Yesterday I took a train 11 hours from Trento, Italy to Rust, Germany. It should have come in closer to 9 and a half hours, but I missed my connection in both Munich and Stuttgart. Thankfully missing a connection on a train is not nearly as harrowing as that of a plane.I just got a brezel or two in Munich and hit the BK Lounge in Stuttgart while waiting 30 minutes for the next train.
I’ve taken at least 20 to 30 trans-Atlantic flights since moving to Italy, I can count on one hand the number of pleasurable experiences I have had. It’s just not enjoyable. On the contrary, yesterday’s trip was a joy. My first 4 hour stint to Munich was through Alto Adige (Sud Tirol) and some of the most stunning mountains in all of Europe. All the time sipping my cappuccino—with pinky extended—while nibbling on a croissant. After cleaning out the Reclaim ticket queue, I broke open Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel Shadow Ticket, a strange cross between Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest and The Big Lebowski (amongst other Coen Brothers film scripts). I read 100 pages throughout the trip. It’s hard to enjoy a book that much when sardined between two strangers equally as disgruntled.
I’ve been listening to Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express a lot these days*while co-working with Tommy in the basement. He’s into hip hop, and like me, he gets a kick out of the fact that Kraftwerk’s “Metal on Metal” is sampled widely in early rap. More than that, we love the whole “Europe Endless” opening and closing tracks of that album. Unlike the other songs, which are far more brooding, it’s a utopian anthem celebrating the vision of a borderless Europe—and as much shit as I talk about Europe—Kraftwerk makes me love it. Now put me on a train for 11 hours from Italy to Germany with that song in my head the whole time and bava’s got that old world glow. Even if the Europeans don’t want me, I’m up in their continent consuming their culture. I’ve even hybridized my offspring, so those mother truckers have to put up with me.
Anyway, I finally did make it to Rust, Germany to attend the “Gen Xfest” conference, but more about that in my next post.
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*It’s one of the CDs I ripped for the mini-disc player which I use quite regularly as my walk around music.
Locked in!