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!

Unna, Germany

So I admittedly didn't plan the German part of my tour so well.  My excuse is that I took gigs where they fell, which is sometimes the best you can do, but it meant criss-crossing the country in a nonsensical fashion.  After leaving the eastern side of the country and Dresden, I had to take 4 different trains to get to the far western edge to play a show in Unna, a town of about 60,000 near the bigger city of Cologne.  After Unna, I would have to catch a train back to Berlin on the eastern side again.  And, I underestimated how expensive the trains are in Germany, as they are much cheaper in the east and in Italy.  So the money got a bit tighter, but luckily I was making enough at every show to cover the next days' train ticket.  Anyways, though Unna is a much prettier town than Chemnitz, it is also not a touristy area, so here are just a few pictures I took of the quaint town, which does not seem as big as it really is.


A church tower that greets you at the train station.


Entering the pedestrian central area of Unna, full of stores (mostly chains, many that we have in the U.S.A.) and restaurants (not chains).


Lively shopping area at dusk.


The central town square, it looks very new, but distinctly German.


My show was at the Spatz Und Wal, which means "Sparrow and Whale".  It was another well-attended concert with yet another great listening crowd.  I'm beginning to feel spoiled in Europe...

Videos from Ljubljana concert

So my father found these videos on YouTube the other day when he typed my name in, they are from my February 10th show at Tovarna Rog in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Rog is an old bike factory that has been taken over by squatters, and they have a really cool music venue set up there. The first video is of a brand new song I wrote on my way into Bosnia, its called "Night Train To Sarajevo", and I'm glad that someone captured the song. I also have a live recording of the whole concert, so I maybe I'll have to release that some day... "Live from Slovenia". Anyways, enjoy the videos!

Pt. 1: "Night Train to Sarajevo" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_-5S81d9aU&feature=related

Pt. 2: "Song and Dance Man" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrryhnL5jNY&feature=related

Zagreb

My introduction to Croatia, and the Balkans, was a bumpy but interesting one. Immediately upon crossing the border into Croatia the train was stopped and we were all told that we had to get off to catch a bus that would take us to another station where we would then hop on another train. No explanation was given, and I was extra confused because none of this was in English and I had to get an Austrian kid to translate for me. It turns out that there had been an accident up ahead on the rails involving a tractor, so we were taking a bus to get around that section of track. While on the bus riding through a country road, I saw a semi rolled over and lots of police gathered. Accidents abound in Croatia. It was all taken with good humor though, and I was surrounded by some good folks to laugh about it with. The picture above is the second, graffiti-covered train that finally brought me to Zagreb, Croatia's capital.

It was my first nice sunny day in awhile, and it was fairly warm outside, so I finally got to see some Europeans enjoying the outdoor cafe culture. I only had a six hour layover in Zagreb before catching my night train to Sarajevo, so it was all R&R for me as well. I found a nice park bench to watch the sun set over Zagreb...

I found another park bench to relax on while waiting for my train. It felt like a warm spring night, and it was very relaxing.