Rotterdam - Paris - Durango - Madrid

It's been way too long since my last update and too much has happened to post everything, but i'll sum it up for you.

Rotterdam, Netherlands -

Nothing much happened on this day. The highlight of the day was when Casey and I went to a bagel and coffee place and got delcious bagels with avocado on them and some amazing coffee. The show was fun. Tons of stage dives and sing alongs. Got done with the show, loaded up and blasted out of there.

Paris, France -

I always have a great time in Paris. It;s probably one of my favorite cities in Europe. It's just so beautiful and has so much history and awesome things to see. We arrived at the club around noon and because the club was on such a narrow street, there was nowhere for our buses to park. Therefore, we had to stop the buses in the middle of a busy street and unload right there in front of the club. We ended up holding up traffic for a good 10 minutes, creating a long line of cars that were honking and yelling french obscenities at us, which we responded to with laughter. Good times. After loading gear into the club, Casey and I headed off to check out some sights in France - one of which being the Muse du qui Branly, where my girlfriend Rosie has some artwork featured. The ticket machine at the metro was broken, so Casey and I just hopped over the railing and boarded a train to the Eiffel Tower. We arrived at a street that was a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower, grabbed a couple of baguettes and made our way to the Branly Museum, which is across the street from the Eiffel Tower.

The Museum was built to feature artwork by indigenous people throughout the world. It is a huge building, located right on the river showcasing unique and beautiful architecture and landscaping. When the museum was being constructed, Rosie and a few other australians were chosen to paint the ceilings of the museum with recreation of a painting by an australian aboriginal artist. Unfortunately, the museum was closed, so I wasn't able to see her work up close, but there were large glass windows that I could look through and easily see her work from the street. It was so awesome to not only see the Museum but to see something that Rosie helped create that will stand in Paris for years to come. it made me so proud. I was sure to tell everyone about it and show off my girls talents, haha. After the museum, Casey and I walked around the Eiffel Tower, which is always breathtaking. Then we went back to the neighborhood where our club was and got coffee. After haning with the dudes for a while, I decided to go for a little walk to kill time before we played. I chose a random street, started walking and 15 minutes, to my surprise I had arrived at Notre Dame Cathedral. It was my 3rd time seeing it, but it was an awesome sight to be hold again. I spent some time inside appreciating the architecture and sat down for a while to unwind. After, I just kept walking. By this time, It had gotten pretty dark and I realized that I had never seen Paris by night, and it is a truly beautiful time to see it. Hours later, I arrived back at the club, watched the other bands and then played one of the funnest sets of the tour. The crowd wasn't all that big, and there was a tv in the dressing room broadcasting the show. So we were just doing silly things on stage to entertain ourselves and the others that were watching backstage. This ended up being one of the most hilarious nights of the tour. Kinda had to be there. The show finished, we had some more laughs, the buses arrived, we blocked traffic again, loaded out and hit the road. Saying goodbye to Paris once again.

Durango, Spain(or Basque country) -

What a glorious day this was. We arrived in Durango and even though it was an overcast day, I was stoked. I hung outside after loading when Gaz, Pipey, Winston, Luke(parkway drive, and Charlie(the warriors) came walking by and asked me if I wanted to come with them to the beach. I agreed, thinking it would only be a short little journey. I was in store for much more though. Our destination was Mundaka beach, a world famous surf spot. The boys in Parkway are avid surfers and this beach was a must for them. We were given directions by a local to the beach and it ended up involving two bus trips and a little bit of walking. Luckily, we had Charlie with us who speaks Spanish pretty well so he was able to show us to the right buses and basically save us from getting lost. The bus rides were an ejoyable part of the day for me. I got to hang out with Ben(also known as Gaz, Rosie's younger brother) and talk Lost while enjoying the beautiful Spanish countryside. After an hour bus ride we finally arrived at what had to be one of the most lovely places I had ever been - a little Spanish town, tucked into a hill overlooking the ocean. We hung out at some cliffs overlooking the ocean and the surf, which was low but had massive potential and the dudes were loving it. Gaz, Luke, and Pipey decided to have a little dip into the ocean which resulted in them screaming like girls because of how cold the water was. After they dressed we walked through the town, making our way to the headland which had some old ruins. We hung out for a while, enjoying the views, taking pictures and then decided to head out. We had perfect timing on the way back, catching every bus without having to wait longer than a minute and walking into the club just as they were serving dinner. Good end to a great day. The show was alright. Not too crazy but fun. Some dudes threw rocks at one of the buses and broke a window, luckily it wasn't the bus I was on. Dudes has some drinks and then we hit the road, good times.

Madrid, Spain -

Casey and I went for a walk after waking. Had some awesome coffee and a croisont. The coffee in europe is so good, it's unreal. THis day wasn't the best for me. It started out awesome because before the show started, Gaz, Casey, and I went for a walk to find food and ended up finding a dope spanish restaraunt where I ordered grilled sea bass, and the other two ordered steak. Unlike everyone else who ate fast food and kebabs, we were sitting down at a nice restaraunt and loving life. It was an awesome time. We felt like kings. Later, I felt like death. Right before we were about to play, I started to feel a little off. When it was time to go onstage, I felt like I was going to die. I stood in one place the whole set and barely moved a muscle. I felt like I was going to puke or pass out or puke and then pass out in puke at any given moment. The one time I attempted back up vocals, I became really dizzy and started to fall into Kyle's drums, but was able to stable myself. When the last note of the last song wa struck, I ran off the stage and into the dressing room, then ran into the bathroom ready to be sick. Oddly enough, nothing came up. I went outside for some fresh air and started to feel better. When I got back on the bus, I took a ginger pill to calm my stomach, drank some water and went to bed. The next day I woke up feeling pretty good. I still have no idea what it was. At first I thought it might've been the fish I ate, but I don't think it was. I actually think it was probably from all the cigarette smoke I was exposed to at that show. Every single person at the show as smoking and the club looked like it was on fire. Whoever says second hand smoke has no effect on people doesn't know what they are talking about. As soon as I was out of the smoke, I started to feel alright. Cigarette smoke in Europe is seriously out of control. Every person here smokes, which means that playing shows here is awful. Thankfully countries are starting to ban it now, like England. But a lot of Europe is still so bad when it comes to cigarettes. I can't believe it's 2007 and there are still places that allow smoking in places. There have been a few times where i've had coffee on this tour from smoky coffee shops and I can seriously taste it in the coffee. Anyway, thats my smoke rant. Sorry.

OK, this is getting too long, so i'm going to break it up a little. Next post i'll post pictures and then write about Barcelona, which deserves a whole post of it's own. Anyway, that's all for now. Next up...Barcelona Spain, Zurich Switzerland, and Pinarella Italy. See you soon!