Pictures from the road.

Showing up to the Hotel Mado in Koln, Germany. What a happy sight. Nice place, great location. This is happiness.


This isn't exactly what they teach in preschool but it is what we got goin' on around here. Girl loves her some stickers and she likes to share them with parking lots. Hey, she's a giver.


Leaving Las Vegas... err, I mean Frankfurt.


She sleeps.

I have traveled a lot since I have been on this earth.
As a child my Mother moved us around a lot. We were attached to my step fathers work, so when he had to go, we did too. I don't see my life now as much different, except maybe where my kids are getting to go is... hmmm, a little more scenic? Ya, lets just leave it at that, shall we.
So I am all over the place since I am 5 or so. I find it comforting to do it. I get restless. I get bored. I am a big believer that if you are bored, you are boring and I am boring when I am at home too long. I lose the flavor I have, or feel I have, so moving around is a part of who I am. Who knows, if I hadn't met Eddie, I might've been a hitch-hiker.
As I travel from place to place, I have always tried to take one thing from there. What I feel I can take home with me, let that be a new part of who I am and I think I would like to share it with you. This might be just for the chicks, how would I know, I am not a dude. Your comments are welcome.

When you are in France, you should hook up. If you are single or if you are not and have a feeling you will cheat on your spouse at some point along the way- do it in France.
The men have this look like they could not only show you a good time but they might unlock a mystery within. Sounds cheesy, but unless you have locked eyes with a slightly sweaty French man at the corner of "holy shit" and "what's your sign", you can't judge. They are sexy in a way that no other men are. They look a bit dirty, but not poor. They may not own a car but they drink the best wine and eat the best food. I'm serious. If I ever feel my marriage is over or if it ever comes to an end- you can find me in Paris.

You want to drive in Germany. This is a place where you (if you are in fact one that loves to drive) can get behind the wheel and feel like a real driver. One who is surrounded by others that love to drive and want to be driving. The cars will get out of your way because they see you coming, they flash their lights with care, not hostility and you would never EVER have someone in front of you who doesn't want you to pass them, so they hit their breaks. That wouldn't happen. Because in Germany they have the Auto-Bahn and that could mean death. They do not fuck around on the road. The cars are fast and the roads are smooth. There are no potholes, there are no police, it's like a goddamn dream. Drive in Germany.*

Shop in London. London is one of those cities where you could look at the map, take the tube (subway) and walk out from underground and you will probably find great things to buy. They have shopping districts but they have these fantastic little hidden gems too, you have to go with someone who knows, or be brave and do it alone.

Have tea in York. Just do it.

Don't go to Grimsby. It's all in the name.

Eat in Italy. Italy has the most amazing people, you should make friends there too. But the food... wow. The food has so much love and history, you will never get a bad anything. You have to be adventurous. You can't be a wimp.

Get drunk in Spain. You won't be sorry. Well... you will be sorry but you won't regret it. It's not like going to Vegas and drinking your face off. Spain gives you the atmosphere to get drunk, be drunk and the next day it is okay. Make it to lunch time and they even grant you a siesta. Be warned, these people are animals. They stay up until 5 a.m. Not me, not anymore. If I'm witness to a sunrise, there better be a baby cryin'.

Watch your purse in Paris.

Make friends in Switzerland. I have never been greeted with such welcome faces. Everyone is disgustingly sweet and their government PAYS for their entertainment. Don't go shopping here though, it's beyond. Probably the most expensive place I have ever been.

Take pictures of the English countryside and pull over and walk with the sheep. There are a million nooks and streams you can discover, it's beautiful.

Be a tourist in Ireland. You will not be greeted with annoyance for asking dumb questions but you will also not be able to understand their answer. Here they are speaking the English but I'm afraid it is all lost on me because of their thick, almost cartoon-like accents. And if they are drinking (which lets be honest, they are always drinking) is double the fun.

Go see Stonehenge and (from my friends good advice, I must pass on) don't pay to do the tour.

And lastly, lay on the beach in Croatia. It is not Ibiza (who needs that chaos?). It is calm and relaxing and the sand is soft and the weather is mild, yet hot. It's magical.

That's it for now. I am sure I will think of a lot of other things along the way, some I will jot down and share and others will be long gone, lost in my clouded head.



* This might be a little too late. As I am driving the Auto Bahn now (well this week, not actually right not) I am finding that this too might be in the past. As the German Auto Bahn has seemingly turned into just a regular, dare I say "American" freeway? There are some areas with a posted speed limit, which may have always been there I don't remember them, but the worst part are the drivers!! Where are the fast, courteous drivers of yesteryear? Where are the "get out of my way" people, the ones that would only use the fast lane to pass while they are actually GOING FAST!!?? Yesterday I drove from Frankfurt to Koln and I was witnessing the end of an era, it was pitiful. I wish I could have taken a picture, there was a car pulling a camper in the fast lane and I pasted him on the right... this shouldn't happen, this is not the Auto- Bahn I know and love... more to come on this, maybe it's all a bunch of tourists going home and through the week they will all be gone and the roads will be fast and safe again. Tbc.

Frankfurt rocks!

Well that is what he needed to make himself feel like a god damn rock guy again.
After getting a french boot in his ass, I guess he was needing a little pick me up. In the old days that would be a night out of full on "drink your face off" fun but these days, he is (ahem) a little more civilized. I think getting lifted up by things that matter have found their spot in his little cold, black heart.
Frankfurt was looking to be a very bleak event. We showed up and the club was dark and empty, the backstage was a closet at best and there was no rider. Nothing, not even an old banana. That's for another post, but a rider (for those of you wondering) is a list of things in your contract that you would like to be there WHEN you get there, possibly before. It's nice to get out of the bus, van or car and have a little somethin' somethin' waiting for you. Some things that YOU picked, the things that make YOU happy, after all, you are the talent- well not me, but him and I am with him... anyway the rider now vs 12 years ago is VERY different and hilarious. No we didn't put diapers on it, not that I am against it (or Eddie for that matter) but our little chicken has very sensitive skin, so I have to be careful about all of that, anyway- another time.
But the bartender girl was super sweet and the guy from the venue/sound dude was nice. He sent us down stairs to eat and we were happy. Who needs to hang out in a cleaning closet?
Dinner was amazing but we couldn't help but notice there were no people walking along this very popular, downtown strip of the city center. The walkway to the club was right near where we were sitting so we started counting the people as they walked in... we weren't counting very high. So we just started discussing the fact that we have come at a very crap time of the year for Europeans and the English... this is their holiday time, blah blah blah... we enjoy our dinner, I am sure Edide was thinking about how lame the turn out was going to be, we counted 7. Ya, that was the lucky number.
Well either we are never going to be accountants or there was another door because we walked in and there were a good number of people in there. We were all SO happy, I was so happy I decided to stay- in the cleaning closet! It wasn't so bad, they put some drinks back there, there was no internet but there was a table and an outlet, dude, I am so easy to please. Elvis would not go out into the club. For some reason, she was just not having it. I think it was the disco ball, either way it was either stay in the closet or walk back to the hotel, which was a fine place but in the red light district. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I'd rather not have a prostitute nod off and fall onto my stroller.
The show was great, Quattro did gangbusters in merch. He has totally come into his own selling the merch, he sets up by himself and packs it away. The kid will make a pretty penny by the end of the trip, at 10% a night, he will be getting more than a new DSi, which is what he is saving for.
After the show we went back to our hovel, I'm kidding, it was the Rossija and it wasn't so bad. I would stay there again. Other than it being smack in the middle of a german free for all, it is just down the street from the good part of town and there's private parking, which is mighty important. The breakfast included part of our journey isn't as important. In England they just have a way with their breakfast and even though we all got sick of it, after a week in Germany we will be wishing we were starring at a plate of baked beans and bangers. The Germans do a ham and butter spread, with a hard boiled egg (sometimes soft boiled, watch out!) and some crusty rolls and that is about it. It's pretty bleak but gets the job done and the coffee is outstanding, so we partake. That way we save ourselves a cool 30 Euro before 11 a.m. everyday... it adds up.
Tomorrow we will be doing laundry and we are SO happy about that. It is time. We have all run out of underwear, our jeans are nasty and every last little dress of Elvis' is smelling like an old sock. Hey, at least we will be in Germany, right? Eh, it's still laundry. Which reminds me, I need to look up the words for "hot" and "cold".
The guys are back and the show was good. Tiny place but good people and good music. You can't ask for much more.
Elvis and I came back to the hotel early and watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox" again... seems like someone has her first favorite movie. Cute.

Getting frenched in France.

Our journey to France was uneventful. It took about 8 hours and surprisingly, no one lost their head. Anyone with a toddler knows how challenging a ride to the market might be, they ARE like little drug addicts, you just never know what you are going to get.
Speaking of drug addicts, it is kind of nice to be in France. No I don't think they are drug addicts, that's why I am glad to be out of the UK- they like their drugs. French people are more alcoholics and I a down with that. After all, I could become one at any time, it's in my blood.
We drank our weight in wine the last few nights. Bordeaux is the most amazing and inexpensive red wine you can get your hands on, I suggest it to anyone- except of course, if you are an alcoholic..
So last night Eddie's show was at a club right around the corner. It was actually attached to the place we had dinner the first night. We gather up our stuff, you know the merch, the guitar, the baby- rock stuff and walk down the street. As we wonder up to where the club door should be (open) we are greeted with a sign... I don't speak or read french but I did take it in high school (to spite everyone who told me I wouldn't need french, I would need to know spanish, um, hello... I knew I would be going places) so where was I? Oh the sign... we knocked on the door and theere was no answer. He thought maybe there was another way in but there was not. It was just us and the hostile sign, stating in french that there was no show of Eddie Spaghetti and you could get a full refund for your ticket..., or something like that.
He walked up to the restaurant we had dinner in the night before and asked them about it. The lady asked if he wanted a refund and he said "no, I'm Eddie Spaghetti"... um, hello Spinal Tap moment- at least it was the first one of the tour, we are not immune nor ashamed, happens to the best of us. She kinda laughed and said she would call someone from the club.
Eddie walks outside and calls his booking agent who is totally pissed. Seems like he had a conversation with the french promoter the day before, when they did NOT cancel the show. I guess it was due to low presale, in France that must mean something because in Glasgow there were 30 presale and the show was sold out that night.
Anyway, that was that. The show was canceled. Eddie came back in the restaurant still cool, I would have been SO PISSED. But he was just worried about being paid. Staying two nights in Paris and then having your job cancel, that is not cool. But he was paid, in full and the promoter who showed up even bought us dinner. So it ended well.
"Hey, remember that time we came to Paris and your show got canceled?" That was the quote of the night.
Speaking of the night. So we were left with nothing to do or everything, depending on how you look at it. I wished we had known, we would have never come back to this part of town, I would have stayed at the Louvre, where I spent the afternoon with Quattro. We saw the Mona Lisa and Aphrodite. It was amazing. There were so many people there, which reminded me that I don't really like people that much. Not in mass clusters anyway.


Before we split off, Eddie and Elvis to go their way and Q and to the Louvre, we had lunch. It is our thing now to go and sit down at a place only to get up and leave after we have sat for too long, never to see a waiter. We are always glad we left the last place because we find ourselves at the perfect spot, with food and service to match. We are not french. We cannot sit and have a 3 hour lunch, well Eddie and I could but with a 10 year old that is always starving and a nearly 2 year old- please. There's a reason you don't see many little toddlers out for lunch. We ended up at a place just off the beaten path that had a super friendly guy working, I assume he owned the place. It was small and just looked like a local favorite, not a tourist stop. It was next to this massive church, so we had gargoyles looking over us as we ate. After that we said our good byes, Elvis who is usually pretty clingy to me, had no problems saying going off with her Daddy, she is getting a handle on all of this.

After a lot of stairs, possibly too many push and shove people, we made our way through what I suspect to be about 1/16 of the museum. It is massive, it would take a week. We saw the things we wanted to see and some things we didn't (Quattro said "I'm surrounded by wangs!")

He was also surrounded by the amazing Mona Lisa.



I was trying to use the map but it was ridiculous. There were areas you had to go up and back down stairs to get to, which is where the Colossal Statue of Ramesses II was. Quattro wanted to go see it and we looked and we looked but we could not get to it "I can't get left..." is what I kept thinking. We just couldn't get left.
We saw The Wedding Feast, which is the largest painting I have ever seen. It is almost creepy. The Seated Scribe and the Easter Island head were awesome. But I think my favorite was Athena, or maybe it was La Belle Ferronniere- something like that. She was beautiful. It was De Vinci- they all look like photographs, they are that breathtaking.



After failed to find the statue we saw it was time to get to the meeting spot. There's a maze like park just outside the museum, we found the other Daly's straight away. We had a drink in the park and fed the birds. One or two birds are sweet, when you get a whole kit of them- well that is disgusting.















We had a lovely dinner at a place that would never work in America. Where people sit for hours and drink and smoke and enjoy the moments they are given. It was fantastic and I felt a little bit french when I left, but maybe that is because I had a little too much wine.

Bonjour Dover ferry

We are on the ferry now.
I am pretty tired after my useless bed experience. I ended up sleeping in a twin bed with Eddie, which was kinda nice- traveling with two kids you don't get to be too close that often. But after a couple of hours, I had had enough of his cover stealing, bed hogging ways, no matter how good looking a girl needs her sleep, especially when she is the driver. So I cozied up with Quattro and that is where I woke up this morning. It sucked, the whole night but today I rally, once again.
We got out pretty quick. The maid was up early cleaning the carpets, so that was a big, fat hint to get the hell. Hint taken.
Driving to the ferry we were racing the clock. We had purchased a ticket for tomorrow as that is when we were originally planning to come to France but staying another night in England with no show, I just figured it would be better to come to Paris a.s.a.p. The trip was short but there was a ton of traffic, everyone wanting to get out of dodge? Um, I think so.
We barely made the ferry but we did, with two hours on the boat and about 3 more to go on the road, I am thinking tonight I will sleep well.
Speaking of sleep. Our little chicken has been quite the world traveler. She has slept on the floor, in a cot, in between Eddie and I and in a big bed all by herself.
Pretty cool stuff. We are SO lucky. Man, I have heard horror stories. Actually as I type this there are quite a few horror stories going on right in front of me. It's irritating when parents want their kids to "act right" in public but something tells me, they aren't exactly little angels behind closed doors. Come on people, lets get real.
Gotta go, time to get off the boat and drive on the right side of the road, however, still on the wrong side of the car. Fun!

England sucks, kinda...

Well getting out of England has never felt so good.
I feel like I am a little more appreciative of my own country. It takes things like this sometimes.
See! The grass isn't greener.
I did enjoy England and I will be back, although it will forever be a little tainted, kinda like D.C. we were there when they had that insane sniper and son.
The people are great in England. Loud and abrasive yet somehow really sweet and considerate.
The food is delicious, a sort of comfort food you can only get here but somehow reminds you of your Mama's food.
There's nothing particularly fancy about England but it all feels very royal. And while it is old, it feels modern. Maybe England is the original oxymoron?
Whatever it is, I feel bad about the hand it is being dealt now. That London and well, all of England is looking bad and unruly. They are made to look like they don't know what they are doing and can't handle their youth. It sucks.
I was a misled youth and sure I didn't riot in the streets (well, not often anyway) I just don't know what they are fighting against. They are just a bunch of sheep and don't you know that is exactly what they think they are NOT. They are. They are followers. Just each city of "gangsters" being more ridiculous, careless and sloppy.
When I was 21 I went to a police brutality march. I am sure I was just trying to fight the fight for what I thought was going on and probably had very little idea of what that was, but I was passionate about making a difference. We had a cause. We were reacting and wanted change... but the looting and destroying shops. It's all lost on me. What will that change? I am not sure how taxes work in England and I am sure those teens that are doing the damage aren't paying taxes... so I guess that is my answer. They just don't give a fuck. Right? Do they not care about their city? The streets look like pieces of a movie clip. Trash burning and glass everywhere.
I would love to catch the low life that keeps tagging my recycling can at home, if I did, I would take him home to his mother and make HER scrub it off. But what do you do when there are 50 or 100 of them? And they are destroying the city? Can you blame it all on the parents? Is it the governments fault? What kind of trouble were they getting into before the riots? I am sure they aren't straight A students, mowing the neighbors lawn on the weekend. So how do kids get lost?
I think I am super curious about all of this because I have a soon to be teenager (did I just write that??!) He is 10 now and I just wonder how does a perfectly happy, healthy kid go from playing hide n' go seek, to tipping over a van or breaking a store front window? In one of the papers, I saw a couple, probably 17 years old, holding hands as they threw rocks into a car window. I was stunned. I had only one thought "how do I keep that from being either one of my kids?".

Good bye England.

Well it was fun but now the fun is over.
The fucking riots are out of control and I am just sick about it.
There are helicopters flying over us and I don't know how many police vans and cars went by the hotel. Quattro was very nervous about the whole thing. I know we are safe and assured him but I can't help but think this is probably really scary for him. This is real shit that is going on in a different country that he is actually in. This is not like reading the newspaper or watching it on TV, he is in it, we are here and it blows.
I am so ready to leave. I sure will miss making that English pound, it's like 1.5 and that is SO nice to have. The Euro is pretty up there too but not as much. Anyway, good night cruel world.