I got a little burnt out with uploading photos from my trip but lets see if I can get the ball rolling again. These are the some of the remaining photos from my time in Paris.

Back of Notre Dame

Someone decided to put my name up around my subway stop halfway through my trip. They could have done a little bit of a better job though. The fake drips just kinda throw it over the top.

Kabobs

The Pantheon

Walking home because…

…we got locked out.

Getting a little desperate Eva?

Best food for the money. This gem is on Les Gobelins street in the Southeastern section of the city.

Trust me (the picture doesn’t do this justice)

I decided to check out one of the famous cemeteries here in Paris. Some of the tombs/graves date back to the 1700’s.

Follow the signs

Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar…

xskullswithwingsx

For real?

My attempt to “Finish it off with a bang”

All my other car “wants” just got put on the back-burner. 1967 Volvo Amazon.

wow

I have been flying solo for the past few weeks wandering around Europe and relying on my Ipod more than usual. Usually my music choice comes from me hitting shuffle on iTunes on my computer and rarely do I find myself actually picking something to listen to.

Here are a few videos from the bands that have been being played through my headphones.

The Stray Cats are one of those bands that I have managed to hold onto since my childhood. It was a band that my dad listened to back in the 80’s and showed to me at a fairly young age due to the G rated content. Regardless, I have listened to them more times than I can count on this trip. Oh yeah and my Mom’s name is Gina.

The Cramps



Jack White and Alison Mosshart of The Kills = The Dead Weather = amazing. This was one of the first cd’s that I have actually gone to a store to purchase in quite some time. Well worth the $16.



This one is for Rachael



I missed Muse play in Paris by only a few days. I should have planned a little better.



I can thank my friend Joe for making me start listening to The Streets again. Thanks Joe.



More on The Doors in a little bit



anyways, thats all for now.

Going to Paris was probably one of the best decisions I have made on this trip. I really wasn’t even planning on coming here due to the countless times I have heard from friends that the Parisians were not friendly and I wouldn’t even have a good time here. Well needless to say, those people were wrong.

The post about Paris will be broken up into the next few posts because I have way too many photos I want to show. Enjoy.

Luxembourg Gardens day one

Just up the street…

Notre Dame

Who needs the Metro when you have feet?

Balance of Opposites?

I am not going to bother telling you all what these pieces are. If you know you know. If you dont, then you should do a little research.

Wall coverings

The most famous portrait in the….

I think I should go into the Postcard business.

more soon.

One of the main things that I heard at my home prior to coming over to Europe was to try a legit Belgian Waffle. For some of you who do not know, my parents own and operated a restaurant called The Belgian Waffle Works. Ridiculous as it sounds, waffles are part of my families everyday life at home.

First things first, lets find a waffle.

Found it. I guess the waffles out here that have tons of topping or are shaped a certain way are not “legit” waffles, but simply tourist waffles. I opted for the local style waffle

This guy is called the Mannekin Pis. It is a little statue of a boy constantly peeing, peeing, and peeing some more. The part about this statue that is actually more funny than the statue itself is that people come around on a daily basis and dress him up and random costumes depending on the events, time of year, or anything else that is going on around the town. Its actually pretty difficult to catch this statue without clothes of some sort on him.

Something else that I noticed about Brussels is their love for comics. Comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, all sorts of illustrated literary works find home in Brussels. There is a part of the city that is actually pretty decorated by these famous comics.

Some great typography work

Low angles, low angles, low angles.

Walk in the park.

The view from the hostel

This all happened a few days ago. Im about to leave Paris now actually to go off to Rome. Paris was just too much fun for me to find time to put these pictures up from Brussels. I’ll attempt to put up the Paris photos pretty soon.

and im off…

I don’t even know where to begin this blog about Amsterdam. My previous conceptions of this city pretty much consisted of 2 things, Legal “soft” drugs and windows lit by red lights. I’m pretty sure that I do not stand along with this idea of what this city would be like but I was pleasantly surprised to find much more to this city during my short 3 days here. This city is in no doubt something that I have never seen in my life, breaking all the rules and then some. But it had a great sense of culture, an extremely wide range of people, and a care-free mentality that I greatly appreciate.

The first that that I noticed when I got away from the train station was that there is water everywhere. Amsterdam is built largely around a system of canals. These canals make for some great photo opportunities as well as some really helpful landmarks to help find your way when you get lost. It seems like the water has taken its toll on some of the foundations of the building and caused them to go in all different directions. Either that or the people building them were spending far too much time at the “coffee shops.”

Don’t expect any pictures in this from the red light district. I guess it is really illegal and the girls will be the first ones to report you. I was not about to have my camera taken away for a few random nudie shots so I was happy to keep the camera to my side during these parts.

Architecture and such.

If you can notice in the background there is a sign for H&M. This store has completely taken over every city that I have been to having numerous locations in very small area. I can’t say that I am against seeing these stores though, the prices are not too bad and the quality/design is still there.

Ok so lets have a break from the typical photos that always seem to end up on my site. Amsterdam is known for sex and drugs so I figured it would be appropriate to share.

First off, down the street from us was a Sex Museum. I wont show you too many photos because it is graphic and my Mom reads my posts but I think you will get the idea of what this place consisted of.

Kelley’s mom is going to “thank” me for this one

“The Flasher”

Full commitment

I found my new love in Amsterdam

Great typography

Not something you see in store windows back at home

Also not something you see in most store windows back at home

RIP MJ

Kelley and I found a great italian restaurant in Amsterdam. The people who owned the place were awesome and the prices were reasonable for probably the best food that I have had over here SO FAR. Im saying so far because I am still going to Paris and Italy so I am sure that I will find lots of great food in those two places. But yeah, this food was amazing.

Random money from all over the world posted on the walls

Adding to the wall

Day 2:

Mini Cars are very popular in Europe and this is about as mini as they come.

This building was pretty cool. It seems that not only are the buildings crooked but the streets run in all sorts of directions as well.

Where the points meet

I had a pretty tough time remembering the street names here in Amsterdam. Safeword, safeword, safeword, safeword (credit: Eurotrip)

I just couldn’t do it. Maybe next time

Yes, I know.

Back to the typical Amsterdam stuff. “Smart Shops” sell all sorts of stuff that you cannot buy from a store pretty much anywhere in the world. From peyote to mushrooms, they pretty much have anything your tainted heart desires.

The menu (definitely leaving out some of the merchandise for legal purposes)

ps. I didnt buy anything from one of these shops (Hi, Mom and Dad)

Wandering

Anne Frank House/Huis

Breakfast of champions (at 1 in the afternoon)

Thanks for ruining my tourist photo

There was a skate contest going on in the city on more a more than legit mini ramp

These painted elephants were all around the city. This was the first one that I came across.

and this was the most ridiculous one I came across

The Van Gogh Museum is here in Amsterdam as well. It was pretty impressive to see a lot of his great works. If you go here though, don’t expect to see Starry Night and a few of his other more famous paintings. Regardless it was worth the 12.50 to get inside. Oh and there were no pictures allowed inside here

Random street art

Random guy swallowing a sword on the street.

Kelley found a shoe that fits her just right

“The Bulldog”

Best picture I’ve taken in Europe so far.

Off to Brussels, Belgium for a few days.

Here are a few more photos from my time in Madrid. The ones with me in them were stolen from Kelley’s camera.

The last night that I was in Madrid, Kelley and I met up with some of her friends who are also studying abroad. We ended up heading over to the place that had amazing sangria from the other night.

A few random pics Kelley had from drinking sangria the first night

I’ve been using street art a lot during this trip. It has served as my way of distinguishing where I am located around the various cities. It really helps because it is something I noticed that actually stands out from all the city buildings that are all very similar.

“Make a left turn at the pooping three-eyed man”

“…then make a right turn at the flying television, duck, and KISS Mickey”

Its as easy as that.

She hasn’t seen me for a few weeks

Tourist

The “first” hostel

Amsterdam is next.

My trip to Madrid, Spain has come and gone way too quickly. I’ve been here for a good 5 days and it feels as if I just arrived yesterday. The whole time it has been go go go go so its been hard to find time to come online and put some of these photos up. I’m happy that I have a few minutes before I have to board the train to head off to Paris so I can show you what I’ve been up to.

One of the first things I noticed about this city in comparison to others were the street performers. While a few of them were quite talented in showing the crowd their random talents, the ones that seemed to impress me the most were the individuals who were not doing anything at all. I have not seen this before but many of them were dressed up and playing the roles as human statues. They would move on occasion but for the most part they would just stand or sit there in various positions for hours on end. I have to give credit to them because I really don’t think that I could even sit there for a mere 5 minutes without demanding to have the mud and paint removed from my face.

Anyways, please excuse the size of the photos during my trip. I made a poor attempt to load photoshop onto the computer that I am using during my time here so I am attempting to use iphoto for everything photo related.

The architecture around the city is amazing. I always like when the city makes an effort to light up their more impressive buildings at night. Night time photography is definitely a favorite of mine and the city of Madrid made for some good photo opportunities.

Postings…

The first night Kelley and myself found this cool alley off one of the main streets. All down the alley were a bunch of bars and restaurants where all sorts of different people were gathered. We found this one place that had THE best sangria I have ever had. The pitchers were reasonably priced at 14 euros so it made for an inexpensive good time.

The next day Kelley and I went over to this park that was just outside of the city. Our plans were to go to another park but we ended up here instead. This park was made for more of outdoor recreations instead of simply lounging around. Recreations like mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, and renting hookers were all possibilities at this park of wonders. Oh, we managed to find this pretty cool suspension bridge stuck randomly on the hillside as well.

Kelley’s bridge photoshoot…

More nighttime photos

The next day I was pretty much left to fend for myself. This was definitely not the easiest thing at first due to the fact that my Spanish speaking is limited to only a few words. To my surprise I managed to order some food (not from an American fast food store either) find my way around town and get a few snacks along the way. I ended up at a Cathedral on the west side of Madrid. It was a euro donation to get inside and it was probably the best euro that I have spent since I have been here. I have never been in a cathedral let alone one that is in a city where 95% of the people are Catholic.

One of the 15 foot tall cast iron doors on the outside if the cathedral. Each one of these is completely different and must have taken someone a good year to complete.

Staying in a hostel is definitely a different experience in itself. The first two nights I didn’t listen to this guidebook that I have and went with some random hostel I found online. This was definitely a bad idea and lucky for my I had already booked another hostel for the next few days.

The next hostel I stayed in was called Cat’s Hostel and it was a HUGE upgrade from the previous. The hostel was made from an old palace and was full of young people from all around the world.

The common area in the middle of the hostel.

On tuesday Kelley and myself went over to the park that we were suppose to visit on the first day. This one was definitely worth the trip. It had tons of crazy stuff to see and plenty of room to hangout and take a nap. I haven’t actually fallen asleep in a park for a while so I definitely took advantage of the situation.

The main area of the park.

Spanish playgrounds make American playgrounds look like piles of garbage. There were all sorts of buildups that can be used by both kids and adults and made for some quality fun.

I hate “spinning” things though (i.e. the teacups at Disneyland)

Kelley showing me how it’s done

Time to catch the train. Some more tomorrow. Maybe.

Its been a little while since I have ventured up to Las Vegas. Last time I was here was to see Daft Punk perform at the Vegoose Festival so I figured I didn’t really need to come back for awhile unless there was a good reason behind it. This time I went to Vegas for work reasons instead of dancing aimlessly around in a field listening to the music being played by robotic men with fancy computers.

Twice a year a series of fashion tradeshows invade this god-forsaken city and fill it with a bunch of people trying to sell their “line” to the masses. I was invited by the folks over at Orisue to venture here and see what the future holds for the clothing world.

The good things about going to Vegas is the road trip part. With my recent purchase being put to the test (oh yeah, I bought a new car recently) and a few good friends in the car, it was destined to be a good time.

Jeff - copilot and navigator. Jeff and I managed to get lost more than a few times to the same destination. I think that during the entirety of the trip we lost our hotel more times than you could count on one hand. Flamingo and Tropicana are just too easy too mix up I guess.

On the left you have Matt. Matt likes to draw for a living like yours truly. The difference between Matt and myself is that Matt went to design school and I did not. Oh yeah, Matt went to design school in Las Vegas. Matt also HATES Las Vegas. Welcome home buddy.

Sitting next to him is Chan. If you ever meet Chan, play him skate. I bet you wont win.

Busta!?!?!

Bob knows what’s up

Right when we got to Vegas it was time to unpack and set up the booth. Everyone was a little tired so we all decided to stay in instead of venture around the town. I dont think I have ever “partied” in the actual hotel room but it turned out to be a pretty good time.

Stay classy

Jeff’s making the switch

Orisue was showing their new gear at the SLATE portion of Magic this year. Like I mentioned before, its been a little while since I’ve attended one of these shows and this one seemed a little different. A lot of the industry “heavyweights” have scattered to the other shows that are going on at the time same. Shows like Project and Capsule have definitely made their marks in the industry world.

Oh yeah, thanks again for the invite Allen!

I always appreciate good photography and artwork. This show had no lack of talent and interesting things to check out. Format Magazine had a cool set up of photos that I caught myself checking out more than a few times

Estevan Oriol had some work up over by the Famous Stars and Strap/Expensive Taste/The Wild Ones booths. This is actually the first time i’ve seen his photos in real life so I was definitely more than willing to take a look.

The bottom photo is one of my favorite of his

Some live paintings were also going on in this area. One for Expensive Taste and one for Famous/DJ AM. I should have never gotten rid of my airbrush thats for sure.

This is Yassine. He is from Lyon, France. He is probably one of the coolest people to hangout with and knows how to use a skateboard better than most. He is also one of the best people to go to Vegas with. For more of what im talking about click here

Hows it going Alex?

Hows it going Alex?

Getting in on the action. Thanks for the nice addition to the picture Matt.

Travis wears a leash on his glasses so poor people like me don’t try and take them.

Classy Ladies

On the first day of our Vegas trip. Matt, Jeff and I decided to get “Vegas” tattoos. The only guideline was that it had to have something to do with Vegas. We all turned that idea into “Luck” tattoos instead of getting the cliche poker chip or playing card on our forearm. Jeff wanted to get these tattoos on the first day but we somehow managed to push it back to the second day instead. Showing that I wasn’t one to back down from a good idea I decided to go first.

Matt went second and seams to be enjoying himself.

Jeff waiting anxiously

My ADD kicked in so I went outside and found something/someone to keep my attention for a little bit

Shin bang?

A little ode to Mr. Frank Sinatra

Until next time…

Like I mentioned before, my girlfriend Kelley is going over to Europe for a few months. She is going to be studying spanish at a school right outside of Madrid with her good friend, Tanya.

Im excited that she is going over there because it gives me a chance to travel somewhere new. Its always nice to be able to meet up with a familiar face while I’m away from home.

Bradley International Airport at LAX has the most interesting flight destinations out of any airport I have been to. I’m thinking you could just pick one and be happy. Jeff knows what I’m talking about.

Our currency exchange is lovely right now. It was roughly 330 dollars for 200 Euros. My bank account is going to be looking pretty sad when I come back from my month long adventure.

See you in a few weeks Kelley

Ps. Kelley and I have been dating for 3 years today. She puts up with me and still loves me regardless of me looking like trash half of the time. I love you Kelley and I can’t wait to see you in Madrid.

Until next time…