When you blink your eyes...

I came into Webster Hall with a friend waiting for Animal Collective to start. We were there a little over an hour and 15 after the doors open, seemed like it should be about time for them to start.

After a beer or 2 we realized a band was already playing, it was some kind of weird electronic ambient music. I was wondering who the opening band was. I saw them set up 2 skeletons with prom dresses on or something on each side of the stage. We walked in closer, I didn't know what to make of the music yet. I was trying to figure out what this band was. There was one band member on each side of the stage at what looked like drum machines and some keyboards for each of them, no computers, all analog. There was a singer at this point always singing through some voice distortion system in a weird creepy, carnival like voice.

At one point the music got very loud, a sound that was somewhat like a blender was blaring through the venue. Then a barrage of trumpets came through as the beat started to come in. I noticed some what of a island flavor to the songs, it was dancey and electronic, and almost dub/reggae at times.

Then at one point I heard some words I recognized, I couldn't exactly place it. I knew I liked this song and had heard it recently but it didn't really sound like anything I could remember. This was a progressive interesting sound, it wasn't quite like anything else. I was wondering if it was this band Battles my friend John had recently introduced me to. I had only heard a few of there songs, I was wondering if it was one of those. I knew they also had distorted vocals and used electronic equipment in this way. I even sent a text message to John at one point when I was sure this was Battles, I felt silly when I realized it wasn't them.

Then I heard what sounded like the Animal Collective song "Peacebone" start playing off of there new album with somewhat of a polka beat. I checked and the same band was on stage. Although, the song was much different than I remembered. It did not sound like the recorded version. Was this Animal Collective all along? I thought I knew the music pretty well. How could I not recognize Animal Collective's music? I had listened to Strawberry Jam at least 5 times since I've had it. I had listened to Feels tons of times.

I saw the edge of a cymbal from my viewpoint but couldn't really see a drummer, I never saw the cymbals move. If this was Animal Collective I knew that Panda Bear should be on drums. Then I heard him sing, it was unmistakable the Brian Wilson sounding falsetto. Later I saw him actually play the drums while standing. The drums were only played a few times the entire night, mainly all drum machines.The songs became more recognizable at times, at least the lyrics once I realized it was in fact Animal Collective. I did not know what to make of this, but I knew I liked it, whatever it was. I wasn't really mad the songs were not played like the songs on the albums I loved. I respected the fact they wanted to do something totally different with the songs and I thought it was done pretty well for the most part. I talked to a few people and the crowd and some hated it, some loved it. One guy said he had seen them play live a few times and they normally play the songs different than the albums. "Who could win a rabbit" was hardly recognizable to me, only by the lyrics did I finally catch on. It was almost as if they were covering themselves.

At one point in the show Avey Tare mentioned something about the monitor sounding too "bassy". The whole show was very bass heavy and reggae sounding. Its hard to describe the weird spin they put on all the songs. I don't know if it was for halloween or what, being halloween is still a month away.

I never heard or at least recognized my favorite AC song "Did you see the words?" but I did enjoy the show quite a bit. They left the stage to return for no encore. The lights didn't immediately come on and people began to change for them to return but they did not. I enjoyed the band's audacity to play the songs in this way. I thought it was a success but could see how some fans wouldn't like it. Overall, a great experience. It didn't beat out the LCD Soundsystem performance earlier this year but this one is up on the list.

I woke up this morning to a phone call where my family sang a harmonious version of happy birthday to me. It was the best birthday wakeup call I could think of. It immediately reminded me of the short track on Aphex Twin’s Drukqs album called “Lornaderek”. Its a short recording of what sounds like his parents calling him on the phone and singing happy birthday to him. I just listened to it and at the end his mom says “Happy 28th birthday Richard” which was also an interesting coincidence. I think this is the beginning of a magical year.

I finally got to see Tokyo Police Club last night. I had tried to get tickets several times but they always sold out quick. I got these tickets several months ago and was excited to see this one wasn't sold out yet.

The Bowery is one of my all time favorite venues to see live music. Every time its been a pleasant experience. A good show is always sold out but they don't seem to oversell the tickets so there is room to move around and even get a chair to sit down in sometimes. It has 3 bars at 3 different levels and you can usually get a drink in a short amount of time. The sound quality is always superb. The sound engineer always finds that perfect sweet spot between loud and powerful and blowing out the speakers like they do at a lot of venues. The mixing has generally been very good as well and last night was no exception. You can really feel all the instruments and the vocals come out clear and loud. The capacity is perfect, not too big or too small. It even has a balcony level where you can get a great view of the crowd and stage. To top it off the ticket prices are very reasonable, only $15 for the one last night. I went to see Kings of Leon at Roseland Ballroom several months ago. I think it was in the $30-$40 range. The place is too big and the sound sucked compared to Bowery.
Tokyo Police Club is a band of young Canadians from Toronto that have been receiving some acclaim over the last year. I read about the hype and wasn't sure if I'd like them. It is in that indie rock/pop realm, but they do it right. Its not that same old sound you hear from a lot of bands in this genre. Their music has a really fresh and exciting feeling it. I first got the A Lesson in Crime EP earlier this year and listened to it quite a bit. A few weeks ago I downloaded another single and EP from e-music which are also solid. I didn't know about half the songs they played at the show so I'm hoping the release a full length album soon.
I was pleasantly impressed with this show. They really played well, it sounded better than the recorded material which is not often the case of live music. The key was their energy and the amount of practice they have been gaining with constant touring. There is something special about seeing a band who's been touring so much and really love and believe in their music. The keyboard/percussion player was going nuts playing with so much energy. I thought he was going to break a blood vessel pounding the tambourine into his wrists so hard.

I think what really sets them apart is the young singer. He really has something. He was wearing the trendy super tight girl's jeans showing off his bird legs. He kept kicking his left leg up behind looking like a flamingo or something most of the show. I'm not sure their age right now but I read something about them being 17-18.

Overall I thought it was an excellent performance and heightened by the great venue. Off the top of my head here are a list of bands I've seen at Bowery in the last year, I need to keep going back more often.

• The Rapture


• Tapes 'n Tapes


• Cold War Kids


• Dr. Dog


• Junior Boys


• Sunset Rubdown


• Les Savvy Fav

I finally got a chance to see The Wu-Tang Clan last night at Randall's Island in New York yesterday. It was a pretty big sized hip hop festival. Unfortunately my current favorite MF Doom goes on today and I only got tickets to Saturday. Anyway, it was an interesting experience, very tiring as all the festivals I've been to are. This was nice because I could get to it so easily with public transportation. I just took the 3 train up to 125th street in Harlem from 96th street. Then walked over a few blocks to a special bus for the event.

I haven't been to Harlem many times but I like the feeling there. I don't see it as any more dangerous than a lot of other areas in New York as some have warned me. There are fewer caucasian people there but that doesn't bother me. Fewer caucasians except on this day. I get to the area where the buses are are lined up to take people to Randall's Island. I noticed it was pretty much all white kids. I wasn't all that surprised by this but I thought a lot about it. There was a good quality hip-hop lineup at this show. Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, EPMD, The Roots, Wu-Tang Clan, etc. These are all old artists though. I really don't listen to any of them regularly anymore except for Wu-Tang clan. They also have kind of an up and coming stage where there are some newer "underground" type of artists as well. I was trying to think why this attracted about 90% white kids. Is it possibly the price of tickets at $88 or whatever it was for the 12 hour festival? That is a lot of money for a show and I wouldn't have paid unless it was Wu-Tang Clan who I've wanted to see since I was young. I still felt like there should have been many more black kids here. I was sure there was many well off black families in the area that could afford to send their kids to this concert like many of these white kids. Maybe the scene was dying or had been dead for a long time. I know hip-hip/rap really hasn't been the same as it went into the later 90's. Certain artists are still good and new underground artists are doing great things. Anyway, I thought of the words from a Destroyer song "I was the last man on a dying scene".

I had thought of these words a few other times. One other time was last year when I walked by CBGB's the night it was closing. All these kids that still had the mohawks and black hair and all these kind of things. I think they were cool back in 1982 (before I was old enough to know any better). But now, it seemed stale to me. A music scene is an interesting thing. Its very fleeting on the grand scheme of things and gone almost once you realize what it is and how cool it was. But what about carrying it on much, much later like that. I'm really not sure, I don't think its that cool. But its not hurting anyone. I prefer to push things forward in what I support, really I don't drastically change my clothing based on any scene. I did like the style of wearing slimmer jeans in the past 5 or so years, I didn't go as far as wearing the "woman's jeans" like some do, especially in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But, I preferred that over the ridiculously baggy jeans worn in the 90's. Anyway, I digress back to the main topic.

So, I watched these hip-hop shows in a sea of rowdy white kids who kept trying to start up all these "mosh pits". I liked the Cypress Hill show, but of course they played all their hit songs mainly from an album that came out about 12+ years ago. The Roots are ok, they don't do a whole lot for me, I prefer more sampling and DJ style hip hop. But the live band thing is cool, definitely attracts the festival type of kids. Wu-Tang clan I was impressed with. They were actually all on stage together, I figured some would be missing. Its the first time they had been on stage in a long time together. Method Man, RZA and Ghostface seemed to be the most vocal in talking to the crowd. They went through there hits, doing many from their first album 36 chambers. Anyway, so it went on and they kept making comments about wanting the crowd to have more energy. Then Method Man near the end made a comment how in Germany they went crazy the whole time and how they wanted them to do that here, in their home city. I could see where they are coming from but the lack of energy is not that surprising to me. Its not that they aren't respected, its just that the scene is not the same. Also, New York kids are not the same as Germany kids.

I'm not saying Wu-Tang clan still aren't good and can't come out with another good album. But, the world is not the same anymore to receive it. They have made a lot of money now, the world has changed. Public Enemy played earlier that day and they had Scott Ian come on, a guitarist for Anthrax to put a rock mix in it. I think it just sounds really tired and boring right now. I do respect Public Enemy but I haven't listened to them much in a long time. Wu-Tang clan has always stuck with me more but I haven't listened to them near as much as I have MF Doom in the last 3-4 years. Ghostface's solo albums have been really the best thing from Wu-Tang clan recently. I like to think of artists who can always change and push themselves and come out with great work no matter what the time, keep changing. Bob Dylan, Beatles and David Bowie come to mind, there are many others of course as well. But these guys have really done it for an extended period.

The headliner of the entire festival is Rage Against the Machine, the only really non-rap group. I used to kind of like some of the stuff from their first 2 albums. But after awhile I felt they were actually part of the machine. I think they were on Sony records, making tons of money off of these albums. I think the lyrics after awhile were dispensable. Anyway, I didn't stay to see them, I left after Wu-Tang. I was glad I went, it made me want to really push myself to keep changing.

The trip was coming to a close as we flew out the next morning but we wanted to go out for our last night in Barcelona as we had heard a lot about the Barcelona nightlife. In the Spain travel books we have they say Barcelona is a bar town with a lot going on but we hadn't been able to experience it much yet as we we were only there a few days. There happened to be a big music festival going on that night next to our hotel a few of us were very tempted to go to. It would be something like 50-80 euros and had an amazing lineup including LCD Soundsystem and Flaming Lips from Oklahoma City who I still haven't been able to see yet. All these bands were staying in our hotel and I was on the lookout for Wayne as I had talked to him a few times before and wanted to see if he remembered me and could help us get some tickets. However, all I saw were roadies. I would have loved to talk to Steven Drozd as he is really a great musical talent, the genius behind a lot of the Flaming Lips music. Also, I was looking out for James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem from Brooklyn who I saw a few months back. That was one of the best live shows I've seen in a long time. But, it was not to be this time.

We were all up in the executive lounge checking out the sunset and over-using our privilege of complimentary beverages in the lounge before it closed at 22:30 trying to figure out where we were going to go. We talked to several groups of people up there mainly people from the UK. Several very intersting and giving us advice on where to go that night. We talked to a couple from England, the guy lived in London and the girl in Manchester who where a lot of fun. One guy I especially liked was a lawyer from Scotland who reminded me of Ricky Gervais and always had something funny to say. He kept saying I was massive and I reminded him of Tony Robbins. He told a story of going to Tony Robbins giving a workshop or whatever in the UK that he attended once and saying how all the sappy positive team building stuff didn't work at all for the people in the UK like it does for people in the US. He was telling us how much negative press the US gets around Europe but he was saying that when you get down to talking to people one on one they are all very similar.

Once the executive lounge closed we were going back to the hotel rooms to regroup then the group we had been talking to said they would take us out and show us around. One older lady in the group said it was a shame if we didn't go out and see the nightlife before we left. She was also from Glasgow and had lived in Barcelona for 6 years. We first went to some bar that was a few blocks from the hotel that apparently she ran or owned as she was helping close it down when we finally left. They were very nice and didn't let us pay for drinks there. I ended up talking to this lady for quite awhile there and she was saying how her daughter was a model for Gap who travels a lot. If we were there until Sunday we could have met her. Also, her son is worth millions off of some software company he started and owns properties around the world including Dubai which sounds like a fascinating place. She said alcohol is illegal everywhere except on the beach and out on the water, that's one of the reasons they have built all these resorts out on the water and all this island condos in the bay.

In the middle of talking with this lady she started basically telling my fortune and doing cold reading on me. I was fascinated by this and believe that people do have the ability to perceive and see things other people can't. She had many interesting things to say and even though not all of what she said was exactly accurate. It gave me some good insight and helped me think about some things differently. Within the next hour she had similar conversations with Justin, Brandon and TJ. The outcome was controversial with the group. I was taking it all with a grain of salt and I took several positives out of it. I won't say all the details here but I appreciated the experience I can see why some of the others did not. She said some things that were dead on, others were off the mark, but she was definitely good at this.

This lady (I wish I could remember her name) said she would show us where to go out and kept warning us about how dangerous it was in these areas at night. She said to just put cash in our pockets and leave our wallets back in the room. I had read things that confirmed these areas were potentially quite seedy so I went ahead and left my wallet and so did Justin. She gave us instructions on how to be as safe as possible and to always stick together which seemed smart. It was like she was our tour guide for the night and she was looking out for us where to go to be safe if there were any problems.

We went to this area called Port Olympico by the marina. She would not let me pay the taxi fare. There were tons of bars and it was a happening spot. They were pretty much all open air with the entire fronts of the builds open with music and lights coming out of them. She introduced us to a man who ran a bar who would help us out if needed that was protected by the Russian mafia. She said all the places were cool except one in particular that was known for particularly unsavory characters and activities. She stayed at the bar that was run by her friend and left shortly after. I appreciated her advice and she was a genuine help to us.

We walked up and down the bars and clubs seeing what it was about. It turned out most people spoke English there. I was talking to some German girls for awhile from a small town near Stuittgart. I told them I wished I could speak Spanish more while visiting here. They said its not that big of a deal as most people in Europe also speak English. They spoke english very well and she said they are all brought up in their schools learning english.

English seems to be the common language in all these places we went. Especially since Barcelona is in Catalonia where Catalan is the preferred language in most places there. Even people who speak Castillion which is the type of Spanish taught in US schools cannot speak Catalan as it is much different. Many signs around town are in 3 languages, Catalan, Castillion and English. So people who speak German, French, or other languages who speak English can still get around. Still, there are many places you go where people only speak Catalan. We talked to another girl on Thursday night who was from the US but lived in Barcelona teaching Spanish or English or something. She said that the people in Barcelona are very proud of Catalan and were working to make it the official language. Many won't even speak Castillion as its a pride thing. Catalan is an older language and it represents the fact that they were not conquered and made to change to Castillion like areas in more western Spain. Even if they know Castillion they may only speak English or Catalan to you. Catalan is also spoken in certain areas of France such as Cannes.

We talked to some other people and did some dancing and then we all got pretty tired and decided to head back as it was rather late. We had to get up in several hours to catch a plan out. I knew it was going to be a rough day the next day as I can't get any sleep on the plane but it was all worth it to see some of the Barcelona nightlife and talk to several more people and get there view on the world. I got a good idea of the view of the US from Europe. Its love/hate thing and the grass is always greener on the other side of the street situation in some ways. In ways they want to be like us and in ways we want to be like them. In other ways we're all the same. It was a great trip and I'm glad we went out and had all these experiences.

At this point in the trip I'm getting tired but I wanted to get as much of an experience from Barcelona as I can while I'm here. I can see the end of the trip as I'm flying back to New York tomorrow. I wanted to see Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished sandcasle-like temple, and do a few hours of walking around added photos to a few street series' I've been working on in Spain. I rested up in the morning and decided to take the T4 Tram up Diagnal Mar up towards the Sagrada Familia area.

The Tram goes past a huge phallic shaped structure called Torre Agbar built by a Frenchman Jean Nouvel. Apparantly most people refer to it as the penis building or the big condom. I don't know much about it, just walked by it and saw it from a far but it definitely takes a prominent place in the skyline of Barcelona. Riding the tram itself was interesting as I was thinking of the olympics which I assume was the purpose of building it. The final stop is the olympic village. You buy a ticket at a kisosk they have near each stop for 1.25 euros. They seem to use the honor system as you swipe the ticket after you get in and their are signs that warn of a minimum 40 euro fine if you don't punch the ticket.

I got off the tram and wondered around for awhile towards the Gaudi building which can be seen on the skyline. The unusual towers poke up across the other buildings. This was a different area of the city than I'd been to the previous day but still had a nice energy about it. I passed the Barcelona bull fighting arena and took many of the street photos I had been hoping to find.

I finally got to the Sagrada Familia and it turned out to be a huge tourist draw. They charged 8 euro to get in and all kinds of people selling things outside the gates. I fought through the people and walked all around the outside and inside of the temple. They were doing a lot of construction on the inside as it appears they are still working on finishing Gaudi's vision which is a huge undertaking. Once you get in you realize you can get up to the top but the lines are 45+ minutes to get into the lift that only holds 5 people at a time. I was trying to decide if I wanted to wait that long and walked around taking some long exposure movement photos of the stained glass on the interior, not too much unlike the technique I recently used for fireworks in NYC. I first took a few regular ones of the interior but they felt very boring to me so I wanted do something different and was happy with the results. I found a second line to get up in a different lift to the top that was only 30 minutes. When you get up there they charge an additional 2 euros to get in. Typical tourist trap maneuver. It was worth it however once you get to the top. The building had very narrow winding walkways and stairways. Open air views of the Barcelona skyline which were quite impressive. You have to walk down many narrow winding stairways to get down. At the bottom it leads you into some museum type of area but at that point I was ready to find the salida as soon as possible. However, it was definitely worth going.

I wandered through the streets back and forth finding my way back to the tram. I wanted to get several solid hours on the beach on my last day. When I got back to the hotel I found Brandon there and he wanted to go also. We helped ourselves to a few complimentary cocktails at the executive bar before going. The hotel in Barcelona was great as we had unlimited access to the executive lounge which has a great free breakfast and complimentary drinks and an amazing open air balcony area overlooking the city and the the Mediterranean.

The beach turned out to be amazing this day. The sand at Barcelona was a little more course than in Ibiza which was nice as it doesn't get stuck to you as easy. The swimming was outstanding, water perfect temperature. As always in Spain, the people on the beach were beautiful. I was thinking how great it would be to have these miles of great beaches so easily accessible in a city you live in. The public transportation can quickly take you there from anywhere in the city. We couldn't help but watching this couple spooning on the beach. On a scale of 1-10 the girl was probably a 9 or 10 and was only wearing a small bikini bottom. Oh goodness.

We got some good sun and swimming in. I wrote a few postcards which I still haven't mailed yet and read some magazines. We did not want to leave the beach and would have liked to stay there a week longer soaking up the sun but we knew that we had all the the sun a few pale skinned guys from New England could take for the day. We headed back to the hotel to relax and get a a few more complimentary beverages and figure out what we were all going to do for our last night in Spain.

I had a great day yesterday. I started by going to the beach for a few hours after I woke up and had a great breakfast in the executive club here at the hilton. I ended up wondering around the city for about 8-9 hours.

My first destination was Barri Gotic. I wondered around for a few hours soaking up the way people dressed and talked as well as the fascinating architecture. I saw a crowd of people around and some lights and trucks in a square near Barri Goti. I had heard Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson were filming a movie near the beach the previous day. I ended up seeing Woody and Scarlett. I'll tell you it was a bit of a let down seeing her in person. She was shorter than I thought she would be and her her was all the way bleached out blonde. I decided yesterday I'm no longer going to marry her. I still like her as an actress and think she is pretty but, I don't think she's quite right for me.

My main goal for the afternoon was to see the Museu Picasso. I wondered around Barri de la Ribera for awhile. I really enjoyed the narrow winding streets and colorful graffiti. The place had a great energy about it. I finally found the Museu Picasso and there was a pretty long line. I almost decided not to wait for it but it was totally worth the wait. There was an option to pay extra to see a special exhibit featuring Lee Miller on top of the permanant collection.I was really blown away by everything I saw in this museum. I knew a little about Lee Miller but it was great to really see all about her life and who she was friends with. What an interesting person. I started by watching a documentary that was in English with Spanish subtitles about her. Basically, she was a beautiful model, photographer, artist and muse. She went to France and learned photography from Man Ray. He fell in love with her but she didn't want to be tied down. Then she came back to the US in 1933 and was standing in the middle of the street and somehow Conde Nast saved her from being run over by a car. He asked her to do some modelling after this in Vogue which she did. Later became a big time photographer herself with these contacts. Also, she was affiliated with John Cocteau and did some movies with him. The main focus was her later relationship with Picasso. I am fascinated by how really creative people feed off of eachother. She took some of the most famous photos of Picasso and he did some portraits of her. You could tell they both had huge egos.

Then I went through chronologically every Picasso piece that was in the museum. I was extremely impressed. In the past I have realy been so-so about Picasso. Not really into a lot of the cubism stuff but now that I see all the periods he went through and how he kept changing and pushing himself I appreciate it a lot more. They told where all the paintings were done and how he moved around to different places in Spain and France but how Barcelona may have been the city he loved the most. He donated most of the paintings that are there to the museum in 1970. I read the timeline of his life and it was crazy how many different women he married and had babies with. I was especially interested how he liked the ballet and met Diaghilev and married a ballerina for awhile. Carl had just recently been telling me about Diaghilev and the modernist movement. I was interested to see how Picasso's experiences affected his work. He was turned onto certain artists or writers and it changed his style for awhile. This reminded me of the Scorsese Bob Dylan documentary how Dylan kept changing and growing as he found these different artists and creative people. For example he was introduced to Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Verlaine which started him into the blue period. I think one that that really struck me about Picasso was how he kept making art, he didn't seem to stop. He appeared to be confident and sure of his progression, even though I'm sure he went through many, many inner struggles and outter struggles with other people. I can imagine he would have been a very tough person to be around. I would definitely recommend this museum to anyone who goes to Barcelona.

I really wanted to go to the Dahli museum but its 2 hours outside of town and we just don't have time this trip. I will be back again another time to see it.

I left the museum and started to wonder the small streets again and then I was trapped inside some barracades. It turned out Woody had moved locations to this district. I stood there for awhile and waited to see what would happen as it looked like they were getting ready for something. I could see Woody down the alleyway, then a man pushed me behind some little gate. The man told everyone silencio. Then spanish fellow had a headseat on and said roll cameras then action. A boy rode by on a bicycle then I'm pretty sure I saw Rita Wilson. There were about 5 other people around me watching she was about 5 feet away. They did another take and then Scarlett walked in front of us with a camera.

I then wondered around to several other areas including the Vila Olimpica to see the aging olympic buildings as well as the Barelonetta area which I remembered as a place where Picasso liked to hang out. I was really tired after this and rode the bus back to the hotel.

I saw on the news yesterday that a bull went crazy at yesterday's running in Pamplona and 13 people were injured and 7 were gored. The footage shown here was much more gruesome that what was on CNN. The bull appeared to slip on a turn and got dazed. Then he went nuts and started really attacking a few guys. One guy took a horn in the stomach and the bull was tossing him around in the air. They showed the man later with blood streaming from the white pants of his leg. The bull even threw a very large man in the area. It really was amazing. They said yesterday's run lasted about 6 minutes which is a very long time. The bull got disoriented and went backwards on the course for awhile until he was re-directed by handlers with long sticks. We were very fortunate.

Also, we saw that there had just been an oil spill near Ibiza that they are now cleaning up. You could see oil washing up on the beach. It looks like we went to both places at just the right time. Hopefully Barcelona does not go up in flames after we leave because its a nice place.

I am writing now from a car leaving Pamplona. I am a bit inebriated leaving the festival of San Fermin. I obviously did not die for those who are concerned because I am able to type this. I have run with the bulls. I have been in the bullfighting arena and have been chased around by the bulls of Spain. This is something I will always remember. I was in danger for a few minutes but it was all worth it. The anticipation in the hours the night before and morning before the race many thoughts went through my head. We wondered if they would even let us run if we were not Spanish or if we would possibly be one of the ones injured this day.

When the actual running happened you had to look in front of you to make sure you did not run into another runner, behind you and to the side for the bulls coming, and below you for fallen runners all at the same time. I was close to the bulls but felt more danger most times by fellow runners. The adrenaline rush when the bulls finally rounded the street coming near us was huge. The bulls ran past us and we ended up running all the way into the arena. All the while looking back over our shoulder for more bulls. It didn't seem like all the bulls has run past when we knew there should be six. Finally as we got into the arena there was another surge as the remaining bulls did actually run across the arena.

We waited for a few minutes and they released some smaller heffers into the bull running contingent. The arena was full of people and we jockeyed around as these bulls with taped up horns run around throwing people about. Being in the arena was another adrenaline rush as it was full of people in the seats cheering on the bulls and people tormenting its path. It was an unexpected end for some of us in the bull running experience. I think a total of 4-5 different bulls came in the arena to work the crowd of amateur bull fighters. I came close to the bulls a few times against my own choosing only to jump out of the way as they came too close. Others would purposefully jump in front of the bulls and choose to be thrown up in the air or intentially hurt by the bulls. One boy was running around with a bloodied face seemingly very proud of it as he wanted to show it to everyone. I didn't hear the final news but I don't think anyone really got trampled that I saw this day.

There were some English speaking people in the run, some Americans, British and Australian that I heard. Many native Spaniards of all ages of course as well as others from around Europe. I even saw a few women made it into the run without being told to leave which was cool.

After the arena cleared the 4 of us met in front of the Hemingway restaurant across the street from the arena. We returned to the hotel to regroup. Then, Brandon and I went back to celebrate the festival of of San Fermin with strong drink while TJ and Justin stayed back. TJ had a good excuse as he would be driving soon all the way back to Barcelona. Brandon and I packed our bag and went back for a few hours to enjoy the festival. We had a few large San Miguels cervezas and walked around. The buzz about the city was amazing. We walked past a foto store that had prints from the day's run. We looked for awhile and found photos of myself and TJ. I used my meager Spanish speaking skills to order prints of the 2 photos that wouldn't be ready for an hour.

We decided to join a parade going by with a brass band and started to dance behind them. We walked and danced and both felt like natives to Spain, we did not get looks as if we did not belong. We stopped and got a bottle of rojo vino a piece and continued to enjoy the festival. The city was beautiful and the energy was amazing. Brandon and I were trying to find the main town square and randomly ran across a guy from Detroit who said he'd been to the last 13 running of the bulls and could show us the way to the square so we could pick the the photos. We got the photos and we are proud to have actual photographic proof us us running in the streets with the bulls. TJ seemed really into the running of the bulls and he showed up in 4 or 5 of the photos we saw out on the middle of the pack of people with bulls behind him. Also, we were glad to have the photo for TJ because he would be less pissed off at us for being a little late and drunk as they were driving around looking for us to pick us up to leave. The photo did the job as we had hoped.

I was thinking on the way back if something like this was in the US it would totally be marketed to death. The city of Pamplona would charge money for people to get in and make them wear matching jerseys or t-shirts. The bulls would probably be all padded or something as well. There is something honorable about the fact Pamplona allows anyone with the guts to run to just get on the street. They did kick a few people out who were drunk, rightly so. It is still profitable in other ways as they are making money off of t-shirts, food, and mass quantities of vino and cerveza sales.

...

I am now writing from a hotel in Barcelona on the beach just after midnight. We made it in and had a relaxing meal of Paella and vino rojo. As I have been warned, I am not totally impressed with the food in Spain. The Paella was pretty good but I would have preferred it with more spices. The city is impressive from what I've seen thus far. I've only just walked around a bit by the beach near the hotel and saw a lot while riding in the car on the way in.

I'm planning on going off on my own tomorrow to explore Barcelona. I know there are a million things to see but I mainly want to just get a feel for the city and see several museums and soak in the experience of walking around. I also want to relax at the beach the next 2 days for at least a couple hours. I'm not goig to try to kill myself seeing it all this time. I will definitely be back.

I have made a plan within the last few days to learn both Spanish and French within the next year. I feel like you can't really experience these places in the same way without knowing the language better. I enjoy overhearing people's conversation as well as talking with random people and asking questions. I can't really do that right now. Also, its frustrating to try to order some food and not get exactly what you want and not know what to say to get it corrected. I have a good idea now what its like for non-native english speaking people to come to the US and try to speak English.

I'm now riding in a car north across Spain. We landed in Barcelona this morning and went directly into the car and started driving. TJ got GPS with the rental car which is a huge help and makes it a lost easier getting to Pamplona in as short of time as possible. There wasn't much time to see Barcelona yet, I plan on doing as much of that as possible on Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday. I even considered not going to Pamplona so I would get a full 4 days in Barcelona. However, I was thinking this is a unique opportunity to go to the San Fermin festival in Pamplona and actually run with the bulls with 3 other guys. I will definitely be visiting Spain again and will spend more time in Barcelona.

We've talked to several people so far about the running of the bulls. The thing I know so far is that it is encouraged that the participants wear white pants and a white shirt with a red sash. Normally young males run, but any male is allowed to run. There is no sign up. People just line up in the morning. There is no chance to out run a bull no matter no how fast you are. You cannot run the entire stretch between where they release the bulls and when they go into the arena. You choose a certain part to run in. There are several things you can do to be silly and improve your chances of getting hurt. I will try not to get hurt, but I must run in it now that I've come this far.

At 6:45 AM a brass band plays and wakes up the entire town. Its interesting because its a mix of people who have been awake all night and people who are waking up for the morning festival. I saw the same thing this morning as we were leaving Ibiza when we went to the bus station at 6:30. People walking around coming home from the night before.

The bulls are released about 8AM. The run only lasts a few minutes. We'll see how it goes in the morning. I still don't have white pants but supposedly I can get some early in the morning in Pamplona.

The ride up Spain has been beautiful. Blue skies and big clouds. I've been thinking about the landscape in movies such as The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as what we are seeing looks familar to that. I've seen many large hills and sandy colored mountains. Luscious green fields of grains and different crops. Vast fields of huge wind turbines. As well as a few bull farms.

...

We got into Pamplona this afternoon in great time. The weather is noticeably colder, the air more crisp. The city is much bigger than I had imagined. I wish I had a full week to explore it. However, we did have time to walk the city and get our outfits for tomorrow and walk the course for the bull run. The city had so much energy, so exciting. It is a little scary but fun at the thought of running with the bulls and we will all be glad we did it. We saw on the new 4 people were hurt today, one man gored.

We are really in Spain now. We can't rely on English to get us through. We have to use what little Spanish we know to order food and ask people questions. The other 3 guys are asleep now and I'm about to go to sleep myself.

We will wake up early in the morning and put on white pants, white shirt, red sash and red scarves to go run with the bulls at 8AM. It will be over in a few minutes. We walked the narrow streets from the gates where the bulls are let out and the arena where they run to. The street windows along the route are lined with boards and wooden fences.

This will be an exciting day tomorrow.

...

I'm sitting in the lobby of the hotel listening to Imagine by John Lennon waiting for the other guys to wake up. I realized there are probably many misspellings and ramblings in this journal. Keep in mind its a virtually unedited travelogue and I haven't had time to check spelling or edit for consistency. Maybe someone will find it interesting.

We all got up reasonably early this morning and took the bus over to Eivissa. Quickly retraced a few of the areas I walked around including the promenade area and then we walked up a large hill to an old fortress/castle that towers over the city overlooking the bay. It was a long hike up but it had a sense of accomplishment to it once we got to the top. The view was impressive.

TJ and I were hungry so we wanted to stop somewhere and eat. We found a croissont shop that he had read about and sat down. Here we finally had to try to speak spanish to eat. Some guys next to us tried to speak Spanish to us and Justin didn't know what to say. I ordered a quiche con tres queso and a doble espresso. It was bueno. The majority of the food I've had so far isn't anything great so this was a treat.

We wondered around the city for awhile and came to the port where all the ships and activity was going on. We were trying to decide what to do next. Brandon and I wanted to find a good beach and the other two guys wanted to do something else. Justin found a bus schedule and decided he wanted to go rock climbing somewhere up in north Ibiza and I wanted to go to Salinas beach which is the one I had heard about from a few people. Only one bus goes out there as its not very close to any other cities. This beach is on a southern tip of Ibiza and the bus goes past what we think are salt flats.

We walked through a patch of trees and brush after getting off the bus and came accross the best beach I had seen so far. So many beautiful people. A few dark clouds threatened for about 30 minutes but they quickly went away. That was the worst weather I had seen in Ibiza so far and it was basically a non-issue. We got several hours of quality sun time. It was rather enjoyable I could go there everyday for a week. Unfortunately we fly out in the morning for Barcelona. But, I'm glad to see something different.

Brandon was talking to a girl from California today on the bus on the way back who was also going out to Pamplona this week. She said they don't allow girls to run which I hadn't thought about. The more I think about it the more I'm excited about the idea of running. Its something I've always wanted to do.

...

I'm now sitting at the airport looking out towards the salt flats that are near the beach I was at yesterday. We got up and checked out of our hotel and took the bus over. The bus is the way to go for sure over the taxi. Today will be primarily a travel day. We take a 50 minuteflight into Barcelona then we are driving from Barcelona to Pamplona tonight. I need to find some white pants to wear before tomorrow morning to run in the race as its part of the encouraged uniform.