In 2011 I went to the Prague Quadrennial to work with a group of creators lead by Louise Ann Wilson on a site specific performance as part of the PQ Six Acts. From afar we researched our local rivers and watersheds, sharing information via Facebook group until we met up in Prague. Gathered in a classroom at DAMU (Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) we met for the first time and began building artifacts. We met 9-6 each day for about a week up to the performance, spending a lot of time exploring the Vltava River, which was the site for our piece. Our performance included a walking and river tour with vignettes along the way, telling the story the of water and the Vltava. The time commitment was significantly more than I expected but the result was breathtaking. 

A zinging city, full and alive, bountiful well funded arts, friendly vending machine robots and beer.  The picture on the right is of a charming vending machine that makes fresh baked cookies, how amazing is that! I love a good wander in new cities and by foot Berlin was great but it is also the city that ignited my joy for boat tours. It was a grueling hot day as we floated on the Spree and drank beer while seeing the sights. This became my favorite way to tour river cities.  During my month in Europe I took boat tours in Dresden, Prague, & Paris. It beats taxis, and is quite refreshing. 

During 2011 I spent about a month backpacking around Europe. The whole trip was a whirlwind but more so were the 20 hours in Budapest. We arrived late in the evening around 11pm. We got off the train, hit the ATM and tried to get transit passes. The ATM had given us bills so large the cashier wouldn't take them, foreign currency oops! We ended up hoofing it to the hostel for the night which thankfully wasn't too far. After sleeping in a bit too much we got up and headed into town for the day. On foot we aimed towards the downtown area in search of breakfast. We found this amazing cafe that had the best jelly filled  croissants and delicious coffee. A perfect start. When we got down town we hit up one of those double decker city tour busses to get an overview. It was a wild ride! There was a pause on the tour which happened to be across the street from a wine shop. We got a delicious bottle of red and to this day my favorite wine key. After careening around corners and zooming all over the town we hopped off at a giant market place and picked up further provisions for the next train ride. After spending most of our cash we hopped on a trolly to get back to the hostel and load up for the overnight train ride to Venice, Italy which was its own adventure. I definitely want to go back to Budapest and explore so much more. 

In our final semester of college my friend Jenny and I laid out incentives so that we would make it to the end. One of those incentives was a going to Coachella. Besides the festival we wanted to checkout this abandoned town near by. The town was supposed to be the new Palm Springs, a desert oasis and destination. The problem is that when they diverted the water from the Colorado river into the Salton Sink there was no where for it to outflow. All the salt and nasty stuff had no where to go. Basically the only fish that can stand the water are tilapia and the desert pup fish. As the fertilizer run off and salinity build the algae blooms and makes the water even more inhospitable. The structures are decayed, the water is nearly toxic but the view is breathtaking. Its worth making a trip out and exploring especially if you love surreal landscapes, abandoned places and decayed things.