Brisvegas to Amsterdam The 30 hours flight time (including a few hours hangin in Taipei & Bangkok airports) took it out of us but a few days to recover in Amsterdam (with it´s obvious recuperative powers!) was just what we needed. We stayed in a good hostel which had "themed" rooms - we christened ours the "Terrorist Cell" as it was quite like a cell and had Arabic writing all over the walls - not really sure what the "theme" was supposed to be though. We were right in the middle of the red light district which was pretty amazing, seems to go 24 hours a day. Heaps of great restaurants and we ate lots of different of food, Indo, Chinese, Argentinan and of course a Dutch pancake or two. We also did a few touristy things like the famous Sex Museum, the Van Gough Museum and the Art Gallery - it's amazing to see some of the masterpieces close up. the very tasteful Sex Museum from our window	Vondel park The Terrorist Cell
Rotterdam After 2 days in Amsterdam we took the 1 hour train ride to Rotterdam for the Rotterdam Rumble and 4 HUGE nights! Rotterdam is an amazing city - flattened during the war and rebuilt with buildings designed by some of the worlds best architects, some of the buildings defy gravity! The Rumble was great - 4 huge nights of great music on the waterfront in a smoke filled room (Jen got smokers cough from passive smoking)- there were some awesome bands Way Los Arrghs, Hollywood Sinners, Complications , Mark Sultan and Birdman did a great show and  Jack Oblivian did a fantastic set. We met lots of really cool people from all over - caught up with a few Brissy folk though I don't think there were too many aussies there!! Rotterdam has some fantastic restaurants (we went to a Middle Eastern one a few times and had the most delicious meals) We lucked out with out accommodation - really swanky pad (usually about A300 a night but we only paid A$130 by booking thru a web site) The room included a huge bath and a free buffet breakfast so we usually got home from the gig about 5ish had a hot bath - went to bed for 4 hours - got up and had breaky and then back to bed for a few more hours. You get used to broken sleep patterns when you travel! Jack Oblivian Hollywood Sinners Our mates from Spain Brissy crew (with a couple of mad Scottsmen thrown in) Radio Birdman early arvo accoustic set by the river post gig therapy pool this chaotic scene was the end of the 2nd night with a band called Garagezilla - the lead singer dressed as Godzilla. There was a whole city skyline built from large carboard boxes - as the mayhem ensued the boxes became beachballs over crowd! yummo middle east feast Rotterdam Tiki Bar note the fur trimmed coat hanging under the bar .... very tropical!	click any photo for a larger version Crazy Buildings   view form the Rumble venue Europes biggest skatepark - about 1 acre of stainless steel ramps & half pipes
Valencia Next stop Valencia ... what can I say .... VIVA ESPANIA!! - the place is awesome - so many beautiful old buildings, and the food ... did I mention food earlier?? - Spanish food rocks! - but often hard to order as almost no one in Valencia speaks English - Valencia is the home of Paella and we got a tip where to find the best - great little courtyard restaurant in the middle of the old part of town - icy cold cerveza and the most gorgeous paella we have ever tasted (needless to say we returned there a few times to try their other dishes) The Funtastic Dracula Carnival music festival we went to was great too - concrete floor and no chairs made it had to stand up for the almost 10 hours each nite (Spanish people have soooo much stamina - or is it the drugs)-the bands finished at about 2 and the DJ's played fantastic music till 7am (though we left by 5 most nights) Again people super friendly met many new friends and caught up with some from last trip too = fantastic times.... The bands on the first nite were more surf 60's influenced with the Ottomen (more swing style music), King Salami and the Cumberland 3 (I guess garage calypso?!?!) and Trashmen as headliners (the original band from the 60's who gave us Surfin Bird) The next night really rocked it up with Way Los Arrrghs up first followed by a band from Argentina called Los Peyotes - these guys were amazing -just check the pics! and last band was The Rippoffs (American punk band who also played the Rumble) We had an apartment a short subway ride to the old part of town and about 15 min train ride to the Festival. We had a nice self contained apartment which was quiet (and dark) during the day so we could get some sleep after our late nights. We also got to see some of the sights of Valencia including the Aquarium & Natural Science Centre, toured the bullfighting museum and bullring and some other beautiful old buildings, churches and the most amazing food market we've ever seen. The Ottomen Jen with King Salami Jen bringing two giants to their knees (both these guys are about 7ft tall) the Trashmen Wauy Los Arraghs Wauy Los Arraghs Los Peyotes Los Peyotes	mmmmm Paella !! Aquarium our apartment food galore at one of Europes biggest food markets
Brussels Next up a train to Brussels, home of the world's best chocolate, beer and chips (fries) the 2 1/2 hour train ride took us thru what you'd expect from the Netherlands - loads of canals and windmills with some really quaint little town. Brussels is an incredibly beautiful city, the buildings are just stunning (and so are the chocolate shops!) The main reason we went there was to to see Johnathan Richman (some of you are going to be soooo jealous) the venue was about half the size of the Troubadour and there were about 150 or so people there. He did a great show (just him & a drummer) and we got to meet Johnathan and have a chat after the show - he's a really amazing person Johnathan Richman Main Square, Brussels trying to look uninterested
Amsterdam & Netherlands next nite back to Amsterdam where we caught up with a friend we met last year (Meme from The Anomolys)- went to his flat (circa 1625) for dinner and then to Amsterdam's most famous venue The Paradiso where we saw The Cynics (a legendary US rock/garage band) these guys were amazing and us, in our best groupie form, got to hang out with them after the show - we then left the venue at one and headed to The Deplje  (Amsterdam's most rockinest niteclub) awesome place - black walls with red flames painted everywhere. Meme is one of their most regular patrons se we were treated to lots of free Tequila slammers by the crazy bar owners - finally got home about 4am again The Cynics typical punters Next night caught the train to Alkmar up north and caught the Vegas Kings show in a small club - they really rocked the place and were having a great time on tour. The to The Hague (Den Haag) to catch up with the Sixfthick fellas. They were playing, staying & recording in this incredible old building which is now a squat inhabited by all sorts of cool arty people. They fed us a great meal and the boys did a great show and the crowd was wild - one guy got knocked out when he hit his head against the wall but came back later to see the rest of the show. Rommy - sqaut hostess extrordinare! Tony & Jen in vintage amp heaven Continental Jeff & Mug'o'rum Noonan the Hick Phew... 44 bands in 20 nights !!! Our last night in the Netherlands we spent in Rotterdam in a really nice hotel with a big bath - we went out to this great Turkish restaurant and had a huge meal - followed by another bath.	Meme's flat Vegas Kings Alkmar they like pushies in Holland!
Rome Rome - what a beautiful city - we left lotz of shoe leather there as we did heaps of walking (many of the best stuff is all within walking distance) we saw the Roman Forum, Collesseum, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and lotz lots more - the food and coffee is somethin else! I wish they sold Roman style pizza over here - thin crusty pasty, incredible tasty tomato sauce, not heaps of topping - just enough to give you the flavour, then a very thin layer of cheese - pretty much all of them are baked in wood fired ovens. Coliseum Coliseum Govt Bulding Trevi Fountain Sistine Chapel Brett so wanted to get on this bus	bloody Tourists Brett stocked up here
Egypt ... holy shit ... where do I start!! We flew into Cairo about 6pm and had to dive about 20k to the hotel - this drive took around 2 hours - the traffic is complete chaos, there seems to be lanes marked but they are obviously invisible to everyone driving as every road had about 5 lanes weaving in and out, honking horns, dodging pedestrians (as there are virtually no crossings) most of the buildings look like they are about to fall down - it's kinda like a wild west town except it has 25,000,000 people living there. We had an awesome room for the first two nites (full on 5 star - but with great cheap restaurants and booze) - the Giza pyramid where only about 1 km away and we could see them from our window! Next day we got an early start and went to the Giza pyramids and went inside one (what a buzz! we were the only people in there at the time), went for a camel ride, then went to the Egyptian museum with an Egyptologist as our guide (we were the only people doing the tour so the whole 6 days we had a mini bus, driver and guide at our disposal) Then we did a 3 night Nile trip on a cruise boat - it wasn't fully 5 star - but very comfortable and relaxing - well one day was relaxing/resting with many Stellas (Egyptian beers) by the pool, the rest of the time we spent looking at temples, tombs and more pyramids - the place is amazing and the people are very happy, friendly and have a great sense of humour. View from our room note Giza Pyramids in the background Nubian Village restaurant awesome 4 courses + beer & wine for $50! Pyramids at Giza more bloody toursist walls and walls full of hieroglyphics   columns & columns full of hieroglyphics the Nile bank from the boat sunset over the Nile relaxing on deck relaxing on deck Night market at one of the docks our boat	Cairo traffic   Typical Cairo street Sphinx our guide Ahmed typical Cairo street scene
We flew back from Cairo for one more night in Rome then we headed home with a one night stopover in Taiwan. We both managed to get a massage at Taipei airport which made the last part of our trip home a lot more comfortable.