Amsterdam (Revisited)

I think it bears repeating that Amsterdam is amazing.

There is a vibe there that is indescribable.. A super liberal melting pot of interesting people, cultures and communities. I posted a pic in an early blog of all the bikes, but it is truly impressive how many people get around this way. Literally everyone owns a bike there.. And all the roads in the whole town are accommodating, with dedicated bike lanes (attn: Philly).. It really is a beautiful thing.

We didn’t have strict plans for the day, except for one thing: to visit the Heineken Brewery for a tour. After stopping into a coffee shop early in the afternoon and learning that space shakes had been banned (gasp!), we ventured to our first destination spot only to find this:

A double whammy. The rest of the day proved to be gorgeous though, and so we checked out the sights..

One of the “grachts”.. not sure which

The National Monument in Dam Square

In front of The Royal Palace

At one point in our wandering, we came across a corner hotel / cafe that I immediately recognized.. I had stayed here, at the Hotel International, 7 years ago, the first time I visited Amsterdam with some friends..

What a blast from the past.. And, to complete the weirdness, the same woman was behind the bar at the cafe.

I thought this was hilarious..

Dam Square at night

A beautiful town with an intoxicating atmosphere..

Saw a couple of things during the day that made me laugh, including this sign:

This word is eight thousand points in Scrabble.

And this one, from my hotel bathroom, is just pure comedy:

I guess they must have had a serious problem with that kind of thing at some point..

Portuguese Man o’ Bore // European gas prices..

We are in Lisbon, Portugal right now, my first time in this country. We arrived on the bus last night at about 7:30, when we actually should have been here much earlier in the afternoon. That’s right.. more bus problems. Ironically, after an estimated 14-hour drive (which would have gotten us there at around 3:30), the bus started chugging and hiccuping less than 15 kilometers from our hotel. That’s less than 10 miles in metric-speak.. Anyway, with our late arrival and general annoyance at the whole situation, I decided to take the night off and relax at the hotel, since I won’t see one until Thursday..

On another note, check this out:

This was how much it cost to fill the tank on the bus, which I don’t think was even anywhere near empty. To put it in perspective, 150 liters is about 39 gallons (not much larger than a Hummer’s tank), and 193,60 euros converts to 42 cents shy of $300.00. Spain’s fuel prices have risen an insane 300% in the last 5 years, and just this past week there were hundreds of truckers and fishermen protesting.. I learned this when I was told we had to plan a strategic route to Portugal, to try and avoid running into the mess. By numbers, the price of regular unleaded gas in Spain is around $7.56 a gallon right now.. And we figured out that in Lyon, France, it’s almost (are you ready?) $13.00 a gallon..

A little food for thought, in case you’re unfamiliar with what’s going on in Europe right now. Just remember when you’re getting boned at the pump that the US is, all things considered, on the lower end of the fuel price surge spectrum.

Amsterdam’s got the right idea..

Cologne

It’s a rainy day in Cologne, Germany.. which is unfortunate because it looks like a really nice place to explore. Apparently this is what it looks like on a nice day (thanks, google image search)..

Of course, I have no idea where this place is in relation to where we are.. So i guess it’s OK that it’s a crappy day. We have the show tonight and then travel about 4 hours to Werchter, Belgium..

Day off tomorrow and then on Saturday we play the “TW Classic” gig with (holy shit) Iggy and The Stooges and The Police..

um. what?!?!?

travel update

So I am currently on tour with a Latin musician called Juanes, doing live video and VJ-related things for his concerts. I worked with him in 2005 for the Mi Sangre Tour, and am back out with him again this year for the La Vida World Tour. We started in March and did a little over 2 months in the US, but have recently embarked on a two month European leg, which will have covered 10 countries in Western Europe. We kicked it off with a show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, to a crowd of about 4,000. Here’s the theatre, pre-show..

After London we went to Berlin, my first visit to Germany. We played the Citadel Music Fest, which also features performances from Rage Against The Machine, Queens of the Stone Age, and a bunch of other great acts (all on other nights, unfortunately).. Would have loved to have seen Rage! Had an excellent time anyway though.. I met up with my friend Dawn who took us out for BBQ on the river and then to see what’s left of the Berlin Wall. Oh and she also brought me cupcakes from her shop. I call this one “Berlin Wall w/ Cupcakes”..

We are in the German city of Cologne right now, it smells very nice here.. :-/

More to come.

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*whew*

Well that wasn’t so hard. I’ve been meaning to start a proper blog for a while now, finally got around to it. Now the only trick is keeping it updated so that it’s worth coming back..