June 16, 2009

EUROPE! Biggest Blog Ever

RevPeytonJunkyard

Well we are back from our trip to Europe, and we have put together the biggest Photo Blog – Road Journal ever.  We were robbed, we ate some good food, we ate some really crappy food, and we had some great times, and great shows.  Follow us spiritofthesea  for more information. Above all some great shows.

maycause
Our plane was late, and we had to spend 24 hours in Philadelphia.  This was one of the first things we saw once we finally got to Ireland.  Already we were confused. For more details follow grid-nigeria .

irishpubs
This is a row of Irish Pubs in Kilkenney, Ireland.  They look an awful lot like Irish Pubs in the US, and they have Budweiser on tap everywhere!  John Cleere’s is the white one with red trim.  We played there, and it was killer.

churchireland
A church in Kilkenney, Ireland.

tallchurchireland
We were told that you could get a pint and a prayer on every corner.  Here is yet another cool church in Kilkenny, Ireland.  This time with graveyard.

alterblackabbey
This is an alter inside the Black Abbey in Kilkenny, Ireland.

castleireland
Kilkenney Castle, Kilkenney, Ireland.

statueireland
Weird Statue in Kilkenney, Ireland.

PalaceandPoop
This  is outside of Buckingham Palace.  I believe that is a giant pile of poop.

bdbwithsoldier
This is one of those soldiers who doesn’t talk or move.  London, England.  A couple of them did give me a dirty look and a nod for getting too close.

protestersinlondon
Protesters very close to Big Ben.

breezyfeedsrodent
Near Buckingham Palace, Breezy feeds a squirrel rice krispy treats.  Two things here… One, Who knew squirrels love rice krispies.  Second, if you look back through the blog archives here you will see that this is not the first time Breezy has fed animals by hand.  She is like the beastmaster.

bigrevbigtree
Near where Breezy fed the squirrels the Rev. Peyton stands in front of a famous London Plane tree.

revbigben
The  London show was one of my favorites, and we had seen some amazing things.  Little did I know the clothes I was wearing in this picture, in front of Big Ben, would be the clothes I would wear for the next two and a half weeks.

toadinholewithgravy
This was the menu at Water Rats, the venue in London.  Toad in the Hole with Gravy?

palacesoldiers
The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.  These fellas dress old fashoined, but their firearms are mean and modern.  I wouldn’t mess with them.

redcoat
See what I mean.  Mean and modern guns.  A guy near their said it like this, “They are proper soldiers.”

rainer
This is Rainer.  He was our driver for a lot of the tour.  He had to bring the bad news, that while we were playing  the show in London… All of my things were stolen.  For two weeks I had to wear the same clothes.  I just  hand washed them in the sink.

bustedvan
The thieves busted the window out of the van, and got my computer, clothes, medicine, and song journal.  Everything.  I still had my guitars though, so thank god the tour continued.

brightonpier
This is  the world  famous Brighton Pier in Brighton, England.  It was beautiful, but really really cold.  I have never felt wind outside like that except for during a storm.  The donuts on the pier were killer.

amsterdamstreet
Amsterdam is beautiful.  There is water running down the streets like Venice, Italy.  You can take a boat taxi.  I was amazed at how clean Amsterdam was.

flyingdutchman
Jayme and the Rev. Peyton stand in front of the Flying Dutchman as it makes it’s way down a  canal in Amsterdam.

usgroceries
In Amsterdam we found an “ethnic” grocery store that sold American food.  This is a picture of the stuff in the window.  We couldn’t help but laugh… and buy a bunch of crap.  Jayme and Breezy bought Mountain Dew.  I got Root Beer.

magicmushrooms
I knew that there would be legal weed in Amsterdam, but I didn’t expect stuff like this.

dutchwhore
They really frown on taking pictures of the working girls in the red light district in Amsterdam, so I had  to take this picture on the sly.

smalleuropeantruck
Small European truck in Amsterdam.

dutchshoe
Big Dutch Shoe.

boatinholland
We stayed on this boat in Harlingen, Holland.  The beds were pretty comfortable.  Beats the floor any day of the week.

smallbathroomonboat
This was the bathroom on the boat.  The shower was right above the toilet.  No curtain or anything.  You just shower over everything!  See the drain!  We ran into a few of these kind of bathrooms.

fromtheboatatnight
I took this from the boat at night after the show.  Pretty awesome.

jaymefeedszebra
Jayme feeds a zebra.

zebrajayme
Jayme is a Zebra.

revwithbremenmusicians
The Rev. Peyton stands in front of the fun statue of the “Bremen Musicians,” Bremen, Germany.

goldwallbremen
A gold wall in Bremen, Germany.

streetpreachergermany
This man stood in the middle of the square tapping a book and shouting toward the sky.  I asked some kids what he was saying, and they said he was crazy, and I said yeah, but what is he saying?  They said he is talking about Jesus.  A street preacher, I thought to myself.

policeingermany
The police then came and arrested him.  This freaked us out a little bit.  Some of the crowd cheered, but an old man took up his cause for a while. No one could explain it to us exactly.  I wondered what his crime was.

germantower
An old couple walks under an old tower in Ulm, Germany.  Birthplace of Albert Einstein.

leibeist
This was on the door to the reception area of the hotel we stayed at in Ulm, Germany.  I know the first line is “Love is.”  The second line is still a mystery.

dasboot
Dave, our tour manager, challenged people all over Europe to a drinking contest.  He was undefeated.  First up was Rainer our driver.  Rainer gave him the best competition, but still lost.  We had a lot of fun with Rainer.  He was a good guide.

dasboot2
Next up was our next driver Lars.  Dave beat him pretty bad as you can see.  Lars was one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I think Dave freaked him out with his speed drinking.

rundaverun
Lars ran out of gas on the Autobahn.  Dave and Jayme went looking for gasoline.  Jayme returned and said Dave kept going and he decided to come back.  30 minutes later we see Dave running with a gas can.  We measured it out, and we think Dave had to run almost 4 miles to get the gas.  Lars was amazed.  Between the drinking and the running, I think he was freaked out.  Dave did it all in 30 minutes, half of it with 10 liters of diesel.

giantbrat
In Ulm we had our only real day off with no travel or transportation.  We went to a carnival.  Here we are eating Brats that are a half meter long.  They are broken in half and doubled over the bun.  Pictured are tour manager Dave, Jayme, Driver Lars, and The Rev. Peyton.

giantscaryride
This is maybe the scariest ride I have  ever seen.  Breezy and our tour manager Dave rode it.  Jayme, our driver Lars, and myself watched from the safety of the ground. Ulm, Germany.
spaceridebavaria
Jayme is on this Space ride at Carnival in Ulm, Germany.

americangrab
Most of the rides had English names and/or American themes.  This was the “American Grab.”  It was a big bunch of “Crane Machines.”

swingtime
This ride was strange.  “Swing Time.”  Kids just  stood up and bopped around while this thing tilted and spun.   It was like a weird dance party.

giantbavarianpretzel
Most of the food that  in the United States we think of as “German Food,” is actually Bavarian Food (Southern Germany).  Brats, Kraut, and Giant Pretzels like this one in Ulm, Germany.

euroear
I was a little bummed out being around all these American style rides and a fireworks show at a carnival that except for a few things  might have been in the US.  I really wanted an elephant ear.  I kept talking about it.  On the way out we saw this  guy getting ready to put ham and cheese on what looked like an Elephant Ear!!!!!!  I stopped him, and I asked Lars to see if they had cinnamon and sugar.  They did!  And even though the  guy thought it was weird to put cinnamon and sugar on a “langos,” he agreed and I got my Elephant Ear.  It  was awesome.

germanvista
A couple of  tractors work the German Countryside.

washerdryergermany
This is how you work the laundromat in Germany.  All in German.  We were clueless.

lifeshow
Every now and then things would be lost in translation.  I think they mean “Live Show.”  In the red light district  of Hamburg, Germany.  Just  like Amsterdam’s only smaller.

peeinpotofgold
This is a public toilet in Hamburg, Germany.  The lights depict these little fellas peeing into a pot of gold.  That  really struck me funny.

italianbeach
The Tyrrhenian Sea part of the Mediterranean Sea, Livorno, Italy.
strangeitalianinsea
I don’t know what this fella was doing in the Adriatic Sea near Cesena, Italy.  It looked like he  might have  had little things floating around  in the ocean too.  If you know what that device is let us know.

revandbreezyatpisa
Breezy and  I stand in front of the  Leaning  Tower of Pisa.  Man it was pretty awe inspiring.  I can’t explain it.  Huge and it really does lean.  Looks  like it is gonna  fall.

oslostreetmusicians
Street musicians in Oslo, Norway.

czechfield
Field of yellow flowers in the Czech Republic.

billyboy
This was an energy drink/condom combination we  saw in Germany.  Pretty funny.

swissvista
Swiss lake.  That water  is really that  blue.  That cliff is really that tall.

swissvista2
Another section of the lake.  It was massive.

boysrtanglesgoose
Bird bath statue of a boy strangling a goose.  Near Livorno, Italy.

castleincesena
Castle in Cesena, Italy.

strangestatueincesena
Strange Statue in Cesena, Italy.

cesenaatnight
The Moon looks  down on Cesena, Italy at night.

NorwayMoose
A pair of Norwegian Moose.

NorwayCrosswalk
The pedestrians in Norway are sharp dressed.

happytroll
Happy Troll statue in Norway.  Norway loves trolls!

Norwaylake
Norwegian Lake.

fromtheferryNorway
We had  to take the van on a bunch of ferry rides.  This is from the ferry in Norway.

BreezyonhillNorway
Breezy walks down a hill in Norway.

NorwayMtsWaterfall
This is quite a vista in Norway.  Check out the giant waterfalls.  They look like little white lines.

polarnorway
Norway is pretty far North.  I part of our travels took us through a place that looked like this… In June!

housewithgrassroof
We stayed in this house  for a couple of days.  A lot of Norwegian  houses have grass on the roof.  Pretty cool I thought.  From far away they blend in with the  mountains.  Like camouflage.

norwayidol
These  kids came  in second  or something in a  “Norway Idol” type singing competition.  We were told they were  famous and we should get our picture with them.  Here it is!
vikingdogcollar
This is a Viking dog collar found in a burial mound of a viking.  Even their dogs were bad ass.

vikingship
This a ship at the Viking Ship museum.  This is an actual ship that was buried with a Viking Queen.  They buried the whole ship filled with treasures and artifacts.

lighthouseferryoslo
This is the Oslo lighthouse and a giant Stena Line Ferry.  We rode the Stena Line from UK to France.

breezyosloboat
Breezy in front of a cool boat in an Oslo Harbor.  Oslo, Norway.

giantnorwayship
This is Oslo, Norway.  That giant ship in the back is the Stena Line.  It is pretty far back there.  Then there is the broad side of a huge sail boat.  Look at the cars over to the side for perspective.

BDBNorwayJunkard
One  of the coolest shows of the whole tour was put together by our friend and Norwegian Promoter Andree.  It was in a big Junkyard.  you can see some of the cars in the right.  That car to the left of  Breezy has a big ax stuck right in the  hood.  You can see the handle to the left of Breezy.

BreezyJunkyard

Breezy in the  Junkyard.

RevPeytonJunkyard

The  Rev. Peyton in the  Junkyard.  Norway.  The  trip was a real adventure, and we made  so many friends.  If you have any pictures send ’em in.  Get ready for a killer Summer.  Festivals and shows all over the USA and even Canada.  From the Vans Warped Tour to Austin City Limits Fest.  From Indiana to California.  Please help us get the word out, and thanks for all the help at home and abroad.  your pals, The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band.

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