Walking To the East From Amsterdam in the 60s till Now
22 Nov, 1963 I remember the day Kennedy was shot, i was with my friend Nico den Braber (See Photo), in Sežana some miles over the Italian(Trieste)-Yugoslavia border, we hitch-hiked all the way from Amsterdam going east without money making street paintings on the way...Sežana was a dead little village, the snow there was 2 mtr high Nico was very weak and became unconscious just before we found a épicerie  a really socialist shop, alcohol, veggies, tables for cards and dominoes and warm, the locals helped to move him near the stove and a glass of slivowits did the trick, back on his feet, the shop-owner put some steaming food in front of us, so we could proceed to Zagreb, the locals told us with this weather no way to move so they brought us to the village community Hal annex rlw.station, commissariat and communist party centre in one There all villagers were preparing for a big party, Nico promised to play the guitar i  the bass, sudenly a man entered in the premisses and told the festive crowds 'Kennedy the President of USofA is shot and killed alle the people where stunned and after a wile started to cry an wail, we where stunned to and left the party try to find a place to stay and leave this place we entered the waiting room of  Sežana station we found in this crowded place not even place to stand all people where stranded cause of snow so we slept under a bench after a few days we found transport and via Lublijana, Zagreb we arrived at the eastern crossroad of Yugoslavia Skopje.            


25 Nov. 

We arrived in Skopje before deciding to go the short way to Turkey or via Greece the long haul, Bulgaria out of question no visa on the border so Greece it will be, good town Skopje great helping guy's.

Nov 1963.
on arriving at the Yugoslav Greece border (Gevgelija)the customs didn't want to let us pass and told us to return to obtain the necessary documents it was night and very cold, we told them we run out of money and strength so we will camp at the border, thy got pity on us so in the morning thy put us on a horse drawn cart just passing and going to the Greece border a few miles up the road, there the customs stamped our passport and helped us on the road to Thessaloniki arriving at he warm seashore and decided to make a street-painting, the last one we made in Trieste Italie so we needed the money urgently, it worked very well and could take a room bath and food to get our lost strength back.

End Nov. 
The Greece people where not very interested in us, so after a one successful day of street-paint our fortunes changed rain, to get a visa for Turkey expensive we were broke, so somebody told us we could sell our blood 50 $ a pint we where so desperate to get out of this damned place, with 50$ in our pockets we hitch-hiked to the Turkish border.
 

(PICTURE OF NICO den Braber, bringing his work to the art commission in the 70s )
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