Nice and Villefranche (Riviera), and final night in Dublin

The French Riviera was an incredible climax to my trip. It was a tropical paradise with beautiful beaches, and a vibrant night life. Most of the nights I spent on the beach singing and playing guitar until around four in the morning when I'd go speeding around in a tiny car with Eduardo or Manu. They're two street artists I met early on in Nice. Manu plays jazz manouche guitar and Eduardo does glass paintings. They're really talented guys with a great attitude. I also had great fun with Joanne, Karim, Sharon, Beryl and Sira taking day trips to Cannes for the military parade. Many of the best moments were too good to ruin by taking out my camera so you'll just have to ask me for stories.
It was great closure to end in the same city I started in. Back in Dublin with Garbhan for heritage week. What an amazing adventure this month has been. I wish I had more time, but there is never enough time for Europe!

Dijon and Beaune (The Borgogne Region of France)

This was one of my favorite towns in France. I took a train to Dijon on a whim and I'm very glad I did. It was an amazing little town where I was really able to cultivate my French. The food was the best yet, especially the Beef Borgognon and escargot. Dijon's symbol is the owl (or chouette) because of a carving on the side of a church that is said to bring good luck. So to tour the town on foot you just follow the petite chouette! This is also the birthplace of Dijon mustard and pain d'epice (spice bread). I also took a day trip to the medieval town of Beaune which is a wine town of Burgundy. I'm sure I'll return to Dijon plus tard, or should I say I'll return to Dijon moutarde!! French puns.

Amsterdam and Brussels

I spent the weekend in Amsterdam and an afternoon in Brussels on the way back to Paris. Amsterdam was a crazy town, I enjoyed the Anne Frank House, the Red Light District, and the canals. Brussels was a beautiful, quirky town with cartoon murals, a small old town center with great food, and one of the most impressive town squares ever. The waffles, mussels, beer, fries, and chocolate definitely satisfied my hunger for fine European cuisine! A weekend to remember.

Paris Part Trois

Sadly my final days in Paris...

Paris Part Deux 2009

Some more footage of me in Paris!!

Paris part un 2009

I have been so enamored with this city the past few days, and one side effect of walking around with my jaw hanging open and hearts coming out of my head is that I forget to photograph it all. So most of my days have been spent enjoying la flaneurie. We dont really have an English equivalent for this word, but basically it means wandering around with no other purpose than to enjoy the surroundings. Everything here seems like a fairy tale from the architecture to the food and these magic beans I bought in Monmartre for only 10 euros! Enjoy this ever so brief clip and keep in mind that you must come to Paris to truly comprehend th... well keep in mind that you must come to Paris!

London's Brilliant Parade

Headed straight to covent garden for a cornish pasty and muffinsky's fro yo. Went to Ben and Bethany's flat near old street for a quick nap, then got pub faire for supper with Ben and Bethany. That night we and the flatmates, Justine, Dani, and friend Genevieve, hung out on the balcony with amazing cheese, cheap wine, and a guitar sing-a-long.
Next day had lunch on brick lane with Genevieve and went to visit Patrick at Pickwick. We had tea and chatted for a bit before I headed to the British Museum to visit the rosetta stone and the 5000 year old man (told him you say hi). That night after some cards we had an impromptu sweating to the eighties party after which we all went out into the streets of London belting Disney songs (Alex Curtis makes a great Simba, and even better Jasmine). So now I'm taking a stroll around Charing Cross, probably my favorite street in the world besides Main Street WHB. Cheerio mates!!

Dublin 2009

My last time in dublin (2003) was a rainy weekend in october or november. I saw the castle, did some shopping, and ate in pubs. So when planning this trip I just used Dublin as a cheap spot to fly into, not really a main attraction for my visit. Well Dublin on a beautiful summer day is a horse of a different colour. I didn't even recognize the place, and when I left, the visit left me wanting more Dublin. So I may return at the end of my trip, thus Dublin my time in Dublin. So, quick overview of what I did. Breakfast on famous Grafton Street, 3 hour walking tour with awesome guide Conor, hung out at pub with new friends Garbhan and Freddie, went in search of the perfect hat (no luck), had tea and chocolate in St Stephens Green, hung out with Freddie, our new french friends Adele and Claire, and italian Daniela at various pubs in Temple Bar. Wicked! On to London. 

The following video starts in Dublin and ends with a couple clips at Ben and Bethany's flat in London.
 

I'll Stop the World and Melt with You!!

Anyone that knows my surf/rockabilly family band, The Legendary D-Fenders, knows that we tend to attract a very eclectic crowd. There's the ol' standbys like Nashville Gerry, Crazy Dancing Lady, Alfredo, Killer Joe, and several other die-hards. But now we're attracting one-hit wonder celebs! While playing one of our favorite joints, The Stephen Talkhouse in the Hamptons, Robbie Grey the rhythm guitarist of Modern English was in the house. He would not stop raving about our music and said he had to come on stage and do his hit with us. We'd never played the song before, but probably 60% of our set are songs we've never played before! We could not pass up the chance. Well, we did their hit and another song off of his new album called, "Some of my best memories I can't remember" or something to that effect. Here's a clip furnished by my sister Kristina of "I'll Stop the World" with Robbie Grey!!

Travel: Past and Present

One of the best choices I ever made in my life thus far was to study abroad in London. I had to take 21 credits the semester before and have three different Dean's sign an appeal because I wasn't allowed to take the three highest level Mathematics courses in the same semester. (For those interested, they were Number Theory, Formal Reasoning, and Calculus of Several Variables) Well, I got A's in all of three. Take that Dean, Dean, and Dean! Anyway, traveling to London with 32 of my friends is an experience that still influences who I am as a person and what I expect from life. As a high school teacher, I tell every one of my students to spend a semester abroad. I really dove in to the culture, and returned to London and Paris two months after the program. I have since been back to London a couple of years ago, and have been to Sicily a couple of times as well. The video that accompanies this post is from Fall semester 2003 on the Roger Williams University trip.

I've been through a lot of stress, and for lack of a better term depression the past couple years, and I decided several months ago that I must return to Europe. So my ticket is booked and I will be spending the month of August in Europe. Here's my itinerary (I'm backpacking so it may change on a whim. Remember whims?)

• Week in London
• Week in Paris
• Weekend in Belgium/Netherlands
• Two days in Normandy
• Few days in Loire Valley
• Few days in Provence
• Week on the Riviera (Nice, Cannes, Monaco, etc.)
• Two nights in Dublin (very cheap to fly out of Dublin)

This trip is probably the main reason I started this blog. I want to post pictures and hopefully video of my trip. That's why this is a blog of life. I feel like travel (like music or theatre), is one of those intensifiers that helps you make decisions about the way you see the world and what you expect from life. I can't wait. I depart Aug 3. Enjoy this old footage!

New Year's Greeting

Since my blog posts thus far are going backward in time, I thought I'd post a New Year's video Sean and I did in January. This is a Zombie's song called "This Will Be Our Year." I hope you enjoy watching it, it was a blast to make. Just as a note because everyone comments about it. Sean is looking directly at the camera because it was recorded on my macbook's built-in camera and the lyrics to the song are on the screen. So he is not watching himself or anything like that. I on the other hand know the words down cold (this is very uncharacteristic of me, especially with my own songs. As soon as I write them, I forget them). Enjoy, and I hope 2009 will be your year.

Spring Break 2009

The past few years I haven't been able to travel during spring break because of grad school or other conflicts. So this year I flew out to California with my sisters to visit JP and play some beach volleyball. After a few days of that I drove down to Virginia to visit Troy Marshall III. Here is some footage of our adventures in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I apologize for the quality but it was filmed using my telephone.

Paraphernalia Sessions

Sean and I are back in the studio after a long hiatus (is that the same as a short lowatus?) recording our fourth album of original tunes. Here is a video of us hard at work in the studio recording two songs from our forthcoming album: Paraphernalia (To be released Aug 1, 2009).