Norway part 1

Its been about a week since the last news I think, and a whole lot has happened. Sanya and I are in Bergen, Norway. We arrived yesterday after a five day trek through the Hardanger Plateau, beginning in Halne and ending in Kinsarvik. We flew out of Amsterdam and spent the night in the airport, which was also the train station, and in the morning took the train to Haugastol (the closest stop to Halne). We met a really friendly guy on the train, a photographer, and had fun taking pictures with him out the window as we passed by incredible landscapes early in the morning. Haugastol is really just a village (my apologies to any residents reading this) and we weren't able to find propane that fit our stove at the camping store. We hitch-hiked with an awesome guy who managed to cram all our stuff in with all his stuff (this could be elaborated but time is running out), anyway, it was incredibly lucky that we managed to get a ride at all, we really had no backup plan. The first day of hiking was beautiful, the sun was out, but the air was cool, absolutely perfect waether, ..... times up more soon!

Amsterdam, day whatever

We rented some bikes for the week, and have been cruising all over the city. Sought out some galleries yesterday, one was an old building that used to house the elderly, orphans, and such, and is now a museum to its own past. There were a number of installations, video and audio, some architectural, all with a very contemporary flavor that contrasted really nicely with the old-dutch building they were set in. I finished the chapter in The Botany of Desire on marijuana, and am now working on tulips, both talk a lot about Amsterdam. I've been very impressed with the freedom of information regarding drugs here. Sanya and I went for a nice walk this morning, we found a bunch of galleries that were all closed, but had a good time peering in windows. Oh, we also ate "Bitterbals" per our host recommendation, but still have no idea what it was. Thanksgiving deep fried in a ball?

Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam a couple of days ago. The first was pretty much lost to jet lag and wandering with huge packs in the wrong direction, took a nap, though I tried hard not to, and the next day we accidentally all slept until 3pm! But today I woke up at 9am, an hour before the alarm, so I guess I'm back on schedule. Kerri brought the Botony of Desire, so I'm trying to quick get though the chapters on tulips and cannabis while in Amsterdam. I brought Deleuze's Bergsonism, but that'll have to wait. Everything in this city is beautiful, the buildings and the canals and the population of tall, well dressed, fit people. We went to one gallery today (others were closed for lunch), and saw a few things I really liked, pretty different flavor than Chicago's scene, reminds me more of Leipzig and Neo Rauch, and a little of my friend Timur's work. I've been taking lots of pictures, lots of touristy touristy pictures! love and peace