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Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw wherever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colors and little phrases. where standing at the bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – it’s wet
-Justa Jester
We opened our Facebook account and came across this Status update in the News Feed and felt the immediate time/space propulsion back to Metelkova Mesto in Ljubljana, Slovenia. While we do believe there are some boundaries to the canvas, Justa Jester (aka David Cymerman) verbally paints a scene sensory delight, one that we have had the opportunity to experience in the capital city of Slovenia.
Metelkova Mesto (“Metelkova City”) is an autonomous squat in the capitol city of Slovenia. A former barracks of the former Yugoslavian Army, turned artist’s settlement. We spent our first night in Ljubljana partying here, and were immediately sparked into dreams of an autonomous artist’s center in Chicago. An entire block dedicated to whatever people want it to be, to be painted and repainted, boring brick wall defacing turned into dialogue. The millions of expressway underpasses turned into color chambers and parks like the one at the Kennedy and Logan Blvd. Maybe all of the Gold Coast actually gets painted gold spattered by, largely, incomprehensible sentence fragments (like here). Anything but the tan box treatment of the Daley’s Graffiti Busters. Save the busters for the gang turf war tags on random joe’s cornerstones, or better yet, turn the Graffiti Busters into full-blown Graffiti Artists that turn crap tags into reputable works. Plain and Simple turn the world’s vast Interstitial Space over to the people and the world will become a more colorful place!
Always a work in progress at Metelkova Mesto (photo by BirdonBike)
and endless Colorful backdrop in Metelkova (photo by BirdonBike)
Metelkavo Mesto (photo by BirdonBike)
We aren't just talk Graffiti, are we? (photo by BirdonBike)
(photo by BirdonBike)
(photo by BirdonBike)
Interstitial Space along the Danube in Vienna (photo by BirdonBike)
Vienna Graffiti (photo by BirdonBike)
Gray is better when it is covered in Colors ((photo by BirdonBike, Vienna)
Now for our call for submissions or a call to artists; Our friend Necip from Guzelcamli (see here and here) has been battling the Turkish beton (turkish for concrete) movement for some thirty years. He has gone from having a view of the Greek Island of Samos in the Aegean Sea to being blocked in on both sides by the condos of Aydinites and Izmirites who occasionally inhabit them in the summer months.
The picture below shows the remarkable canvas that was erected a little over a year ago that needs some coats of paint. Necip is a good man and we are sure that if one was so inclined to take a vacation to turkey and work on this awesome blank canvas, one could score a pretty good deal on accomodation. Hell we dug a hole in his garden for a drastically reduced rate. Not to mention, Necip’s food is amazing and his capacity for long nights of wine and music is boundless.
If you feel like you need a vacation and want to make some art in the process, let us know. We can put you in touch.
Necip's Blank Canvas. An artists dream is yours for the taking, so long as you can keep up with Necip's cooking at the Ecer Pension, (on the Aegean Sea in Guzelcamli, Turkey)
We seem to change our minds every other day. This route should stick a little while though.
We woke up, packed our bags and crossed the Mur into Slovenia, where once again we must adjust to saying good morning, please, and thank you in a different language. Chad is still tending to speak German but Jowita has just switched back to Polish as it seems to work the same here. We decided just before we hopped on our bicycles to head to Ptuj instead of staying in the larger Maribor. We are happy with the decision as the small size suits us well. Ptuj is the oldest town in all of Slovenia and the small apartment we rented for a couple days pre-dates 1690 but they aren’t exactly sure. We will depart tomorrow in the direction of Dravograd and the mountains. We changed our minds once again today and are going to give it a go after the urging by the gentleman we are renting from, that the route we were changing to was going to be a disappointment. He said we will not be disappointed going to the mountains. We hope he is right. Jowita took her bike into the shop around the corner and had her crank changed out to a mountain bike crank to take a little pressure off getting up the steep grades with a heavy load. The lower gears should help out tremendously. So here we go….hopefully the next photos you see will have some big mountains in them, but we’ll see.
65km
We both felt great after the spa! Just what our bodies needed. We rode a pretty uneventful ride to the Mureck with one short 16% lung busting climb and pitched our tent at a campground along the River Mur on the Austria/Slovenia Border.
30km
Today we spoiled ourselves
spoiled
spoiled
spoiled
Trying to let the laundry dry lead to another slow start.
Then we passed by a Thermal Spa and called it quits.
We found a beautiful room at a reasonable rate, drank a coke from the minibar grabbed our swim suits and hit the spa only to find that once you left locker room to the sauna, the swimming suit was totally unnecessary.
66km
It was a very pretty morning. This was maybe our best campsite yet. We woke up with the church bells at 6 in the town below in the valley and ate a breakfast of oatmeal and kielbasa sauteed with onions. We moved quick, however, because the cows were released to graze and were far too interested in us. With just a thin hotwire seperating us and a giant bull we thought it best to get out, and get out fast! The morning was mostly downhill except one section on the wrong rode pushing up a dirt track at probably 20% grade. After probably 30km down a valley surrounded by tall hill, we passed through a glade to discover the hills were gone. We quickly grew bored and threw on the iPod to give us a boost. We broke a tent pole at our first paid campground, but a nice man helped us solve the problem.
32km
We waited for the sun to peek over the hill to help dry our gear so it took a long time to get going. Then it took a long time to get up hill. The first 10km of the morning saw us gain 500 meters in elevation then down 300 then back up 200 coupled with some drive train corrections on Jowita’s bike made for a long short day. We stopped for beer, kaffe, wurst, soup and the best dessert ever at a really cute place a few kilometers before we pitched our tent. We camped on top of a hill next to a stand of birch trees, drew in our sketchbooks as the sun set over the town in the valley below, then pitched our tent in the cover of dusk.
63km
It was hard to leave Franz and Hermina. They were just so cute. It was even harder, too, knowing that the family was throwing Hermina a big party for her the next day, but it was not our place to stay. It was really great to see all the gifts she was receiving and all the people that were popping in to say happy birthday. But alas, time to move. We landed back on the trail we took out of Vienna and pretty much followed it south all day until we got off it to head into the hills to find a good camping spot. Honest, we looked for the person that owned the pasture we pitched our tent in, but how were we supposed to know which house was his? It was by far the wettest meadow ever. It did not rain but everything was dripping wet. Wet mornings are slow mornings because our gear needs to be some what dry before we pack it or ‘it get nasty’!
W drodze do Wiednia 22.9.09
Dzisiaj przekroczylismy granice austryjacka. Oboje czujemy sie zupenie niezrecznie w poslugiwaniu sie niemieckim. Drogi, pomimo ze poczatkowo wydawaly sie nieznajome i gubiace sa w rownej mierze doskonale oznakowane. Jak do tej pory Austria wyglada na “ogolocona”, prawie w stu procentach ziemia jest wykorzystywana do celow rolniczych.
Wieden pachnie rzepakiem 23.9.09
Droga do Wiednia wiedzie poprzez wszelakie pola uprawne. Traktory i zmechanizowane urzadzenia uzytku rolniczego posuwaja sie z wona snujac za soba parawan z ziemi. Na
Horyzoncie ospale wiatraki. Urodzajne pola oferuja ziemniaki, buraki cukrowe, dynie, marchew itp… Czyzby nadalzaly wykarmic zglodniale miasto? Delektuje sie wonia rzepaku, ktory przywoluje wspomnienia z dziecinstwa.
Wiedenskie drogi szybkiego ruchu rowerowego 24.9.09
Dunaj witan as rozgrzanym sloncem i licznymi plazowiczami wzdluz tej poteznej rzeki. Przyjemnie chlodne powietrze i wolne tempo wiedenskiego popoludnia umila nam jazde.
Do serca miasta wjezdzamy trasami rowerowymi i zupelnie tracimy orientacje. Wieden jest ogromny i piekny. Po raz pierwszy zazdroszcze innym rowerzystom ktorzy swobodnie i elegsncko poruszaja sie po tym zawilym miescie nieobciazeni dlugoplanowym ciezarem. Zupelnie zagubieni poddajemy sie w odnalezieniu naszego noclegu (zaaranzowanego przez moja bratowa Beatke). Znajdujemy nocleg I postanawiamy opuscic Wieden, moze odwiedzimy to miejsce innym razem.
W goscinie u Frau Herminy i Herr Franza 25.9.09
Po przebudzeniu postanawiamy odnalezc przyjaciol Beatki. Bez zadnego “tutejszego” Wieden jest piekny lecz bezosobowy. Znajac mieszkanca danego miejsca mozna poznac je od wewnatrz, nawiazac mocniejsza wiez. Ruszamy do Wiener Neudorf, miasteczka na przedmiesciach Wiednia.
Docierajac do miejsca (po 40km) mamy pewne watpliwosci jak to starsze malzenstwo zareaguje na nasze jednodniowe spoznienie gdyz nie mielismy sposobnosci ich poinformowac o zmianie planu. No I do tego brak znajomosci niemieckiego…
Puk, puk…drzwi otwieraja z rezerwa I pewnym zdumieniem. Jednak na wspomnienie imienia mojej bratowej lody topnieja i twarz Herr Franza rozjasnia sie szerokim usmiechem. No to ja wkolko Beata, to I Beata tamto… i rozmowa sie toczy! Pozniej tylko slowniki w ruch i potroszce Rosyjski, Polski i Niemiecki i sie dogadujemy. Wieczor mija nam na ogladaniu licznych albumow ze zdjeciamy znajomych I nieznajomych gdyz Herr Franz uwielbia poznawac ludzi i przez dlugie lata pracowal dla organizacji charytatywnej czesto podruzujac na wschod. Natomiast Hermiona zacheca nas do jedzenia abysmy mieli sile pedalowac i pokazuje nam swoje rekodziela; szkatulkowe relikwie wykonane z ptasich jaj, przepiekne!! Goscimy sie u tych przemilych staruszkow przez dwa dni i opuszczmy Wiener Neudorf robiac liczne pamiatkowe fotografie. Dzieki Beatko, naprawde juz wspominamy Hermine i Franza…
Gdzies na poludniowo-wschodnim krancu Austrii 29.9.09
Jedziemy slimaczym tepem, zaczelismy pedalowac pozno i jakos to nam dzisiaj nie idzie…Pogoda nadal piekna. Oto przed nami wyrasta spora gorka ktora wyciska z nas poty. Dojezdzamy do gory to pedalujac na przemian z pchaniem i wita nas bardzo ladnie ulokowane miasteczko z wieloma hotelikami. Zatrzemujemy sie w centrum. Chad idzie na zwiady, cos tu sie dzieje… Okazuje sie ze sa
tu cieple zrodla i glowny budynek jest to poprostu spa. Postanawiamy zjechac dzisiaj z trasy duzo wczesniej, ulokowac sie gdzies i skorzystac z cieplych wod. Znajdujemy bardzo ladne zakwaterowanie i plum do wody. Baseny sa wypelnione przyjemnie ciepla woda. Na koniec fundujemy sobie saune i jak prowadzi nas tabliczka rozdzielamy sie.
Wychadzac z przebieralni zaraz zaraz, a tu same golasy… sauna okazuje sie zgrupowaniem roznych saun, jakuzzi, zimnych basenikow z ta roznica, ze wszystko odbywa sie naturalnie! Majtki w dol i hop do jakuzzi!!
30.9.09
Szybka notatka. Jestesmy przy granice ze Slowenia. Dzisiejsza noc spedzamy na kampingu jeszcze w Austrii, ale za rzeka oczekuje na nas Slowenia. To do jutra.
We said it before, Vienna ate us alive upon our arrival. We arrived to the Danube without accommodation. It took a few minutes of laziness by the river to discover the missed messages on our phone from Jowita’s sister-in-law, Beata, announcing our shelter for the next couple days with Herr Franz and Frau Hermina south of Vienna in Weiner Neudorf. Beata had met Franz on a train in Poland when he leaned over to tell her that she reminded him of a love he was separated from during the war.
Franz is 83 and Hermina, on Monday the 28th, 75. We showed up at their door, one day late, catching them totally of guard. Navigating Vienna was a nightmare on a bicycle. It took us three hours and three scoops of melting ice cream a piece to find the tourist information center to get a bicycle map of the city and a better tourist map. It was clear that there was no chance we would be making it to Weiner Neudorf that day and we pretty much gavc up on the idea of going to meet Beata’s friend. We criss crossed the hostel scene trying to find a place to sleep while mulling over our plans for the next day. We had agreed, seeing Vienna with our loaded bicycles is not going to work and we would leave Vienna the next day to take our scheduled rest day in Krems, further west on our route along the Danube. We finally found a place to sleep, and after releasing the weight of our load literally, and figuratively, we thought over our plan with more clarity. Plain and simple, we had been feeling rushed. We had only planned for two nights in Vienna and did not want to have to spend both in a pension or a hostel. One night with authentic Austrians would not be sufficient especially if it took one day to get there.
Franz and Hermina’s home in Weiner Neudorf was quite far off our route to Krems, but Krems put us into a path that would take us dead on into the Alps. This was not going to work for us. Chad had worked the route and rough schedule to allow for 60-70 km days in the mountains and we have found our limit sits somewhere around that even on flat land. We needed to make some changes. This was the right decision to make. The planned route was too constricting and produced an anxiety that should not exist on a trip like this. We woke the next day, bought some more maps and rode the 40km to knock on Franz and Hermina’s door hoping they were home and hoping they would take us in for a couple nights. What a wonderful decision it was. We had a really special experience with Franz and Hermina. Despite our inability to speak German and theirs to speak English, we managed to keep good conversation using Polish and some Russian to move us through our thoughts. We left Franz and Hermina and began heading south without knowing our exact destination, only knowing we are headed for Slovenia. We bought really excellent maps of the vast trail network in this region of Austria and are camping along the way. We are very happy with out descision.
