Paris, the City of Louvre

Bonjour mon ami!

My French is absolutely terrible but I did the best I could while in the land of wine and cheese.

Right when I arrived, Adrien was waiting for me at the train station. Some of you may or may not remember him from some Chinese blogs ~3 years ago. He is an amazingly nice guy and his hospitality was nothing less than fit for a king. Less than 30 minutes after arriving in France, he had me drinking beer and wine, eating baguettes, cheese, foie gras, meat spreads and dry sausage. It was stupendous! They call it an Aperitif which is like a "light" eating and drinking session before you move onto a main meal.

After eating, Adrien, myself and his buddy Pierre headed out for an adventure I'd never dreamed of undertaking. We put on some clothes we didn't mind getting dirty and packed bags full of snacks and wine. We headed off with a torch, some headlights and high spirits. We got to a park and there was a manhole there which Adrien promptly lifted up and said, "get down there, Tony!" I promptly obliged him and before you knew it, I was 15 feet below the streets of Paris.

When we all got down and had a second to get everything in order, Adrien said, "welcome to the catacombs of Paris." I shit you not, I was going to be an average of 40 feet underneath the city for the next 10 hours. We trudged through the catacombs using maps that people have made in the past and it was an entire complex of tunnels, rooms and big open spaces. It was quite surreal to be underneath the city but we ran into so many other people who were down there to party and just enjoy a different sort of life. It was something I'll never forget.

We even hit a part that used to be a German bunker during WWII which was really awesome to see. As you can probably tell, there was graffiti all over every wall possible in the catacombs. It was a bit scary yet exciting to be underground for 10 hours without natural light, being able to see the sky or an easy way out every 10 feet, but we made it to the surface and made our way home for a nice shower and much deserved rest.

The next day, our buddy, Sean got into town from Poland and the Unlikely Trio as we have dubbed ourselves was reunited. We couldn't believe that after meeting in China we were standing together in Adrien's apartment in Paris three years later. We wasted no time and headed to a park loaded with beer and some heavy lead balls which are used for the game, pétanque. It's much like bocce ball or lawn bowling where you throw a small ball, then take turns trying to get your ball closest to it. It was a blast and with great weather, good friends and beer, it was hard to beat.

We continued the party the rest of the day and hit the town at night. We headed home to sleep after some dancing and drinking and awoke to a beautiful Sunday with a full plate.

We hit an amazing lunch with Adrien's family after a nice stroll through the concorde and the area where the Louvre is and seeing some other sights along the way. I had led Adrien's family on a couple tours in Shanghai when they were out to visit, and they had met Sean there as well, so it was a nice reunion. The food and wine were so good and at the end of the meal, we drank this alcohol called calvados which was a liqueur made in Normandy which is 55% and has the effect of creating what's referred to as a "Normand hole" which makes more room in your stomach to continue eating. It was quite a weird sensation feeling it go through your system, but after a couple minutes, I could've set back to eating.

After Adrien's family gathering, we went over to visit the family of Zay, Adrien's girlfriend. She is Tunisian and French so her family was throwing around Arabic and French as we drank champagne and enjoyed baclava. Most of them spoke English as well so we chatted a bit and had fun talking about music and making jokes about China and France.

Afterward, we headed out to the Arc De Triumph which was only a few minutes from the apartment. This thing is absolutely huge! I was blown away by its size after only seeing it in pictures. We got a ticket to climb to the top of it via stairs and headed up. The views were great and you could see the biggest sights as well as smaller landmarks. Adrien pointed out a lot of areas and truth be told, he said that neither he nor Zay had ever been to the top of the Arc before. He was happy that they could do it for the first time with us. 

That night was a music festival that happens every year on June 21st where bands rock out in the streets til late in the evening. We went and checked it out and Sean and I danced and drank until 5am listening to all the bands and DJs. After finding our way back, we passed out and awoke to a day of exploring. 

Sean and I hit Note Dame which was quite vast and very interesting considering it was essentially under construction from the 12th century to the 19th century with improvements constantly being made and adding to the structure.  The statues were great and some of the pieces of art were great. It was very quiet and as we exited, we took a look around the grounds and really relished in the glory of such an ancient yet amazing building.

We decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower so we just started walking towards it as you can see it from quite a ways away. When we got there, it was another thing that I never imagined would be as big as it actually was. It was gigantic! The sheer size was so impressive and we just stared at it for hours.  We headed back and got some good grub with Adrien and took an easy night in with some movies and beers. 

The next day, Sean and I hit the Louvre which was cool just looking at the building. Once we got inside, we checked out some Egyptian artifacts, Napolean-Era furniture and decorations then moved onto the paintings. Once we got to the paintings, Sean and I threw our headphones in and jammed to our own music and walked through the galleries. It was a magical experience as it added an audio component to the visual component of the artwork. There were some really nice pieces and with the music on in the background, it was really, really cool.

For dinner that night, Adrien and Zay made us one of Adrien's favorite dishes called, raclette. It consists of slicing cheese into 1/2 cm slices or so then putting it in a trowel-shaped iron dish and you put it under a melter which is below a griddle. While you wait for your cheese to melt, you put bacon and mushrooms on the grill to cook and then once it's all good to go, you put the bacon and mushrooms on your plate with some small, cooked potatoes then you pour the melted cheese over it. It was delicious. We ate so much it was unreal and Adrien just kept going and going! He's a champion.

That night after dinner, Adrien surprised us with our favorite Chinese game, Shaizi which I know I've mentioned in my past blogs. We grabbed a sack of beers and the dice and headed towards the Eiffel Tower again. We played dice in front of a lit up Eiffel Tower and every so often, it would flash lights and people would go crazy. We had so much fun, it felt like old times in Shanghai.

We proceeded to the town of Lille the next day which is a bit northwest of Paris. It was Adrien's old college town and actually, he had to defend his Masters thesis since he had neglected it for a few years before. As Sean and I just hung out in a common room, he crushed it and then we proceeded to go out and drink some good Belgian beers in celebration and played more dice.  Adrien had to catch a train home that night and Sean and I more or less camped outside (long story short, a hostel that said would have rooms for us didn't so we slept in a crappy spot outside of it) and then had a long wait for a ride to Amsterdam the next day.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed spending time with Adrien, Zay and both their families but I've got to say, Paris wasn't really my kind of city. The food and wine were devine, but it wasn't for me.  I look forward to my time in Amsterdam as well as Prague which people have talked up so much and look forward to other unknown circumstances that await me.

Until I see you again, enjoy your wonderful week.

Tony G

Walking the Royal Mile With a Great (pseudo) Scot

Hiya!

Greetings from Edinburgh, Scotland. Lesson number one: how to properly pronounce Edinburgh from the wisdom of Ross Henderson.

Let's start by saying, "bread and butter." Good! Now go ahead and take out the 'br' from "bread." Excellent! Now we're going to remove the 'er' from "butter" to make it, "buttah." Now say it all together quickly, "'ead and buttah." Perfect! Great job!

As soon as I got here, Ross started treating me like his own brother. His wife, Becca was in Paris so we had some time to hang as just the guys.  We got back to his place, snarfed a pizza and drank a brew or two but unfortunately it was quite late and time to hit the hay.

However, I woke up to some coffee, toast, eggs and bacon from Ross which was awesome! What a swell pal, right? We started planning out the day and it quickly became apparent that we wanted to play some music, and we wanted to do it for a crowd. We grabbed some instruments and headed for the Royal Mile which is a long stretch of road with shops and restaurants and a lot of foot traffic. Looking up or down the Royal Mile is a stunning view each way.

We looked around for a good spot and we found a high cathedral wall with pillars sticking out about nine feet apart (or just under 3 meters for you metric peeps). We nestled in and Ross took out what is called a Cajòn which is a box that you sit on that is a drum with different sounds depending on where you hit it.  It is amazing! As soon as I started a song on guitar and Ross jumped in, we both had the chills and our synergy was unstoppable. We took turns switching between guitar, cajòn and singing lead and harmonies. We played for three hours without even realizing it.  We had so much fun and we even made about 35£ which is around $54 or so.  We did the same thing on the second day and made over 40£! It was so much fun, I can see Ross and I doing it on 16th mall in Denver when we both get back. Funny side note, Ross started singing impromptu things about people as they walked by and I would harmonize. We had a lot of good laughs singing about people walking and texting or weeding the flowers in front of their shop.

Monday night after busking, we went to an open mic that Ross used to frequent in the years past at a place called Binkies. We met up with his good friend Cam who is an amazing musician and who runs the sound. We chatted a bit and Ross signed us up for time slots. He went first and did some great songs accompanied by Cam on the cajòn and then it was my turn. I played three originals and had Ross accompany me on two of them. It was definitely a memorable time.

On Tuesday we laid low and got an amazing shawarma with tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, onions, garlic sauce, chili and chicken. It was absolutely delicious. We also had haggis which consists of sheep lung, pork fat and cow liver. It's amazingly good, especially with some mashed potatoes.  Becca got in that night and I made some stir fry for dinner. Then we watched the Game of Thrones season finale and called it a night.

The next day, Ross and I went to Leith which is really close to Edinburgh and we had some good pints of beer and drams of whisky along the way. In Scotland, the birthplace of Scotch, they just call it, "whisky" with no 'e' at the end.  We had Aberlour cask single malt which was insanely delicious.  This certain bottle isn't sold in the states which is disappointing but I'm glad I had some out here. Later on, we stopped in a bar that used to be a bank and the half pints were exactly half the cost of a full pint, so we ordered two half pints of different beers at a time so we could try a big variety. We had some good ones and some not-so-good ones but it was well worth it.

That evening we did two awesome things. First, we went to the oldest pub in Edinburgh which was fun and then we hit up a well-known monument at night for some pictures and a view. At the pub, we played an older version of bowling which was entertaining and we had some great pints. The place was called Sheep Heid Inn.  Pretty sure it's named after a sheep's head because there were a few hanging on the walls. They had a good beer selection and Becca was quite happy with the wine as well.

As we left the Sheep Heid Inn, Ross suggested we take a walk past Duddingston Loch so we could get a good night time view of the castle and city. I'm sure glad he suggested this because it was quite the view. We walked up a ridge in between the well-known Arthur's Seat and the Craig.  We could see much of the city as well as the Edinburgh Castle. The wizard school Hogwarts from Harry Potter was created in the image of the castle. It's very medieval and scary looking. It's awesome. Ross snagged a good picture of my silhouette against the fading twilight.

In fact, huge shout out to Ross who took all of these pictures and he did a brilliant job. He has such a creative mind.

After the walk, we hit the hay and he and Becca left the next morning for a wedding in Spain leaving me with a day by myself in Edinburgh before heading off to Paris. I got some errands out of the way in the morning then showered up and hit the Royal Mile again to do some more busking. It definitely wasn't even close to as fun without Ross, but a nice lady from Tokyo came up and asked if I could play an original so she record it which I obliged by playing a One Way Ride tune called, Heart of Stone. A large group of Chinese people walked by during a break and I heard them speaking Mandarin so asked them where they were from which stopped a couple of them in their tracks and people started asking the Chinese tour guide why I could speak Chinese, but none of them stayed to chat.

I used the money I made to get a traditional Scottish Haggis dish called Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with Whisky Sauce. Basically it was haggis with mashed turnips (reminds me of the taste of spaghetti squash), mashed potatoes and a nice whisky sauce and it was all delicious but so rich! I headed back to Ross and Becca's to finish getting ready for my early early flight on Friday.

I'll definitely miss Scotland, but not so much when Ross and I jam out in the 16th Street mall.  My next stop is Paris with my buds Adrien and Sean so until then, bon voyage!

My Goodness, My Guinness!... Is Gone!

How are ye? Alright ya?

That's what I heard everytime I walked into a pub in Dublin and sat down. I loved interaction with people in Dublin and the Guinness was outstanding. Right when I arrived, it was about 11 in the morning and I only slept about 2 hours on the plane but I knew I had to keep going. I got off a bus and was met but my wonderful friend, Steph who put my bags in her office so I could go out and travel.

My first stop was the Jameson distillery which was quite nice.  It was pretty interesting to learn the whole process and at the end, we got to taste Jameson against the once-distilled taste of Jack Daniels and the twice-distilled Johnny Walker Black Label. Jameson is distilled three times which is why it's so smooth they said. I also tried a special 12 year distillery reserve they had and it wasn't bad.

I actually lied up above, my first stop was actually the first pub i saw for a pint of Guinness.   I just walked in and had to get one!  I hit a huge wall around 4 or so and went to a pub to wait for my buddy, Tommy.  He got to the pub and I was almost drifting off with a Guinness in my hand. We walked to his place which was an awesome little house his sister owns. It was absolutely perfect: Living room, two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and nice little garden area to hang clothes. Absolutely beautiful and everything one needs.  I hopped in the shower then caught a second wind so Tommy took me to the park to show me Hurling. Basically, lacrosse is for sissies compared to hurling, look it up.  No protective gear minus a helmut, they use wooden axe-like sticks and hit hard; I learned first-hand.

The next day, I went to the Guinness Storehouse and poured a pint which was cool.  I went to sky bar which has a 360° view of Dublin which was beautiful. I asked one of the bartenders where the best place for a pint of Guinness was and went there to drink and write a bit before meeting up with Tommy.

After work, we went to some horse races which was great! The basics go like this: get a pint, go check out the horses, look at the odds, think about a bet and how to bet it, place the bet, hit the stands and watch the horses run the race, curse or cheer depending on your bet, then do it all over again every half hour.  Needless to say, it was awesome even though I never won a bet. Tommy is the one in the back center.

I had met a bunch of Tommy's work friends at the races and the next night we all went out again and I met several more. What great people they all are. We all got along so well and I met Adam DeVine's doppelganger which was hilarious. Looked exactly like him and he and I had a ball. We got home late Friday night and then around half eleven on Saturday (11:30), Tommy and I went out for a last pint before he headed off to his home town and I headed to the airport. It was short and sweet and unforgettable.

I could definitely see myself living in Dublin and I hear that musicians do well there. It's a simple life and that is the best life in my opinion. Another city may call my name while I'm out here, but there's something about Dublin that calls to me... must be the water they put in the Guinness.

I'm in Edinburgh now and I'll be checking in during the week. Enjoy that beautiful weather my friends.

Tony G

Simple Chatter Can Take You Several Kilometers

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I'm sitting in the Toronto airport at the moment and I arrived from Nawleans this morning. I woke up this morning, took a shower and headed out from my couch surfers house. Couch surfing is so awesome as a free service and I would recommend it to anyone traveling on a budget. I'll even write you a recommendation on the site (thanks for mine, Linda)!

On the flight to Toronto I sat next to this nice Japanese gentleman, Jim Bei. We chatted a bit then he passed out and I just chilled for the relatively short flight. When he woke up, we chatted a bit more and walked to customs together. We parted ways and I started looking for a train to get into the city so my ~8 hour layover wouldn't be so boring.

As I was looking at train prices which were a bit too much, I ran into Jim Bei getting ready to go to his car. I chatted him up about alternative means to get around, and he offered me a ride downtown! I gladly accepted and he spent the next hour or so with me in his car showing me around. Then as he got ready to drop me off, he handed me a subway token and told me how to get back to the airport. What a guy! It was unexpected but fun and it just goes to show a smile and polite banter are a recipe for good, old-fashioned human interaction.

See you when I land in Dublin!

Southern Hospitality

Hey y'all!

It's been 2.5 years since my last blog post and I feel like that's far too long! I finally have something to write about so I wanted to reach out and setup my next few weeks for everyone.

I started off in New Orleans with my brother and two cousins and we had a blast. The food has been wonderful, the locals are so nice and our hotel was great. We even ran into some friends of ours who were down here.  Even though it's been a bit hot and muggy, it has been a wonderful time. I slept on my first ever couch surfing couch last night and the guy I'm staying with, Josh has been awesome and so welcoming. He's recommended a few places to go while he's at work and I'm looking forward to seeing what locals do here.

As for the weeks to come, I am going to be on a trip of a lifetime hitting several countries and meeting up with friends from my days in China. I will start in Dublin, move on to Edinburgh, skip through London on my way to Paris before floating to Amsterdam, hop to Berlin, coast to Prague and Budapest, zip over to Bucharest and then make my way to Italy to see as much as I can.  I can't wait for this adventure and I can't wait for you all to experience it with me.

My blog posts are going to be relatively short because I'm writing them on a tablet which is not the easiest thing to do.  I'll do my best to get some pictures and have you live vicariously through me. Make sure to leave comments, email me or message me when you can. I really enjoy feedback.

I'll be missing you all back home but I'll be back on July 17th and can't wait to catch up with you then.

Buh bye!

Tony G.