedrichstrasse.

2005-03-21T13:05:00.000-08:00

Yelp! Berlin has a lot of graffiti. Some more artful than others. We walked by a couple of artists in action (pictures later.)

2005-03-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Most of the sidewalks in Amsterdam and Berlin are made with interesting patterns.

2005-03-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Taken at a Plant shop in Friedrichstrasse, close to Humboldt University.

2005-03-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

One of the many Bears in Berlin (like Chicago's Cows.)

2005-03-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Nutella for breakfast...mmm...mmm.

2005-03-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

Cliche photo of train tracks. Off to Berlin (Friday night.)

2005-03-21T12:35:00.000-08:00

Underneath Centraal Station, Amsterdam, catching a train to Berlin.

2005-03-21T12:34:00.000-08:00

Now where did I park my bike?

2005-03-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

2005-03-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

Luke, Exhausted

2005-03-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

Jake, Exhausted

2005-03-21T12:27:00.000-08:00

View from the Bull Dog, our hostel.

The Green Card

2005-03-21T08:23:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night in Amsterdam last week Jake and I were taking the tram back to the hostel. Just after stepping in the train, I noticed the guy next to me open his wallet to put his ticket back inside. Something green inside caught my eye. No it wasn’t money. It was the same debit card I’ve used for 12 years. (If you haven’t seen one, it’s a Christmas green.) Across the top it said “Portland Teachers Credit Union.”

I turned to face him directly and said, “So, you’re from Portland.” His face light up with surprise, but he was probably put at ease by my American accent. Small world.

2005-03-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

Lights. (not red ones.)

2005-03-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Me outside Van Gogh.

2005-03-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Van Gogh

2005-03-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

Interesting building.

2005-03-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

This is actually a mall!

2005-03-17T13:07:00.001-08:00

Jake

2005-03-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

Centraal station. (battery is about to die, leaving no time for comments!)

2005-03-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

From the Centraal Station exterrior.

2005-03-17T13:05:00.001-08:00

Dont remember

2005-03-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

Historich Musuem

2005-03-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

View of canal from near Liedseplien

2005-03-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Jake giving the camera Blue Steel

Amsterdam

2005-03-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Things are different here. Some things I like, and others not so much. When I come back to America, I'll still use katsup with my french fries (hold the mayo please). Everyone here bikes everywhere. Men in suites an woman in dresses will zoom past you on their delapidated 2 wheeler, dinging their bell if you step in their way, which is quite easy to do. In Amsterdam, far more people travel by bike than car.

Everyone here cares a great deal about fashion. Men wear pointy shoes. And, in a napoleanic moment (the dynomite kind) where I wish I had my camera ready, I watched a young woman enter a building wearing a skirt and MOON BOOTS! I have nothing else to say.

Ok, not there just yet

2005-03-13T21:25:00.000-08:00

You're probably wondering what the heck a picture of portland is doing on a blog about our blog about Europe. (Or you've never been to portland. Or in my case, you've never been to europe.) Photography will be a major portion of this blog. A couple blocks from where the photo was taken, I bought my new camera, a Nikon D70, to take photos for my european trip. To make uploading photos to the blog very simple, I am using Picasa2 by Google. So before I leave for europe, I thought it would be good to test the software out. (Which I highly recommend.) Thus, you see a photo I took a few days ago.

2005-03-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

View of Fox Tower from Pioneer Courthouse Square