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shawn-does-stuff · 6 years

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Berlin Q&A

Full Video -> HERE

Q:"Do you believe in soulmates?" A:"If there is, I haven't found her yet but maybe!" — Q:"Favorite Harry Potter character?" A:"It's between Neville and Ron!" — Q:"Who makes you laugh the most?" A:"My little sister, she's so funny." — Q:"If you eat a burger, do you take the pickles off or leave them on?" A:"Depends on the day! Sometimes I take them off." — Fan:“Do you have any group chats with other celebrities?” Shawn:“Yeah I do, with Niall!” Fan:“Just him or others?” Shawn:“Pretty much just with Niall!” — Q:“What did you have for breakfast?” A:“I had avocado and poached eggs!” — Q:“Are you a DC or Marvel fan?” A:“I’m not really bothered either way.” — Q:“Are you happy?” A:“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life right now.” — Shawn received a hand carved book that says “Shawn Mendes The Tour” in the Q&A today! — Q:“What’s the first thing you do when you get off stage?” A:“I run to go see my band and be like ‘What did you think!’ and then go on Twitter and see what you guys are saying. Immediately.” — Q:“You said you would collaborate with BTS, do you still want to?” A:“Yes, I will! I don’t know where they are or how to get to them!” — Q:“What is your advice to preschoolers?” A:“Be super happy and love yourself at a super young age because it starts very young. If you remember to tell yourself that you’re beautiful or you’re awesome, it’s really important because you grow up with that confidence.” — Q:“What do you think sets you apart from other artists?” A:“That’s hard because I think every artist is super unique to them and every artist fanbase is unique because, there’s no comparing artists. That’s a really hard question!” — Q:“What’s your favorite place, except for home?” A:“I love London, England. But I do love Amsterdam!” — “Wow, everyone wants to go to Canada! Just so you know, it’s freezing. There’s like this much snow there, so, is that what you want in life?” — Q:“If you could be invisible for one day where would you go?” A:“I’d probably walk out into the arena before the show and watch you guys and see what you’re doing and spy on you. It’s really creepy, I know!” — Q:“How or when did you know that what you’re doing with your life is the right thing?” A:“I don’t know if anyone ever truly knows what the right thing to do in life is, but I think whatever makes you the happiest is the right thing. And this makes me pretty happy!” — Q:“Which songs on the album are based off of a real experience?” A:“Pretty much all of them! Sometimes I make things up a little but most of the time it’s dead-on. Especially this album. I made a rule to myself where I don’t make things up anymore!” — Q:“Why aren’t ‘Queen’ and ‘Perfectly Wrong’ on the setlist?” A:“Well, I don’t hate those songs! I love them, I adore those songs. You can’t have everything. It was really hard for me to pick. That’s not to say they won’t come on the setlist, maybe they will!” — Q:“Do you ever think you won’t sing certain songs because they put you in a bad or sad mood?” A:“If a song does put me in a sad mood, it’s great because it’s just me connecting with the song more and it makes it better.” — Fan:“If you had to delete one song from all songs you’ve ever.... [inaudible].” Shawn:“Oh God.” Fan:“We’re gonna be mad!” Shawn:“You’re gonna be mad no matter WHAT I say!” — Q:“What’s on your bucket list that’s not for your career?” A:“I don’t know. I don’t know.... I wanna go climbing up mountains or something... I don’t know!” — Q:“What’s one thing you’d love to change about the world?” A:“Woah. I wish that everyone could feel another person’s perspective and feelings before judging them and saying what they think about them.” — Shawn:“I’ve never seen a shooting star! You guys have all seen shooting stars?! Where?!” Fans:“The sky?!” — Fan:“You said you wanted to get a tattoo for each tour...” Shawn:“I need a design!” Fan:“Maybe flowers?” Shawn:“I was thinking flowers but everyone has flowers! I’m looking for something. Draw something and tweet it at me!” — “We wrote ‘Perfectly Wrong’ and- oh my god! You look exactly like one of my best friend’s older sister! I thought you were her when I looked up for a second- ah!” I don’t know why I tweeted those lyrics.” — Q:What song would you sing Elvis Presley? A:There’s a version of me singing “Hound Dog” — Q:Who would you want to collaborate? A:Niall! I know you guys want that — Q:Which song do you love to sing live? A:I really love “why” — Q:What would your advice be to an upcoming songwriter? A:Be as authentic to how you feel don’t be afraid to be pop or rock... don’t be afraid of what your actual style is. — Q:Where is your favorite place in Toronto? A:I don’t know much about Toronto. I’m scared if I tell you my favorite place then everyone will go there.. but my coffee shop I love the coffee shops. — Q:Do you miss your privacy? A:Only when I’m in the bathroom and someone is taping to take a selfie. — Q:One superpower? A:To teleport to be able to sleep in my bed then teleport back to real life. — Q:Do you want any dancers on Tour? A:Uh no, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll ever have dancers I’d rather add more people play guitars. — Q:Is it important to be alone sometimes or be around people? A:It’s important to be alone but I really love people. — Q:“If you had to change a lyric from a song… I don’t know how to say it-“ A:“It’s okay, I can’t speak German!” (The fan was not speaking German) — Q:Would you have a popular song that would keep its lyric or change the lyric to a more unpopular one? A:Whatever the song that gets the most popular deserves it so I don’t think I’d change any.

(Questions and Answers via @MendesCrewInfo and @SMendesQandA on Twitter)

#shawn mendes #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes the tour #q&a #tour: berlin

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reddit-tales · 7 years

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What is a story you have been dying to tell?

When I was 15 years old, I ran away from home because I was pissed off at my parents for a reason I cant remember. I didnt have much money, so I decided to hop onto the skytrain(public transport train in British Columbia) and ride it as far as it would go. I reached the end of the line in less then an hour, and decided I wanted to ride it all the way back again, while trying to formulate some kind of plan of how I wanted to live the rest of my life without my parents or anyone. At the last stop, or the first stop depending on your perspective of it, a girl came on and sat in the row right behind me. I didnt pay much attention to her at first, as I was busy writing my life plan on a napkin. It was a few minutes later that she got up and came sat next to me, curious as to what I was writing. I told her the story, and after a few laughs, we began talking about everything and anything. Her name was Amanda, 17 years old, and absolutely wonderful. She told me she was getting off at the last stop, which was also the first stop, depending on how you look at it. It was also the stop I had gotten on originally, and I told her we would ride to it together. The train ride took less then an hour, and what a wonderful hour indeed.

When the last stop did come, we both knew we probably wouldnt see each other ever again(this was before the days of cellphones, and I was a shy little kid afraid to make moves). As we got to the end of the sidewalk which split in two different directions, she went right and I went left. Before saying goodbye she turned to me and asked me a question that has become a wonderful part of my life; she asked me, “Tell me something you have done, or want to do, that you think I should do? It can be anything, as challenging as you want it to be, or as easy. As long as you give me the rest of my life to complete it, I promise I will do it..” I was confused as to why, but I thought about it, and told her, “Sing a song acapella in a room full of strangers.” She said perfect and asked me if I would like a challenge as well. I told her I did, and she told me, “read, from start to finish, “Ulysses” by James Joyce.” I had never heard of it at the time, but I agreed, and we said our goodbyes.

I have a awful memory, and cant remember most conversations I have with most people. But I remember all of that clearly. You know why? Because of the challenge she gave me. In the 12 years that have past since, I have tried to read that book in over 150 different sittings. Everytime I open my copy of the 780 page monster of a book, I always think of her, and I always think of that day. Ive never been sure if it was her intent or not, but she left her lasting memory on me with that challenge. I soon after learned what she did, was a completey wonderful and amazing thing for me. So I decided to keep it going. Ive met a lot of strangers in my life; some that have become friends, and some, due to living in different time zones and whatnot, didnt. I dont want to just have experiences and then let them go. I want to remember these meetings, and embrace the fact that they happened. So whenever I leave someone who has left an amazing impact of my life, I always make sure to add them to my Ulysses Bucket List. I ask them to give me a challenge, as difficult or as easy as they want it to be, and regardless of the fact that they have done it or not; simply something their heart has had wanted to do.

Some have been easy and fun; I met a man in India 9 years ago who told me to, for a week or a month, cook/buy twice as much food as I intend on eating, and give the other half to a stranger in need. I completed that mission 8 years ago, and thought about that man and the time we had all the way through. I met a girl on a cruise 6 years ago, who told me to jump into a body of water on a slightly cold day, without touching or feeling the temperature of the water first. I did that the very same year. I met a couple at an outdoor music festival a few years ago that told me to wear the most bizarre outfit imaginable and walk through a public place, completely oblivious to the fact that you arent looking normal. I did that task the very next day, at the same festival. Some have been difficult, to say the least: three guys I met in Amsterdam and smoked all night with, told me to go to a mall and give 10 strangers 10 presents. That one took a lot of courage, but I did it a year or so after I met them. It was nerve racking, but at the same time exhilerating leaving my comfort zone. A girl I met on a plane told me to sky dive; Im still in the process of getting that done. A couple I met in Cali on the beach told me to tell the 5 people I hated the most, that I love them and respect them. That one was very difficult because of my stubborness, but ive come close to completing that list many a times(still in the process, 2 more people to go).

And some things, have had an everlasting impact on my daily life. I met a girl at a music festival, who told me that whenever I get mad at someone, walk away, sing my happy song in my head for 5 minutes, go back to the person im mad at with a clam heart and mind, and work things out. Ive made this my way of life. I once met a man at a gym in a hotel I was staying at, that told me “whenever your body and brain tells your that you are exhausted and done…use your heart instead and push out 2 more reps.” Ive made this my motto when working out or working on any kind of extrenuating exercise in which my body demands me to quit. I also use it while working on anything, and while studying. One of the best pieces of advice ive ever received.

There are many others that each brought joy to my life. There are still many tasks I have yet to accomplish, and everytime I think of these tasks, I think of the people that gave them to me. It amazes me how well I remember all these people, while I cant remember so many aspects of even yesterday. These experiences, not only do I take from them a “mission” or a “challenge”, I also take from them a memory of them that never fails to appear inside of my mind. I opened my Ulysses book for probably the 300th time yesterday, and read a few pages, which prompted me to share this story with you today. Im in the final 30 pages of the book, also known as the most dreaded of the read(in the last 40 pages or so, James Joyce doesnt use a single punctuation mark; no periods, no commas, no nothing; a straight 50 page run-on sentence).

I never saw Amanda after that day, nor do I know if she ever did get a chance to sing a song to a room full of strangers. But what I do know, is that she gave me a gift that has never once stopped giving. So wherever you may be, thank you for giving me the Ulysses Bucket List. And I swear i’ll finish it one day. My life advice? Simple: Create your own Ulysses bucket list.

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travel-voyages · 2 years

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The Most Overrated Tourist Destinations (and Where to Go Instead)

Where to plan your next vacation instead

I could spend all day listing alternative ideas for your next big vacation. For now, here are some of my top picks to pique your interest.

Touristy spots that you can do right

Angkor Wat, Cambodia. I’m biased, since I lived in Cambodia for a spell, but I believe this popular destination is worth your time if you do it right. These sprawling, ancient Buddhist temples are huge enough that you can easily stray from the beaten path and avoid the overwhelming crowds. Just make sure to get there at sunrise.

Great Pyramids. Again, I’m biased since I visited Giza during the tourist off-season (late June). While a lot of people will call the pyramids overrated, I think those people are somehow spoiled or impossible to please. Book a private tour guide, who will have a wealth of knowledge and also have your back against aggressive vendors. Remember to tip your guide generously at the end of the day.

Hạ Long Bay, Vietnam. It might not look quite like how it does in the James Bond movies, but this moody seascape is still a stunning cruise. I recommend booking a group tour that includes kayaking and caving.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Don’t feel bad skipping the Red Light district in favor of the hip Jordaan district. Plus, the Van Gogh Museum is one of my favorite places in the world.

Bangkok, Thailand: Skip the Great Palace and spend your time appreciating Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun. Make sure to try all sorts of amazing street food along the way.

Destinations to add to your bucket list

The following cities have yet to be totally overrun by tourists:

Udaipur, India. A little more peaceful and spread out compared to other popular cities in India.

Lima, Peru. A lively capital city that gets overlooked, but shouldn’t.

Brussels, Belgium. Make sure to book a chocolate tour.

Valparaiso, Chile. From street art to rainbow houses, this city is unbelievably colorful.

Puglia, Italy. Wine, pasta, and beaches.

Budapest, Hungary. The “Little Paris of Middle Europe.”

Dubrovnik, Croatia. Bummed about Hobbiton? This is the main filming location for King’s Landing in HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Denmark’s Faroe Islands. Sheep outnumber humans 70,000 to 50,000 here.

Java, Indonesia. Less-visited than Bali, but just as beautiful.

Petra, Jordan. Known as the “Rose City,” Petra is a series of caves, temples, tombs, and ruins carved from pink sandstone.

Luang Prubang, Laos. The perfect spot for day trip to remarkable aqua waterfalls.

Taipei, Taiwan. This capital city has a culinary scene to die for.

It all comes down to research

Like I mentioned at the top: You can make the most of any journey, so long as you do a little research first. I’m not saying you should map out every minute of your vacation. Just spend a little time online to find the best hours and seasons to plan your visit, and try to gather site-specific tips from all the travel blogs available for free online. Make sure you manage expectations and understand what you’re getting into, wherever you’re going.

https://lifehacker.com/the-most-overrated-tourist-destinations-and-where-to-g-1848911182

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zoekennaargeluk · 6 years

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Edit 1:fixed some spelling mistakes. Going to leave 'clam' as is, haha!

Edit 2: Ulyssesbucketlist subreddit is now a thing!

Edit 3: I'm trying to reply to all of your comments and give everyone who asks for their own challenge! Please bare with me, I'll get to you I promise!

Edit 4: Monday 5/19/2014 UPDATE: I'm kind of lacking words at the moment, and am in awe of the power of the universe. Writing this story was just to relive a moment in my life, and to share it with others and maybe help them in some sort of way(or just give an entertaining story to read). Never did I think there was the slightest chance I would actually get to talk to her again. But thats exactly what happened. Last night I found out that the Amanda that ThatGuyWhoAte knew, was in fact the Amanda I met 14 years ago. Thank you Reddit. From the bottom of my heart, I give to you the sincerest Thank You I can possibly give. You gave me a chance to continue a life story that stopped writing 14 years ago. I will never forget this.

A thing on reddit i thought was really cool.

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bluebuzzmusic · 6 years

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Exclusive: 2018 in review with Will Clarke, Super Flu, and more!

I think it’s fair to say that for fans of EDM, 2018 has felt like a giant roller coaster ride. Constantly going up and down, side to side – and not just when listening to Fisher. As a community we suffered huge losses, discovered some incredible new music, and saw old friends reunite. Artists responded by opening up about their own battles with addiction and took private responsibility for public mistakes. And then there was this shit.

I wish I could say that there was enough good that happened in 2018 to offset the losses we’ve felt and the overabundance of Cheeto dust in the air, but the truth is I can’t wait to say, “New Year. Who dis?” Thankfully, not everyone is quite as ready as I am to ghost an entire year. In the spirit of NYE, I reached out to a few artists on the Minimal Effort NYE lineup ahead of the festival to try and get in the celebratory mood by finding out the kinds of things they are going to be toasting to when the ball drops.

With the help of Minimal Effort’s team, I was able to reach out to a bunch of them all at once and ask:

What was the craziest/best part of 2018? 2. What was the hardest/biggest growth you experienced? 3. Any personal/professional goal you have for yourself for 2019? Any hopes for your fans.

The replies I got were pretty fantastic and made me feel a little better about the year we are all leaving in the glittered dust.

Will Clarke

“So many amazing moments this year but the one that stands out to me the most was playing CRSSD festival this fall. The crowd was insane with people climbing on the staging and going mental.

I’m still 5’3″ so [saying the biggest growth] is pretty tough. [Goals for 2019 involve] My new label launching, potentially an album and also a new live show alias called AMOK.”

Option 4

“[The] craziest part of 2018 was seeing people care about my music again. I got to go on tour with Worthy for what was supposed to be like 6 shows and it turned into 25. I was gone for like 6 months! We had such a good time at all the shows and they just kept getting crazier and crazier as the tour pushed on. I had played shows with friends before but to play shows [with] the same bud over and over again every weekend was really special. Sean turned into a brother for me and that relationship is something I’ll always cherish.

The hardest part for 2018 for me was just trying to balance everything. I can’t support myself with JUST my music so I still work 2 full-time jobs to pay the bills… I feel like that’s a struggle for a lot of touring artists just starting out. I wasn’t having enough time to work on music anymore [because] I usually work in the studio on weekends. Since I was gone so much, we finally just had to take a break and not accept anymore gigs for the year or else I was gonna lose my mind. VERY excited to hit the road again next year tho! My main goal for 2019 is to do cool shit with my record label. We have all kinds of parties and super innovative ideas to explore for next year. Not to mention building a roster that is out of control big. The only other thing that I’m super excited about is finishing my album! I’ve taken 5 months off touring to work on it and I am HOPING for a Q2 [April to June] release next year. Gonna be SO fun to show people all the different sides of option4 :)”

Layton Giordani

“I’d have to say 2018 was absolutely insane all around but if I had to add a highlight moment it would have to be playing the Legendary Gashouder. This was on my bucket list for a long time and to be able to play it this one was life-changing. [Playing at] the techno temple [in Berghain, Berlin] and this [playing the Legendary Gashouder] is a moment I’ll cherish forever. [Another highlight was] moving to Europe officially. I always traveled back and forth from New York to Europe almost every weekend to keep up with the gigs but it came to a point where I [had to] move to progress even further and be able to rest more on the days off. I decided to move to Amsterdam. Although it’s always tough leaving home, Amsterdam has made it close to painless! [In 2019 I hope to] Just to continue to stay inspired make more music… I just want to continue and push the envelope a further.”

VNSSA

“All of 2018 has been pretty crazy. I’ve gotten to travel and play more shows than I ever have in my [life]. I think a few highlights of 2018 have been: playing 3 times at Dirtybird Campout including the infamous Family Set, doing on-air interviews with Claude VonStroke and Will Clarke, as well as getting added to Claude VonStrokes version of a “one’s to watch” kind of segment, Birdwatch. [Another highlight was] getting to play my first Night Bass. [It was] one of the best crowds I’ve played for in all of my Dj career! Shout out to AC Slater for having me! Just getting to play around the country and making new friends [has been a highlight of 2018]. I feel like I have friends in so many different states now. It makes me look forward to going back. Not only to play but to hang out with all the new people I’ve met this year.

I think the hardest part of 2018 has been just trying to find my own path and focusing on myself. It’s easy to lose sight of your goals and get caught up in what other people are doing and accomplishing. I’ve definitely had to take a step back from social media from time to time. I would find myself comparing other producers accomplishments to mine, and feeling inadequate with the work I’m putting out, or thinking I’m not doing enough. But like I said, everyone has their own paths, their own goals, and their own pace. Social media is a big reason people get down on themselves, myself included, and I’ve learned to go at my own pace and just take things day by day. A big goal I’ve set for myself in 2019 is to put out more music and kinda of just find my sound. A lot of the music I’ve put out so far has been collabs with other producers, and I look forward to being confident in my own productions to release new music on my own. Another goal for 2019 is to learn how to play vinyl and maybe even play some an all vinyl set! You never know!”

Super Flu

“No doubt, 2018 was an awesome year for us with so many great parties and festivals we played. A very special moment was just a few days ago. We played a 3 hour set for free at our hometown and sold mulled wine to raise money for a charity organization. This was super crazy because so many people supported us and celebrated Christmas with us.

The hardest growth this year was changing our booking agency this year and start with a new agent. We were very lucky with our old one, but we had this great opportunity we had to take. [Our hopes for our fans is that] we wish for all nice people to have more time for friends and family and for them to stay healthy. Our plan is always to make great music and develop ourselves.”

Get tickets for Minimal Efforts NYE here. And don’t forget about the open bar for VIP!

This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Exclusive: 2018 in review with Will Clarke, Super Flu, and more!

source https://www.youredm.com/2018/12/31/exclusive-2018-in-review-with-will-clarke-super-flu-and-more/

#edm #music #music production #music news #edm news

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bughouse23 · 6 years

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And we’re off again, mixing this trip up between ‘us’ time in Hamburg & Berlin, frolicking in the French Alps with a bunch of Aussies, then to Paris again, moving to Brugge and finishing in Amsterdam.

We are super excited about this trip, for which the planning started two years ago when we paid our deposit for the tour du Mont Blanc, having to get in that far in advance to secure our time slot of September 2018. It’s only a short walking season, so slots are precious, and popular.

We can’t thank Maddy enough for having it on her ‘bucket list’, thus forcing our hand to join her on what promises to be an epic walk through, what appears to be, a spectacular countryside.

We have heard nothing but glowing reviews on this walk, and we await the start with eager anticipation.

The great thing about doing this walk is it enables you to add on travel before and/or after, which is what we have done, visiting Germany, Belgium and Amsterdam for the first time, as well as all the stops along the walk. Paris, as always, is one of our favourite cities, hence we are returning for the third time to stay in another arrondissement and more importantly, to practice our French, oui, oui!!!

Maybe a pre flight tickle in the lounge?

The one thing you tend to forget in the planning is just how far away Australia is, which we are realising now, as we spend 21 hours in the air, over 28 hours, traveling backwards by 8 hours, to arrive in Hamburg at 13.30 local time, after leaving Melbourne at 18.00!

Anyhow, after all that, we finally arrived in Hamburg at about 2pm, and taxied to our hotel, The Movenpick, which has been built from the ruins of an old water tower in Sternschanze, a pretty eclectic suburb about 10km from the city centre.

Check in, a quick refresh, then off by train into town for a look around. First stop was the harbour area.

Very touristy so off into town where we wandered thru the oldest church in Hamburg, St Petri.

Past the obligatory beggar on the footsteps and into a fairly modest church with lovely stained glass and not much else!

Jet lag starting to kick in with Rachael so any other plans got shelved and we headed back towards our hotel for a look around, and miraculously found a cure for said jet lag in a brewery right next door.

A brewery holding its annual summer craft beer festival!

Schanzenhofe Brewery go straight to the top of the pops!

Craft beer stands galore, hamburger/kransky/weird sandwich thingy booths, doof doof music…Rachael perked up instantly.

A Cuban cigar maker added to the theme.

My first kransky in Germany…probably not my last?

Strangely, beer and no sleep catches up with you fast, and what could have been a long, messy, night came to a shuddering halt at…I’m ashamed to say…7.30!

Knackered.

Hamburg And we’re off again, mixing this trip up between ‘us’ time in Hamburg & Berlin, frolicking in the French Alps with a bunch of Aussies, then to Paris again, moving to Brugge and finishing in Amsterdam.

#beer #Germany #Hamburg #Schankenhofe #St Petri

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savetopnow · 6 years

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2018-04-04 08 HOME now

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Amber Interior Design

Just the AFTER // Client Black Houses are the Best Houses

SHOPPE 2.0 // Exterior Paint

It’s Me… on the Chris Loves Julia Podcast!!

+ WHITE PAINT DIGEST 2018 +

:: CLIENT WELCOME TO LA WE HOPE YOU STAY ::

Apt. 34

The April Edit

Crazy Sexy Cool Kitchen Design

Recipe: Healthy Mushroom Spinach Egg Skillet

A Dozen Easter Table Inspirations

Idea to Steal: Fuzzy Wuzzy Seats

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House Tour :: A Light & Airy Renovation in Amagansett

Meet the New Seattle Design Center!

Floral Tutorial :: How to Arrange Spring Florals Like a Dutch Painting

Easter Tabletop Inspiration :: Going Dutch

Weekend Getaway :: Our Favorite Spots on Orcas Island with HomeAway!

Coco Lapine Design

Light flooded home in grey

Cozy home with a blue kitchen

Happy Easter !

Majestic living room

New prints in the shop: Pampas and Kamut

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Q&A: Interior Design in Iran — Peeking Behind Closed Curtains with Lena Späth

In North Carolina, a Family Sets the Stage for Memory-Making

Inclusive Stock Photography + Best of the Web

A Citrus Lover’s Sheet Cake

DIY Celestial Wood and Brass Inlay Serving Board

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Power Couples: Sofas & Accent Chairs + a few rules

Who is the real client of the mountain house…

A Traditional Eclectic Bedroom + Our Tips For Shopping eBay

How To Dress Awkward Windows + Where To Shop For Readymade Options

A Roundup of Affordable Sectionals

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The Forgotten Lamb Chops with Mint Salsa

Elle Magazine: September Issue

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GOOP: Veggie Thanksgiving Sides You Can Prep in Advance

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A Little Help Getting Your Tech Ready For Spring

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Goodies No. 31

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Reddit Interior Design

Hi everyone! I don’t know if this is the right place for this, but I’m looking for one of these flower pots. Does anybody know the brand or where to get one? Picture is taken in Amsterdam, if that helps. Thanks in advance!

What furniture color would go with a room that has a light beige carpet, white doors, and bluish grey walls?

Custom Shelving - help

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spamzineglasgow · 4 years

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(ESSAY) Where Does a Body End? Moving through a Globalised World of Travel, Technology and the Ecologies of a Fragmented Self in Lydia Unsworth's Certain Manoeuvres, by Max Parnell

‘Where does a body end?’ Max Parnell takes an extensive venture through the pages of Lydia Unsworth’s Uncertain Manouevres (Knives Forks and Spoons Press, 2018), asking how do we know, how do we travel, how do we value our world, our wild, our guides, our motion and ourselves in a time of environmental crisis?

Move to New Zealand, wherever. Pick the name that suits you best. Do you like to wear German trainers? Who doesn't? What about Japanese?

> It's already dark at five pm and I'm watching a group of tourists photograph a landmark in Glasgow whose significance I myself don't know. Whilst I watch these figures move, people that could be from all corners of the globe, I think back to the month I spent in France this summer: another traveller moving through overcrowded cities, trying to silently assimilate. To say that Lydia Unsworth's debut collection, Certain Manoeuvres 'guided' me through that month would miss the mark. I don't think the collection, containing a profusion of reflections on travel, notions of belonging, the fragmentation of the self and its relation to ecology and new technologies is written to offer immediate answers. Rather, the reward comes through the ways in which this collection invites the reader to dip in and out, to meditate on the questions it poses and to return to it, as was my experience.

> The focus of the speaker's voice; sometimes 'I', sometimes 'you', and even 'us', calls upon the reader to reflect on their own place in the world, on their own sense of identity and on the many, fragmentary selves that constitute an individual. Pieced together through recurring titles that feel as though they are in conversation with each other, the reader drifts with the speaker's voice, situating us within the conversation. Each of these partitions neatly opens up a space in which the speaker switches pronouns as a way of altering how the reader engages not only with the speaker's voice, but with how they, the reader, relate to the questions being posed.

> In the sections entitled 'On', the voice speaks mostly to a 'you', a subject that the speaker seems to know intimately; 'your house is the only one on the street'. Whilst seeming to maintaining an acute awareness of this subject's identity throughout these sections, it seems also apparent, right from the first page, that this 'you' perhaps represents 'us', speaker and reader alike. Unsworth delicately captures this collective 'you' throughout the collection through references to the habitual motions we enact whilst travelling:

Even now, at the furthest station, you disembark, head toward gentrification. Buy a postcard, write home that you have travelled. Buy a coffee, read books by authors you already know.

These reflections on the generic and predictable experience of travelling in a globalised world are woven throughout the text, as if as a way of framing the commonalities we pass through when travelling without quite comprehending why we do so. The speaker's voice is frequently direct, creating an immediacy to the poems that demands our attention:

Out of office auto-reply, here I come. Culture shocks, here I come. Inspiration, here I come. Another temple, here I come. Border control, here I come. Bucket list, here I come. The perfect getaway, here it comes.

One of the structural elements of this collection that works so effectively is the insertion of notes from a 1968 guidebook, Famous Cities of the World: Amsterdam. These short fragments not only help to partition the positional focus of the speaker's voice, but also add a sort of humorous reference to the speaker's meditations on the (often disappointing) motions of travelling. As the guidebook notes, the view from a certain building presents 'what could be almost any city', but only through a 'closer look' do features become more distinctive. One of the questions that arise throughout this collection is whether or not travelling can ever offer us this 'closer look'? What even is a 'closer look'?

> The doubt of whether we can really come to know something, or somewhere through such fleeting visits resurfaces throughout the text. It's a sensation many of us know: leaving a place feeling like you've barely scratched the surface, resulting in the seemingly inevitable sense of ennui. In one section of Effects, the speaker almost implores us to consider this question: 'Imagine tapping into some sub-tropical region, really getting to grips with it, knowing which leaves to eat and which to ignore.' To read this whilst moving from city to city, spending less than a week in each, it was hard not to look at my surroundings and wonder what small impressionistic fragments someone must take away from the cities that I have lived in.

> There's an intimacy to the speaker's voice throughout the collection, one that at once recalls personal experience whilst simultaneously conveying a sense of unwanted indifference many of us have felt whilst doing what travelling 'tells' us we should do. In particular, I think of the speaker reflecting on their experience visiting 'the oldest university library in the world':

Whilst I hadn't seen the oldest university library in the world itself before, I'd seen something like it. Beautiful as it was… most of my attention was caught up in the fact that I wasn't really feeling anything. There was no sickness, no awe… just a lot of thinking about whether or not to bother taking a photograph.

I think this passage speaks to many questions that arise with contemporary notions of travel. The phrase 'seeing something for itself' struck a chord with me, as I think it hints at our tendency to research or look at places we're going online before seeing them in 'real life'. I recall once, after accepting a position at a university abroad, searching Google street views to check how the area around the department looked. When I finally saw it in actuality, there was a strange sensation that I was looking back at myself in the university library in Glasgow, the then present reality of that 'distant' street seeming to be inextricably tied to my former home.

> This seems to happen on many levels, not just through Google maps & street views, endless online photos and reviews, but also with ever increasingly sophisticated technologies. I know someone whose job consists of creating VR experiences of luxury holidays so that buyers can 'get a taste' before paying for the real thing, just to check if it's worth actually seeing it 'in real life'. This raises questions of the actual reasons for travel. Is it to discover something, to be surprised and have to learn from the difficulties faced in not being in the know? Or does this meticulous planning and the profusion of information render the act of travelling a process designed merely to 'experience' something in person?

> There also seems in Unsworth's poetry to be a reference to the insatiable desire (or perhaps even necessity) to situate ourselves around the globe, at the expense of feeling a sense of belonging. The speaker alludes to this, noting the 'under-rumble of quietude, a sharp but not entirely pleasant suggestion to be still', alongside the way the anxiety of flying stops them wanting to move. When an unnamed speaker remarks 'this might sound weird, but I'm satisfied', the implication is that this satisfaction results from being still, from remaining in one place. I couldn't help but smile at this line, recalling a time when a friend of mine, when explaining why she wasn't moving, told me exactly the same thing .

> As I mentioned before, this collection didn't exactly 'guide' me through my journey in France, but seemed instead to act as a reference point; the eloquent articulation of many of the emotions I encountered being mirrored back at me from Unsworth's poems. The speaker's voice, at once relatable and honest, seemed almost too accurate with where I then found myself; 'I just wanted to come home… a place where you didn't have to stand up if you didn't want to and you didn't need to buy anything'. Whilst I didn't have the immediate urge to return home, I'd started to grow tired of the inability to simply 'be' in a city without consuming. Having been asked by security to stop sitting on the floor in the train terminal of London St Pancras, the only place where you don't have to consume anything, these words seemed almost too pertinent.

> Throughout my time in France, moving by train from one city to the next, I frequently found Certain Manoeuvres making me think back to Ashton Nichols essay Beyond Romantic Ecocriticism: Toward Urbanatural Roosting. In this essay, Nichols draws our attention to what he interprets as technology's ability to heighten our interconnection with all elements (living and material) of our planet:

'The globe is now completely mapped, filmed and photographed, from those 1960's snapshots of the delicate blue-green planet seen from outer-space down to Google Earth shots of the smallest streetscapes and streambeds. With my own computer mouse, and with MapQuest or Google Earth, I can move from Mauritius to Manhattan in a minute; I can spin from the Seychelles to Seattle in a second. I can zoom down onto every housetop. I can see almost every car in every parking lot. But this is not a problem. This is not a loss. In fact, my ability to scan the surface of the globe with my computer in seconds is part of what assures me that I am linked to every living creature, and every material object, that surrounds me'[1].

In its direct yet tentative language, Certain Manoeuvres speaks to this notion, calling upon us to consider the implications not just of living in a world entirely mapped out, but of travelling in such a world with this all encompassing map available in our pockets. Do we see such hyper-visualisation and advanced documentation as Nichols does; as an 'assurance' of connectivity with our surroundings? Or do we encounter this with a similar sense of melancholic despondency touched on in these poems? I feel the focus in this collection hints less at the connectivity, and more at the atomisation caused by contemporary technology. In Effects, the language has a cinematic quality to it, constructing a scenario that feels familiar, if not personal; 'We move through the world but we take our computers. You sit on the metro in Japan and swipe right, swipe left.' Even when travelling, something generally characterised by an openness to new experiences, a desire to learn and to immerse oneself in a new environment, Unsworth draws our attention to travel's invariable tendency to pull us out from the atomisation caused by our relationship with technology.

> When the speaker insists that 'nothing here is wild', I think we can't help but see ourselves in the description of 'you' that follows:

You search for something that doesn't flaunt the stamp of man but all mountain ranges are rectangular fields and all wolves are dogs. The same logo is on the beach as can be found on the roofs and on the bollards.

In this specific, yet also quite familiar sensation of trying to find somewhere untouched or 'wild', there seems to be an emotional state we are growing accustomed to in the age of the Anthropocene. As I looked from the window of my train, crossing the southern coast from Marseille to Toulouse, I found myself also scanning the horizon, Unsworth's description of ' hotel penthouses' and 'factory chimneys' unfolding in the early morning light.

> Another aspect of Certain Manoeuvres that spoke to me through my travel was the fragmentation of the self and the myriad forms such ruptures can take. This concept is examined not only in relation to the speaker's person, but in relation to our environments, noting the inserparateness of locational disconnection and a fragmentation of the self.

> There are multiple passages throughout that collection that not only felt pertinent to where I then found myself, but that seemed to trigger memories of an emotional state experienced when living abroad. One instance of this came in On, where the direct address to 'you' feels so candid:

You hear the constant pitch of your old country from inside the ear, pressing down on you like bad weather. You drown it out by sticking to the busy streets: trams, motorbikes, yellow lights, etc.

I think this musical portrayal, to some degree, is both metaphor and literal. It's something I've certainly been through, as if no matter how hard you try to assimilate somewhere, to step inside that language and occupy a new, partially formed sense of self, there are instances where the previous fragments of 'you' seem to creep in like a faint, distant pitch. It's a note you’re familiar with, one you recognise and that often feels frustratingly dissonant to the key of your new, modified self. Is there a coping mechanism for such ontological discordance? Or do you simply pass through the busy districts where the noise of unremitting nightlife makes the past self impossible to hear? Reading these lines, memories surfaced of walking alone, comforted by the twenty-four hour culture of an unfamiliar district that allowed me to just exist without explanation.

> There's something about the speaker's inextricable link to the objects that make up their person that feels so tied to the notion of travelling as a potential for personal growth. Unsworth hints at the objects that make up part of this experience — postcards, letters, photographs — whilst questioning how crucial of a role they play in actually forming the person. Were they to be discarded, would some part of the self be forever lost?

I take unneeded items and classify them: paper, plastic wood. Fling them... freeing up vital storage. The fact that the past still exists is so unnerving.

Again, I find this another example of Unsworth's ability to offer us images both metaphorical and literal, leaving us to meditate on the multiple possibilities of this phrase. Does this 'vital storage' signify physical space exterior to the body? Or this act of clearing out physical relics of the past a way of clearing out internal, cerebral storage, creating a space for one of the speaker's myriad persons to fill? I think one of the aspects of this ontological fragmentation that enriches the collection and that allows these questions to resonate is the fragmentation of the language itself, or, more specifically, the fragmentation of the definitions of words that are presented as false equivalences.

The word for time is tide, the word for tide is tie, the word for tie is binding. The word for wait is one step away from the word for watch. Hour logging. The word for war, the word for ear, emphasis, a prostitute.

I think the effect of these moments of playfulness comes in large part from the sharp contrast with the direct, prosaic style of the collection. There's something in the severing of these words from their meaning, alongside the detaching of the self from one specific body that reminded me of Jameson's 'schizophrenic fragmentation'. This develops further when the speaker's false equivalences move into a form of double negation; 'you are better not at home than not away', which feels almost like the discordant clash of two parts of the self disagreeing with each other. It feels like the 'buffering' the speaker alludes to, the glitching of one's physical self with the idea of this self as they move through different environments. One of the lines that beautifully meshes this physical movement with a virtual movement comes in 'Effects', the collective 'we' travelling to 'the edges of computer games… to see where the mesh runs out, see where the coders traded trees for grid'. The insistence that 'nothing is wild' extends in the virtual space, with no vector left untouched.

> As we find ourselves entering the final stages of Certain Manoeuvres, the poetry takes these deeply personal questions of self and delicately entwines them with contemporary questions of ecological degradation and technological entanglement. Maintaining the same direct and immediate tone we've grown accustomed to, Unsworth's poetry looks at these questions with a tentativeness that avoids trying to be didactic. Instead, the reader is invited to consider these questions through the speaker's seemingly incomplete and slightly obfuscated images. We see the speaker 'attached to [their] past self by telephone wires, in paper repetitions… a molecule rotating in one of two directions'. This series of persons, seemingly enmeshed in both the memories of the phone conversations and the wires themselves, throws us back to Unsworth's earlier meditation; 'Life, whatever that is: grain, maize, a chip in a computer'. These reflections, rather than standing outside of the other questions raised in Certain Manoeuvres, interlink both conceptually and formatically throughout the collection. Linguistically, the same fragmentation of definitions pulls apart the language surrounding extinction and consumerism.

Everything becomes a monument, an internet cafe, a clothing range. Timing is crucial. The Latin name of the functionally extinct Yangtze river dolphin means left behind. The word for pigeon is dove, the word for Dove is Unilever. As soon as one thing is joined with another it becomes a different thing that is again just one.

Including false equivalences alongside genuine definitions, it forces us to pause and reflect upon the ways in which language plays a role in our perception of such environmental questions. Unsworth neatly pulls this off, pointing to the ways in which, through entering our definitions, words related to the natural world become synonymous with material products and consequently affect our conceptualisation of our environmental surroundings.

> This oscillation between false equivalence and actual reference is at work throughout the collection, arising unexpectedly at moments to present us with images whose veracity is uncertain. I think this is one of the most intriguing elements of Unsworth's poetry, a sort of uncanniness that draws our attention to the peculiar (and often challenging) alterations occurring in our world. One of my favourite examples of this comes in 'On', the weight of such a passage demanding a pause in the text:

Everything makes two of itself and because of this we think the planet will also. I move to another city so as to be free of my earlier mistakes. In Russia there is a town on the outskirts of Moscow made entirely of plastic. When the mothers are raped they look directly at the camera before they walk away. Locals clamber over rolling hills of refuse looking for something to build a roof from, anything that corrugates.

Evidently there's a lot to say about these few lines, but one of my first reactions (strangely or naturally, I'm not quite sure) was to Google such a town in Russia to see if it actually existed: I still don't know if it does. As I started to type the words into the search bar, I realised that I didn't need to know whether it existed or not. The fact that such a strange place could exist says enough in itself, demonstrating the bizarrely concerning ways in which our landscapes are being transformed during the Anthropocene.

> I don't think it's possible to comment on this passage without addressing what I found to be one of the strongest images of the collection. Needless to specify, the direct and explicit reference to sexual abuse woven into the middle of phrases speaking to questions of ecological degradation leaves the reader no choice but to pause and deliberate on two significances: principally, the significance of this image in isolation, and secondally the (possible) link between this and questions of ecology. It's not my place to state what this means per se, but one notion these lines invited me to consider is the inseparability of human rights issues from the ongoing, and multifaceted challenges of the deeply entrenched environmental concerns of our time. Can these specific violations be treated in isolation? Or are they part of a greater ecology of issues that interlink and merge, forcing us to see a perpetual mutability that makes these questions impossible to detach from one another?

> So where does a body end? As we move through this collection, following the speakers ontological fragmentation, it's hard not to look at the objects of our own lives in which small parts of our self manifest. As I moved through city after city, dipping in and out of Certain Manoeuvres, I couldn't help but feel that lodged within the camera, the journal, the interrail pass, all this paraphernalia of travel, was now a certain fragment of who I was during that month. This is a powerful collection that asks many difficult questions, ones that I feel require time to meditate on. Even after multiple close readings, there seems to be a life to this text which grows and mutates independently, mirroring the ways in which the speaker fragments, multiplies and manifests themselves in obscure objects and spaces throughout the poems. That this is a collection I will return to, I am sure. How these reading experiences will be, I couldn't say, such is the nature of this multifaceted, intricately layered collection.

Uncertain Manoeuvres is out now and available to order via Knives Forks and Spoons Press. Lydia Unsworth’s latest chapbook, Throw the Towel In, will be released by KFS Press later this year.

Text: Max Parnell

Image: Knives Forks and Spoons Press

Published: 5/4/20

[1] Ashton Nichols, 'Prologue: Urbanatural Roosting', in Beyond Romantic Ecocriticism: Toward Urbanatural Roosting (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), pp. Xiii-xxiii. (p. xv).

#essay #essays #SPAM #Lydia Unsworth #Max Parnell #Knives Forks and Spoons Press #Certain Manoeuvres

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lexieanimetravel · 5 years

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2019 was a blissful and abundant year for us. Traveling is like conquering and unlocking a new skill for geeks like us. I’m very happy to introduce you to the best places in Europe that we’ve visited for the whole year of 2019.

Now, the question is, where did we go? What did we discover? Honestly? We have discovered the real rare gem of Europe, and I know it’s not over yet. There are still thousands of places to unlock.

Enfin, (finally) I’ve chosen 22 places from all of the places that we’ve toured in revisited in 2019. Some of them are not yet posted here in the blog, but anyway, here is your chance to know more about our travel adventure in the prior year.

Among all the best places in Europe that we’ve visited, we have revisited France and Germany mostly. Followed by Austria and last but not least, we have also visited new countries, like Slovenia, Liechtenstein, and Monaco.

Top 22 Füssen Germany

Getting to Füssen Germany was not really on our original plan while visiting the Bavaria area of Germany. One day while searching online, I remember the day when we pass through the town of Füssen on our way to our hotel. So I’ve decided to give it a try, and there is it the magic happens.

Though it was only a few hours of visit, we had a really great time here and fully enjoyed the quick excursion. So I considered it as one of the best places in Europe.

Füssen lies just in the north of the Austrian border. It’s most proud of its Gothic castle, Hohes Schloss, and houses a regional art museum. Its museum of St. Mang’s abbey showcases Füssen’s violin, and lute-making industry.

Read more about adventure in Füssen Germany, the romantic Bavarian town.

Top 21 Bonn Germany

Bonn is the place that I would put on the best places in Europe in the top 21. We’ve visited Bonn in spring, the best part of it was the exposition of Beethoven statues at the center of the city, and it was quite impressive.

Another thing that I’ve enjoyed while visiting Bonn was the convenience of wandering its city center on foot.

Bonn can be found in western Germany, resting in the Rhine river. It’s known for the central Beethoven House, a memorial and museum honoring the composer’s birthplace.

In its environs are Bonn Minster, a church with a Romanesque cloister and Gothic elements, the pink-and-gold Altes Rathaus, or old city hall, and Poppelsdorf Palace housing a mineralogical museum. To the south is Haus der Geschichte with post-WWII history exhibits.

Top 20 Amsterdam the Netherlands

On our top 20, I’ve chosen Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. I’ve visited this beautiful city with a friend. It was super exciting since there were only two of us traveling. Traveling to Amsterdam was the third time for me and 5th time in Holland. I would definitely put it on my list of best places in Europe.

Amsterdam is known for its artistic heritage, elaborate canal system and narrow houses with gabled facades, legacies of the city’s 17th-century Golden Age.

Its Museum District houses the Van Gogh Museum, works by Rembrandt and Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum, and modern art at the Stedelijk. This city has a lot of Cycling enthusiasts, it is actually one of the city’s main transportation since it has a numerous number of cycling paths.

Top 19 Koblenz Germany

Visiting Koblenz was our first time the same as Bonn, strolling in this city was a never-ending story of shopping spree. The center was considerably an enjoyable place to tour.

Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine, where it is joined by the Moselle. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its name originates from the Latin confluentes, meaning the confluence of the two rivers.

Some of the interesting places to see are the Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, Koblenz Cable Car, Forum Confluentes, the Old Castle (Alte Burg), Stolzenfels Castle, The Basilica of St. Castor, Ludwig Museum, and many more.

Top 18 Hohenschwangau Castle

Continuing our list of best places in Europe, next in line is the Hohenschwangau Castle. This castle is pretty less popular than Neuschwanstein. Well, at first I haven’t heard anything about this castle. But when I started to browse more details of the Schwangau area, Hohenschwangau Castle is one of its top tourist sites.

Hohenschwangau village settled in the southeastern state of Bavaria. Known for the Neuschwanstein Castle, which inspired Walt Disney. On the other hand, there’s the neo-Gothic Hohenschwangau Castle. It is the summer residence of King Ludwig II, with ornately furnished staterooms.

Both of these castles are built for 19th-century Bavarian kings. Read more about our travel adventure in Hohenschwangau Castle.

Top 17 Sélestat, France

Sélestat has become one of my favorite towns in Alsace, France. It has the most expected highlights, especially its most looking forward storks living allover its town.

It’s our first time visiting Sélestat as well. We had so much fun enjoying the view of the stork with their huge nest on top of the buildings and houses in the center of the town. You can read our adventure in Sélestat, the land of Storks.

Sélestat is a commune in the north-east region of France. An administrative division of the Bas-Rhin department. The town lies on the Ill river, between the largest communes of Alsace, Strasbourg, and Mulhouse, 17 kilometers from the Rhine and the German border.

Top 16 Stolzenfels Castle

Proceeding on our next best places in Europe list is the Stolzenfels Castle. A very charming castle, located near Koblenz on the left bank of the Rhine in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Stolzenfels Castle is a former medieval fortress castle, turned into a palace. It was gifted to the Prussian Crown prince Frederick William in 1823. We visited this castle, and it was absolutely stunning! Some features of this castle resemble the castles of my favorites series, the Game of Thrones.

I would definitely recommend this place when visiting Koblenz, though the castle guided tour was quick, I still love the fact that they let us stroll in the interior part of the castle. It was amazing!

Top 15 Obernai, France

Moving on, we have Obernai in Alsace, France. From our Alsace trip, Obernai is one of those towns that we have visited. It wasn’t actually our plan to visit here, but since the wine tasting place was located in this town, thus, we’ve decided to do a quick tour here.

Obernai is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It occupies the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains.

Some of the top places to visit are Old six-bucket well (1579), Clocktower (Kappelturm), Wheat Market (Halle aux Blés), Romanesque house in the Rue des Pélerins, Old Synagogue, and many more.

Discover more about the charming beauty of Obernai, Alsace.

Top 14 Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque

From our recent travel to Southern France, we went to faire un tour (visit) in a special place Notre-Dame of Sénanque Abbey, located near the village of Gordes in Vaucluse Provence.

This place is commonly known for its remarkable lavender fields. However, we went here after the lavender season. There weren’t lavender anymore, but it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to visit here.

Since the 12th century, the Abbey of Sénanque is one of the purest examples of the primitive Cistercian architecture. The Abbey shelters a community of Cistercian monks who lived according to the rule of Saint Benedict.

Guided tours (in French) are also available in the Abbey. I recommend you to proceed to the Bibliothèque of the Abbey. You’ll surely enjoy your time there, reading some of the rarest books.

Top 13 Vaduz Liechtenstein

Vaduz Liechtenstein would be on our top 13 on the list of best places in Europe to visit. Since I was telling about a lot of first times, visiting the new unlock country Liechtenstein, Vaduz (capital city) has left a remarkable memory for our 2019 travel escapade.

We drove to Vaduz from our visit to Bavaria and got a one day tour in its capital city. The most interesting part is that, seeing those strange car plate numbers with the letter (FL) representing its country. Which was also my first time seeing it.

Vaduz sits on the Rhine River near the Swiss border. One of its beautiful places to look up to is its Vaduz Castle dates back to the 12th century and is a royal family residence. Other places that you should check out are the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein displays modern art and the National Museum (houses archaeological and cultural artifacts)

Check out Things to do in Liechtenstein, Travel Guide for first-time visitors.

Top 12 Fontaine-de-Vaucluse

Occupying the spot of top 12 is Fontaine-de-Vaucluse in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. From our recent family visit, we went to explore a new town in France, and it was this small with a very unique atmosphere town called Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.

It is a perfect place to stroll with the family overlooking the rocky mountains surrounding the town. Don’t forget its picturesque scenery, and as well as it’s magnificent spring with crystal clear freshwater.

The name Vaucluse comes from the Latin phrase vallis clausa or closed valley. Fontaine-de-Vaucluse (“spring of Vaucluse”) is built around the Fontaine de Vaucluse, a spring in a valley at the foot of the Vaucluse Mountains, between Saumane and Lagnes, not far from L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It is named after the spring, the source of the River Sorgue.

I would, without a doubt, recommend this small town. Though I haven’t posted anything about this travel adventure that we had, I promise to share it with you as soon as I can. More information about our whole experience will be out really soon.

Top 11 Salzburg Austria

In our top 11 best places in Europe is Salzburg Austria. Once again, a new city to add our visited list, so I’m so proud of our achievements as travelers. Salzburg has been on my list to visit, and finally, this wishlist came true in 2019.

On our European road trip, we conquered 2 countries Austria and Slovenia. We stayed in a hotel near the border of Austria and Germany. Salzburg was really pretty, a lot of beautiful places to visit, for me, it’s like a small Paris.

Salzburg features views of the Eastern Alps. The city is divided by the Salzach River, with medieval and baroque buildings of the pedestrian Altstadt (Old City) on its left bank, facing the 19th-century Neustadt (New City) on its right. It is also known for it is the birthplace of famed composer Mozart.

Top 10 Monte Carlo Monaco

Down to our top 10 best places in Europe is Monte Carlo in Monaco. For the very first time, we vanquished more than 1,200 kilometers of a drive from Brussels to Monaco. Passing all the Péage (toll) places in France to Monaco, I wouldn’t say how much we paid (lol) but, it’s part of the adventure.

I remember before watching the Monte Carlo movie of Selena Gomez and, now, I’m here. It was such a pleasure to be able to visit this extravagant city.

One thing that I didn’t expect though was, the fact that it wasn’t that expensive as I have thought it would be. I know Monte Carlo is an expensive city, and Monaco is a prominent rich country. But in terms of prices, It wasn’t that expensive as when we were in Switzerland.

I would surely recommend visiting Monte Carlo. You’ll be enchanted by its beautiful sites like Monaco Cathedral, Napoleon Museum, Oceanographic Museum and aquarium, and many more.

Top 9 Gordes Vaucluse

Looking at the photo, you’ll probably think that it’s from Greece or Italy or Spain but No! It’s from Gordes Vaucluse, France. This magical town is located in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

The residents here are known as Gordiens. Have you heard about it before? I’m sure it’s your first time to hear it. It sounds like a greek or ancient name of heroes, right?

The territory of Gordes occupies some of the group of mountains and hills (Les Monts de Vaucluse) part in the valley of the Calavon (a local river) also called the Luberon Valley.

Wandering in this small town, made me feel like visiting Malta. It has that Game of Thrones vibe. From its narrow cobbled streets, ancient atmosphere, and the castle presence, it makes it more like a feeling to be part of the GOT series.

Top 8 Colmar Alsace

Meanwhile, after scrolling all the list of best places in Europe that we have visited, I have decided to add Colmar on the top 8. I would admit that Colmar has a different charm on me compared to other Alsatian towns. I really love our small excursion, and the gingerbread houses make me feel happy or in a good mood.

Colmar lies in the Grand Est region of northeastern France, near the border with Germany. Its old town has cobblestone streets lined with half-timbered medieval and early Renaissance buildings.

Some places to check out are the Eglise Saint-Martin church, which stands on central Place de la Cathédrale. There’s Dominican Church, Synagogue of Colmar, and, of course, the Petit Venice which is very popular.

Read more about our adventure in this ravishing town of Colmar (France’s Little Venice)

Top 7 Village des Bories

Village des Bories, one of my favorite places, personally I find it very interesting. Its historical museum features a centuries-old village with some 28 stone structures. For history lovers like me, it’s a bonus to get to know about the ancient way of living in Europe.

Before being known as the Village des Bories, this village was 270 meters above sea level near Gordes was called Les Cabanes. Without a cemetery and church, this village is typical of temporary settlements in Mediterranean countries.

I will soon share with you our experience wandering in this extraordinary ancient village. And of course, I’ll spill some travel guides and tips for your future visit.

Top 6 Ljubljana Slovenia

Discovering a new country is like opening a present or unboxing a new product. Well, that’s how I describe that feeling. On our 7th spot is Ljubljana, Slovenia. As you all know, it’s our first time to visit this country. 2nd spot on our list of the longest city that we have reached by car apart from Monaco, up to 1,100 kilometers drive from Brussels.

Arriving at Ljubljana was so exciting, it is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is known for its university population and green spaces, including expansive Tivoli Park.

Ljubljana has many museums, including the National Museum of Slovenia (displaying historic exhibitions) and the Museum of Modern Art, home to 20th-century Slovene paintings and sculptures.

Top 5 Linderhof Palace

One of the memorable travel experiences that I had in 2019 is my visit to Linderhof Palace in Ettal, Germany. Although my hubby and I visited in early summer. The place was still filled with snow, and it was freezing. I did enjoy our tour in this marvelous Palace.

Since you all know that I’m a huge fan of history, visiting a castle or palace would make me feel happy. Knowing about what history has left us, it just so amazing to learn and discover what have other people made or achieved back then.

Linderhof Palace is King Ludwig II’s 19th-century palace with ostentatious, mirror & chandelier-filled interiors. It’s considered as a replica of the Chateau de Versailles from King Louis XIV.

Read more about our adventure in this Royal Villa of the Bavarian King.

Top 4 Versailles Palace

Landing on the top 4 list of best places in Europe is the Versailles Palace. From our last topic, about Linderhof Palace, I would place Versailles in front of it. Simply, because we visited the Chateau de Versailles on my Birthday. Who would not forget it right?

We visited this enormous property of the King Lous XIV. The Palace of Versailles was the principal royal residence of France from 1682 until the start of the French Revolution in 1789.

It is located in the department of Yvelines, in the region of Île-de-France, about 20 kilometers southwest of the center of Paris.

The palace is now a historical monument and UNESCO World Heritage site, notable especially for the ceremonial Hall of Mirrors, the jewel-like Royal Opera, and the royal apartments (Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon), and the vast gardens of Versailles with fountains, canals, and geometric flower beds and groves, laid out by André le Nôtre.

Top 3 Neuschwanstein Castle

Lining up in our list of Castles and Palaces, here’s another Castle that we visited in 2019. Neuschwanstein Castle has exceptionally caught my attention and made my little princess dream came true. Every little girl’s dream is to live in a castle and wait for its prince charming to come to the rescue.

And for that, I’m very lucky to visit the fairytale look inspired Walt Disney castle of Sleeping Beauty with my prince charming (my hubby). I feel so lucky to experience and learn a lot of things about the life history of the king of Bavaria (King Ludwig II, the “Mad King” or “Swan King.”) and all the sad stories about his death.

The castle is absolutely stunning inside and out. Ideal for photographers and Instagram posters, this place is just so magical and unreal. Check out our Travel Guide to Neuschwanstein Castle to know more about the details of our tour as well.

Top 2 Hallstatt Austria

We are almost at the top of the of our best places to visit in Europe. On our second spot is no other than Hallstatt, Austria. A small picturesque village that inspired the movie Frozen. Did you ever know that? I have no idea either, but I did know it just after my visit to this pretty little fantasy land.

Hallstatt settles on Lake Hallstatt’s western shore in Austria’s mountainous Salzkammergut region. It features a funicular railway connects to Salzwelten, an ancient salt mine with a subterranean salt lake, and Skywalk Hallstatt viewing platform.

It has also a trail that leads to the Echern Valley glacier garden with glacial potholes and Waldbachstrub Waterfall. Hallstatt is a UNESCO heritage site and an important Austrian tourist attraction.

Top 1 Eguisheim Alsace

Finally, (Enfin) we are down to our top 1 best places in Europe, of course, according to our travel summary 2019. Eguisheim was one of our last destinations in December (Christmas Season) in Alsace, France. I totally fell in love with this village. It’s just so unique and rare from all other towns that I’ve traveled.

I would unquestionably go back here over and over again if I could. This Gingerbread village just captured my heart and soul. For me, it’s like the world of Narnia, or should I say, the world of Faerieland from Maleficent.

Eguisheim has its own out of the world charm. This medieval village in France’s Alsace highlights its narrow, concentric streets of its old town with many preserved half-timbered houses.

Its central Château Saint-Léon is a centuries-old castle. On the other hand, its Southwest at Husseren-les-Châteaux is the ruins of the Three Castles of Eguisheim, which date from the Middle Ages.

What do you think of our Top 22 Best Places in Europe? Let me know what you think. And if you like to know more details about our visit to Eguisheim, check out the Magical World of Christmas Markets in Alsace.

Top 22 Best Places in Europe

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Top 22 Best Places in Europe – Travel Summary 2019 2019 was a blissful and abundant year for us. Traveling is like conquering and unlocking a new skill for geeks like us.

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seniorbrief · 6 years

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The Best 8 Trips to Take with Your Sister

Travel

Lindsay TigarJul 10

Traveling from Chile to Colorado and beyond, these sibling pairs discovered new sibling dynamics as adults—and learned that they could be friends as well as siblings.

For making memories: Travel the world together

Courtesy Marlisse Cepeda

For RD.com editor Marlisse Cepeda and her sister Massiel, travel is part of the way they bond together. They’ve been all over—from Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Puerto Rico to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Prague, and Berlin. When they pick a place to get out of town together, they try to embark on new adventures where they’re both experiencing a destination for the first time. They also tend to lean toward touristy spots for a few reasons. “This means there will always be a lot of things to do, and that it’s safe,” she shares. To make it a memorable experience for both, Cepeda says it’s ideal to have some plans, but leave room for wandering. “Some of our best memories came from events, activities, etc., that weren’t planned,” she adds.

If you don’t happen to have a sister to travel with, these are the 10 best places for women to travel solo.

For bucket list adventures: Pucon, Chile

Courtesy Air Skydive Pucon

As the oldest brother of three siblings, software developer Rob Dugas had very few opportunities to travel with his baby sister, Katherine, who is nine years his junior. But thanks to an opening in their travel schedules, they were able to make a trek to South America. In addition to navigating language barriers with broken Spanglish, they explored this new-to-them region of the world—with its beautiful volcanoes and scenery—and had quite the adventure.

After many hikes and heart-to-hearts, Katherine suggested skydiving. And not just parachuting out of an airplane on her own, but specifically, she wanted to skydive with her eldest brother.

“I watched as my little baby sister jumped out of a plane in tandem with a strange man behind her. I couldn’t believe it: she was not even flinching. She was determined to go first, which meant I watched her plummet down first. Usually, I was the leader, but this time she led the way,” he shares. “I couldn’t help but be proud of her and her sense of adventure and risk, which I had no idea about prior. A few minutes later, down on the ground, I was in shock and she was all smiles, ready to go at it again. I’m sure that will not be our last skydive.”

You’ll want to add these amazing beaches to your bucket list ASAP.

For a milestone birthday: Rome, Italy

Courtesy Arestia Rosenberg

Though Italy might be deemed among the most romantic of all of the European countries, for freelance filmmaker and writer Arestia Rosenberg and her sister Thayer, it was the perfect way for two sisters to ring in a big birthday. For this trip, as her sister blew out 30 candles marking the start of a new decade, the duo toured around this ancient city, trying as much of the local fare as they could. Because both are seasoned travelers and independent, the trip was an eye-opener in that it showed them how well they could jet set together, having that shared common ground of having grown up together. “We could be honest about what we wanted to do. She even ditched me for one afternoon to go see something I wasn’t interested in while I worked in a café. Everyone got to do what they wanted, and no one was mad,” she recalls.

Get inspired for your next vacation with these photos of the world’s most luxurious and expensive trips. Hey, it’s fun to dream!

For reconnecting: Munich and Berlin, Germany

Courtesy Katherine Conaway

Up until 13 years ago when she went away for college, writer, producer, and consultant Katherine Conaway and her sister Elizabeth spent nearly every single day together. Since then, they bonded over the holidays and visited each other, but never really had time to truly get out of town, just the two of them. With a goal of checking Oktoberfest off their bucket lists, they decided to prost their way through Germany. The experience gave Katherine a renewed connection to her sister, as they stepped away from their “real lives” and experienced a new time and place together. “We spent hours at the German Historical Museum because we’re both nerds, went out to a fancy brunch and dinner for her birthday, and also almost peed ourselves giggling on the metro home one night. It was really fun and special to spend a week together, learning more about each other’s lives now and falling back into our playful, snuggly childhood dynamics,” she explains.

Original Source -> The Best 8 Trips to Take with Your Sister

source https://www.seniorbrief.com/the-best-8-trips-to-take-with-your-sister/

#seniorbrief #seniors

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buildercar · 7 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.buildercar.com/repeatedly-crossing-europe-in-a-1973-plymouth-roadrunner/

Repeatedly Crossing Europe in a 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner

A former World Champion AHRA Super Street and NHRA Super Gas drag racer with time on his hands and wanderlust led to the most unlikely outcome of road tripping through Europe in a 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner. Three different times. Al Young didn’t start out thinking he’d joy ride in Europe and former Soviet Bloc countries with a muscle car when he started his quest for a simple project.

The now-retired school teacher from Seattle never liked idle time, especially those three months during the summer students and teachers typically enjoy, which led him to campaign a 1970 Challenger running AHRA and NHRA Northwest division Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. The Challenger started as a drive-to-the-track car, ending up as an 8-second full tube chassis racer over almost 30 years, progressively running faster classes, ending his driving career with an AHRA Super Street World Championship in 1981, and three NHRA Pro ET Division Championships.

With retirement came more idle time, but a plan. He loved his old 1973 Plymouth Sebring Plus daily driver even more than his Challenger. He always wanted to build his own car, a car he knew inside and out, where everything is modified and improved to perform better. Also, he and his wife Vicki wanted to see the USA. As he says, “Driving to national events you never see anything.” When a beat 1973 Satellite became available he put his plan together.

The Original Plan

Vicki and Al wanted to see the USA in a muscle car. Al specifically wanted to take a long road trip following Route 66. His retirement funds were limited, but his imagination wasn’t. The car needed to be bulletproof, with backup for the electronic ignition, fuel delivery; both clutch and electric fans, and the electrical had to be easily accessed, which meant it couldn’t be hiding under the dash. Redundant components and electrical systems would keep repair times to a minimum on the road. Vicki had a couple of requirements of her own. Air conditioning and not a typical hard bench seat were her conditions. Since this wasn’t going to be an all out performance car, Al wanted to stay away from big block, long stroke engines which typically create more heat. Says Al, “It couldn’t be so exotic that I couldn’t find a part in Tulsa.”

The Car

The 1973 Sebring Plus he found in 2007 fit his budget. “It originally cost $500, and I overpaid,” says Al. “It was hammered—a drunk must have liked to hit guardrails with it.” But he could fix the roached parts easier than he could step up for a more expensive alternative. “On a teacher’s salary I didn’t have a lot of money so between parts I had and my own skills I felt I could make it nice,” he says. Al also wanted it to be a Roadrunner clone, and so he started collecting what he needed to begin the three-year process. “Ever since I was a kid I always wanted to build my own car, and this was perfect because it was a heap,” he adds. “I could rebuild it the way I wanted.”

The Engine

Al is quick to say this is not your typical engine buildup. He’s been fast and had quick cars. His Roadrunner would need to be something else. Says Al, “It had to be bullet proof, and my bracket racing really helped. The biggest thing was a solid engine and trans.” He stared with a standard bore 318ci engine he’d pulled out of a Duster 30 years before. “It’s odd to build a motor so that you can’t hurt it, but that will also perform,” he says. The 318 has thicker walls than a 340, making for a sturdy foundation. But he did use 340 iron heads, ported and polished with 2.02 intake and 1.60 exhaust Manley stainless valves by DG Performance. Compression is 9.2:1. He’s running a Comp Cams hydraulic 252H cam with .425 lift and 252 duration. “If I put Harland Sharp rockers in it, what’s going to happen if I break one,” he asks? “A stamped rocker is much easier to fix and I can find a stick welder anywhere.” Intake is an Edelbrock Streetmaster topped with a 600cfm Holley 4160 carb. Says Al, ”Headers were out. You’re going to bottom out somewhere.” So 360 Police Pursuit exhaust manifolds ceramic coated by Performance Coatings handle exiting exhaust, with 2 ½-inch dual exhaust tucked tight and Flowmaster mufflers.

Drivetrain and Suspension

The automatic transmission was custom made by friend Pat Blais of Blais Torqueflites, “The best in biz,” says Al. “We used a 904 instead of 727 because it has less rotating mass with a 2.76 first gear set to it. It’s made into a ‘999’ with Kolene steel plates and Raybestos Hi Energy friction discs.” It’s finished off with a Mopar factory hi-stall converter and a B&M Mega Shifter. With 2 5/8-inch U-joints and an 8¾ Suregrip rear with 323 gears, the rearend is stout. For insurance Al carries extra bearings. All the steering is by Firm Feel out of Vancouver, Washington. Heavy-duty torsion bars, sway bars, and Bilstein shocks take care of the suspension. Says Al, “We actually wore out a set of Bilsteins going thru Albania.” Brakes are factory 11.75-inch drilled discs with factory 11-inch drum brakes in back.

Building

As the Roadrunner came together Al found some Chrysler Crossfire 6-way heated bucket seats, and purchased a Nostalgia Air AC system because it mounts under the dash for easy access. While he banged out or replaced some of the sheetmetal, Skeeters Auto body in Seattle did the final finish and paint. 17- and 18-inch Ion 625 wheels with Hankook V12 Evo tires round out the rolling package. A Champion aluminum radiator and InduraPower lithium ion battery found space under the hood. The redundant systems incorporated into the Plymouth are a switch-controlled ignition and backup ignition, with two MSDs, two coils and two wiring harnesses; electric and mechanical fuel pumps; electrical and mechanical fans; and stock through-the-dash electrical and bypass electrical systems to avoid working upside down under the dash in 100-degree heat.

Rubber Meets the Road

After the Roadrunner was finished, Al hammered it to beat on weak components and fix the bugs. “I raced the car for a year before taking a trip,” says Al. “I blew 200-pounds of nitrous through this motor trying to blow it up.” He admits he was having second thoughts about the 318 block, thinking he might build a 340, so the little 318 was expendable to him. But guess what? This engine is bulletproof. “I was determined to blow the motor up so I continued putting nitrous thru it,” Al says. In the end it has been a reliable engine that Al feels really woke up from the modifications.

Seeing the USA

In 2011 the Young’s and their Roadrunner were ready for a long road trip. “That was my big dream to build something for Route 66,” says Al. “We went down to New Orleans, across the Dakotas, and cut down following the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, eventually tying into Route 66.” Total miles travelled: 8000. Problems were reduced to percolating gas in hot weather, and a melted shift cable nestled too close to the exhaust.

The next year Vicki and Al travelled to a nephew’s wedding in New York from the southern route through Nashville, Montgomery, Atlanta, up to Niagara Falls, before heading home to Seattle. Total miles travelled: 8000.

The third trip in 2013 was 7000 miles down the coast from Seattle and back through Glacier National Park in Montana and British Columbia. “Then we ran out of places to go,” says Al.

Europe or Bust

What would have seemed far-fetched a few years earlier was now being seriously investigated. “Europe sounded great, we had become accomplished road people,” says Al. What seemed like an exciting extension of Al’s original intent to travel Route 66 quickly iced over when he discovered the tab to ship the Roadrunner to Europe. “It costs $11,000, and I just can’t afford that,” says Al. He adds if it weren’t for the cost of shipping, travelling Europe by car is the absolute cheapest way to go. “We ended up going to 34 different countries and I tried to figure how much it would have cost us to fly to 34 countries and it would have been astronomical any other way but driving your own car,” says Al. “Travelling by train you have to live out of a suitcase, but with a 1973 Plymouth trunk big enough to hold five people we never worried and just threw stuff into the trunk.”

The New Plan

When Al was drag racing his sponsor for 30 years was Bardahl. Remember Bardahl? They’re an additive company like STP or Justice Brothers. Still based in Seattle, a determined owner and fights with the Feds over distributorships led to Bardahl reducing US sales to become one of the leading lubricants in over 90 different countries. Many new cars built outside of the US contain Bardahl products. Bardahl founder Ole Bardahl (1902-1989) was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2014.

Al contacted Bardahl, ran the idea of driving the Roadrunner throughout Europe stopping at distributorships here and there as a sort-of promotional tour, and guess what? They loved the idea. So Vicki and Al pulled out a map and Bardahl’s list of distributors and put together a proposal for touring Europe in a 1973 Roadrunner muscle car. “We wanted to go to all of these countries and it ended up being 8000 miles,” says Al. “We didn’t even plan on it taking 45 days, either. It just turned out this way to hit all of those countries. Plus my wife didn’t want to spend every day in the car; she wanted to see the Vatican, the Prado Museum in Spain, and places like that.”

Al’s wife is part Scandinavian, and she also wanted to visit where her ancestors were from. It so happens that Sweden is the home of the Power Big Meet, the largest American car show in the world. Like 20,000 cars large! Located in Vasteras, it seemed the perfect blend of cars, culture, and clan. The plan was to fly to Amsterdam, then take the train to where the Roadrunner would be waiting in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the largest port in Europe. At the port they’d load up the Roadrunner, fire it up, and drive off. Shipping would take 45 days, stopping at many US ports from Seattle before going through the Panama Canal, headed for Rotterdam. “I planned it so that in every country there was a distributorship I could stop into or drive by,” says Al.

How Is It Travelling in Europe With a Muscle Car?

“The car was the ticket,” says Al. “When we came into a town it was like the circus was in town. Every hotel wanted us to park in the front, in front of the Lamborghinis; and at every restaurant there was no parking but they made space for us, it was crazy.” Vicki and Al’s safety net was the distributorships in every new country they entered. “I had hosts,” says Al. “Unless you have a reason they won’t let you go to all of these different countries because they suspect you’re going to sell the car and they won’t get their tax. We had to get a Carnet, which is a passport for the car stating the reason why you’re travelling around with this unusual car. Bardahl provided us with the reason for having the car go through all of these countries.

“Most all of the gas in Europe is 100-102 octane so my motor loved it. I’m only running 9.2 compression so the fuel was good, and it usually ran from $7-$9 a gallon. Gas stations were everywhere and very clean, but you do pay a Euro or two to use their restrooms. Rest areas are very clean but not as frequent as in the US. Burger Kings are everywhere, though we always ate local food and it was so good. American companies are everywhere. Everyone was very nice and they always wanted to sit in the car, and were always polite to ask if they can take a picture. It made a lot of peoples’ day and really made our day. In the 21st century it’s the universal language to have a hot rod.

“The small villages are small villages, and the big towns are pretty cosmopolitan. Once you’re past the border, police are always curious about the car. Most of the time they just want to stop you to look at it. In the eastern part of Europe — Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, the Carnet came in handy because the border guards are still Soviet bloc. With an American muscle car all eyes are diverted to the car and there was never a problem. I’m Asian, so if you look at me to try and figure me out you’d probably be 80-percent wrong, but if you look at my car and try to figure who I am you’d probably be 80-percent right because when you see my car you see my soul. If my car stereotypes me you almost would hit who I am perfectly.”

Our map shows the routes Vicki and Al took, and that’s the other curious thing about this caper, there was more than just a single European trip. The first, in 2014, went so well that Bardahl asked Al if he’d do it again in 2015. “Bardahl asked us again to go — it’s very hard to turn this down,” says Al.

The 2015 Trip

So a second trip was launched for 2015. This one would take Vicki and Al into former Soviet bloc countries which today, just two years later, would be a bit dicier to do. “I didn’t bring a gun, and didn’t bring nitrous with me because they would think it was a bomb,” says Al. “If they saw two 10-pound bottles they’d be running. In all it was really safe driving these three years. Day or night there would always be a crowd around the Roadrunner, so I never worried about theft because it was just too high profile, plus I disarmed the MSDs. Freeways are good, the Autobahn is overcrowded.

There was always the potential for a little drama crossing through former Soviet bloc countries, but luckily “situations” were rare. “As a favor to one of the distributors as we were leaving Serbia I stopped by one of his friend’s residence,” says Al. “There was a car club there, with a Shelby Mustang and some really cool American cars. We made good friends, and as I was leaving one of the guys says we’re about 30 miles from the Hungarian/Serbian border, and if I have any problems just give them his name, Igor Javanovich. I thought it was kind of weird because normally you don’t worry about leaving a country, it’s getting in that might be a problem. So we get to the border and this Soviet bloc guard sternly asks for my papers. He starts asking lots of questions and demands we get out of the car. He wants my insurance card, passport, drivers license, everything. He makes us wait in this office where there’s a woman behind a desk that is just as severe. She kept asking what I wanted, and I told her I was just trying to cross the border. So finally I tell here I know Igor Javanovich, that I was a guest at his house. With that said, she walks out to the border station and there’s some sort of altercation with the other guard. Then she comes back with all of my papers, puts them in my hands, and says, “Go!” I was rescued by hot rodders!”

One More Time

With the success of the second European trip, Bardahl was interested in another in 2016. So were Vicki and Al. Says Al, “We went to the American Speed Fest in Brands Hatch, England; Scandinavian countries, France, and it was just great. We drove a little less at 6800 miles total. In Norway we went to fjords half way up into the country, and it was so beautiful.

“One time we exhibited the car near Paris and it sat right next to a Lamborghini. The crowds are all around the Plymouth and no one is by the Lambo. The locals explained that they like the Plymouth much better because they could work all of their life and never get that Lambo, but work a couple of summers and you could buy a Roadrunner as a teen and blow the doors off of the Lambo. We are so lucky as young people in America to be able to build a car that’s fast. In Belgium it’s a few hundred dollars to race a car, but here for $30 I can take it to Bremerton or Seattle to the racetrack and go as fast as I can go in the quarter-mile all day long. We’re so lucky.”

So are the Young’s. They plan on taking life easy this year, but Al is already talking about more road trips to come. “I love to drive, and Vicki has shown me the world through her knowledge of the great places to visit—she’s the tour guide and I’m just the driver.”

What was the most frequently asked question? Do you know Vin Diesel?

Basque police in northern Spain, getting their questions answered by Al Young during the first trip in 2014. Vicki and Al spent two nights in the cities of Salamanca and Sebastian in Spain, before making their way back to Rotterdam then returning home to Seattle.

With over 20,000 American cars in attendance the 2014 Power Big Meet in Vasteras, Sweden, is the largest car show in the world, and the Young’s were excited to be able to participate. Staying three days, they then headed to the Rostock ferry at the bottom of Sweden headed toward Germany.

Two symbols of American industrial brilliance, a WWII Sherman Firefly tank and Roadrunner muscle car, at the site of the battle at Normandy Beach in France. This museum honoring those who died in one of the bloodiest battles of the war at both Normandy and Omaha Beaches is located not too far from the historic city of Caen.

The coastal roads from Mostar to Dubrovnik in Croatia are easy to traverse and safe, and of course the views are spectacular. This was shot during the Young’s 2015 road trip driving from Italy through Croatia to Albania.

Bundesministerium für Finanzen (BMF) customs agents in Austria checking the Roadrunner out, along with amazement at the expanse of storage available inside of a 1973 Plymouth trunk. Al says most all of the police and border agents were extremely nice and very curious, though some in former Soviet bloc countries could be a bit stern—until he popped the hood.

Near France’s border with Belgium is the city of Lille, with art museums like the Museum of Modern Art just a few minutes away and the Louvre Museum less than ½-hour from Lille. The Roadrunner is displayed at a Bardahl distributorship in Lille in 2014, with the Lamborghini playing second fiddle to American muscle.

A heavy downpour slowing things down a bit just outside of Sofia in Bulgaria, from the 2015 trip. Roads in Bulgaria tend to be bumpy and pot-holed, but most of the sights worth seeing can only be accessed by car. Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria, and is as cosmopolitan as any city in Europe with over 1.25 million population.

Al started with a 318 block for its thicker cylinder walls helping to make for a solid foundation. Note the two MSD boxes, two coils on the firewall, and multiple wiring circuits so if any failures occurred Al could switch to a second component or circuit without roadside repairs.

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itsworn · 7 years

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Travelling Through Europe in a 1973 Roadrunner

The Original Plan

The Car

The Engine

Drivetrain and Suspension

Building

Rubber Meets the Road

Seeing the USA

The third trip in 2013 was 7000 miles down the coast from Seattle and back through Glacier National Park in Montana and British Columbia. “Then we ran out of places to go,” says Al.

Europe or Bust

The New Plan

How Is It Travelling in Europe With a Muscle Car?

“The small villages are small villages, and the big towns are pretty cosmopolitan. Once you’re past the border, police are always curious about the car. Most of the time they just want to stop you to look at it. In the eastern part of Europe—Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, the Carnet came in handy because the border guards are still Soviet bloc. With an American muscle car all eyes are diverted to the car and there was never a problem. I’m Asian, so if you look at me to try and figure me out you’d probably be 80-percent wrong, but if you look at my car and try to figure who I am you’d probably be 80-percent right because when you see my car you see my soul. If my car stereotypes me you almost would hit who I am perfectly.”

Our HOT ROD map shows the routes Vicki and Al took, and that’s the other curious thing about this caper, there was more than just a single European trip. The first, in 2014, went so well that Bardahl asked Al if he’d do it again in 2015. “Bardahl asked us again to go—it’s very hard to turn this down,” says Al.

The 2015 Trip

One More Time

What was the most frequently asked question? Do you know Vin Diesel?

Essentials for road trippin’:

GPS by TomTom

Cruise Control – aftermarket Audiovox

A/C – aftermarket underdash by Nostalgic Air, Sanden type compressor

2005 Chrysler Crossfire 6 way, heated, buckets

Dodge Challenger 2010 side view mirrors

Bilstein Shocks (front and rear)

Firmfeel: Torsion bars, front and rear sway bars, tubular control arms, tubular tie rods, Stage II steering gearbox, custom rear springs.

Radiator: aluminum 4 core (Champion)

Spares: distributor, alternator, regulator, starter, fuel pump, water pump, thermostat, hoses, belts, gaskets.

Emergency reflective triangle, aluminum floor jack, compact spare tire, Fix a Flat, large tool kit, Bardahl oil additive and stop leak (both for oil and coolant), silicone, zip ties, wire, and duct tape.

The post Travelling Through Europe in a 1973 Roadrunner appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/travelling-europe-1973-roadrunner/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hot Rod Network

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bluebuzzmusic · 6 years

Text

Exclusive: 2018 in review with Will Clarke, Super Flu, and more!

With the help of Minimal Effort’s team, I was able to reach out to a bunch of them all at once and ask:

What was the craziest/best part of 2018? 2. What was the hardest/biggest growth you experienced? 3. Any personal/professional goal you have for yourself for 2019? Any hopes for your fans.

The replies I got were pretty fantastic and made me feel a little better about the year we are all leaving in the glittered dust.

Will Clarke

“So many amazing moments this year but the one that stands out to me the most was playing CRSSD festival this fall. The crowd was insane with people climbing on the staging and going mental.

I’m still 5’3″ so [saying the biggest growth] is pretty tough. [Goals for 2019 involve] My new label launching, potentially an album and also a new live show alias called AMOK.”

Option 4

Layton Giordani

VNNSA

Super Flu

This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Exclusive: 2018 in review with Will Clarke, Super Flu, and more!

source https://www.youredm.com/2018/12/31/exclusive-2018-in-review-with-will-clarke-super-flu-and-more/

#edm #party #rave #lit #girls #dj #djs #martin garrix #aviccii

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