Paris: Deux

More from Paris...


The Montmartre at night.


The infamous Moulin Rouge, pretty gawdy.


Paris's Pantheon.


Notre Dame


Centre Pompidou, I believe?

Yet more pics on the way...

Last Two Days In Europe: Paris

The last show had been played, and the trip finally had to come to an end.  I had two last days to spend in Europe and go out with a bang, and so I left Bordeaux for Paris.  I had never been to Paris before, and had truthfully sort of avoided it on previous trips to Europe.  It always seemed over-hyped and not as interesting as destinations further east.  I was about to realize how wrong I was.  Paris really is amazing, and I hope I can go back again soon for longer than two nights.



What should have been a 3-hour train ride from Bordeaux to Paris turned into a 5-hour train ride due to weird weather conditions.  A cold fog had blown in overnight and turned everything to ice, including the powerlines above the tracks that the trains run on.  It was frustrating, as I was supposed to meet my friend Jess from Kansas City to do some sightseeing.


While the train stop did provide an interesting opportunity to walk along the tracks and take some photos, it was unfortunate that by the time I got to Paris, Jess only had time to help me find my hostel and then had to catch her train out of town.  Kind of unbelievable that the French just didn't know how to deal with this sort of weather.


On the way to the hostel, we stumbled into this "marching band", waving Haitian flags and generally making lots of noise to support the country, which had at this point been struck very recently by the earthquake.


My first bit of sightseeing that evening after checking into the hostel, which was located in the Montmartre part of town, was to hike up the hill and see the Sacre-Coeur.  What a beautiful cathedral, with an amazing view of Paris at dusk.  It was at the Sacre-Coeur while looking over the glimmering city that I finally appreciated Paris, and realized how wrong I had been to avoid it for so long.


Sacre-Coeur from the front.

More pictures to come from Paris, I couldn't possibly cover it with just one post!

Bordeaux, France

Leaving Belgium, I entered my last country of the trip: France. I only had one show left to play, in Bordeaux, though I spent my last couple of days relaxing in Paris before flying home. I made the trip to Bordeaux because a good friend of mine from Madison had moved there to teach English, and offered to host a house concert at her place. Bordeaux is in southern France, very close to the Atlantic coast, and is famous for wine. Below are some pictures I took while Caitlin showed me around town, as well as a couple I stole from her of the house concert.

Lovely Bordeaux by the river, and it was the nicest day of my trip yet.

A neat wooden bridge over the road.

This space is apparently usually a reflecting pool, filled with water, but being winter and all, it was empty.

House concert.

My hosts for the evening, Caitlin (middle) and Sai (right). On the left is a random drunk Frenchman giving a rock symbol.

The last show of the European Tour was really fun, and a fitting end to a very successful tour. I love playing shows in Europe, and plan to do this once a year as long as I can. I still have one or two more posts to make covering my last two vacation days in Paris before flying home, but this does it for the tour. Here's to EuroTour 2011!

Euro Vacay/Tour Starts Tomorrow

Playing Rolf's house concert last year in Prague

Happy Holidays, everyone!  Tomorrow my family (parents and brother) and I will be catching a plane in Chicago bound for Rome, Italy.  The four of us are spending a week and a half together in Italy, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, and Cortina, and then they are flying home and I will begin my tour from there.  

After leaving Italy on January 8th I will catch the night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, where I play my first gig the next night.  From there on I will head to Budapest, Hungary to play a show and do a bit of recording with my friend Adam, and on to 5 or 6 more countries after that before flying out of Paris on February 2nd.  I will be trying to keep this blog current with pictures from the travels just like last year, so stay tuned!  Here are the tourdates I have booked right now, and I might add one or two more at this point.

• Jan. 9 - Tovarna Rog, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Jan. 12 - recording in Budapest with Hungarian engineer Adam Szabo
• Jan. 13 - iF Kavezo, Budapest, Hungary
• Jan. 15 - Subterrarium, Vienna, Austria
• Jan. 17 - Rolf's House Concert, Prague, Czech Republic
• Jan. 19 - Subway To Peter, Chemnitz, Germany
• Jan. 21 - Spatz Und Wal, Unna, Germany
• Jan. 22 - Cafe Hilde, Berlin, Germany
• Jan. 23 - Alice's House Concert, Berlin, Germany
• Jan. 24 - Mobile Blues Club, Hamburg, Germany
• Jan. 25 - Pony Bar, Hamburg, Germany
• Jan. 28 - Gisele's House Concert, Antwerpen, Belgium
• Jan. 29 - Bar Fabiola, Gent, Belgium
• Jan. 30 - Caitlin's House Concert, Bordeaux, France

If you are nearby in Europe, please stop by a show!  If it is a house concert, send me an email (johnstatz@johnstatz.com) and I can get you more info.  Also, please send any friends or family members that are in Europe out to a concert.  

On one last, unrelated note, the American music scene lost a great songwriter today, Athens, GA's Vic Chesnutt.  R.I.P., Vic, you were a truly original songwriting voice.