I wish I could say a lot about Amsterdam. It's not because I didn't like it, it was an amazing city. Copious debauchery in a city of sin - & around the corner? Oh its just the majesty of one of the holiest and most beautiful cathedrals washing away your mortal doubts.
We arrived in the center of the city on Saturday afternoon and found a hostel. All was well and to said plan. Then... well we spent the next 48 hours aggravatedly ambling around the same 8 blocks again and again, aimlessly confused and always without uniform destinations. We did find cheap guinness but... it was weak (O Dublin what have you done to us?).
There was a grocery store I liked. Living cheap isn't so hard; found some good focaccia bread, goat cheese with honey, and some outrageously thin & delicious ham. Oh hell yeah. Also, outside the grocery store (via some spontaneous and/or opportunistic busking) was the best money I've ever made. 15 kids, 30 parents, & 4 songs -covered my stay in the hostel : )
Other than that... a lot of walking, admiration of the architecture, & a lack of productivity. Well we did see the Anne Frank house... kind of one of those modernized letdowns... I think I saw a café in there?
I now sit on a night train bound for Moscow. We get off in Prague, but I'm the one with the alarm and a half temptation not to set it. Aren't memoirs more interesting when you accidentally wake up in Russia?
Where to begin... did you know that the Eiffel Tower turns into a billion strobe lights at night on the hour? I wasn't quite ready for that as I stepped out of the subway after a few midnight glasses of red wine (the bottle being under 2 euros : ) I confusedly analyzed an office building on which many little flashing lights were twinkling in the windows' reflection. Tim, ahead of me with our absolutely wonderful couchsurfing host Manon (thankyou for everything!) beckoned us to hurry ahead. Around the corner, my jaw dropped, there in front of me was entropy, chaos in a controlled system, beautiful lights dancing on the familiar shape I'd only seen in textbooks. The Eifell Tower at night, strobing, and completely deserted. Wha...
There was much busking to be had. Day 1 on the steps of the Sacre-Cœur overlooking the wide expanse of Paris. Beautiful and industrial in one. Parisians really like space - the sidewalk of the Champs Elysee is like 3 highway lanes wide - a bit different from the alleys of London. Astonishing stuff. Crowds came and went while a loyal handful listened for most of the day. Saw a neat French band called Fergus that night - the singer a beautiful French girl named Sacha. Gave her the old wristband - networking is tough stuff. Next time I roll through I'll try a bill with them.
The architecture in Notré Dame cathedral is outrageous. It's too bad we don't do it like that anymore. If I had any atheist friends which is tot-lly crazy, I bet they'd believe in god for a moment or two. I almost did ; ) At Centre Pompidou in front of the modern art museum, we saw yet another young beautiful parisian girl (I know, hard to believe) this time playing the didgeridoo. Gave her some change for good busking karma, especially since we did not have the shock value of playing didgeridoos. (At least we're gorgeous and clean and groomed... been wearing the same pants for 8 days). So we setup and busked there too. The cool thing about a crowd, it attracts more crowd. Our new friends (fiery & petite - pretty Lorrette, the sweetest of sweet - Manon, and Marie and Juliette and Ramón and more whose names escape me) sat around us just to hang - the weather was incredible! So curiosity built and chemical changes in peoples minds took place and before long we were playing in the round for a spontaneous crowd of fifty or sixty - ?! Made some money and went back to Lorette's to cook some coco milk noodles, chillax like the French with cigarettes and rose wine, trade music, stories, meet a beautiful French family, and so on. The best nights I've had on this trip si far are not out in the night life, but sitting at a table meeting conversation with humour, laughter, and debauchery. France, I'll be back for you.
A word to the wise, book your trains in advance. Our night train to Berlin was booked, so now I sit here on a day train to Amsterdam (slight change of plan). Apparently a lot of thought has to go into spontaneous travel - we were thinking "oh, we'll just go to Europe and just go get on some trains and just go have a swell time just going around Europe going on trains." Yeah... So now it's Amsterdam, can't say I'm complaining ; )
Also, congrats to my godbrother Ben Williams who just got accepted into Harvard onn scholarship for a PhD program inn religious studies. Hell yeah Ben! I'm so proud of you :)
The night after our show at the Bull at Benenden in Kent, we were taken into the arms and hospitality of one of a beautiful family in Cranbrook. It's amazing just how attached you can get to someone in a matter of house (Howard and Mell, our hats off to you.) They proved to be the best hosts a world could ask for. Howard - a quality kitchen designer and music aficionado - and Mell - also music aficionado and the mother of their three wonderful children - hosted Tim and I in their kitchen. A gorgeous kitchen known as Noo's Kitchen complete with PA and all. Howard, Mell and their friends Andy and Jo warmed things up with a few songs (...cuz I'm free, free fallin...) while I got my Boddingtons vibe started.
Tim and I played our music, I can't post the videos now, but I'll make a good compilation when I get home. Maybe a teaser in the next few days. Anyway, we've never been so well received, the English are good folks. And the nice thing - they alleviate the stress of coming up with clever banter. You just have to say something, anything at all, and they say something witty for you. Pretty sweet. One more thing, I'm travelling with a very very tiny guitar, which is great for travel and busking, but has no pickup. Howard happened to have the EXACT same model as my Phyllis, which he calls Dixie (a Martin DCX1E - hence Dixie). It gave me just one more element to make me feel totally at home. Mell and Howard, you have earned a place in my heart, I will never forget you. Good luck with your move to Australia, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COME TO CHARLESTON!
Then we went to Dublin, met another wonderful host whom we made friends with (you rock Berenice!), drank some Guinness, climbed cliffs, climbed a mountain, slid through mud, found some treasure <3 - drank more Guinness, busked, made money, spent it on Guinness, toured the Guinness factory, watched some sweet and not so sweet adverts for Guinness, played a show at the Bankers Pub in the Temple Bar district, and hopped on a plane to Paris. Things are going to start getting really crazy.
Russian Roulette After a week in London (which seemed to have more starbucks than new york city), Tim Giles and I caught a train to Tunbridge Wells in Kent southeast of the city. We took a bus to Cranbrook which is incredibly beautiful english countryside (weather permitting, which right now is the case : ) I totally Love this place. We americans are a rare breed out here in the sticks and it's a really nice change of pace from London. At around 9pm we played at the coolest pub ever - The Bull at Benenden, which marks the 30th pub I've been to in the UK ; ) They loved us! We shared the bill with two local groups - the evening billed as "country night special" hah. The others sounded like authentic country, but the good kind. I guess that's English country? It's also really easy to banter with them - all you have to do is say something, anything at all, and w/o missing a beat someone will say something clever for you. You don't even have to worry about being witty. Its great ; ) ALSO sold a bunch of corey webb wristbands so hell yeah to the first gig abroad being a success. Currently sitting at bed and breakfast on my iPhone so I'm going to get out and enjoy the day. Wish us luck on our next gig tonight at Noo's Kitchen - about 3pm east coast time : )