Geiranger Fjord-The Most Famous of them all

Superlatives, I'll let the pictures do the talking...(pictures to come L8R). This was quite awe-inspiring!
I'm realistic about Norway. I expect miracles. The Fjords are no miraculous exception. The cascading  waterfalls, the majestic mountains, the perennial mass of ice and rock that is divided by still water running deep...

Captain Zodiac-Flam

In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. Charles Lindbergh

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Isn´t It Good-Norwegian Wood-The Fjords

Grass Roots

The grass was greener where you watered it, now I have reconsidered: It IS greener in Norway.In fact, this infinite landscape has such lush and hearty grass, it is good enough to eat.The sod and grass turf roofs symbolize the Norsk love of nature; sustainable and  energy efficient, the old has become the new.

“When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” – D. H. Lawrence

High on this mountain,the clouds down below, Im feeling so strong and alive. From this rocky perch Im beginning to search for the wind and the snow and the sky-Dan Fogelberg Nether Lands

Back to Norway...


8 months ago...

Why Pay less?
Oslo, Today, Beta World City Plus. The most expensive city on the planet. The Norse saga continues. I think I'm in Minnesota, AKA New Norway.
Norwegians-- healthy, enlightened, effective people or too much alcohol? Make the call.
They eat lutefisk, are passive-agressive, pronounce their W's as V's, look as though they were soaked in bleach and the ones from the old country listen to death metal. Born with skis on, they like their Viking past.

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Warnemünde-There is no YES in yesterday

In one yEAR and out the other...I am back to that place with the Germanic umlat called Warnemünde.That place is so clean and friendly. When the money faucet is running, everyone drinks from the fire hose.Here with Truddie this time.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac

What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road

From Sweet To Saurkraut...(10 months ago) Everything you wanted in a beer drinking song and less...

Today in Warnemünde , the jumping off point for Berlin, and the seaside town--- was full of PPL, like riding a bus. I look a little sour. I biked for an hour, and then went back out to expolre the town.

There was some kind of historic "Ümgang" (parade); a regatta going on. Clipprer ships, Subs and Destroyers. The town was full of sausage and beer vendors, and tourists eating and drinking that stuff up.

A local girl from the "Alte Strom" (old river) asked where the tourist info was. I gave her directions in German (Pat on back).

The Beach Promenade at Warnemünde-
Beer Drinking Songs Great Taste, Less Filling
Everything you wanted in a beer drinking song and less
Headlines--Lots of shaved skulls in Germany. I fit right in.

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Da Vinci Code Or Are We Dancer?

Been there done that. I am back in ST Pete,Russia! With 400 rooms, 14 miles of hallways and nearly 3 million pieces of art, I always come back here to The Hermitage!

"You're not going to see people like this again for a long time, he said and I said I always saw people like this & he looked at me for a moment and said, You're not from around here, are you?"

“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.”Dagobert D. Runes

-- About a year ago....Fortunate Son Meets The Prodigal One.


"You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!... but you keep it all inside."

The Querks and Perks of ...Queuing Up: The shortages are gone but the Cold War nightmares continue

So I'm back in Mother F"n Russia. Part Victoria Secret Cat Walk, part Janitor-in-a-Drum-gold-plated Septic tank....

And Then There is The Hermitage: Saw Leonardo di Caprio's Madonna and Child Michelangelo's Crouching Boy Statue, and Rembrandt's Prodigal Son.

What's hot verses what's not:
Waiting in line for six hours for the latest iteration of i phone at the Apple Store (Hot) verses

waiting on line from 8AM to 10:30 to step foot in The Hermitage.(Not) + the multiplier effect getting to role play in an old soviet peasant breadline scene--Still, damn well grateful for the opportunity.

Very authentic.

Make Your Teeth Whiter With Rembrandt

Forget those Crest Whitener strips or baking soda, the quickest way to whiten your teeth is looking at a Rembrandt. Makes you smile. "You could take a Rembrandt anywhere in the world, to the deserts, jungles, or islands, and everybody would immediately understand it and respond."

Back in St Petersburg, Russia again for three days. With 400 rooms, 14 miles of hallways and nearly 3 million pieces of art, I always come back here to Rembrandt.The hermitage is closed on Monday (Tomorrow)On Tuesday I'll take video of The Prodigal Son . I just had a big dinner-so I'm a bit tired, but just shot this video of GR8 view...Roll to video...

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STILL Living Strong In Estonia-MORE NOW LATER

Living Strong In Estonia,
Nordic Biker

What am I on? I'm on my bike.

This was me last year in Tallinn, Estonia. Today, is Same. Same. Only Different. I am with Truddie.




Room for Squares

Head lines:Self Employment sometimes made  harder by difficult boss---Today in the Eurozone-Here in Tallinn Square. Corporation Ed and Rozzalyn Industries share creative differences.(Truddie refuses to be photographed together with me todaylol) 

.

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Hair Today Gone to Maui

Philomena Magrath (Left) and Ed Reif with Hair!

Forever 21

Photo Credit Rich Dickerson

An Anachronism

First love is like having one watch, you always know what time it is. Now I have a lot of watches and I don't know the time of day sometimes  because my analog eyes sees a digital world.

This photo, for instance, was taken with film, now there's digital. Before there were point-and-shoot picture takers, now there are picture builders. With photoshop to tweak this and that, the older I get, the better my past gets...and the better my photos.

Growing old isn't optional, growing up is---I look and feel younger than my years, This  error in chronology is  a misplacing of persons, events, objects, and customs. The only thing I can do, as Allan Watts points out:

You must go out of your mind everyday in order to come to your senses.

After all, a fool who persists in his folly eventually becomes wise. It's not what happens that creates our reality. It's the story we tell ourselves about what happens. There's history and his story. The real voyages are not in new landscapes, but in seeing things with new eyes.

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Greetings From the User-Friendly Universe of Scandanavia-Stockholm

Skoal

Pulp-free fiction. I like writing. I just can't stand the paper work.

Truddie @ 24 and there's so much more...Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you are-Neil Young

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

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Stockholm Syndrome-You Consider Me The Young Apprentice

Being born in America is like being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Being born again in Stockholm, is same same only different....taking hostages is so pre September 11th. I have known a great many troubles in my life, most of which never happened. I still have some gamble in me!some sympathy for the devil... Afterall, as Nietzsche says, be careful when casting out your devil  'lest you cast out the best thing about you...Nevertheless

Devil and the deep blue sea behind me, Vanish in the air, you will never find me. I will turn your face to alabaster, when you find your servant is your master-Sting, Syncronicity

About A Year ago in StockholmForget about the Suicidal winters and the reputation for the safest cars on earth. SAAB and Volvo can take a back seat. Stockholm has bike paths everywhere. It's easy to get around the islands that make up the city.

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Scandanavian Brain Freeze;Ice.Ice. Baby!

Absolut Cuteness-Jeg elsker dig! Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

Polar Bear Club-getting in touch with my inner Isbjörn, aka Competitive Yoga!

R.I.C.E. Rest. Ice.Compression.Elevation.

sMILE, the longest word in the English language. Delusions of Adaquacy and the attention span of a lightning bolt.

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cOPENhagen;Wake up and smell the opportunity $11 coffee

Coffee is tracking at 11 Bucks a cup. Tokyo, Osaka, Copenhage, 1,2,3 most expensive cities in the world

A Year ago In Copenhagen

It's fun to visit the most expensive city in Scandanavia--cOPENhagen, Denmark. Getting hygge (cozy) with the locals...

A Cup of Jonus


Not since the late 1990's, when the dollar took a beating against the Yen, I ordered two Domino's Pizza's and two bottle of Coke in Tokyo for $110 US Dollars, have I experienced "Sticker Shock" $5 Euros for a Coffee (About $8 bucks--It makes SBUXS look like a thrift shop. ( I didn't convert to Danish Kroners) etc...



The Little Mermaid is LITTLE, and ... The city is Bling

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Denmark;Mapquest

The Quest is in the Question-Where am I today?

The Map is not the territory

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Absolut cOPENhagan;;; Ice Bar Happy Hour

Woke up this morning and I got myself a beer-Roadhouse Blues Jjm Morrison

BUI Biking Under the influence

Icebar, Copenhagan

Just Juice It

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cOPENhagen;Off the Denmark Coast-The Emperors New Suit

The Emperors New Suit

Suited and Booted---Kejserens nye Klæder) is a short tale by the Dane Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes invisible to those unfit for their positions or incompetence. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!"

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London's Calling-Landlines Are Places;Cell Phones,People

Bob,Bobby and Ed

Tired vs Wired

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United Kingdom Of Truddie and Stephie

Col Jessup, Did you order the Code Red?

The Shootout at the I'm Ok, You're Ok Corral

A Business-Class Ticket to Cool, with Complimentary Mojo On Takeoff.

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Paris, France;Notre Dame-The Statue is The Saint

Trusting  My Hunches 

 

Paris is a movable feast

The map is the territory.

The menu is the meal.The statue is the saint.

A Year Ago -Freeman in Paris...
Bean and Nothingness in a Parisian Coffee House

walk through those doorsAnd wander Down the champs elysees Going cafe to cabaret

Channeling Novelist Jean-Paul Sartre, the biggest post WW2 noise in France,, as I passed the Cafe de Flore, on The Left Bank.

Once a hangout for Sartre and Simone De Beauvoir, JP would meet "The Family" and evolve existentialist philosophies over drinks.

Sartre asserted that "during 4 years, the road to the Café was for me the Road to Freedom."

You shall know the truth, but first it will piss you off- And to Sartre it was the truth as well as the fact that for France the road to freedom led through the abyss of defeat and despair.

JP's pontifications were a spiritual disinfectant—or at least deodorant for his peers. He offered the red pill and the blue one:Communism and suicide.

Who could forget his definition of man--condemned to be free.

Math is Hard-

FADE IN: I sit down for a coffee and a croissant. ..I ask for the check. It's 5.50 Euro. I give her 10 Euro and she gives me back 10 Euro 50. I made half a Euro on the deal--of course I leave her the balance as a tip, but WTF?

L8R,From The Abyss

I start thinking about The anniversary of Woodstock and Joni Mitchell, one of the GR8st songwriters. Think "Free Man In Paris" meets "Help Me" Verses "From the Abyss"and"No Exit".

Let's put Suite Judy Blue Eyes and JP Sartre in a Steel Cage to fight it out: Because what is freedom. It's not being alone. It's being in a relationship with someone that let's you do your own thing. More than that, as much as traveling alone--The swiftest one is the that goes alone, is cool; it's not where you go but who you go with. There is no Existential "nausée" and Romantic "ennui". Yet, Paris is for lovers.

I'll post some videos to the trip in a few days. Still in "Post" production LOL. La Cathedrale Notre-Dame, La Tour Eiffell, etc.

Here's Le Louvre:

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Maine Chasing Cars

SNOW PATROL-We'll do it all Everything On our own We don't need Anything Or anyone

...
You're good enough. You're smart emough.And People Like You!

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New York-Say Hello Wave Goodbye

Give me liberty

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