chase the light

Yes another Eiffel Tower photo. Hopped the double decker open topped tour bus today to just travel around city and get the commentary. All good and it was nice and warm when the sun would come out. In fact I kept head bobbing and sleeping as we drove around Paris. Ha! Pretty funny. Hey, who’s that guy up there sleeping on the bus!?

After doing about 3 different lines on the tour, green, yellow, and orange, we finally ended up at the Eiffel Tower and got to go up in it. Got in line and and it was about an hour wait and then rode up to the second floor and waited in another line. While we were waiting in that line the sun was setting and a rainbow came out. Nice. We got on the elevator to the top at about 9:45 and it was beautiful up there. Dark clouds overhead and some lights of the city were just starting to come on. At 10pm the Tower started doing it’s sparkly thing although you don’t really get the full sense of it when you’re on it. Spent another 10 minutes up there until the sparkly lights went out and then headed down. For some reason we missed getting off at the first floor and had I had to ask what we had to do to see the first floor. They put us back on the elevator and we were able to go back up to the first floor so Jill could mail some postcards from the Eiffel Tower. They stamp the postcards with little Eiffel Towers. Didn’t happen though as the post office closed at 7p. Oh well.

After we got off of the Tower we walked down the Champ de Mars to watch the sparkle lights go off at 11pm. Barely made it but it was great to see again from below. I have video. Not sure when that will appear, but there you go. Last night in Paris. Tomorrow is going to be an early departure for Berlin. As we have an all day trip from Paris to Brussels, Belgium, over to Cologne, Germany and then on into Berlin.

The internet connection has been a bit dodgy the last few days. So this is a little late. Long days combined with exhaustion have left little time for writing, but now that we’re on a 9 hour train ride from Paris to Berlin it’s catch up time.

Hopped over this morning to the Catacombs to check out millions of dead people. It’s unbelievable how many people are interred there. Millions. You really have to see the amount of bones to believe itIt’s another thing probably not great for the extremely claustrophobic. They frown on flash photos in there so it was good I brought the uberfast 50mm f1.4. I was able to grab a lot photos with it that would have been impossible otherwise. Of course Jill had a little shadow in the form a security guy down there that took a shine to her and held a flood lamp for her for almost the whole time we were in the catacombs. One of the benefits of being a girl. No dude’s going to be holding a light for me! I knew my photos would look better in natural light anyway. Heh heh. Bring a fast lens though.

After the catacombs was The Orsay! Yea, I love you Orsay! Its collection of Impressionist paintings is remarkable. Got there a little late so I had to rush it a bit, but I did get to see almost everything I wanted to see including the Art Nouveau section with all its furniture pieces. Great great museum.

Waited for Jill outside and then headed over to Champs de Elysee and the Arc de Triomphe. Didn’t go up in the Arc but walked down the Blvd. and looked at the shops. Got tired and headed home a little early. The hour time change from London still hasn’t clicked into my body. Was up until 2:30. It hasn’t been getting dark until almost 10:30 at night so that’s not helping.

Catacombs – Cool! Champs de Elysee – No biggie. Arc de Triomphe – Nice. The Orsay – Rawk!

Today I woke up about 10:30 from a dead sleep and just layed in bed for another 45 minutes. Guess I was tired! After that I took a shower and got ready to go sight seeing. Just going to relax today. Saw a note from Jill that she had gotten up and went to the Louvre. That was good, will meet up with her at 6:00pm at the I.M. Pei pyramid thingy at the museum.

There’s a gallery in Paris that I absolutely loved called Gallery Breheret. I came across it on my first visit to Paris and loved almost every artist they represented. They obviously have exceedingly good taste! Heh heh. That was going to be my first stop for the day. There’s an artist there named Russo who has fantastic technique and also an artist I’ve never seen before call Francois Deberdt. He’s a bit like Chagall who I also love. Damnit, yeah I bought the little painting. I had to call my bank though because the charge wouldn’t go through because they didn’t know I was in Europe and it was deemed suspicious. It was of course more than then normal cash withdrawal so of course it was good it was flagged by them. Better safe than sorry. Had it shipped home via FedEx. Great gallery and it was fun to talk the 3 really sweet older gentlemen that worked there. One would say “oh let me give you the Russo catalog from the show last year” and then the one who didn’t speak english would mumble in french in what would seem to be in agreement. Everything the one guy would say in english the french speaking fellow would nod with oui, oui, oui… and then say a short sentence. It was pretty funny and kinda cute.

Hung out a bit after that and then headed over to the Louvre at about 5:45. Jill came out then we walked down to Notre Dame and I picked up a Nutella crepe. I love you crepe. After a quick peak around at Notre Dame there were some rollerbladers performing some acrobatic tricks on one of the bridges. Kinda hung out watched them for a bit while the sun went behind the buildings. It’s pretty hot out today.

Jill notes that she ran in to Uma Thurman and her kids while at the Louvre and got asked out twice. She’s been looking for a rugged European boyfriend but apparently they didn’t fit the Clive Owen mold.

The highlight of the day was the trip to the Eiffel Tower. Got there a little bit before darkness and then as the sun went down the Eiffel Tower lit up with it’s sparkly lights. They installed all these bright sparkly lights on it now and every hour they go off like a giant Christmas tree. As if the Eiffel Tower isn’t beautiful enough. It’s like having a crush on girl and then she comes out in a slinky black dress. Way to go France! I love you sparkly Tower.

Mellow day besides that.

After getting from Gare du Nord to the hotel in Montmartre I think it was a good choice. The area is fantastic! Sacr?ɬ© Coeur is literally maybe a 100 yards away with beautiful views of the city. I love Paris soooooo much. So much so it’s already crossed my mind of calling all the rest of the hotels and just staying right here for the next week and a half. Ate at the the terrace area and then walked down to the funicular and towards the steps of Sacr?ɬ© Coeur. On the steps was a crowd of maybe a 100 people singing along with a few musicians. Listened to a few numbers and then at about 1:30am shuffled back to the hotel. Le sigh, Paris. Bon soir.

Today’s a travel day so it should be mellow. Checked out of the hotel at noon after sitting in a Starbucks this morning. I was going to try and get to the Tate Modern this morning but decided to not rush through it this time. I’ll just have to come back. I loved the Tate Britain but the Modern wasn’t open when I was doing museum stuff before. Anyway, checked out and made our way over to Waterloo Station and then spent the last few pounds on travel snacks and magazines. (Until later I found a 20 pound note hitching a ride in my passport. Doh!) Eurostar check in was easy and got our seats on the train without a problem but the seats have a panel blocking most of the view out the window. Ha! Thanks! The train is pretty full but it is Friday so I suspect a lot of are people heading for Paris for the weekend. Train full on Friday = people going somewhere. Anytime you need someone to point out the obvious, I’m your man. Which reminds me I need to pay my yearly Mensa fee next month. Kidding.

Random thoughts: Right now we’re between London and the coast and judging by the cars on the highway beside us were cruising along at about 100 mph. Soundtrack for this trip so far has been Calexico, Gomez, Goldfrapp, Eliza Gilkyson, & George Harrison. Guess I’m kinda stuck in the G & H section on my iPod. After going out to Bath yesterday I’ve decided the next time in England I’ll skip through London and road trip around the country. Friend Barbara is moving to Salamanca so when I go visit her in Spain I think I’ll do it then. Also internet friends [Travelgrotto.com] (Bonjour guys!) have a trip to Antarctica planned in January that I’m looking into going. It’s of course on the expensive side of the travel curve but what a great adventure. I have an old car I could sell that is doing nothing but collecting street cleaning parking tickets once a week AND on my insurance policy. Poor little red car, she’s been so good to me and has to sit under that tree getting sap and bird poop on her. She deserves a better life.

1:40: The train’s moving. We’re off.
2:00: Train moving slow. Houses going by. Beautiful Day.
3:00: I had my headphones on but the train just stopped at a station and Jill said they announced they’re having a problem with one of the cars. I told her she might be the problem and to get off to see if that fixed it. She said “Smartass.”
3:15: Guess we have to change trains because ours is broken.
3:26: All on the new train but the cafe car isn’t stocked. Nothing to drink or eat.
4:36: We just entered the channel tunnel and I had to update the clock to Paris time. From here on out the journal will be in french.
4:37: Ok, I don’t know how to speak french so that didn’t work out.
4:54: Announcement: “Arrive in Lille at 5:20 and then Paris at 6:20”.
4:57: Just left the tunnel. We’re in France. Bonjour. A Nutella Crepe is a mere hour and half away. I love you crepe that I’m about to eat.
5:00: I have to pee.
5:04: Dude, we’re hauling ass now! High speed trains kick ass. Ooooo… 5:04pm. Time the earthquake hit San Francisco in 1989. Anytime I see 5:04 I think about it.
5:17: Awwww… a little french church just went by.
5:18: The U.S. is out of the World Cup. The World Cup trophy looks like the “War of the Worlds” movie poster. Google them.
5:19: We’re slowing down. Must be Lille. That’s a nice name.
5:25: Stopped. Now moving again, bye Lille. Nice seeing you.
5:35: Have to pee.
5:40: Went to dining car to look out the window. Shot some video. Romantic couple in the corner are making out. Can see them in the reflection of the video.
6:04: Slowing down, probably coming into Paris.
6:07: Back to full speed. Maybe the driver was sight seeing.
6:08: Train went by on other track. Combined impact speed about 360 miles a hour. Just sayin’.
6:13: Kinda bored. Nothing but really blurry green trees flying by the windows. Like in Willy Wonka where he takes them on the boat on that crazy river.
6:19: Just remembered I watched King Kong on the plane 3 times in a row. That was dreadful but it made 9 hours go by.
6:22: We were supposed to arrive in Paris by now. Still at full speed. Maybe the train’s broken and we’re going to crash into Gare du Nord.
6:24: Announcement: “Very sorry for the delay we are offering you a free one way ticket redeemable on your next trip with us”. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!! You’re kidding me?! Awesome! How weird. Guess I’m coming back!
6:26: Train is really slowing down now.
6:29: PASSING HOUSES NOW. Oooops caps lock was on. Who cares! Free ticket!
6:32: Announcement: “Welcome to Paris. We are at Gare du Nord… thank you blah blah blah…. Apologies all around…”
6:33: We’re here! Paris!

After the Stonehenge moment we stopped in a little village and had a little lunch at a little pub called The Little George Inn. Nice quiet little town with a little picturesque countryside to go along with it. It was cute in a little way. Left there after 45 minutes and finally arrived in Bath at about 3:30pm. It’s a beautiful town. I walked around the city for about an hour and a half to take in some sights. I wandered down by the river Avon, which is apparently redundant as Avon means river. Walked along the side of it and checked out some swans that were just floating by looking for handouts. Also meandered through some shops that are built on the bridge there. The Pulteney bridge is one of those few bridges that had houses built on it, but I think all are shops now. This and the other two in Italy I think are the only ones. Had we had more time I would have just laid down on the grass by the river and taken a nap. It’s all so tranquil. I met back up with Jill at 5:15 and we went into the Roman Baths and did a quick little tour of the place. Pretty interesting that they only discovered the baths in the 1800s because someone’s basement kept flooding. I really liked Bath, although a shower will do me quite fine right now. You were waiting for the corny bath joke weren’t you?

It took about 2.5 hours to get back to London and we headed straight to Soho for dinner at Nando’s. Yes, again. I practically drink their hot sauce it’s so good. And thus is the last night in London.

“If we build it they will come”. -The Druids

This morning headed out early to hit Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. A trifecta of tourism. It was way early and I’m bleary eyed right now writing this at midnight. I’ll skip most of Windsor Castle as it was a bit of a bore really. I think I’ve hit my castle quota for my lifetime. The Queen was there though. Doing Queenly stuff I suppose. Not being into the royalty thing much I still think it would be fun to sit down with her and chat, go to the movies, or you know, bake some brownies with her or something. This week are the Ascot Races so she’s entertaining people so who knows maybe I’ll get the call. In the hotel room in one of the drawers someone scratched, “God Shave the Queen!” Indeed, God Shave the Queen!

After Windsor we left for Stonehenge and it didn’t disappoint. It rocks! No wait, it is rocks! Rad! I love rocks! Rawk! I still cannot separate Stonehenge from Spinal Tap though, or even Hawkwind for that matter. The best was that it’s the Summer Solstice so there are actual modern day Druids out there worshipping!!! OMG! What? Shut up! The day we go there are actual druids in the center of the stones? I’ve died and gone to earth, wind and fire heaven! The druids are coming! The druids are coming! It was just too exciting! Ha ha ha ha!! I mean, who knew there were still people doing druidy stuff? I’ve got to tell Greg, he’ll be so jealous. Where do druid covens meet? The pub? And some even had dreadlocks! It was funny but one tour guide was all respectful saying “…they do their worshipping here during the summer solstice, blah blah blah…” Another tour guide was all, “yeah a bunch of hippies out there runnin’ around”. Ha ha! Guess it’s where you’re coming from on how you perceive them.

They were all decked out in flowing white robes and placing a wreath like thing on each others head and being very quiet. There was a guy in gold and their little frocks would occasionally billow up like Marilyn Monroe and expose their jeans and sneakers! One was barefoot, she had it right in my mind. They know who built it, they also know how they built it, but they don’t know why they built it. Then of course they provide all these explanations about the sun and the moon and all I could think was those theories seem so complicated. I’m thinkin’ mixed media sculpture installation by the local druid artist of the time.

So inspired by Stonehenge, I created my own masterpiece… Behold Fudgehenge! Come all you Druids in flowing white robes, my house, party, eat the Henge! Fudgehenge won’t last as long as Stonehenge so get there early! I also couldn’t do without Snowglobehenge which will now sit proudly next to my monitor at work. It was all about Stonehenge today.

Oh yeah, and it was nice of them to build it so close to the highway. I mean, that’s some pretty forward thinking Druids.

OMG! GOGOL BORDELLO JUST RULED THE DAY! They were so awesome! I loved every minute they were on stage! All I could think of is there’s no way I would want to follow that band. And everyone paled in comparison. Dirty Pretty Things, meh. The Raconteurs, meh. Belle & Sebastian, meh. The Strokes, sorta meh. GOGOL BORDELLO… AWESOME! I’m so on board with them.

After the Bodies exhibit we headed straight over to Hyde Park for O2 and had to wait in this huge line to pick up the tickets at will call. Why? Because Ticketmaster sucks! ARGH! Even over here that company blows! Two little windows open for this massive line going down the street! Um, boneheads, you know how many tickets are will call, maybe you need to staff up at these shows?! I swear, when we have passenger flights to the moon I’ll still have to go through Ticketmaster, pay its “convenience” charge AND wait in a line at will call. So thanks to that little snafu we missed the first band “The Like” who’ve I’ve been wanting to see around L.A.

Anyway, enough of the ugliness. We went in and Gogol Bordello came right on and was great. Then we walked around the grounds a bit. This place was huge, lots of food places, drinks, carnival rides, little tent stores, etc. There were 3 or 4 other stages and we saw some guy get dragged out of one of them by security, hog tied him and took him off. That was nice and clean, later dude.

It clouded over and it started getting pretty cold. Mainly because of the wind… Ok mainly because I’m a wimp, but the wind really was kicking up. And not the friendly kinda wind. Teeth chattering wind. Jill got some hot chocolate I got some water and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich which was pretty good considering it came from a trailer.

After a parade of bands The Strokes came out and were really bad at first but were able to kick it into gear about an hour into the show. The place was going kinda ape shit and we both smell like beer as the amount that was being thrown now equalled the amount people were drinking. All good though, good times. We snuck through the crowd during the encore to catch the Tube before the thousands started filing in.

Great day of dead bodies and drunken bodies.

We’re headed out to Bath and Stonehenge tomorrow. Have to pay a little Spinal Tap tribute to the almighty stones of the druids. Then of course Bath is more important to me because Peter Gabriel has his Real World studios there than anything the Romans have left behind. Long day tomorrow.

Dear Mom,
I went to an exhibit today that you would consider to be a real house of horrors. I found it terribly interesting. It’s called “Bodies: The Exhibition” and basically it’s a bunch of real human bodies dissected into the most insane ways to show muscle groups, tendons, veins, organs, pulmonary inner workings, brain parts, etc. It’s part Art, part Science, and part Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Having a lovely time in London. Love, Your Son.

Got over to the Bodies exhibit this morning and it was freakin’ amazing. I think everyone has the same reaction at some point with the question “where’d he get all these bodies?” Therein lies the controversy. Supposedly it was all legit means, but it’s still begs the question. This show has been making its way around the world and is now in London. I learned more about the human body today than I’ve learned my whole life. Absolutely amazing but not for the squeamish.

It’s at Earl’s Court right now, and running concurrently this week is a nurse’s convention. Coincidence? I can’t imagine not. I was hungry afterwards for some sick reason.

Things I learned today; Beefeaters really did eat beef, police “Bobbies” got their name from police chief “Robert”, I was just thinking fortunately the guy’s name wasn’t Richard, Guy Fawkes real name was Guido Fawkes, Henry the VIII was pretty much an idiot, the night England is playing in a World Cup Match is a really good time to do ANYTHING you want in the city without a line, like walking straight onto the London Eye, that same London Eye is not for the claustrophobic, the Thames still has eels as I saw a bird eating one, I still laugh at the unfortunate street named “Cockspur”, I just laughed having to write that, I’m still occasional juvenile, pound for pound Harrod’s hires the most insanely beautiful women, I kind of miss all the dirty vermin pigeon’s at Trafalger Square, The Star of India might be a good place to eat but it certainly doesn’t open at 5pm, Tootsie’s down the same street on Old Brompton Rd. does, if your boat needs the Tower Bridge to open up to go through it’s free of charge but you have to give them 24 hours notice and be there at your scheduled time, architecture students aren’t necessarily good at creating installation pieces, and being on a time clock that is 8 hours out of whack to the local time you can feel like a rock star by staying up until 4am.

Got up this morning and had breakfast at a little cafe along Regent street that has the most insane looking chocolate cakes in the window. One sugar coma to go please! Yum! After breakfast we walked over to the half price ticket kiosk to see about Spamalot tickets but it had already left a few months ago. Guess we were looking at an old brochure. Damn you concierge! I was all excited once I had gotten that in my head about going! Afterwards we hopped a bus to Westmonster (ooops funny typo) to pick up the boat along the Thames to the Tower of London. It really is a pretty fascinating place even though it’s a 9 on the touristy scale. It’s the equivalent of Alcatraz prison in San Francisco. Been to it before but it’s a nice with all the beheadings and all. I bought a marshmallow stick with a guard on it. Which I ate in front of an actual guard and bit his head off and lined it up for a photo. I was laughing to much to actually get steady a shot of it. Roll over below.

Afterwards we had about an hour to kill so we headed over and wandered through Harrod’s and shopped a bit. No I didn’t buy a Maybach, or a shar pei dog, or $50k watch, but they did have a Krispy Kreme in the food area. Which I also didn’t indulge in. Seriously, Harrod’s hires nothing but beautiful women. I think they might be robots built in a factory. Then down on the 1st floor is the Dodi and Princess Diana tribute or something. Not to make light of the whole thing but… hmmm… yeah I can’t think of anything funny to say. It’s kinda on it’s own plain really.

Spent a few hours there and then made our way a few stops down to the Chelsea area for dinner. Totally screwed up the Tube stop in my head and ended up at Earl’s Court where we saw that the “Bodies” exhibit we had both missed in L.A. was going on. Inquired about tickets for tomorrow and we’re in! So can’t wait as I was bummed I missed it when it was on back home. Bit of serendipity in the plans on that.

After getting my bearings I got us over The Star of India, which was closed!? It’s 5pm!? Completely dark inside and no sign of opening soon. Oh well, just walked into a place on Brompton called Tootsie’s. Had some chicken. Oh, and a milkshake. Which nobody outside the States gets right. Ah, the lowly sublime milkshake that is apparently hard to make.

Then off to The London Eye where there was no line whatsoever! Basically a giant Ferris Wheel with Hamster Balls attached to it. Good views!

Jill headed back to the hotel and I took of for what was described as “…part of the London Architecture Biennale, students from the Architectural Association imagine the Scoop as as an extension of the river, strengthening its watery associations with a horizontal floating screen upon which films speculating on river and the theme of change, are projected.” Artistic descriptions crack me me up. I want to walk into a gallery some day and see an artists’ statement that reads, “Dude, I just make things I think are cool. Please buy one if you like it too.” It was nice though with all these tibetan prayer flag type things and this jazz trio that was stuck up about 25 feet in the air. They were a jazz trio but I swear they were more influenced by “Shine on you Crazy Diamond” and “Dark Side of the Moon” than anything else. Then I walked home and everybody was pouring out of the pubs after England had tied their match in the Word Cup.

Played tourist today and just traveled around the city taking in some sights. Hopped on and off the bus until lunch when we hit Nando’s in Soho. Love Nando’s! We used to go to the one in Wellington New Zealand all the time so it was a tasty treat of some spicy Peri-Peri chicken sandwiches! Yum! I sat out front the Apple store this morning to pick up some free wireless and a line was forming a whole half an hour before they opened.

I’m still kinda tired from the flight so I was yawning on and off all day. Almost adjusted, should be good by tomorrow. We’ve got another day of sights tomorrow, but on Wednesday the O2 Wireless Festival is happening in Hyde Park. Gogol Bordello, The Raconteurs, The Like and The Strokes are all playing so it should be excellent. Tickets are at will call and we drove by the site today and it looked like it’s going to be pretty cool. More rawk!! I so don’t miss work. (Sorry guys!) Gotta check in with some of the visual effects houses here in London on Friday… ya know just to see what they might have coming up to work on. Shhhhh…

Aw yeah… Rock Rock ’til you drop! Ha ha ha! A couple of years ago I bought some tickets to a show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London and ever since I get these emails every week about shows in London. I really need to unsubscribe but it’s kinda fun to see who’s going through town. Anyway, I got one awhile ago saying Def Leppard and Cheap Trick were going to be playing on the day I arrive in London. I thought that would be a pretty funny rockin’ show from the 70’s and 80’s.

The problem was I wssn’t sure how we were going to feel after a crappy night on the plane. We got in at 5pm and everything went smoothly and got to the hotel about 6:45. I was way loopy from lack of sleep and food, but otherwise feeling pretty good. So we bit the bullet and rode over to the Apollo and checked for tickets. There were lots of people selling tickets and even one guy in the lobby! Total no-no in the States, not sure here. They all had general admission tickets down below and I wasn’t sure I could handle standing through a show all night. So we went with the tickets at the box office, and damn some seats were available in the front row of the balcony!! They must have been returned because they were amazing!

In we went and Cheap Trick had just gone on with their first song and it was great! The Sheffield boys Def Leppard came out and paraded through the hits and all was good even though my head was nodding occasionally. We left just before the encores because of exhaustion and hunger and headed back into the center and grabbed some midnight dinner and then passed out.

The last time I saw Def Leppard was 1983 opening for Billy Squier in the pouring rain. I was in the orchestra seating area and I waved to Phil Collen back stage and he waved back! Ha! Then Danette McGregor decided she wanted a better view and climbed on my shoulders and all I saw was the inside of her thighs for about 4 songs.

Interior Day: The hotel I booked had an upgrade to a “family room” so since there is a lack of space in London hotel rooms I upgraded and we checked in and there’s four beds in this place! They tried giving us standard room unlike what I had made reservations for so we questioned it with “Well we have a friend that’s staying with us that’s why we reserved the big room…” Anyway, a behind closed door meeting went on and he came back out and gave up the room! So there ya go, lying can be guilt free. Well, I had reserved it and paid for it so it shouldn’t have been an issue anyway, but we’re here and all’s good. Yep, Rock Rock til you drop, and we did.

Off to Europa! First London for the week, then the train to Paris, then on to Berlin where we’ll be in the middle of the World Cup, and then to Amsterdam for the last bit. Spent today packing and staying mellow as the flight out is late tonight and arrives in London on Sunday.

Jill finished Superman last week so she wanted to tag along on the European Tour of 2006. So, she’s along but we already had the first hiccup at the airport where she almost didn’t get on because the flight is oversold. They were telling her maybe another airline or the British Airways flight tomorrow at 3:00. Yikes. All’s good though. She got a seat and we’re now in the terminal waiting for our very delayed plane. The other near disaster was as I was running out of the house I decided to use the restroom real quick and went back in to discover my passport sitting on the bathroom floor. THAT WOULD NOT HAVE MADE CHRIS A HAPPY TRAVELER! My bladder had a divine intervention.

There was a little meeting of the Ghosties crew at the [Saints & Sinners Lounge] Tuesday night. Lots of Martinis were had by all. In fact I think I doubled my entire lifetime intake of Martinis that night. Not a big Martini drinker so round about 4 in the morning I was a hurting puppy. In fact crawling out of bed and bringing my pillow and a blanket into the bathroom crossed my mind. Just in case.

We had a couple nice surprises show up. Director [Mark Steven Johnson] showed up and hung out ALL night. Not the usual “Hey, here I am, thanks for the work!” and then leave face time. It was the “Hey, you guys kick ass!! Let’s party all night!!” type of face time. Then Nicolas Cage showed up! Awesome! Just chillin’ with the Cage at a bar. That was cool and kinda surreal. Ha ha!

Above left is [Kevin Mack], Visual Effects Supervisor and extroardinarily nice guy. Kevin won an Academy Award for “What Dreams May Come” and also supervised “Big Fish” (one of my favorites), “A Beautiful Mind”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, and “Fight Club”. It was a reeeeally a great experience to work with him. [Mark Steven Johnson], the director, is on the right. I love finishing big projects, it’s nothing but parties for like a month.

Music to sway by. Calexico are sooo good! I’ve been having the hardest time seeing them as they’ve come through town a couple times while I’ve been away or I just couldn’t make it, etc. So finally! The name is taken from a small border town in California, and it’s Mexican side counterpart is called Mexicali. I also get to sneak in a Neko Case reference right here because Calexico was her backing band for the Blacklisted album and they toured together in support of that album. It’s a little known fact that I love Neko. Ok it’s really a widely known fact actually. I lurve her. If you like Calexico you’ll love the Blacklisted album by Neko. Ok, done with Neko. Neko, Neko, Neko. Neko’s also on David Letterman tonight. Neko, Neko, Neko.

Anyway, great to hear the stuff off of “Feast of Wire”. Sunken Waltz, Quattro and Black Heart were stellar. There was time when “Feast of Wire” played on my iPod for probably a month straight. I was so into that album. I thought the opening band Black Heart Procession were going to be really good as I liked the first couple sings but then it got really rather boring. One too many songs with a saw in it. Yeah, you know with the bow and a saw where it sounds like a cheesy UFO from a B-Movie. I liked their vibe I just didn’t think their songs were up to snuff.

Ready for my complaints… ($5 bucks says Ticketmaster is involved with my complaint somehow) Since the show wasn’t sold out I went to The Music Box a little before 8:00 to get a ticket from the box office. (Insert your own Ticketmaster story rant here). Here’s the scam, the price is $18 dollars, but on the day of show it’s $20. So you can never actually get a ticket for $18. Through Ticketmaster it’s $18 + $2 Building Facility Charge? + $7.60 Convenience charge – $27.60!!! Argh! So what’s with jacking up the price of the show at the box office? Lame-O Music Box. Then there’s the security. Not rough at all, but the front of the stage is maybe 25 feet wide and there were 5 security guards! That’s one for every 5 feet! Calexico’s a completely mellow band and having 5 huge security guards facing you and scanning the crowd is reeeeeally distracting and a bit of a buzz kill. They’re also really strict with cameras but I palmed my little point and shoot with my wallet and keys as security patted me down. Ha ha… too easy.

A little bit of the vibe with the mp3 above. It’s a lot more traditional sounding than their material so it’s not really representative of their actual work. Also, if you like free music a really great live Calexico concert is available courtesy of the band and archive.org. [Calexico Live in Sweden] Ok, I’m done. Calexico cool. Love ’em. The Music Box… kinda annoying.

Horse racing! Always bet on the Irish horse. They always kick our California horses asses. You’d never know gambling’s illegal in California. Somebody should probably tell the Indian casinos, lotteries and race tracks. I arrived too late to bet on the first race but I was on fire for the next seven! Aw yeah, steak dinner for me! So here’s my new absurd rule in horse picking… if it’s a turf race and the horse has the word “turf” in his name. Bet on him. Like Turf Flyer. Good name, pick him. Asphalt Flyer, um no, not so good.

Imageworks was sponsoring two races (not sure what you have to do to do that) so they allowed 10 of us to go down trackside for the two races and watch the ponies. It’s like thunder when they come flying by throwing dirt clods around with their hooves. So amazing. We had about 100 people show up but I only knew about a 1/4 of them. I bought a $45 ticket with the intention of putting $5 on each race but for some reason I wasn’t thinking and forgot I’d already missed a race and that there was only 8 races total. So I split the last $20 on two races and won one of them. This is why I don’t go to Vegas. I would be homeless from stupid bets.

Also on Friday nights in the summer they have a band play after the races. It’s usually a third tier band that hasn’t really had a hit in awhile, or only had one hit. The Motels, Berlin, The Fixx, Sugar Ray, Baha Men, Fishbone, etc. Tonight was “The English Beat” or “General Public” or “Dave Wakeling, the guy with the funny looking guitar and strange dance move.” “Save it For Later” indeed. It was boring so I left since they probably weren’t going to play that song until the end of the set. And I wanted my steak dinner! As I went down some steps out of sight of the concert some security guard yelled at me saying “Hey you have camera, what’s the name of this band?” Well, yeah I know the name of the band but it’s not because I’m carrying a camera! Funny odd.

Oh then… I have my camera around my neck and a different security stops me and says they don’t allow photographs. ! ? Huh? Four and a 1/2 hours after carrying around this giant white lens and I’m on my way out you tell me? Ha ha ha! Ok, buddy, I’ll put it away. Thanks for heads up! He even thanked me for putting it away. Funny odd again.

So, there ya go, cameras are not officially allowed at Hollywood Park, but if you’re carrying around a large SLR, down by the track, and mixing with the jockeys I wouldn’t really worry about it. Mmmmm…. steak dinner.

This morning I had to get up at 6:00 to get to Hanalei Bay by 6:45. The catamaran trip around to Na Pali is on. It was cancelled on Wednesday because of a boat problem. The night before I charged all my batteries and got packed to check out of the hotel bright and early. Slept terrible knowing what time I had to get up but I was able to grab my stuff and hit the road on time. I was the first one at the check in counter and she gave my a dry bag to put my stuff in. As I went back to the car to grab my underwater camera I realized I had left the battery charging in the wall back in my room. Crap.

There was just no time to drive all the way back and get it so I had to go without it. We took a little outrigger canoe out to the catamaran and as we were waiting for the second group to arrive there were 4 or 5 sea turtles popping their heads out of the water all around us. We took off and the trip was amazing. Gorgeous coastline and we ducked in and out of some caves on the way down.

After Kalaulau Bay we stopped for lunch and to do a bit of snorkleing. So, right now either it was going to be cool not having my camera battery because the reef is lame or I was going to be completely heartbroken. I hopped in the water and started swimming around and honestly it wasn’t all that amazing. Some fish here and there but overall not any better than Tunnels Beach. Until… SON OF A BITCH!! I head out off of the reef into about 30 feet of water and there swimming underneath me are 3 sea turtles. Not just swimming by but hanging out and gliding around being bitchin’ turtles. I dive down to one and swim up right next to him and pet him on the head. He looks at me and just hangs out and continues gliding around. I hang out with the turtles for about 45 minutes just swimming with them and watching them hang around. I notice a pattern though that they have to come up for air every once in awhile. So instead of divng down to them I just wait at the surface as they swim up right next to me and poke their heads out of the water for air. Amazing. The water was totally glassy and clear for about 100 feet so the visibility was perfect. And there I am without my camera. So sad. Just a memory, but one I’ll never forget.

After lunch we headed back to Hanalei, but first we stopped near a beach to pick up a Hawaiian guy who lives on the beach along the Na Pali coast He does so illegally but he just keeps going back each time he gets booted off. He was funny and told some stories abut the area. After getting off the boat I repacked my packs and grabbed a final Shave Ice at Wishing Well and headed to the airport.

Returned the car. Got on the delayed flight. Sat next to some honeymooners from Georgia who couldn’t be a day over 19. The flight seemed waaaay long. Touched down about midnight. Got a cabbie who somehow misunderstood me saying “Can I get some change?” with “Keep the change.” Selective hearing. I vastly overtipped him but whatever. Got home about 2am. The end.

Slower and slower I get… just sat around today waiting for the sunset I suppose. Did some laundry inbetween lunch and dinner and drove along the coast up to Hanalei Bay as the clouds looked like they were going to put on a good show. Lot’s of people gathered down on the beach with a few bonfires. Nice. Sunrise? Sunset? I’m a sunset person since I grew up on the west coast. Who’s awake for a sunrise anyway? Definitely not the people I hang out with. The only time I see the sun rise is if I’m still up. Tommorrow’s a big day and have to get up at 6:00am… ah crap speaking of sunrises.

Today I was also able to book a hotel for the Amsterdam leg of the upcoming European tour. How’s that for a rock star attitude?! Living life for the moment right now… booking another vacation while on vacation! Ahhhh… La Dolce Vita! It’ll be back to reality come August. All the hotels and train tickets are in place now so it’s just wait for Jill to finish her project and we’re off…

Suffering from a few mosquito bites tonight but not nearly like I did in Fiji. I had to drive down to the town of Hanapepe today to catch the helicopter flight around the island. There’s a small airstrip down there that they operate the tours from. The difference with this company is that they fly with the doors off! So not only is it really loud it’s also very windy and cold. But they also land at a waterfall for a little picnic and a swim. So that was worth it. We flew out and up though Waimea canyon then turned back south and then west and headed up along the Na Pali coast which was crazy beautiful. The ocean was like a lake today and looked emerald green next to the tan beaches.

After the coast we headed inland and landed at the waterfall. I’d like to say it was like the helicopter landing in Jurassic Park but we didn’t land right at the base. We had to walk about 30 yards through the trees. But yeah, like I’m complaining! I tried to swim underneath the falls but it’s a lot of water coming down right on top of you so it’s hard to breathe. The current is also really pushing you away from the impact spot so it’s pretty funny trying to approach it. I tried to come in from side walls of the canyon but it still pretty difficult. I got underneath the falls once and took in a mouth full of water! Ack! The attempt can be seen in the video although it’s pretty obvious it’s total chaos underneath a waterfall. Anyway, went back to shore and had lunch and chilled out enjoying the view.

We finished with the waterfall a little early so the pilot took us on a short side trip. We took off back up through the trees and headed over to check an area that has a ton of waterfalls. If it wasn’t to windy we’d go in and it turned out to be fine. One of falls was the Jurassic Park waterfall which looked oddly small even with more water flowing down it than in the movie. The whole flight the pilot would do “S” shaped banked turns to get views from each side of the helicopter. It is waaaay strange to be on the inside part of turn looking straight down a few thousand feet without a door on. Seriously, I kept checking my seatbelt and holding the strap above me. Total girly man! Hey it’s high enough to hit terminal velocity so I’m holding that handstrap damnit.