no hablo español

In the down time between chapters of my book and the occasional cooling dip on San Sebastian beaches, I decided to bring ‘me’ time to an end and dash from Spain’s North West Coast to the Mediterranean in the East. An overnight train later, it was hello Barcelona, for a brief stay before I heading back to Madrid, where I planned to round out my European tour.

I think that Spain bounces to a slightly different beat... The warm weather seems to have infected the population, inducing fun times and great local neighborhood vibes. Each day as dusk nears, local crew flock to the streets, plazas and public spaces to claim the streets as they catch up with friends and neighbours. Kids play, and the siren sounds for the nightly soccer scrimmage. Far from the destination, this marks the beginning of the night, an it's ritual like this that's proven enough to rouse a daily siestas out of insomniacs!

A couple of days in Barcelona was enough to discover the vibrant Las Ramblas, some pretty cool beaches, stunning Gaudi architecture (straight out of a Dr Seus book), and take advantage of balmy night beer drinking weather. My fondest memory of Madrid is another cliché day of the Royal Palace and a bullfight (after much moral debate curiosity got the better of me), followed by delish tapas and cervesa.

Madrid marks the end of the European chapter of my trip. So many amazing cities, adventures and experiences… and even more to come back and explore next time … It was brilliant, and a guy could get pretty bummed to be leaving, if of course his next stop wasn’t Toronto to catch up with Andy and Krista... and only one week from Amy arriving in NY!!!!!!

Basking in Basque

From Paris it was time to hit the coast. After so much time tinkering about in big, busy cities I was hanging for the big blue, and after some internal debate I decided on a west rather than east coast (Nice) run down France to Spain.... and big ups to me for making that call!

Biarritz (France) and San Sebastian (Spain) were in my sights for some serious lying on the beach, reading and work on my tan. Biarritz was the pick of the two, oozing class, crystal clean and with picturesque coastline. San Sebastian was of the same ilk, similarly rad but a bit larger and more lil' more touristy. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about swimming at the beach.

This is Basque country, and you gotta love that within a country as fiercely patriotic, and protective of their own culture as France, there's a similarly passionate region of people fighting for their own culture and values. Viva la Basque!

Viva La France

Not many cities come with as big a’ rep as Paris, and thanks to a little pre trip homework I arrived pretty pumped and with the most ambitious ‘to do’ list of any City I’d visited thus far… and man do those cheese eating surrender monkeys know how to put on a Capital City. An all you can eat smorgasbord of world class… everything! The Louvre, Notre Dame, Centre Georges Pompidou, St Michel Chapel, Eiffel Tower, Hotel des Invalides, Arc de Triumph... In 6 days (the longest I’ve spent in one place in over 5 weeks), on the go from dawn to dusk later, I still didn’t get to do everything I wanted to.

The 411

• For mine, the place and people definitely ooze a somewhat classy vibe, an air of confidence and self pride, an X-factor… Hot!
• Multicultural influences made it difficult to find affordable authentic French restaurants in the city centre (All the way to Paris for sushi or Indian, I don’t think so) but delicious pastries, baguettes + cheese + cheese + more cheese are rarely more than a block away.
• The Louvre is absolutely amazing, and frikkin enormous. After over 5 hours hanging with my mates Mona, Hercules, Ceaser, Aphrodite, Hermaphrodite and the rest of the crew, I swear some of the statues and paintings were talking to me, or was that the audio guide?
  
• De Vin – My budget made it a lil’ difficult to guzzle delish French wines, but the cheap plonk I did drink was pretty good
• CSI’s much better in English but Wheel of Fortune isn’t… Gotta love the unashamed French male chauvinist attitude that had the middle aged male host accompanied by a hot, ditzy, Anna Nicole Smith’esk blonde co-host. Big Broth still rubbish, although hot brunette triplets did win. Nicole Kidman doing Nintendo ads in French, weird!
• Weirder – People taking their cats and dogs everywhere with them. On holiday to hotels, on the train, to dinner.
• Weirdest - without doubt the most spun out moment in Paris was randomly running into Barrie Collis and Jane at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t even know they were in France, freaky shit!

Great times, earning Paris a guernsey on the holiday favs list. Viva Le France!

Prague

Charles Bridge

Old town

Fruity Fresh

Astronomical Clock

Busking on Charles Bridge

Tourist Town

Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the background

Mmmmm Stewed meat n' dumplings ... ohh and Urquell Larger

The gothic and very creepy 'Ossuary' in Kutna Hora near Prague... Human bones stacked to the rafters... shudder!!!

Speaking a thousand words...

A few more pics from the UK

Some clock

The Roman Baths .... in Bath... slightly cleaner than your average hostel!

Arrgh Red Beard...
And on behalf of the beard, thanks to everyone for their calls, emails, SMS, and hero faxes of support. Unfortunately though, the beard had to go not long after this due to 'creative differences'. We were no longer seeing eye to beard. It kept wanting to visit different cities, drink at different pubs, drive fast cars and hang out with loose women... it just wasn't working out... The good news is after some time apart (from my razor) its on its way back... time will tell.

You've seen the house, check out the street (Oxford)

Ben Nevis (he's the one at the back) the highest mountain in the UK

Dam!

Amsterdam, what can I say about Amsterdam… No really, I´ve got my lawyers looking into it at the moment.

It´s the place I overhear more excited conversations in internet cafes about more than any other. Europe´s playground, with all the weed a man can pleasure and women he can smoke! It was short but a novelty and good fun ... It lived up to the hype with drugs available on every street corner (in coffee or smart shops as opposed to their usual form in other cities) and legal prostitutes were easily found flaunting their wares… but once/if you get beyond that…

Maybe if the idea of people dope was a completely outrageous concept, or being able to sleep with a women who´s shagged half of England holds a special place in your heart… There were three English guys staying at my hotel who were up and stoned from 10am till bed every day, and one of them shagged about 5 pros in three nights. Tough holiday!

It was a quick, fun run through the Dam, but after a couple of nights I kinda felt like the world was flying into the place smoking, fucking, running amuck then leaving. Like a badly kept dirty secret. A little more seedy than I´d expected, but worth the look and will no doubt be good for a story or two.

Czech Please

Ahh this is the life… It seems that way too much holidaying has got in the way of my blogging commitments.

So where was I… Cheap beer, hot women and a strong objection to incorporating vegetables into any meal. Sounds like the dream Aussie BBQ really. Prague´s got it going on! Pour this highly palatable cocktail into a compact, walkable city centre filled with stunning ye olde architecture and shazzzzam!!

On the touristy stuff front… The Old Town and river area were stunning and the Charles Bridge, Castle and astronomical clock all lived up to my lofty expectations. Although with such a long history involving many regions, rulers, clans and religious groups that I´m not familiar with, some tales from yesteryear were a bit wasted on me.

A classic scene etched in my mind that typifies the local vibe… With time to fill waiting for a bus to Kutna Hora (a small town an hour out of Prague) I jump at the chance to guzzle some more cheap larger, and find my self a pub about 10m from the bus station (genious!). On my second pint I start studying the room. For 11:50am the place is pretty busy, with 14 men and one women (who´s pulling beers of course). Everyone´s guzzling 0.5 litre pints of Urquell and smoking like chimneys. In the time Im there the bar chick polishes off a schnitzel , half a kransky looking thing, two cigarettes and a pint… no salad, sauce, no fucking around, just down to business – that´s lunch! This seems a pretty typical scene away from the bustling tourist areas. The whole country´s on the Aitkins diet and they don´t even know it! And no Czech Republic cabbage doesn’t count, not even if you pickle the shit!

In summary, Prague´s rad, get on board. Medieval gothic architecture and tales with a dash of pagan influence were a welcome twist after the UK sites and stories.