What are you planning to do in Berlin on January 8?

Post your plans / comments below.

NYTimes article on C/O Berlin Art Gallery

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December 26, 2010, 6:00 am

In an Old Berlin Post Office, a Gallery Flourishes

By SARAH MOROZ

Peter Lindbergh “Michaela Berko, Linda Evangelista, Kristen Owen. Comme des Garcons. Pont a Mousson Factory, Nancy, France. 1988” by Peter Lindbergh.

Berlin

Posts | City Guide

C/O Berlin winkingly acknowledges its location in the Postfuhramt — or (roughly) post office — in its name (“c/o” being postal lingo for “care of”). The space (Oranienburger Strasse 35/36; 49-30-28-09-19-25; www.co-berlin.info) has not been renovated since the days when it was filled with letter carriers. But today, it is filled with communiqués of a different sort: photographs, including, in a current exhibition titled “On Street,” up through Jan. 9, the work of the fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh.

“We try to make the tracks and traces visible, so there’s a historic dimension in the space, to mix it up with contemporary photography. It’s not a White Cube situation,” said the curator Felix Hoffmann, referring to the famed contemporary art galleries. “It’s very Berlin-ish.”

The more symbolic aspect of the “care of” reference — in the sense of commitment to supporting the arts — is very much intentional. Mr. Hoffmann noted that 10 years ago “there was a very big Magnum retrospective and not one space in Berlin was interested in the show.” C/O was thus founded to rectify Berlin’s undervaluing of art photography. A decade later, the scene has since caught up — though C/O remains at the epicenter, having shown the likes of Robert Frank and Nan Goldin.

The pieces by Mr. Lindbergh include black-and-white portraits of supermodels in industrial spaces and grand shots of film sets. The globetrotting photographer’s own artistic roots began in Berlin in the ’60s. He apprenticed to learn how to decorate department store windows, before going on to be a photographer’s assistant and build his reputation.

It’s the pseudo-street photography of some of Mr. Lindbergh’s work that inspired the name of the exhibition, for its sense of movement and improvisation. “You cannot figure out if this is a real photo shoot or not,” Mr. Hoffmann said. “It looks like he grabbed five cameras and took the model downtown in New York, with no team, to use the street as a stage.”

http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/in-an-old-post-office-a-gallery-flourishes/

Credit Cards w/o Foreign Transaction Fees

The following blog entry appeared in the NYTimes last week:
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/3-credit-cards-without-foreign-exchange-fees/

My credit union charges no foreign transaction fees on their credit cards while Wells Fargo charges a 3% fee on international debit card transactions.

Whatever credit or debit card(s) you plan to use, be sure to contact your bank at least a week prior to traveling to let them know when & where you'll be abroad so that they won't shut down your account for fraud.

What card advice do you have for your fellow NAFA tour participants?

//Lisa


November 14, 2010, 7:20 am

3 Credit Cards Without Foreign Exchange Fees

By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD

Attention international travelers: there are a few more credit cards worth tucking into your wallet before you take off.

Earlier this month, Chase said it would begin waiving the pesky foreign transaction fees on its British Airways Visa Signature Card. And two of its new cards introduced earlier in the year, the Hyatt Card and the Priority Club Select Visa Card, will also waive all foreign transaction fees.

Most American banks levy these currency conversion charges, typically up to 3 percent, every time a merchant processes your credit or debit card transactions outside the United States. You may also be hit with the fees if you’re buying something denominated in a currency other than dollars on the Web. (You also pay conversion fees when withdrawing money from a foreign A.T.M.)

“This is a significant announcement, and could potentially save consumers millions in foreign exchange fees as this is a ‘monkey see, monkey do’ industry,” said Curtis Arnold, the founder of CardRatings.com. “And other reward cards, particularly co-branded airline cards, are likely to follow suit.”

Let’s hope so. Given that these fees amount to a pure profit for the banks (see Ron Lieber’s column, which chronicles the history of the foreign exchange fee), more banks should eliminate these charges, or at least reduce them to the 1 percent that MasterCard and Visa charge the banks.

Capital One doesn’t charge any foreign exchange fees (it absorbs the 1 percent MasterCard/Visa fee). Nor does this card from PenFed. Cards from smaller banks and credit unions may have similar policies.

Chase said it decided to get rid of the fees after having direct conversations with a group of Chase cardholders and Hyatt guests. (Quick aside: The new Hyatt card offers a really sweet deal. After you use the card once, cardholders will receive two free nights in a standard room at any Hyatt in the world. There are no blackout dates, limits on available rooms, and no resort or redemption fees, a Hyatt spokeswoman said. You just need to redeem within one year. The card does charge a $75 annual fee.)

So it may pay to speak up. What other cards should eliminate these fees? (Besides the obvious answer: all of them.) And what cards do you carry in your wallet when traveling abroad?

Plane Tickets

I bought my tickets this week, $885 on Delta/KLM. I'm flying from Richmond to Strasbourg (via JFK and Amsterdam) in mid-December then taking a train to Berlin on January 5 and returning to Richmond from Munich via Atlanta.

When choosing your seats be sure to check www.seatguru.com. It will keep you from regretting your seat choice on any flight.

Has anyone else gotten their tickets? Are you finding good prices? Please respond in the comments.

Suggested Reading List

Dear Fellow Participants,

I'm posting here a couple of reading and film options for this fall - and maybe even for the long transatlantic flight.

Books:
Brian Ladd's "Companion Guide to Berlin" - as advertised, it is a good guide to the city of Berlin
Wladimir Kaminer's "Russian Disco" - This is a collection of short vignettes written by one of Germany's hippest young (immigrant) writers.
Mary Fulbrook's "A Concise History of Germany"
Peter Schneider's "The Walljumper"
Herta Mueller - anything by her, she's the most recent Nobel Prize for Literature winner

Films:
"Comedian Harmonists" (1997)
"In July" (2000)
"Goodbye Lenin (2003)
"Go for Zucker" (2004)
"The Lives of Others" (2006)
"Sophie Scholl. The Final Days" (2005)

NYTimes article on using credit cards abroad

Check it out here.

Avoid a Large Phone Bill When Traveling

The August 1 New York Times has an article on avoiding high phone bills when you're abroad.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/travel/01prac.html

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