Photos..

Phew.. ok.. I spent most of the day so far weeding through photographs and putting together some web galleries.. It seemed easiest to put them all in one place, so I created a web page just for the trip.. you can find the editor's picks by clicking HERE.

(or by visiting www.c-jr.com/europe2009)

stateside..

well,, I'm back home after a non-stop two weeks.. It's nice to be home and reeling from these experiences, although I feel like I need a vacation just to recover..

I'm wading through more than 1,400 photos.. sooner or later I'll get some more up here or set up a web gallery of the best-of-the-best..

For now, I guess I need to go back to work..

The Route

..roughly 1800 miles by rail..

Ahora mas!

ok ok ok!!.. a few photos for you!

And since this blog is called MOTO-psychosis.. I'd better show you some bikes.. particularly some bad ass bikes that we can't get in the states!

The Yamaha TDM 850..


Suzuki DR 750... nice.


The infamous and elusive Honda Varadero..


And my personal favorite, the NEW Yamaha Tenere 650.. just available (in Spain) as of 3 months ago.. this baby is MONSTEROUS, and totally awesome. I want one.










..And now for some artsy-fartsy images from around..

Viva Espana!

I sat down & wrote a pretty good post the other night, only to find that my internet connection had expired by the time I was done writing..

Barcelona was fantastic. Got to Madrid today around noon.. a much different experience, but a thoroughly cultural experience nonetheless.. We ate some pretty freaky looking stuff for lunch today that I would never have ordered had I seen it beforehand.. come to find out, it was quite tasty!

More to come.. stay tuned!

France

Ok, I actually wrote this yesterday so it's about a day behind, but here's an update!

Whew! Where to begin.. Since leaving Zurich Friday night, it feels like we've been constantly on the move; and we have. The sleeper compartment on the train from Zurich to Rome was very small and pretty expensive, but if you ask me, well worth the cost of admission. It was nice to settle in and get a good night's sleep. We woke up to a beautiful haze of fog over the Italian countryside, and to the realization that Jill's empty wallet meant we had a visitor overnight. We both suspect the train car attendant as the door was locked all night long. It was an early lesson in security and we've changed our ways in the precautionary department. Italy supposedly has the world's best pick-pockets, but we've heard the same about Barcelona.

Other than that, and a relatively minor mistake with our Eurail pass, things have been fairly smooth. We arrived in Rome early Saturday morning and after a quick shot of Italian espresso, we were off on one of those ultra-touristy double decker bus tours. For 15 euros, it afforded us our own personal massively oversized taxi.. that takes you all over the city and to all of the most popular and impressive attractions. On the list was the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps (proper name?), Trevi fountain, the Vatican city and plenty of other incredible sights.
All of the historical sights were certainly an eye-ful and I feel privileged to have seen them in person, however briefly. Italy though, especially Rome, isn't my kind of place. I'll surely come back some day to gaze at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and perhaps find a few famous and hidden sculptures.

We hiked to the hostel which was absolutely nothing to write home about, and we back on the move to the train station by 8am. We figured our how to get around Rome pretty easily, all things considered. Enough so to take a bus, then train, to get ourselves to the "Roma Termini" station by the time our 9:46 train pulled out towards Genova.

The western Italian coast is probably one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life.. absolutely stunning, and I'm sure my photographs won't come close to doing it justice. But after all, that's why I'm here to see it all with my own two eyes.

An hour layover in Genova was enough time to find an internet cafe, slug another Italian cappuchino, snap a few photographs, and fall in love with the city. This will most certainly be a destination for me in the future, I think.

Back on the train and we'll be in Nice, France by around 9pm tonight. It's about 1km to the hostel so we should have an easy stroll and a tasty stop off for dinner..

Tomorrow, we've got only a short time too explore Nice, but I imagine that a couple french espressos, some strolling around the streets and a tasty lunch should do the trick..

This kind of travel is something I've never experienced before and I think I can say that it's by far the most difficult. I've had my fair share of difficulties during motorcycle travel, but the language barriers in other parts of the world prove to make things that much more challenging. I think we take for granted many of the subtleties of everyday life. It's quite difficult to figure out what bus to get on, and even harder to learn the rules of the system. By the trip's end, we'll have bits and pieces of swiss german, italian, french and spanish.. I've found so far that "thank you" is the phrase I use most.. Danke, Gratzi, Merci, Gracias... I think it's important to express gratitude when on someone else's turf.

So, there's definitely no moss under our feet on this trip.. constantly on the move and absorbing incredible amounts of information.. it's a dream come true for an experiential junkie like myself. Everything is new.. all the time.. and it's all so incredibly foreign and humbling. I've heard it a thousand times over that there's so much more to the world that what's within our american boundaries.. and that once you cross those borders, everything changes. Europe was never all that high on my to-do-list, but now that I'm here I feel incredibly fortunate to be experiencing parts of it.

***addition***.. Nice was lovely.. spent a little time sitting on the beach at the Mediterranean, then back on the train to Montpellier.. here tonight and in Barcelona by lunch time tomorrow!

(photos coming soon!)

Roma!

Sorry for the lack of posting! I met Jill in Zurich and we made it to Rome this morning.. not without a few hurdles and obstacles, but we're here!

Tomorrow morning, it's back on the train to Genova, Italy, then on to Nice France!

I'll try to post sooner than later!

back on the move

it's been a wonderful experience in Basel.. the culinary experiences alone are enough to fill an entire post, and the interactions with people and circumstances, another.
Tomorrow we're back on the move and I'm looking forward to a completely new set of unfamiliar experiences.
I haven't slept well since my arrival here and it's hard to imagine how thats possible.. I'm pretty sure that I've skipped an entire 24 hours of my life..

i also can't believe that it's only tuesday evening.. it feels like an eternity already that I've been gone, and I can't imagine how it's going to feel after another week and a half!

I'm incredibly indebted to those responsible for bringing me here, both my incredibly gracious hosts as well as those supporting my daily responsibilities back home.

Lassen wir das jetzt!

Basel

Finally a little opportunity to throw some photos up..

First up is the warm sunrise on the Alps.. this was at the tail end of the flight into Zurich and I only got a brief glimpse of this.. lovely.



Totally out of order, but this was tonight's dinner at Pantheon Basel.. a fancy little vintage car museum designed and constructed after the Greek Pantheon.. Jacques Bron, Greg King, and yours truly.


From the "death march".. a picturesque view of Basel, Switzerland.



..Also from the flight in.. sunrise over France..


I'm only one day into this trip and it feels like an eternity already. That being said, I'm sure the next 13 days will fly by faster than any of my life.. figures.

Every minute there's something new.. a new experience, a different language or confrontation.. or confusion.. And I love it.. perfect for an experiential junkie like me!

Tomorrow is more training in Basel, followed by a "sightseeing" day in Lucerne on Wednesday, then train to Shaufhausen on Thursday morning.. More training Thursday, then back to Zurich for one more half day of training. Friday night is when Jill shows up in Zurich and we hop a train to Rome! ... from Rome it's a day's train ride back up to Nice, France.. then over to Montpellier, France.. On to Barcelona where we'll spend two nights, then over to Madrid for two more nights before heading home from Madrid..

awesome..

step one

Made it to Zurich, Switzerland about 7am this morning.. (it,s sunday afteroon about 2pm as I write this.. or 7am in Chicago..) train to Basel, quick power nap, and i,m out to explore the town..

(no personal internet connection yet, so no pictures yet.. stay tuned!