Notes on cities

Amsterdam

Post

I drop the water-soaked package on the table that had recently fallen into the puddle. A postman looks at me confused and I guess just tries to understand what has just happened. (my package looks bad and it’s from ‘hotel DROOG’ by the way) He asks: do you know what ‘DROOG’ means in Dutch?

Me: I don’t.

Postman: It means DRY.

Students of Life

Amsterdam always feels super intelligent to me. When I feel I need to learn something, I go there. You can have a conversation with a person on a street, or in a store. It doesn’t really matter. You will be wondering, if they are all writers there.

Boston

It seems that every single thing has knowledge there. Streets and houses have knowledge. People have knowledge. Animals have knowledge. I suspect all objects have knowledge there.

Copenhagen

Bird

Once quite a loud bird came live in the yard. He would not sing when the space was filled with other sounds. Only when everything becomes silent. After listening to it for a while, I decided to record it. Made a mixtape out of it. Winter music. 

Different lights

The light here is special. In summer it’s bright and it makes things look sharp and the colours become so alive. And in winter there is such a difference… everything looks dim and you tend to focus on the shape of things and their shadows.

Movement

You can experience the city in various ways. For the last ten years I have just been cycling. I knew the city so well on my bike. The speed and panoramics became so familiar. But the moment I started to walk with pram, all of a sudden everything changed. Not only did I start to notice different things. The time and distances between places are different now. 

Göteborg

Theater

During the concert at the theater, a woman stands up to say she did not hear enough accordion and would like to hear more flute as well. Musicians are impressed. Later on, the main violinist asks the same women if she can hear his part well enough. 

Malaga 

Museum

Me: I am looking for Bruce Nauman, but I can't find him... Where is it? B: I’m sorry, but you will need to travel into the future then!Me: How far into the future?B: Not Monday...Me: So, is it Tuesday then? B: Yes, next Tuesday is fine! 

(Conversation in a museum while looking for Bruce Nauman)

Tennis

I have my favorite place here. I discovered it by walking on a beach one day. It looks and feels like to be on a film set. Strangely enough, everything feels like it belongs to a place. It is also a very worn down location with an old restaurant. You can sit near the table, drink your coffee and suddenly a wave comes and splashes on you (!) Sometimes I just go there to play tennis in an old tennis court surrounded by 100 m high palms. It’s true.

Milano 

Buying silk

You certainly need a man in a toxido to cut a piece of fabric for you. This is a part of the Milano experience.

Scents

They are crazy about perfumes there. Everything smells. Hotel rooms, train stations, everything… Food tastes like a parfum too. 

New York 

Elevator 

I think I have never experienced waiting in a line for an elevator, I say it to my friend. And I ask a man standing behind if he ever experienced something similar in any other hotel… ‘This is something very New York’, another couple standing in front, answers and makes everyone laugh in agreement. 

Subways

On subways you have to check tickets at a certain speed. You need to do it fast, at the right moment and in a certain manner. It is completely the opposite to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen, those machines are much more patient.

Tokyo 

Strange Walk 

A woman and a man walked through the park. Suddenly, a man jumps on his fours and starts walking next to a woman like a dog. He rolls on his back from side to side happily and laughs. Then he stands up and they continue to walk like nothing happened. 

Verona 

Something Special

Me: -I would like to try something traditional.

Waiter: - Pizza , pasta!

A:- What about something traditional that comes just from here?

B: - Donkey pasta!

A: - What?

B: - Pasta with donkey!

A: - oh, I should have not asked…

Venice

Full experience

The guide: “When M. Polo was away from his Venetian home, his half sisters told his wife that her husband was dead and he would not come back. And so his wife became so upset, that she set fire to her clothes and jumped from this window into the canal…”

(Suddenly something jumps in the water) 

The guide: Don’t worry, it's just a fish!

Someone: I Don’t think so...

Vilnius

Taxis

I use it a lot here. My best side reason is a possibility to talk with people and hear their stories. Lately, when I say to drivers that I call taxis that often, they ask me: ‘So how are other drivers doing?’

 Sound of Walking

Whenever I walk with someone, they always pick up the sound of my shoes, but I would say, that this is the sound of the place that they are hearing. I even think that the sound of walking in different cities varies. I tried it with my favorite pair of shoes when going with them through the streets of Vilnius and in Copenhagen and I'm convinced now, that it creates different sounds every time again. 

Noted by Goda Go