Brian's blog

Amagasaki #1

2008-04-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

We pulled into Tokyo on Friday around 3pm. We were starving and Robb, Merritt and I went to eat some noodles at the place we found on our first day. The weather wasn't great. It was rainy and windy but not too cold. A warm bowl of noodles is the perfect recipe for a day like that. The three Gaijin (foreign) dudes were the ONLY ones in the street with raincoats and not umbrellas. Navigating these thousands of umbrellas carried by the typically short Japanese people on narrow sidewalks is a bit difficult. It's compounded by the American guy's natural inclination to move to the right when approaching oncoming people. You drive on the left side of the street in Japan. I nearly lost an eye several times! After we warmed ourselves at our favorite noodle shop, we made our way back to the hotel. Ken was meeting us in an hour or so.

Ken took us to a small British pub right off the bat. Well, it was called the Rose and Crown but they didn't have any Bass or Guinness and the fish and chips were a bit suspect. But who cares when you're in great company?? I haven't seen Ken since our families met in Hawaii seven years ago. He looked the same as he always has. I told Ken that I supposed he had the opportunity to use his English because it was in such good form. He told me he hadn't spoken it regularly since living in Sweden over a year ago. I guess when you're a neurosurgeon, you retain more than the average guy!

We wore that bar out pretty quickly and decided to find a proper sake bar. We didn't go far before we found what we were looking for. In the last three hours, we had noodles, fish and chips, and some roast beef. Ken asked if we wanted sushi. I remember saying I wasn't that hungry anymore. Well, within 20 min. we had an entire tray of sushi in front of us.

Over the course of the next two or three hours, the four of us devoured six or seven trays of sashimi and 10 or more large bottles of sake! Ken kept ordering more and more until we stuffed silly. We were laughing so hard we were crying! Ken took me down memory lane and gave Robb and Merritt an hilarious glimpse of my upbringing. We were all roaring when it was revealed that I spent a giant portion of my childhood writing the sentence "I will mind" thousands upon thousands of times. Whenever I misbehaved, my Mom would yell to me,

"100!"

"But Mom..."

"200!"

"I don't want to clean my room!"

"300!"

And on and on and on and on and on....

We eventually stopped eating and drinking and called it a night. The first Tokyo show was tomorrow.

The Tokyo International Forum is a gorgeous concert hall. It holds nearly 6,000 people. We sold out both nights. Ken came the first night and I showed him all the ins and outs of the stage. We did a fun thing before sound check. I gave Ken an IEM (in-ear monitor) pack and Merritt set him up on the keyboard rig. Ken and I used to play together back when he visited us in the States. Now it was time for our reunion gig!!! I got up on the drums and we played together for the first time in 15 or more years. First tune? Jump of course. We played many a Van Halen tune together back in the day. He was a bit rusty but we spent a good half hour playing. Loved it.

For the show, Ken sat with me on stage left and he listened to exactly the same thing that I listen to when I engineer the show. I loved being able to show him a day in my life. He was incredibly curious about the technical aspects of operating the show. I was more than delighted to give the lesson.

After the show, Ken, Merritt and I went out for some more sushi and sake. We tried a different place and once again, the sushi was phenomenal. We were a bit tired from the shenanigans the night before so we called it after that.

The next morning, I went out and explored my little area of Tokyo. I had some time before the show because we didn't have to load-in. I spent some time in a couple of Japanese shrines and got some good pics. I even saw a wedding at one of the shrines. These shrines were about 700 years old.

Our second show in Tokyo, Ken brought his mother, brother and sister. I had met Ken's parents in Hawaii but never his brother and sister. It was great to be able to finally meet them after knowing about them for over 23 years. I showed them backstage a little bit and introduced them to Huey. Then it was time for me to go to work. They all sat in the audience for the show. I went out and watched Chicago with them in the house after Huey. There was a guest guitarist that played with Chicago. His name is Hotei. He is apparently a huge Japanese rock star and he brought the house down. I took the Amagasaki's backstage afterward and we all took pictures with Hotei. They loved it.

After that, Ken's family was gracious enough to take me out for dinner. Guess what we ate... They were impressed with my chopstick dexterity. They couldn't believe that I eat sushi at least once a week at home. I learned at that meal where wasabi came from. It's a ground up root. It came in root form with a grinder and you made it fresh at the table. I don't know if I've ever had real wasabi before but this stuff was incredible. I could have sucked on the root itself! It was a wonderful time and we all actually communicated pretty well considering Ken was the only bilingual person at the table. They understood a lot of my English though. I had my computer with me so I was able to show them pictures of my family. They were particularly interested in Matthew and Molly my nephew and niece. They were all impressed that we had two Doctors in the family now - David of course but now Dad has all but completed his PhD. The Amagasaki's send all their love to all of the Teeds and Bendures and Baumwarts. They want to know who is going to visit next!!

We finished up dinner and it was time to go. Ken paid for my cab home and gave me some tips for shopping. It's my day off today and we're going to be out on the town. As always, Ken and I had so much fun together. As I've been telling everyone here, he's my brotha from anotha motha. I hope it's not too long before I see my Japanese brother again.

I'm off to explore Tokyo with my crew. It should be a fun day. We play Yokohama tomorrow and then head home on Wednesday. See ya!

Huey Lewis and the Foos

2008-04-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Ok. Here it is!! Teri (our asst. tour mgr.) shot the whole thing on a better camera. I'll have a copy that soon enough. The audio is distorted so don't mind that. It's time for me to buy a new camera. I have yet to see the band since the Foo's show. I can't wait to hear what happened when they went out for dinner.

I also just shot a video walking around the stage during the line check for Chicago. Our days are very relaxed and everyone is so cool. It's been a fantastic time so far.

The other pics are of Huey and the boys with Chicago during the first rehearsal in Hiroshima.

The Osaka show was great. Osaka is a gorgeous city. It is huge but clean as is everything in Japan. Even the road blocks have been beautified with flowers. The electrical grid is a bit questionable as you can see. The cops looks straight out of Godzilla. There's another picture of Robb (drum tech) bibbing himself and Ralph (guitar tech) eating his noodles in a single bite. Note the really hot Japanese girl at the other table. :) They're everywhere.

We all have been making fun of Merrit for wearing the bird flu mask everywhere in the US so now he feels right at home. Robb even helped himself to a mask.

Sorry I can't get the vertical pictures to be upright. This blog program is retarded. I've looked through the whole thing to try and fix it. I suspect I need to know html. I'm not about to figure that out. Bloody technology.

The Japanese crews are incredible. I haven't lifted a finger since the first day. I come in and I mix and I leave. If only it was always this way.

We head back Tokyo tomorrow for a day off. Ken will be going out with us tomorrow night. We might go to the fish market. I also hear the Harajuku is the happenin' place to be.

I think I'm going to start posting more videos. As long as I have a good high speed connection, I'll keep adding videos.

I'll write more from Tokyo!!

Just arrived in Nagoya

2008-04-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm really tired so I'm going to write a proper entry tomorrow morning. I just wanted to do a quick update of a really cool thing that happened a few hours ago.

Last night, Merrit (keyboard tech) and I went out with Ian (Foo Fighters monitor engineer) and we proceeded to get ridiculously wrecked. He's a Scotsman so he drank us under the table.

Anyway, about 4 hours ago, I took the band to see the Foo's. It was about a 1500 person hall. Those Japanese kids were going crazy! What a treat to see a band like that in a small place. In a couple of months, they will be playing two sold out shows at Wembley Stadium in the round. 88,000 people a night.

We got there about an hour before the show and hung out and had some drinks with them. Then we went up to a private balcony and watched the show. About 40 mins. into the show, we see Huey on stage left. The Foos tour manager had a harmonica and Huey went out and played with the Foo Fighters!!!!!! Unbelievable!!! Totally unplanned.

The other crew guys and I had to take the bullet train to Nagoya before the Foos even ended but the band stayed and even went to dinner with the Foos. Dave Grohl and Huey got along famously. Both guys are really super people and I think I've made a match of them!

It's about 12:30am Thursday morning and we've got a show tomorrow. I'm completely exhausted so I'll post the video of Huey and the Foos tomorrow. Killer stuff!!!

Until then.....

Japan!!!!

2008-04-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

Man do I love flying. I can't wait to file into a queue and submit myself to the lot of retards who work for a government agency that has the employee turnover frequency of Taco Bell.

Getting to Japan was a two day process for all of us. On Thursday, we set out from Puerto Rico to San Francisco via Washington Dulles. That was an 11 hour ordeal. We stayed at the SF Airport Crowne Plaza for a night and got up to take the 10 hour flight to Tokyo. Usually I would have a plan to turn my hours around before I got to Japan but it was just pointless with this itinerary.

When we leveled off at 38,000 ft. and the seatbelt sign went off, I got up to purchase two bottles of Jack before they could even pull the carts out. I found a willing flight attendant and got back to my seat. I looked across the plane to see Bugsy (my fellow audio engineer) and he smiled and gave me the thumbs up. I took the opportunity to make a production of me flashing an Ambien and slamming it down with the two Jack Daniels bottles. He was cracking up.

It took about an hour for me to feel it but when it hit, I was out. Unfortunately I woke up about four hours later and that was that. I couldn't sleep anymore so I snuck up to business class to an open seat next to Teri our asst. tour manager. She was cracking up and order us a couple bottles of sake. I enjoyed the nearly prone seating for about an hour before the Purser caught on and told me I was a very bad man. I spent the last four hours in coach.

I could have upgraded to business class for 60,000 miles but that's another trip somewhere in the world. Forget it. Luckily I have some sort of status with my "Economy Plus" seating. I think I get six inches out of the deal.

So we landed in Tokyo around 2pm and immediately had a production meeting at the one of the hotel restaurants. We met all of our Japanese crew and discussed the tour. Everyone was very nice and knowledgeable. Our stomachs were growling and we were all itching to get some food. Rick, our Production Manager, led us off to a nearby street with plenty of food and drink. We eventually found a small noodle house that suited our purpose. We walked in and sat down and started pointing at pictures. Not a single person there spoke English. Oh well, kindergarten was good for something.

We eventually found out that we had to pay first at a machine that spit out our order on a piece of paper. That was given to the attendant who promptly made our food. Fortunately there was a couple that showed us what was going on or we might have sat there pointing for hours.

After dinner we all headed out to an English pub for some Guinness. Right now you might be saying that we might as well have eaten at McDonalds (which we did pass along the way) but our mission was not to start the wonderful experience of Japan. Our mission was to have a few pints from a place where we could communicate easily and get back to the hotel and crash. It was 5am Pacific.

As I walked into my hotel room, my phone rang. I thought it would be a reminder call that we had to be in the lobby at 10am the next morning. When I picked up the phone though, I heard a pleasing baritone voice.

"Pleezuh standuh-by for call from Mr. Kenichi Amagasaki"

Perfect timing!!!

For those of you who don't know, Kenichi (Ken) is my Japanese brother. He was an exchange student my family had for a year back in 1986. He has come back to visit us in the States several times and our family even met his parents in Hawaii about 7 years ago.

Ken and I caught up for a bit and then he told me he could meet me the next morning in the lobby before we took off to Hiroshima. I hadn't expected to be able to see him until next week when we play Tokyo. I was very excited for him to send me off. Shortly after, it was 10pm and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I set my alarm for 9am hoping to bang out a long nights sleep.

3am - my eyes open. They don't close again. I watched some Japanese TV, some CNN, and some BBC. Nothing worked. I got out my book and read it for about an hour. Nothing.

About 5am, I quit reading and decided to attempt to pass out to the TV again. I was flipping around the 11 channels of horrible TV when I stumbled on the third round of the Masters!! Sweet! Surely the soothing voices of the golf commentators would lull me into a new slumber!

Well, I've got news for you. Japanese golf commentators are not like Johnny Miller and David Faraday. There are no low monotone voices from the Japanese broadcast. Instead, it is filled with bounding exclamations and endless grunting of agreement.

"MMMMMMMM!! Hai! Hai!!"

So much for the lullaby. I stayed up until 8am watching golf. At least I got to see one round of the Masters this year. Tiger had a 4 under round but it doesn't look like it will be enough this year.

I think I finally fell asleep somewhere around 8am. My alarm woke me up an hour later.

When I got down to the lobby, Ken was there waiting!! It was great to see him. He looks great and hasn't aged a day. We shot the shit for 20 min. or so before I had to get to the airport and fly to Hiroshima. May I say that flying in Japan is quite a different experience than the US. If only I flew in Japan all the time...

It was a bit cloudy in Hiroshima as my flight approached that afternoon. I felt a fascinated, solemn discomfort staring out my window wondering if I was seeing the same view that a B-29 on August 6, 1945 saw. It's fucking weird. All you can do is gaze and think.

We were bussed to the hotel from the airport and settled into our rooms for about 20 min and then met up downstairs to venture out. First stop? The A-bomb Dome.

Rob, Merrit, Ralph, Rick and I walked about 5 min. to the so-called A-bomb Dome. This building was originally built in 1915 by a Czech architect as a commerce house. It was a large building with a gorgeous green dome on top that had become a proud Hiroshima landmark. It was called the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.

At 8:15am on that day in 1945, The Bomb detonated about 600 meters nearly directly above this building. Everyone inside was vaporized instantly. But because it was just below the explosion, it was the only building to avoid the extending shockwave and it's walls and dome didn't completely fall.

Initially there was a huge movement to do away with any reminders of that day. Throughout the years following the blast, almost all of the other structures of Hiroshima were replaced. Eventually the "A-bomb Dome" as it became to be known, gained support to be a monument for peace and the city preserved it to always look just as it did the day the Bomb dropped.

It is too difficult to describe what I felt as I stood there and looked at the skeletal remains of the symbol of human destructive power. If every single head of state would be required to stand there in the shadow of that structure upon the first day of taking office, things might be a little different on this planet.

Complete world peace may never be a feasibly attainable goal but at least we could all agree to do away with complete mutual destruction. Perhaps that is what was accomplished those days in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the sacrifice of millions.

The rest of the day was spent shopping and wondering about the city. It is now a clean, beautiful bustling city with quite the downtown marketplace. I am very surprised at the happenin' fashions of the local young people. Japan is full of incredibly pleasant and polite people. Hiroshima exemplifies this at every turn. If you ever make it all the way to Japan, I would definitely not miss it.

I'm off to bed. We've got our first show tomorrow. Tuesday we will head to Osaka by bullet train. A very cool coincidence has happened on this tour. The Foo Fighters are playing Osaka for two nights, the second being on our day off. So I called up my buddies on their crew and asked if we could come to the show. As Huey and the guys are such big fans, we've all been invited to go see the show. It should be bad ass. I haven't seen them since I toured with them two years ago. I'm really looking forward to it.

That's it for now!!! I'll let you know how the first day goes.........

2007-10-02T18:59:00.001-07:00

Amsterdam, London, Paris, Munich

2007-09-25T17:38:00.001-07:00

As you might be able to tell, this began the serious party phase of my trip. Because I’m basically doing two days per city, it’s been tough to find time to update the blog. I pretty much have to cover the rest of my trip with this entry so I’ll attempt to be brief.

I’ll start with Amsterdam. First thing I did was head to the Van Gogh museum. My host, Benedicte (Beni), took me there straight away. Of course we stopped at a coffee shop and picked up a joint. BEAUTIFUL.

We spent maybe two hours at the museum. It was really well put together and I learned quite a bit about Van Gogh that I did not know. He did not begin his art in earnest until he was 26. Prior to that, he had been an evangelical preacher. He had a disappointing and tragic life and never knew of the greatness he would eventually attain. I could have spent another three hours staring at the work of this amazing genius. Truly one of my favorites.

That night, we met a couple of Beni’s friends, Famke and Peter, for dinner at their house. Beni loaned me one of her bikes and we went riding through Amsterdam. Biking is so much better than the car you fat, lazy Americans. We had some fantastic soup (Zucchini I think) and a warm pasta w/ tomato, olive and greens dish. Apple pie and coffee for desert. Tasty.

Beni took me to a music bar afterward and we saw some “indie” bands. They were mostly young angst rockers fresh out of the garage. Good thing we had another joint because we might have left earlier. We called it a night around midnight.

The next day Beni had to work, so I walked around Amsterdam mostly in the red light district on the east side. I was baked all day of course. I understand that they are shutting down a good portion of the prostitute rooms so I was glad to see them before they went. Most of the girls were not exactly great to look at. But there definitely was a couple of hot ones. I headed over to the west side to see the “non touristy” part of the Dam. Beautiful town. I’d live here in a second.

That night, I met up with some couch surfers because Beni had to be to bed early for work the next day. I actually met up with a girl from Vegas and her boyfriend from Brazil. I rode the bike to meet them. Around 2am, I headed back to Beni’s, expertly navigating the streets and canals of Amsterdam. I don’t think there are any laws about bike riding completely drunk and baked!

I flew to London the next day. Ridiculously expensive. I met up with an old friend, Laura, who used to work at Disney when I was there. I haven’t seen her in almost 10 years. Laura brought her sister, Rachel, too. First thing we did was to hit the London Eye. As we got close to the eye, I leaned out the taxi to see a large clock tower. I asked Laura and Rachel,
“Is that Ben?”
They both replied,
“That’s not Big Ben. That’s just some clock.”
I said, “Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah. We would know Big Ben.”

As it turns out, the American knows more about London than the girls from Manchester. Hilarious.

We walked around a little bit before going up in the Eye. Of course we got the best view of London. It was great to get my bearings from up there. Gorgeous view.

That night we were going to go clubbing. Because I hadn’t bothered to bring any fancy shoes, the three of us set out shopping. I would have been laughed out of the line of the club if I had not. I got stuck buying shoes for 70 pounds. $140 for us poor owners of the dollar. We were going to meet up with Jill, another girl that worked at Disney years ago. She came with her boyfriend. We hit a bar to warm up and then got to the club. Laura knew some TV star there but of course I had no idea who it was. We had a 90 pound bottle of champagne (stupid) and drank and danced the night away. We ended up leaving when I had to pick Laura off the floor and forcibly dragged Rachel out. Sorry girls… Gotta to tell it like it is!!!! You Brits can’t hold your liquor!!!!

The next morning we ordered room service at 50 pounds. Posh. Laura can’t have it any other way. Off we went to see the London Bridge. We were draggin’ ass from the night before. I made those girls walk around 2 or 3 miles that day. HAHAHA. That night, we had Indian food. I had the Lamb Vindaloo. Scrumtrulescent. We stopped at another bar on the way home. I had a nice Scotch and then we hit the hay. I had to get up at 5am to catch my train. London has cost me more than the entire trip combined. I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon. But it was a blast, Laura. Thanks so much.

The next morning, I took the train to Paris. Paris is so beautiful. The architecture and the layout of the city is marvelous. I could live here. My host, Laure, was kind enough to meet me at the train station and ride with me back to her place. She lives across the street from the Louvre. Amazing. I dropped my gear, had a little bite to eat, and then drove to the Eiffel Tower. We walked from our killer parking spot through the park to the tower. We got tickets for 5 Euro I think. We were wondering how it was so cheap. We soon found out that we had tickets for the stairs and not the elevator. Shit. Oh well. I was up for it but I don’t think Laure was looking forward to it. We ended up only going to the second level. It was nothing. Again, starting my city tour with the bird’s eye view is a great idea.

After that, we drove back to her place and walked along the river to Notre Dame. Beautiful structure and freshly cleaned. I’ve seen so many cathedrals on this trip it’s tough to say which one was the most beautiful. This one ranks up there. Laure had to work after that so I went to the Louvre. I spent about three hours soaking in the art. Honestly, a lot of the portrait work became boring but I enjoyed the sculpture, Egyptian art and in particular discovered that I really like Goya.

It was so unbelievably gorgeous outside, I had to get out in the park. The sunset was stunning and I got some amazing shots from inside the north wing of the Louvre. I strolled around the Jardin des Tuileries and enjoyed the perfect weather and all the people and children and the moment. It’s no wonder this is one of the most desired places in the world.

I was supposed to go out with Laure and her friends that night but I ended up missing them, due to AT&T sucking my ass. I highly recommend getting a Euro SIM card if you’re coming over here. I priced it out and found that for the month, I might even save a little money without the SIM card but I certainly didn’t save any headache. Turns out AT&T is fucking worthless in the States and abroad. I will be changing my service when I get back because I’m over it.

The next day, Laure took me to the Champs D’Elysee and we strolled to the Arch di Triumph. Actually we took the metro because it so far down there. From there we headed to the Sacre Coeur and I strolled around there for a couple of hours. Beautiful part of Paris. A bit of the old world feel. I was going to head back to the Musee d’Oray but it was closing at 6pm that day. It was 5pm already so I went back to the Tuileries. I sat there and wrote in my journal for about two hours off and on, enjoying yet another amazing sunset.

While writing that night, I think I made up my mind to seriously put effort into leaving the US for a while. I’m not sure where I’ll go but I have to go. I’m not sure for how long, but I need some change. Maybe it will be something crazy like Cairo or maybe it will be something centrally located like Munich. I don’t know but a change is coming. I need to learn a foreign language fluently and the only real way to get that done is to move to that country. We shall see. I said the same thing after I went to China……

I took the overnight to Munich. The next morning (yesterday morning) I met my host, Karin Beer. Yes I’m going to Oktoberfest with Karin Beer. She explained to me the Beer doesn’t mean beer, it means berry. I told her it meant beer to me and that it was perfect. She was dressed in her red German dress with thick read high-heel shoes. Off we went.

We visited several beirgartens (tents) and drank and drank and drank. It was a raucous time with the bands playing Ein Prosit and other traditional songs. People are standing on the tables and singing at the top of their lungs. You can’t drink unless you have a place at a table so we went running around trying to find a place to sit in each tent. You always find someone different. I had bratwurst and kraut with my first beer. She told me today that I had 5 liters of beer. I don’t remember that many. I do know that both of us ended up passing out on a grassy hill for some time at the Oktoberfest. The weather was absolutely PERFECT! It is such a happy festival. Parades and amusement rides with everyone dressed in Leiderhosen and German dresses that I can’t remember the name of. Karin will scold me for that because she told me yesterday but I can barely remember how we got home.

Yesterday ended very early out of complete necessity.

Today is my last day of the trip. I’m sitting in a botanical garden in downtown Munich. The weather is again as perfect as you can get. Karin had to work today but will be finished around 2 or 3 so she is going to show me her city. Another day at the Oktoberfest is out of the question. I’m too old for that shit two days in a row.

I fly to Atlanta tomorrow to do a Huey gig. Then to California for two more Huey gigs and then I’ll get to be home. I don’t work for a week or so which is crucial because I’ll need some serious recovery time. I haven’t even seen a regular season football game yet. I’m really looking forward to that. The Cowboys have won their first two games and maybe a third. They played Chicago yesterday but I still don’t know the result of that. Maybe we’re 3-0.

I suppose I’ll write one more entry after I’ve gotten home and had time to really digest this whole trip. It will be no sooner than a week from now though.

Until then….

PS.... I didn't get this posted until Wednesday. Karin and I ended up going back to the Oktoberfest....hahahahaahh. We sat with a bunch of Aussies... I highly recommend that. They had some German snuff and we were stuffing it up our noses the whole time. I think the pictures speak for themselves. At one point, we were all singing Achy Breaky Heart...
I got a little excited and did an Ein Prosit a little too hard..... ooops. You can physically see how progressively drunk I'm getting. Priceless pics!!!

The last shot is of me at 6am attempting to pack and get to the airport. My journey has come to an end. I have to thank Karin immensely for driving me to the airport in Munich. It decided to rain hard this morning. I owe you big Karin. Thanks.

French computers are gay

2007-09-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

I'm in Paris. It is beautiful. London was fun. Can't remember Amsterdam. If I have to type one more word on this backwards-ass computer, I'm going to punch a baby.

More pics

2007-09-16T21:44:00.001-07:00

Ok, my battery ran out before I could get any more than three pics posted. I'm outside of the Frankfurt train station. I've got my final leg to Amsterdam in about 45 min. I'll be riding the ICE train, which is a high speed train. Hopefully it will be smoother too.

Prague on top, BP on bottom. The last post is two pics of BP and the one of the Cross Club in Prague. The green building is the last BP pic and Prague starts with Mauricio and I in front of the Muzeum. Gotta run. I'm out!

Budapest and Prague

2007-09-16T05:05:00.000-07:00

Well I don't have much time because my battery is running out on my computer.

I'm sitting in small square in Prague having a Pilsner. The centerpiece of this square is a sculpture of two guys peeing in a little pond. They are wagging their pee pees around as they go. People are taking pictures of themselves drinking straight from the "faucet." Quite amusing.

It's my last day here and I'm off to Amsterdam tonight on an overnight train. I'll try to paraphrase both BP and Prague but it's going to be difficult. I'll put the BP pics on bottom and the Prague pics on top.

BP - Gorgeous city. It has the most amazing architecture I have ever seen. Of course I'm only half way through my trip but it will be hard to top. I stayed with a very cool girl named Lilla. She's an attorney in BP and had to work during the days but we had great times at night hitting the BP bar scene. She made sure to feed me authentic Hungarian food with Paprika a plenty!

I spent most of my time in BP soaking in the many different buildings with influences from all over Europe. It seems every culture in Europe has occupied Budapest at one time or another... the French, the Mongols, the Germans, the Turks and who knows who else. It has provided for an incredibly culturally rich city. I toured castles, visited the National Museum and soaked in the natural spring public baths. Don't get the wrong impression though. Budapest is a very modern and clean city. In my explorations, I ran across a very contemporary "billboard art" exhibit straight in the middle of Hero's Square. The exhibits were mostly critical of the Hungarian government as well as global social issues like global warming and the like.

I enjoyed BP so much, I decided to skip Vienna and stay an extra day. Vienna has so many places I want to visit, namely the multiple music halls, museums and the Jung Museum. There was no way to fit in all in one day. I'll be back for that.

I moved on to Prague two days ago. I have no host here in Prague so I stayed in a hostel. I found a very nice place with a perfect location near the center of the action. I checked in and walked in my room (of six beds) to find only one person....score!!!

This one person turned out to be Mauricio. He's a super cool guy from Santiago, Chile. I was meeting some Couch Surfers (couchsurfing.com If you're a traveler, check it out. You might like it.) that night so I invited him to join. He accepted and off we went. We navigated our way to Old Town Prague to find this bar and were happy to find around 15 CSers there. One American guy had organized the whole thing. There were several Czechs, three American girls, and Italian, a Ukrainian, a Slovak, a Scottish girl and a couple others I'm sure. We all proceeded to pound Pilsner Urquells for less than a dollar a piece. After a couple hours of lubing up, about half of us hoped on the subway to head over to this club called Cross Club.

This place is like nothing I have ever seen. It was incredibly industrial with gears, moving parts, mysterious lighting and eccentric people. I felt like I was in the Star Wars Cantina Beyond Thunderdome. The music was electronica mixed with hard hitting hard-core rock. Maybe I could describe it as Rage Against the Machine with serious drum and bass. This was Bohemia. Faux-hawks and dread locks were the fashion. Tattoos and orifice piercings. Shots of Absinthe were flowing. This place was bad ass.

Of course I had to have shot of Absinthe. It seriously burned, not only my throat and stomach, but my brain. Many more of these and I might cut my own ear off. It was so fitting to my surroundings. I took several pictures but they really don't do it justice. I could go on and on about this place but my battery is at 11% right now and I want to upload some pics.

The rest of Prague is gorgeous. It is quite touristy as you might imagine, but there is good reason. Prague is way more edgy that BP. You have to be alert at all times, count your change, negotiate your cab fare... not for the faint at heart. I'm sure a lot of people spend twice what they should in this city. But I love shit like that. Keeps you on your toes. It only makes perfect sense in the land of the Bohemians.

I'm off to Amsterdam. I can't wait to smoke all that coffee...

2007-09-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve just been awakened with a pleasant, German accented, “Morning! Breakfast!” I raise the window of my sleeper cabin to find myself sitting at the Amstetten train station in Austria. I’m about an hour away from Vienna though I’ll be transferring to another train to Budapest when I get there.

Yesterday I went to Venice. I arrived from Cairo yesterday morning to have a message on my phone from my host telling me that she’d had business come up and had to leave town. No place to stay. I went around to several hostels only to find them completely booked. No chance of a hotel. Same thing. My only choice was a camp ground around 30 min. away. I don’t know….

Venice is a fantasy world like no other. It is a playground where you gleefully lose yourself in the wonders of architecture, music, food, art and bliss. It struck me as the true meaning of romance. I walked around the narrow streets and canals soaking in the vibrancy of the city, again without any map. I eventually made it to Piazza San Marco. It was gorgeous sunny day with a cool breeze coming right off the water. It is the light of Venice.

I decided to not stay. The more I wandered around this beauty, the more it created a longing. I was walking back to the train station at dusk and it was apparent, like all of Italy, that the true flavor of Venice comes out at night after a slow simmer all day. I was not ready to dine on the meal of this city or more to the point, unable. One day, I will return.

Off to Budapest.

Cairo (and the rest of Rome)

2007-09-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

First I will quickly finish up Rome.

Day two was for the Vatican. It was beautiful and big. The Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museum was astounding. The paintings, sculptures and tapestries blew me away. St. Peters cathedral itself was enormous...larger than I had expected. I spent about four hours taking in the sites. A crappy thing happened while I was walking around though. My right knee starting hurting bad. It was definitely inflamed. Lovely. Perfect time for this. It's not like I'm going to do any walking for the next three weeks. The ancient Romans must have had terrible knees. Damn cobble stones. Jet lag was catching up with me as well. I decided to sit in the shade of the giant columns in San Pietro's square and nap for half an hour.

I finally decided to head back to the Trastevere to meet up with Ingrid and Daniele (my hosts.) I luckily found a Farmacia (drug store) along the way and got some ibuprofen. When I found my way to their house, a gorgeous pasta with muscles dinner was waiting for me. Best meal I've had since I left Vegas.

That night, it was time to party and drink. Big surprise. The city was gearing up for White Night, which is kind of like a Mardi Gras. Everyone is out in the streets drinking until 6am. I did my part to contribute to the madness. I didn't get to sleep until 4am. That makes it fun when I have to leave for the airport on a train at 7am. I'll sleep when I'm dead.

AND NOW FOR CAIRO...........

I made it to the train station just in time. With all the stops, it took me an hour. I was expecting to sleep on the flight but I sat next to two Aussie kids (19 yr olds) and they had many stories to tell. They had been running around Europe for two months now and they were nice people. I was too hungry to sleep anyway. We traded stories and made fun of the fact that we were the best smelling people on the airplane. I hadn't showered since Vegas.

Flying into Cairo is dumbfounding. The city is simply MASSIVE. All of the buildings, apartments, structures....EVERYTHING is sand colored. A layer of dust and sand filled the air. You could hardly see any piece of ground. No parks, no open spaces. Just buildings. Just one color.

I was on the wrong side of the plane to see the pyramids from the sky. Even better for suspense I guess. I can't imagine flying into Cairo without having pre-arranged transportation. Fortunately, an old friend of my, Stefan, lives here now and had a car pick me up. Driving in Cairo, at the outset, seems utterly out of control. I don't know why they bother to put lines on the street. Nobody even cares about lanes. People are wandering the highways, car horns are in a constant banter with each other, dirt, sand and general crap is everywhere....this is most definitely the third world. It is overwhelmingly foreign. All of the "apartment buildings" are loosely stacked brick adorned with 30 or so satellite dishes on top. They are all "unfinished" with each top floor having rebar sticking out the top. I learned the building owners do not have to pay tax as long as the building is "unfinished." A different mosque was around each corner. Some of them were enormous and beautiful. Others were quite simple looking.

I arrived at Stefan's house with no trouble. It was great to see him. It had been about 11 years ago when we were both living in NYC. It was like yesterday. We immediately set out to the Egyptian Museum in the center of town. There we saw amazing numbers of artifacts, papyrus masks, and sarcophaguses. (It's actually sarcophagi but that's no fun to say) The crown jewel of the museum was the mask of Tutankhamen. Spectacular!! The workmanship on this ancient burial mask is mind boggling to say the least. We spent a couple of hours there and decided to head back to Stefan's so I could get a nap. I needed it bad.

That night, we went and had traditional Egyptian food and it was incredible. It was complete with a Sheesha pipe filled with apple and cantelope flavored tobacco. Exotic!! We hit a bar afterward and were home asleep by midnight. Tomorrow was the big day...the pyramids.

This morning, we took a cab ride across town to the Giza Plateau. I'm trying to think in words how to describe what kind of feeling you get when you finally see the pyramids, but it's difficult to say. The mystery of it all is overwhelming. The surroundings and the rustic nature of everything around it is overwhelming. You just can't believe it is right before your eyes. Stefan took us in the back way and we avoided most of the crowd. There is no organized method of seeing the pyramids, you just wonder around and look at them. There are offers of camel rides and merchandise everywhere. You just say no thank you and press on. It was hot and dusty. We were at the edge of the Sahara desert. From that point to Morocco, it was sand. We walked around for over an hour before heading down to the cafe to water ourselves. It over looks the Sphinx and the whole plateau. Stefan said there were a limited number of people that can go inside the largest pyramid, Khufu, and that we should try to get tickets. They didn't sell them until 1pm, so we had lunch and went to see if we could get in. We got 'em.

The entrance was dug into the side of the pyramid to the actual shaft to the burial chamber. It was tight at first...maybe three feet high. You had to crouch low and almost crawl. It finally opened up to the steep climb up the wood floored hall way to the chamber. It was very dark and humid. As we got higher and closer to the burial chamber, a low rumble got louder and louder. What the hell was going on? We were half way into 7 million tons of stone. What could possibly be making this noise? The three foot high steep tunnel finally opened up to a gorgeous wide open steep incline. The ceiling was now about 15 feet high. We could see the top and we kept climbing. Finally we hit the chamber. You have to crouch again into a 3 foot high passageway to get in. The roaring was almost felt at this point.

It opened up to this dank, stone room with hardly any light and a giant stone sarcophagus on one end. The roar, it turns out, is from the ventilation shafts to the chamber. Erie!! Amazing! Perhaps they knew this noise would be the result of the shafts. The humidity was around 280% but it was not very warm. What a highlight. We stayed for about 5 min. and made our way back down. An experience of a lifetime.

Stefan took a picture of me coming up the shaft with his phone. Luckily they did not confiscate his phone like they did my camera before going in. He made a google earth rendering of me in the pyramid. You have to download the new google earth 4.2 to see it properly, but the link is here: http://www.ogleearth.com/2007/09/photooverlay_wo.html Below the pics are links to download the ATF model of the pyramids and the photo.

I'm at an internet cafe now and we'll soon be off to have dinner with some of Stefan's friends. Tomorrow I'm headed back to Italy. I'll be in Venice. But for now, I'm still savoring the accomplishment of the day. One less thing I have to do before I die.........

Rome - Day 1

2007-09-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

I will title this entry:

Fuck Starbucks and their shit-ass coffee.

I'm going to make this quick because I've so little time...

I landed and hit the ground running. I studied the map on the flight and decided to try it on the streets sans map. It's the best way to go....

I checked my bag at the Termini station and headed out on foot. I walked west looking for the Colosseum. I ran right into it. It was enormous! I didn't have time to go just yet because I was so hungry. I found a pizza joint right next to it and got myself a salame pizza and a Perroni. It was around 11am. The pizza wasn't all that great. I'm sure I was at a tourist trap. No matter. I just needed something.

I went to see the Colosseum afterward and found a line an hour long. I was offered to skip the line and get the "English tour" for 21 Euro. I was tempted but I smelled a rat and decided to walk over to the Forum and let the line die down. I found the line for the Palatine Hill instead which had three people. I also found I could buy a ticket to the Colosseum. Suckers....

The Forum and Palatine Hill were gorgeous. You couldn't help but picture yourself as a first century Roman walking around. Columns, arches and gardens everywhere. The richest city in the world. The parallels to the US are irresistible. Of course you are in the midst of ruins and not the full completed buildings. I couldn't help but think of the fall of Rome....what it must have been like burning and crumbling over the years into the mess lying around me. The parallels to the US are irresistible......

After that I decided to head back to the Colosseum and went inside (ticket already purchased thank you) Stunning. I can't believe that a structure of this enormity and grandeur was constructed. The imagination runs completely crazy while inside. I pictured the 50,000 screaming Romans, the Emporer, and the carnage that that happened 2000 years ago. You could nearly hear it. I also couldn't help but think of the scene from the Life of Brian when John Cleese is discussing the Peoples Front of Judea.

"Are you the Judean People's Front?"

"Fuck off! Judean People's Front. We're the Peoples Front of Judea!"

"In order to join the PFJ, you have to REALLY hate the Romans."

"I do! I do! I do hate the Romans!"

"Oh yeah? How much do you hate the Romans?"

"A lot."

"Right, then. You're in."

Back on message...
After the Colosseum, I decided to walk over to the Parthenon. It started to rain on the way!!!! Shite. I left my raincoat in my checked bag at Termini! I stood under trees for an hour and a half, striking up some good conversation with a Brazilian dude who was a Lawyer.

It finally stopped and I started walking towards where I thought the Parthenon was. Who needs maps. I crossed the river and ended up in Piazza Campo di Fiori. Perfect because I found a belt to replace the belt I forgot to retrieve at one of the 50 security points I had to pass through in Franfurt.

Along my walk, I found a cappuccino stand that HIT THE SPOT! This stuff was amazing and exactly what I needed. I'd had only 4 or 5 hours sleep since the day before I left Vegas. Standing and waiting for the rain to stop nearly put me over. Gotta keep moving!!!! When that cappuccino hit my lips, my hatred for Starbucks became even more intense. This wonderful little cup of goodness was .9o Euro. I had some Lasagne at a cafe there and started to wonder about where I'd stay that night. I was to call my host, Ingrid, at 7pm. There was no answer! I started to look up hostels to stay in and I decided I was far too tire and worn to deal with a hostel. I was going to get a nice hotel tonight. I tried Ingrid again at 7:45 and she answered!

I went back to Termini, got my bag, and took a bus to her place. I found a party! She has two American students with her who are studying abroad. Before I knew it, around 15 more showed up and the vino was flowing. One of the girls made delicious hours douvres of sun dried tomatoes and artichokes. mmmmmmm. We ended up at a bar and some Italians thankfully. The kids were nice but I didn't come here to hang out with American college kids.

At 1am, we left. Somehow I had made it. I was plenty drunk and absurdly tired. I gather I walked around 15 miles yesterday. I hit the bed hard and had a dream that I'd had before probably because my brain was too dead to come up with anything new.

That's about it. I'm off to St. Peters. I can't wait for that line.....

I'm out!!!

2007-09-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

I am leaving for Europe tomorrow. I'm going on a three week run across the continent with a small detour to Cairo. Of course I'm setting this up last minute. I'm going to try to keep up with posting on this but I'll not be in any one city for more than two days. Here is my itinerary in Sept:

Rome 6-8 (flight)
Cairo 8-10 (flight)
Venice 10-11 (overnight train)
Budapest 12-13 (train)
Vienna 13-14 (train)
Prague 14-16 (overnight train)
Amsterdam 17-19 (flight)
London 19-21 (train)
Paris 21-22 (overnight train)
Munich 23-25 the opening of Oktoberfest!!!!!

I hope you enjoy the blog. I'll see you when I get back!!!!

Brian