Part 54 : New York Slice

Oh New York. how I do love thee so.

Firstly to my buddy Vadim who I met on the way to the Full Moon party way back and who said I could crash at his place if I was ever in New York. Thank you and boy did I have a good time. Firstly it was the 4th of July and we had a BBQ on his roof. Did I mention that I liked New York, only a few lines in and I'm already at a roof party. This one was only the first of the night. After it got dark and late and everyone one was intoxicated a few of us moved on over to another roof party. This one was quite different with about 1000 people on a roof and a whole lot of black guys that look like the new york thug gangster that you see in the movies (with no racism intended) they did look like the defensive line of a Gridiron team. There were also these bikes and table and seats that were on rocking horse like rails. A lot of fun until some dik rocks it too far and you fall off the back and whack your head on the ground. 

Vadim's girl Anna then took me out to a night that she was filming called the House of Yes. The night as a showcase for a local circus troupe which as far as I could see was mainly focused on sash acrobatics, which involves doing tricks a few meters up in the air while holding onto a curtain or cloth. The night was accompanied by a Jazz band and singers who rocked out burlesque like renditions of popular songs like lady gaga and Beyonce. Most of the time it was sung by girls who were dressed up quite fancy and a guy who wore..well pretty much the same thing as the girls. Overall it was a great night. 

The next day I though I should probably do something 'Cultural' is the world I used when I'm doing something that isn't partying. So I thought id wakeup and cross the brooklyn bridge. This was the thing I wanted to do the most, over seeing the statue of liberty, the empire state building or central park. I had already seen times square with Vadim while getting thai food and walking around the city so the bridge was the one thing I wanted to do on my last full day. So I got up early and made my way over to the brooklyn side of the bridge. On the way I stopped off at Lafayette station which is the station set in 'Knowing' which I spent a week working on the replica set of. It was quite surreal to be there since and made me think about how well the set designers in Melbourne recreated this on the studio. I felt like I had been there before but this was the real deal. 

So I crossed the bridge. It was quite nice and a lot easier then the websites claimed it would be making me think they were written for overweight americans rather then fit thin young travellers. New York was quite hot and humid, much more then I thought it would be so by the time I got to the other side I was quite ready for a drink (of water that is. but a beer wouldn't have been too much to ask for). I had received a msg from anna telling me about a artist parade heading through the city so I high tailed it over a few blocks, past the 9/11 memorial building and then over to where I thought the parade was. I managed to find them a block earlier then I though as they had started already, but with all the bright colours, flags and dance music it was hard to not ind them. 

I joined in as you do, and walked through the city dancing and parading our assed off. There were a lot of fans and bubbles. It actually reminded me of Bec in uni and her colourful rocket boots and cats tail. I felt she should have been here with Stef, so I partied as if they were here anyhow. I had managed to befriend 2 Filipinas who were local and so we partied together once we got to the rooftop party, my 3rd now in 2 days. I was this is probably where I fell in love with the city. This rooftop party was a mixture of the first 2 and the burlesque show. There was the jazz band, circus performers on the sashes again. bud pint cans for $1 and of course the jazz band. Down 1 level were the favourite'd toilets and local bands performing in a art gallery / green screen. What the hell new york!? I could definitely get used to this. My only real fear would be moving here and having to do things like work for a living and pay rent, utility bills. ugh. oh well on to Boston. Vadim and anna thank you once again for your hospitality. much love

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Empire State of Mind" by "Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys"

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Part 53 : Canada Day

After waking early to Grab my flight Im pretty sure I was still drunk. 3 hours sleep and partying to the wee hours was taking a toll on me. I managed to get my flight fine but slept the entire time. Literally as soon as I opened my eyes I would close them again. I also had a middle seat so the rest I managed to get throughout the trip was quite broken. Had I had a window seat I'm sure I would have slept the whole way like on my flight in.

I got to Toronto, my first city in Northern America. The day was hot and I was not looking forward to trekking around with my backpack trying to find the hostel. Luckily for me the Canadians are quite friendly and they seem to all known their own city, unlike Londoners who cant see to find the shop next door to their own workplace. Good directions from a nice bus driver and a fellow backpacker on the subway meant a easy trek to my hostel, Hostel International Toronto.

The city was caught between two major celebrations. The first being Canada day. Luckily I seemed to have landed on their national holiday and just like Australia we celebrated at the hostel with a BBQ. The 2nd celebration was the PRIDE parade. One of the biggest celebrations of Gay pride meant that my hostel was filled with a lot of Gays adorned in fluro from head to toe. I spent most of the night playing Uno and Euka while drinking beers with my new friends. When push came to shove though I ended up calling it an early one and getting some much needed rest rather then partying into the wee hours. My mouth is still not healing that well and is getting really annoying first in the sense that It makes eating a pain in the ass, and secondly that It looks like I have a nasty cold sore when really its just chaffing damage from the dentist.

I started my 2nd day with a nice breakfast in the Hostels cafe and then just managed to catch the free walking tour of toronto. Its actually the first tour I've gone on in a city so I have nothing to compare it against. Afterwards I just trekked around the city for a few hours checking out China Town and the Kensington Markets. Then I trekked down to the water front and just walked around taking in the view. I wanted to got up to the CN tower and do the walk around but it was $150 which is just out of my budget, and since I'm still fairly early in my trip I figured I can skip it this time. Next stop. New York

Song: Not original music of my creation.
"Burn it to the Ground" by "Nickelback"
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Part 52 : Pub Crawl Lisboa

Freedom!!! well Lisbon! I was free. I was out of the old father country and off to warmer weather. I had heard soo much about how good Portugal was from Elaina so I had to check it out on the way out. I also looked at flights from London direct to new York and I found through a little bit of research that for the same price I could fly from London to Lisbon to Toronto and then bus to New York and it would be about the same price. As long as I had the time then it was always going to be a better deal, and this way I can add lisbon and toronto to my list.

The flight to Lisbon was fine and even making my way into the city via the airport shuttle was quite simple. The hard part was getting from the drop off to the hostel. Lisbon is quite a hilly city and the shuttle dropped me off near the ocean. I managed to find a local map / sign and roughly figured out where the hostel was and the only conclusion I came to was that it was up hill :(

After half an hour of walking in the warm Portuguese sun with my pack and up hill I finally found the hostel :) and to celebrate I needed a beer and some food. The first thing I did when I arrived was have a small nap before heading out to a quiet bar over looking the city. I stopped in and got a coffee and beer and a toasted sandwich of some sort while chilling out and watching the people enjoying the sunset. I remember looking across and seeing Ethan Cruz and Erika Reyes and picking that they were filo. Turns out there were staying in my hostel and we ended up enjoying many drinks later as well as a nice day at the beach.

I went back and into the main room of the hostel which was in a separate building to my room and they were preparing to watch the Euro semi final between Germany and Italy. I sat down next to an American guy named Zach who had just finished the Camino de Santiago walk, from southern France to the cathedral in Spain. He had come over to Lisbon to relax for a week after the long walk. Turns out I'm a really bad influence and proceeded to encourage him to get really drunk with me, Great times :) The hostel had these pub crawls which is a bit different to other hostels I had stayed at which basically means that you pre-drink at the hostel with some cheaply bought booze from a local take away shop. You then proceed onto a local bar where for an hour you get unlimited beer and rounds of shots that range from tequila shots to some poor mans version of a cocktail lollipop water shot that tastes ridiculously bad, but hey it gets you drunk. Then onto another bar where your drunken self spends heaps of cash on beer and dance the night away to bad music. 

This seemed like the think to do so rinse and repeat 3 times in a row pretty much sums up the Lisbon experience. Yeah there were a fair amount of cultural experiences too, like hanging out with Chef Leon from melbourne who I went on a epic walk around the city with, saw some nice churches and found by pure luck the best lookout in the town. Walked all around, up and down the tight winding streets and then back to the hostel for some "quiet drinks",

The last day was quite cultural where a bunch of us including Zach, the Ethan and Erica, and a bunch of swedish guys headed out to Belem and went to the award winning pastry shop Pasteis de Belem and got a coffee (Starbucks) and Portuguese Custard Tart then had a most freezing swim on the beach then back for more drinks. The last night involved pre-drinks but there was no pub crawl because it was the last day of June and there was a fiesta on called the "Saints of Lisbon" where every suburb would have a street party in competition with each other and to celebrate their local saints. 

Other notable memories include the 3 Australian girls who were quite entertaining and the douche-bag from California who claimed to have 6 years of a Medical degree. I've never really met a guy who every single person unanimously disliked. According to him Zach was not the ideal weight. Ha!

I tried to finish off the night early and get back to pack so I could get to my 6am!!! flight but I got lost in the streets and ended up at a street party. Oh well cant fight destiny.

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Danza Kuduro" by "Lucenzo feat Don Omar"

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Part 51 : The White Horse

After finishing off the job down in Taunton I had a task at hand that makes most people sick. Packing up your life's contents into boxes and cleaning out the place you just lived in for a year. Lucky for me, I hadn't been there that long so the inevitable pile up of my own stuff wasn't so bad but it still had to be done. 

Those life's necessities I had bought just a few months later now seemed again like heavy junk weighing my life down. I couldn't carry this stuff with me and since I was going to be on the road again I really only needed the stuff that I actually needed. My clothes, toothbrush, bathroom necessities, my passport, 1 towel and a bucket load of cash. Stuff like desk of drawers, an ironing board and a wok just didn't survive the evolution process and hence were being abandoned. My laptop, my ipod, a book or two and my fan from china however also managed to sneak its way on the list. 

Packing up and sorting out all your crap is one of the negatives in moving back home, the positives is that you get to have goodbye dinners with all your good friends and soon enough every night was booked out with catching up with my london friends. Iax being my oldest friend I got to hang out with twice and his little bubba Isla. I also had a awesome night out with Rohan and Troy at egg, but unfortunately had to work my last shift at Evos on the sunday so I could't get as 'messy' as I would have liked. My foodie crew with Jason, Constantine, Abby, Wendy, Ashley along with Rohan and Troy also got together for a farewell london dinner of Dim Sum at Plum Valley Restaurant in china town. I love how food bring people together. 

The event in the video was a last drinks with Iax and Duncan around Soho. Great times and great people. I will definitely miss all my London friends.

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Immigrant Song (Girl with a Dragon Tattoo OST)" by "Karen O and Trent Reznor"

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Part 50 : Tone Dale House

After celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee and hanging with my sister in London for a week it was time to get back to work. Lucky for me it was a location job through Evolutions working on Obese and staying at Tone Dale House down in Wellington, Somerset. 

The only thing I had heard about the region before I came here was the name Somerset which just reminds me of Pride and Prejudice and old English wealthy estates. The house itself has a good 10 rooms and a converted Stables which is where the camera crew and myself are all staying. There is a games room with Pool and Table tennis and a large Dining room where we are all fed amazing 3 full meals each day. There is a gym where I take the opportunity to get some exercise in while I am here but with the amount of food I am eating I will definitely need. 

Being able to spend time out here in the country and being surrounded by trees and grass rather then buildings and concrete is just amazing. I feel its like a nice reward for a hard long year in London with some time to recoup some energy before venturing off into the wilds of America. 

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Times Like These" by "The Foo Fighters"

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Part 49 : Old Town Zadar

Almost directly following the Fish Banquet Greg and myself pretty much just hung around our hostel while we were waiting for my sister "joey" to arrive. We went out to the airport and picked her up, it was the first time I had seen her in over a year. We get along pretty well most of the time and I'm sure it was the first time we were outside of the country together without mum. This trip over to England was Joeys real first travel out of the country without mum or the kids so I think she was up for a party. 

The next day was going to be a big day however and we had reserved all of the Major touristy events like the museums and churches etc for when joey was coming since we figured we'd have to do it anyhow and we didn't really want to do it twice. Old town Zadar is quite nice and well…old. The streets and building are all really old and there are Roman ruins and building that have survived several wars, but it just didn't have the same tourist population as larger more popular places and hence the exhibitions and museums were actually quite small. The roman ruins are all outside and easy to see and the hike up the big tower gives a great view but other then that its a pretty quiet town overall. 

By the time it got to night time we had decided on having a big one and went looking for what we already knew was a underground party culture. While we were walking along the waterfront to a bar we had investigated earlier we met a guy name Xavier. Xavier, by the way he talked, dressed and even styled his hair reminded us all of clint. The most bizarre thing about the whole situation was that clint was the only one of us missing and that Xavier just came along and filled his shoes temporarily. By the end of the night we just called him clint or clint clone and he pretty much just went along with it. He was just as funny and entertaining as the original. 

Whilst walking along some random street we found the two local guys from the night before and they pointed us in the direction of a new club opening up and after seeing that it was quite dead moved on to another bar which was also quite dead. Someone told us about a really pumping nightclub and we had met a few young locals probably just turned 18 and quite drunk who said they would show us the way. After talking to those guys for a while I found there was still some bad blood between the Croatians and the Serbs, on of the young guys shouting drunken hatred for a really good tennis player just because he was serbian. We got to the nightclub and it was pretty dodgy. Dark lighting and crappy music. I was getting quite fed up with the night and was going to call it an early one but it was fun to party with clint clone. Greg went home early, and me Clint clone and joey partied on through to close at the break of dawn. We finished off assessing everyone as they were leaving and trying to pick who were the tourists and locals. 

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Dubidup" by "Stampedo & Deafness by Noise"

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Part 48 : Croatian Fish Banquet

The trip away to Paris was great as I got away from the drain and drag of the London work lifestyle. It was great and I was feeling a lot better since I got even though I spent most of the time working to pay for Croatia. This trip came up because greg was over for his better halfs' English sides of his pre-wedding commitments. I think Nell was off to Europe somewhere for a Bridesmaids get away so me and Greg went off to Croatia. 

I didn't really get involved in the whole planning of the trip and both me and greg do like to follow a chase the wind type of mentality when it comes to planning stuff like accommodation etc. So when we arrived in Zadar it was quite late around 10pm and we found ourselves in the old town trying to find any kind of hostel at all. After a pretty decent walk and finding a few places that were shut or full I managed to spot a light on and someone closing a door and I thought it was a hostel. We made out way over to the door and saw a hostel sign. We called the number and there were 2 beds free!!! yes. Lucky buggers as you'd say back home. That night we managed to find a local karaoke bar in croatian and tried the local beer. It was a quiet night in the end and we needed a bit of rest after travelling all day. 

The second night we checked out a few places and eventually ended up in a local night club bar which was quite small. The Dj was blasting his tunes and we were downing some Gin and Tonics with a surprising number of beautiful croatian girls kicking about. The language barrier was definitely not a bonus and much more a hinder. After a song or two a band made up of 1 accordion, a guitar and a singer came through, the DJ stopped and in the middle of the dance floor the kicked into traditional folk songs and the whole bar lit up and started singing. Great times. We made a few friends who were a group of locals who then took us to a nightclub / rave. This place was packed. I would estimate the place had about 1000 people dancing, but the most interesting thing about the club was the music. 

I could almost imagine the Red Lion DJ being up there and playing all the late 90's club tracks and pop music. From memory they played "Scooter", "Blue", "Barbie girl" and "Baby, One more time". 

We did go for a swim on the beach which was freezing and stopped by for a Fish banquet which you can see in the vid :D 

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"The Logic Song" by "Scooter"

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Part 47 : Tour Eiffel

Saturday was the big day. Being a tourist in Paris and checking out all the things that you would normally do to tick off the list of things to do and see in Paris. First we went to a local cafe and ordered a Croque-Monsieur which is a local French breakfast which is pretty much a ham and cheese toasty but with the cheese grated on top. It was actually really nice with a feminine variant called Croque-Madame which is pretty much the same but with a egg fried on top.

After breakfast we trekked it over to Notre Dame. There was a massive long line to get in to the Cathedral which snaked its way in a awkward fashion through the gardens but some how it made sense. We walked through and checked out the old gothic cathedral and same the mass in progress. The weird thing was hearing mass in French, but other then that it was a fine old building but was very touristy. Out the back however there are bridges crossing the river where there are locks that have been attached to the fencing of the bridge that lovers place on their to show their love. Its was quite nice seeing couples placing theirs on the bridge. I did wonder at the time though if the bridge got filled up whether the people that worked that area just cut the locks away to make space for new ones. 

From then on we trekked around the city for quite a while. We walked along the river, over to the Louvre and got photos at the pyramid, doing the jump and the touching the top kind of pictures that you see everyone do. It was nice. We didnt go inside because that would have been a day in its own right. Next we moved along to the Champs-Elysees shopping district and up to the Arc De Triomphe. The Arc I was keen on seeing but once I got to the top I was quite impressed about firstly the size of the arc, and secondly the view from the top. I usually try to go to a city and steer clear of the tourist trap locations but for some reason in Paris I decided to go full tourist. The view was amazing since its the centre point of all the boulevards throughout the city. The arc is actually quite high up and you get a great view of the tower from there. One of the amazing things I saw was a photo taken of the Arc at Napoleons coronation (or the arcs opening, not sure exactly) where there was a stone chariot on the top of the arc which was massive, almost as high as the inside archway. Its not there now of course and I cant seem to find any photos but it was impressive to see especially after being up on top and seeing how big it actually is. 

Next up was The eiffel tower which is by far the Icon of the city. The line to get up took forever, around 2 hours and by the time I went up it was right on sunset. I went up to the highest point of the tower and was amazed and the night view. The city looks soo small from up there and I felt a slight tinge of vertigo in the lift. Having seen the view I decided it was well worth the wait and the fee to get up there and wished at that point I had a better camera. The crowds on the way down from there were quite annoying and really the only bad part of the whole day. A few small groups were simply rude and seemed to not be able to follow common courtesy when it comes to massively popular tourist sites and the whole be patient and don't line cut. Yes we can see that you can do it but don't, your just being a dick.

By the time we were done with the tower it was getting late and it had been a long day. I managed to collect 3 of the coins for the 3 locations I went to, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and The Eiffel tower. There not a complete set but will be a great reminder of an awesome weekend away.

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"1941 Swing in Paris" by "Ray Ventura - Menilmontant"

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Part 46 : Midnight In Paris with Rain

To celebrate surviving London for 1 year, Iax invited me to go with him to Paris after a quiet drink out one rainy saturday night after I told him I hadn't left the island yet. Yeah I had travelled to Scotland and Wales but I hadn't left British culture, so he said why not go to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a bit to far to go so we settled for Paris. 

We chose the road trip option and first drove from London to Dover, also a good chance for me to see the white cliffs while I'm here. The the ferry took us over the channel car and all, while we sat upstairs, had a beer and chilled out for an hour and a half. The ferry ride is quite good with eating facilities and a bar, even a small game zone with arcade games like time crisis 2 and 3. No Daytona though :(

Once on french soil in Calais we drove south battling the setting sun as we tried to get in to Paris as soon as we could. The problem was that 1, we didnt have GPS on our phone, and our maps we a little suggestive about small details in rural areas, not to mention the sign posts only really make sense if you know the region slightly. So we got lost and ended up in Paris about 10 hence the last drinks video. 

The one this I did think the whole time we were driving through northern france was that at some point 60+ years ago these farms were being over run by nazi soldiers and the open fields being massive battlefronts for tank skirmishes. I dreamed about a modern version of this and how different the battles would be If they were battling farm vs freeways. I figured it would be much the same, bloody. The other thing I felt was a familiarity of the entire region. Like I had been here before and considering my previous thought its probably because I had, or indeed my eyes had. The entire place was a map from Call of Duty or Medal of Honour. Like all the games I had played before was educating me on what northern france looked like. It was quite a nice nostalgia.

We made it to Paris and it was raining, quite funnily in a almost exact manner as when we came up with the whole idea one week before. As we had little time we were heading out regardless. We made our way to a bar close to the Egyptian monolith that Napoleon stole, located near the American embassy to a bar called Buddha Bar. The bar was pretty fancy and the people were very well dressed. The top section is a small strip around the edge of the building which is fairly crowded and looks down over people eating their meals. The place seemed very posh. not because it was amazingly nice, but because fancy posh people went there. There is a large buddha as the venues figure piece and frankly a bit insulting, but thats not my place to make a scene. 

Our first round was 3 shots of tequila since we figured we were on a bit of a catch up, and followed by 2 beers and a wine. The 6 drinks in total cost 75 Euro which was just astounding. The next round, 2 beers and a wine was 35 Euro and then 3 beers was 30 Euro. The Shots however were Patron and decent sized shot cups made from bamboo, but the beers were half-pints. So all in all a very expensive venue. They also had a DJ upstairs that ranged from french club to electro and dub-step. We enjoyed him but I don't see how it would be nice if you came for dinner. 

Once we were kicked out we met Ellia and his sister who were really nice and we did plan on partying with them at the next venue. In the end we took separate cabs, got lost, couldn't find the venue and we decided on heading home and sleeping as tomorrow was a big day full of lots of touristy things to see and do. 

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Bistra Fada" From the motion picture Midnight In Paris

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cheers

Part 45 : 120 Boat Party

After a long time away from blogging travelling and partying, well thats not completely true but partying involving a camera, Iax pulls a gig down in Vauxhall to celebrate 4 x 30th birthdays all at once. The first thing I though was sweet! another Iax gig and a good chance to catch up with Darius who came down to visit. The second was that it was a boat party and that wed be cruising around the Thames and being generally cool while getting drunk and listening to some good tunes. Something similar to boat parties I've gone to in Sydney where you cruise around the harbour in the sun, but on a river in London and at night. 

In reality the boat was more like a shabby restaurant but it was docked on the side of the river. In a way a cooler kind of restaurant and night club, something a little different but the uneven floors made dancing quite hilarious which is always good. In the end Iax played a pumping set and I had a great time. My only problem was having to leave at 3am to get back home and be up for work at 9am. Work fyi was a long shift with a lot of problems, so a little bit of punishment for going out and partying all night.

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Promises" By Nero (Remixed on MOS Annual 2012)

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Follow Iax's @ http://iax.podomatic.com/ 

or follow him on Twitter: Iaxyes

cheers