what a beautiful, elegant and evocative piece of travel writing! m. --- On Thu, 9/10/09, Ruth Catlow <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: Ruth Catlow <[email protected]> > Subject: [NetBehaviour] Overland: 36hrs with border crossings Linz-> Wein-> > Sophia-> Istanbul > To: "NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity" > <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009, 9:27 AM > > > > > > > > Overland: 36hrs with border crossings > > 36hrs Linz-> Wein-> Sophia-> Istanbul > > > > Rob met us at Linz station on Sunday afternoon, a few > minutes before our train for Vienna was due to leave. Peter > took a photo of us standing on the platform. We all shared a > bottle of wine in the restaurant car and enjoyed the view of > the lush, green Austrian landscape. A few hours later at > Vienna we changed for the Sophia train. Aileen and I shared > a sleeper with three bunks and a sink covered by a hinged > table top. Rob had his own compartment a few doors down. > Initially they seemed impossibly compact for a 22 hr journey > but we quickly made ourselves at home and it was perfectly > functional for feasting, drinking more wine, swapping > stories of artists, curators, travel and adventures, > sleeping and reading. We noted that there were no power > points and that we would have to ration the use of all > devices though Rob was making the most of his new iphone and > Twitter account. I planned to make more short movies of > arrivals and departures into stations large and small. > > > > Shortly before we turned in for the night (and after > consuming some good Austrian wine) the conductor, with whom > we shared no common language, visited us to warn us in > sign-language not to open our cabin door; not to him, not to > police, not to passport control because this is how tourists > are robbed. I fell asleep speeding through Hungary. At 1 > o'clock in the morning we were woken by an alarming > banging on the door, and a number of men shouting in > languages we didn't understand, interspersed with > "passport control! polizei! open! hell-o!". Then > more agitated pounding, more shouting, different voices. The > train remained stationery. We played dead under our > blankets. I could think of nothing else to do than wait for > them to go away. Then torch lights shone in through our > window and someone attempted to open the window from the > outside while Aileen tried to close it again. Only when she > recognised our conductor looking very flustered outside the > window did we realise that we must have misunderstood his > instructions and we sheepishly unlocked the door. A very > irritated passport official demanded to know what we had > been drinking. The conductor told us later that there were > over 10 officials trying to gain entry to our cabin. We > tried to explain but still have no idea what he thought we > were doing. > > > > We should have worked it out. We were border crossing from > European Hungary into Serbia. The following morning a > mixture of nervous hillarity blended with an awareness that > border-crossing is a non-trivial matter for so many people. > This after all was one of the deciding factors for > dismissing London as a possible host city and holding this > year's /ETC in Istanbul. For Turkish and other > non-European participants without institutional backing, > getting a visa to enter the UK is a lengthy, tedious > process, fraught with uncertainty. > > > > We arrived in Belgrade at 6-ish on Monday morning where > Uska and Heide (also bound for /ETC) were waiting on the > platform. After happy greetings we agreed to hook up later > because our cabin was so small. Rob bravely left the train > and returned with delicious coffee and jam croissants and so > began a heavenly day of reading, eating, sleeping, shooting > the breeze and noting the changes in the landscape. Serbian > agriculture looks different, with smaller and less regular > plots of land. We saw many domestic vegetable gardens and > fruit trees weighed down with apples and pears. We talked > with Rob about /ETC's philosophy, purpose and DIWO > approach and ended up convincing him (i think) of the value > of adventuring into the world of FOSS; suggesting a slow > ramp introduction in which we could support the installation > of a dual mac/ubuntu boot on his laptop. Late in the > afternoon I was still feeling very relaxed and cheerie. > > > > Throughout the journey carriages were added, others > removed. Another (this time uneventful) border crossing into > Bulgaria. The train stopped often for no apparent reason and > made creaking and groaning noises like a ship. By the time > we arrived in Sophia we were an hour or so late and were > told to run for the train on Platform 1 that was waiting for > the connection to Istanbul. As we ran we said good bye to > Rob who was booked into a hotel for the night and noticed > that we couldn't see Uska and Heide anywhere. The train > journey to Istanbul was not so comfortable. The carriages > shook us violently from side to side in our beds and the > border crossing into Turkey at 2.30am was harsh. It was hard > to understand what to do; shunted from queue to queue for > passports and visas then back to the first queue to get the > passport and visa checked again. It was raining and I had > that empty, vulnerable early-hours feeling. Before the train > pulled out two more officials, this time wearing masks, and > carrying torches gave our carriage a cursory search. All > very unsettling before being loudly shuffled in our beds > once again. > > > > Entering Istanbul on Tuesday morning was so beautiful. I > already regret that I will leave it at night. A huge, > charismatic city that gives the impression of being built in > radiating spirals around its 7 hills. We were met by Ruzgar > (one of /ETC Istanbul's energetic organisers) at 8.30am > on the platform of Istanbul's main station. Poor > Uska and Heidi had been caught in the wrong carriage and > ended up in Greece. Ruzgar took us to Begum's flat and > we slept for a few hours. > > > > ===================== > > We Won't Fly For Art! > > http://www.pledgebank.com/wewontflyforart > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
