Reiseepilog | An Asteroid Returns
Last summer, author Felicitas Hoppe traveled through the United States together with artists Jana Müller and Alexej Meschtschanow. They followed in the footsteps of the Russian writing duo Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov, who traveled throughout the United States for months in the mid-1930s on assignment for the Russian daily newspaper Pravda.
In mid-December, the epilogue to the journey took place, following the prologue that had been held that summer at the same location, the Friedrichsaal of the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle. Together with her travel companions Jana and Alexej, Felicitas recounted the events, the hardships, and the people they encountered during the 9,928 miles of their Grand Tour.
But their experiences haven’t quite healed yet. “The journey isn’t over yet when you see the church and the tower,” Felicitas quoted a Dutch proverb, admitting that quite a few questions remain unanswered: “We don’t know who will win the next election, who will own Alaska in ten years, what will become of the refugees, and what awaits us back home. We’re still sitting here like European hares between two mountains in a deep valley, looking at the two empires that aren’t empires at all.”
So far, we can only summarize the results in numbers:
Miles/mileage: 9928
Gas in gallons: 426.9
Water in gallons: 141
Coffee in gallons: 72
Cigarettes: 814
Beds (lodging): 560–570
Tipping: 15%
Weather: sunny to cloudy
More information: www.3668ilfpetrow.com