Vienna (Wien) - Austria

After leaving Budapest I took the train to Vienna, Austria, where I couchsurfed with my new friends Jascha and Nora for two nights and played one concert.  The concert, at a cool DIY underground venue called Subterrarium, was amazing, and there was a very nice crowd of intent listeners.  I felt very fortunate to have such a great audience, since I am a nobody in Austria!  Below are some pictures I took while wandering the city in my spare time.


One of the main city center shopping streets, very alive in the early evening.


Up.


Part of the Imperial Palace, lovely at night.


My hosts took me to an art exhibit opening my first night in Vienna, and it turned out that the artist was Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Matt Cipov, who had just flown in to set everything up and be there for the opening.  His stuff is really cool, so please check out his website and catch some of his work back in Wisconsin if you get the chance.  Really great guy, as well, had a lot of fun talking to him, and I think we were both equally shocked to run into fellow cheeseheads that night.


A park with a giant statue of Maria Theresa, Austria's only Empress.

Serious Budapest

My host Adam had seen "Avatar" in Hungarian, but wanted to see it again in English, and I had never seen it, so we went to a real Budapest shopping mall and donned our 3D glasses.  The movie looked really cool, though I can't say much for the plot or the dialogue.  Too bad I couldn't keep the glasses.


My gig in Budapest: at iF Kavezo, played here last time as well.  Adam took this shot from a balcony up above.


Adam has a studio built in his basement (Budabeat Studios), and so we did some recording there for an EP that I hope to release sometime this spring.  We recorded some brand new songs, including one that I started writing in Slovenia and just finished that very morning before the session, "Julija".  Also, a Neil Young cover, "Long May You Run".


Recording vocals and guitar together.  You can already check out a demo version of the new song, "Julija" at Adam's website, Budabeat.hu, so take a listen if you wish!  The song is about a famous Slovenian muse I learned about last year when I was in Ljubljana, and the name Julija is actually pronounced like "Yoo-Lee-Ya".  And the cheesy toy keyboard solos you hear in the song were made by...


...this cheesy toy keyboard!  I thought that the sounds were pretty cool.  I don't know that we will leave them in the final version, but it was fun for the session, anyways.  Let me know what you think!

Back in Budapest

Some pictures from my sightseeing in Budapest, enjoy!


The great market hall in Pest.  Wonderful place to come in the mornings and get some baked goods for breakfast.  They also have some really crazy looking meats here, many that I would be very apprehensive about (pigs noses, cow heart, straight-up pork fat, and many other unknown items).


St. Stephen's Cathedral, pretty sure its the biggest church in Budapest, but its not as old as it looks, just over 100 years old.  I went inside where they have the shriveled up hand of St. Stephen on display.  Its kind of cool, not sure if its really his, but cool to see a gruesome centuries old hand.

The Hungarian Parliament building, enormous and built when Hungary still ruled half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Check out my posting from last year in Budapest back in the archives, I took some cool pictures from across the Danube.


This Hungarian flag with a hole cut out is a symbol for the 1956 revolution against the Soviet Union.  The Soviets placed their own communist symbol in the middle of the flag, and later on it became a symbol of the revolution to cut out the symbol in the center.  This particular flag is part of a memorial to commemorate the protesters who were killed by Soviet snipers when they amassed in front of Parliament in '56.  In that uprising, Hungary won its independence only for a few days, until Soviet tanks came rolling into Budapest and took over once again.


The Chain Bridge, Budapest's first bridge over the Danube.  It was destroyed in World War II, and I saw many crazy pictures of the city's destruction in a museum I visited.  One haunting picture was of this bridge, collapsed into the Danube, with only the towers standing.  

Wow, my blog post today was kind of a downer, huh?  Well, I assure you, Budapest is a fun place, and a lively city, and there are more pictures to come!

Tour Opener: Ljubljana, Slovenia

The family is all back in the U.S. and the tour has begun.  Here are some pictures from my first tour stop in Ljubljana, Slovenia.



I arrived at Ljubljana right after/during a major blizzard, so this was the scene outside my hostel.  Notice the graffiti filled wall.  There is a lot of graffiti all over Ljubljana, and this is one of the things I love most about this city.  There isn't so much to see here in the way of history or major landmarks, but the town is very pleasant looking and the graffiti everywhere is awesome.


An abandoned bicycle factory, called Rog, where I played later that night.  People actually live here, and they are called squatters because they refuse to leave even though it is illegal for them to be there.  They have created a recording studio, music venue, art space, and many living quarters inside this old factory.


Ljubljana's main town square.  See what I mean?  Very charming!


Town square at night!


This one is daytime.  Just kidding.

Vacation's End: Skiing with the Family in Cortina D'Ampezzo

After the wet and rainy Venice, the family headed north to the Dolomites, an Italian mountain chain that is part of the Alps.  Specifically, we spent the last days of the trip skiing (snowboarding for me) in Cortina D'Ampezzo, a 3-hour train ride and 1-hour bus ride north of Venice.



My Mom and Dad with beautiful Dolomite peaks behind them.





My brother as we descended down the slopes through the clouds.


Sunny skiing can be found above the clouds.


Family picture shot!  I had a blast traveling with them around Italy.  As I type this, they are flying back to the U.S., Cody to Los Angeles and my parents back to Wisconsin.  Last night I said my goodbyes at the Venezia Mestre train station and caught a night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, arriving at around 2 a.m.  My first gig of the tour is tonight in Ljubljana, and many more gigs and adventures to follow for the next few weeks as I make my way around Europe.  Stay tuned...

Venice Is Sinking... For Rizzle

On New Year's Day the family and I left Florence to spend the next two nights in Venice.  We had caught word that there was some flooding in the city, which left us a little bit worried, until we learned that Venice floods about 100 times a year, which helped... a bit.  They call the floods "acqua alta", which means "high water" in Italian.  They are caused by a combination of high barometric pressure and strong winds from the south which literally push the ocean up into the city.  The Mediterranean has little to no tide, so this doesn't affect it at all, but rising sea levels and the fact that Venice is slowly sinking certainly doesn't help.  I have decided that for purposes of posting on Venice this trip, the floods are the story, so that is what I have posted pictures and commentary of.  If you want to see some pictures of Venice on a nicer day, check out my post from last April on my last time in Venice.



When we arrived during the night the waters were down, so we were able to walk to our hotel and stay high and dry.  In the morning, the alley outside of our hotel was beginning to flood and we were lucky that the hotel supplied us with rain boots.  Pictured above are my parents and brother, about to embark on a wet Venetian adventure.


The city of Venice sets up boardwalks on main streets, though boots are still recommended.


Myself standing in a watery St. Mark's Square.


Boardwalks in front of St. Mark's and the Ducal Palace.  Yes, I took this picture while standing in the water.  I quite liked sloshing around in the encroaching Adriatic.


My brother, Cody, standing at the point of entry for water into St. Mark's Square.  Though the water also seeps up through grates in the middle of the city, you can see how high the sea water is here.

New Year's Eve in Florence

Spent New Year's Eve with the family in Florence (Firenze).  During the day we went to see the sights, and at night I partied with my broseephus in chiefus, Cody.  We witnessed some drunken Italians, though they don't really party quite as much as we Americans do on New Year's.  They do, however, enjoy setting off quarter sticks of dynamite all over the city randomly, so you are constantly hearing loud booms, sometimes right next to you. 



A side view of the Duomo, Florence's famous cathedral.  Too huge to capture whole in picture, at least from the ground.


Famous bridge over the river Arno, though I forget what it is called, it is filled with shops and a secret passageway along the top.


Heading out on the streets of Florence on New Year's for fun and adventure, making sure to watch out for dynamite.


Fireworks over the Arno at midnight.


On a rainy New Year's Day, my mom shows her appreciation for yet another Catholic church.