58 if you are going to...

San Francisco

My god, i LOVE that city. it is the most beautiful and the coolest place on the planet. really. i had the luck of being there during a sunny weekend. not that i saw the golden gate bridge, cos there was still fog of course, but the sun was shining all weekend long. i could even walk around in a t shirt.

i did my nostalgic tour. i was there with my car, so i did drive to some place like the golden gate bridge and the golden gate park and the marina. i also did the crookiest street in the world on lombard street which was fun and i loved imitating chase scenes from movies like bullitt over the hilly streets of san francisco. that is so much fun.

i started my walking tour at fisherman's wharf where i went to see and smell the funny sea lions. they are cool. it was this cool atmosphere, very touristy, but because the weather was so nice everybody was like having fun. the street artists, the tourists... i walked over columbus avenue to little italy where i bought my bearclaw and chocolate croissant at my favorite sfo bakery (expensive but SO good) ... then i did the chinatown tour on stockton street... still disgusting but interesting... i did not see the live frogs in the bucket thing though... i had my camera this time so i wanted to film that... i went up to nob hill and then to my two old places on pine and bush street. aaaaaaaaaaaah... then to union square where i just looked at everyone passing by and then off to the yerba buena part and a walk in downtown..

i also went to the haight ashbury hippie area which is always cool and where you have the sfo amoebe store.. but after having been to the one in LA i was disappointed. but still. had fun. i did go to the castro again and that was weird. i went out there three nights in a row. i had met a nice gay couple there on friday night who offered me to stay over at their place on sat and sun night. i felt really lucky. they live in a 900 000 dollar house near twin peaks and it was so much better than a bed and breakfast. i really had a nice time there. god i love the houses up there. too bad san francisco lies in america otherwise i would move there immediatly. i really feel very good in that city.

if you have never been to San Francisco: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

57 off to san francisco

dear all

i went to san francisco for the weekend. i was staying in LA waiting to get to the office today because of this stupid shit i have to deal with concerning my job and i did not want to stay here. i do not like LA that much. sure i love walking aorund in downtown and i think santa monica and venice are great. but apart from that: boehoe...

so off i went to san francisco. first to just getaway from la, second to visit sfo again and third to get things sorted out with my bank who closed my account. yes, they are unable to do that in los angeles or on the phone. i took the highway to san francisco thinking i would get there in 7 hours. WRONG. there are traffice jams, detours, roadblocks, roadworks, accidents... it's incredible how long it takes to get OUT of Los Angeles on ao friday morning... it took me almost 3 hours or so to get to the highway number 5. i tried other ways to avoid traffic jams but it just did not work.. everything was jammed...

highway 5 is BORING... honestly, there is nothing there, no nice views, no nice cities... and it is LONG... it's a highway so you think speed limit will be 90 miles but no, it's 65 miles/hour... but i just 'went with the flow' and drove up to 90 at times... hope the radars don't work that well here.. the strange thing with miles is that they are so much longer than kilometers.. i hear you laugh, but what i want to say is: your intellect knows miles are longer, but your guts think in kilometers... for instance... you see a distance saying: 50... so you think, okay it is goig from bruges to ghent so i will be there in half an hour.. your intellect says: bear in mind it is miles so it might take longer... however,,, after half an hour you still need to drive 30 miles which makes you think: DAMN that far..

i had an appointment in the bank where i had opened an account. i had to be in sfo before 18h... so the drive up there wasn't so relaxing as i constantly thought i would not make it. however, i arrived in sfo at 17h. crossing the bay bridge which is so cool. if you ever drive to san francisco make sure you drive over the bay bridge from oakland... the weather was beautiful so it was the coolest thing there is.. made my day.. the bank did not have an instant solution for my problem (the closed my account and sent the money to san francisco but that check is apparently LOST somewhere).. but hey i was in san francisco

56 CD SHOPPING HEAVEN

There is an AMOEBE store on sunset boulevard. for those who have been to the store in san francisco or berkley: the LA one is even bigger! For those who haven't been there yet: amoebe is like the biggest used record store in the world. it's heaven for music lovers because you can spend hours and hours just browsing through the cd's... there are new cd, recent used cd arrivals, used cd's and bargain cd's... bargain cd's are 2,99 dollar and there are tons of them... of course a lot of cd's that i already have, which makes you want to shout 'shit, i paid 13 euro for that cd that i never listen too and it's here for 3 bucks'... i bought Les Rhytmes Digitales for 2,99 because that is just such an awesome cd and i only have a copy version.. i could have bought Groove Armada's groovebox too but hey i have that one at home...

i ended up with 25 cd's in my basket and i only 60 dollars with me so i had to make some tough decisions... i don't have money here (read elsewhere) but i just had to buy cd's... that's just typcial me i guess... sean was calling when i was in amoebe to ask how everything was going with my bank trouble and i told that i still did not get paid and do not have any money here... and his logical conclusion was: so what are you doing in a cd store!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's not a cd store it is AMOEBE

so this is my catch: Depeche Mode's new album (no violator, but there are some cool songs on it), Depeche Mode's Precious single with six remixes (one incredibly cool but monotonous electro remix), Tricky's Blowback, DJ Rap's album (soso), Ritchie Hawtin with an incredibly cool techno set, Sparta's new album only for 5 bucks, an older And You Will KNOw Us By THe Trail Of Death album for 4 bucks, tiefschwarz Eat Books and Vitalics OK Cowboy (the latter wins, although i had higher expectations of Tiefschwarz), MC Conrad's solo album (the rapper of drum n bass legend LTJ BUkem)...
i also bought Roni sizes album at tower records in Santa Monica, two bootleg Hang The Dj sets by soulwax (basically just the recording of the studio brussel show, sold here in the shops for 20 bucks but i got them in a sale), sean paul's trinity with that cool single that has different lyrics here in the us

oh well.. there were some cool used cd stores in boston and harvard but i did not have money to buy cd's there...

so music is back in my head... i am looking forward to fly back and just listen to my cd's....

55 LA CAR DAY

i am stuck in LA and i have no car. NOT COOL. so i decided to rent one because that's the thing to do.

i love driving a car in LA or in amerika in general.. that automatic system is just so easy and the signs and streets are easy as well. i can drive on the middle lane and nobody thinks i am a bad driver which is the case in belgium where they hate middle lane drivers...

i picked up my car at my hotel and took off to the southern cities of the LA area... it was raining of course as is typical for my days off here in the states... i stopped at manhattan beach (boring as it was empty but must be nice when the sun shines), hermosa beach, redondo beach, san pedro and long beach... i went to see the aquarium in long beach and the queen mary, the biggest passenger ship of the previous century.. that ati shirt (of my company) does wonders sometimes.. i still get reduction, which is cool of course.. .i am sticking to that shirt... the aquarium was okay but they have this part where you can see jelly fish in the dark.. that is SO cool.. .i spend more than 20 in there and wanted to take a lot of pictures... jelly fish are so incredibly cool... why is it that poisonous or dangerous animals look so much cooler than the other ones... the queen mary is this big ship that was made in the 30s and sailed the seas until end of the sixties... the ship is no a hotel docked in long beach and yuou can visit the ship as well... i really had to think about titanic and with some magination you can really see yourself be a passenger on the ship... i loved the way the ship looked from the inside.. very 30s and 40s with the music from those days in the halls... i did not get to see a hotel cabin, i am not sure it is a good a hotel but i loved the shops and just walking around in that ship....

then i drove to the getty museum which i always wanted to visit. trust me, it is worth a visit.. i am not saying it is a very good museum but it is just worth visiting as there is nothing else in LA to visit... if you like gardens, architecture, art and just views over LA than you have to get to the museum.. you leave your car at the freeway parking and then you take a tram up the hill... the entrance is free.. .parking is 7 dollars but if you arrive late (which i did) and give them a puppy look they let you park for free

there was only one rubens and too many rembrandts... haha.. but it is just a nice afternoon out... i prefer modern art museums though

i have been chatting with this LA artist for a while who likes brussels a lot and we decided to meet... he lives in downtown and i drove up there. i love downtown but in the evening it looks dead and dangerous... i had spent too much time at amoebe so i arrived late in downtown... the artist lives on the edge of Skid Row, one of the most talked about neighbourhoods of LA. there is actually a series in the LA TImes about skid row ( a name that i only associated with bad heavy metal from the eighties).. it's third world country area with nothing but homeless people on the streets smoking crack...

so that's where i hung out and guess what? i did not feel less safe than at anneesens where i live in brussels!!!!! we even went eating at this nice italian restaurant where i had a delicious mushroom pasta thing...

the drive back to el segundo was just about half an hour without traffic jams that i had encountered during the day... yes, los angeles is that city where you have to drive distances like from ghent to brussels if you want to meet friends... and people just do that here

54 food top 10

this is what i can't stop eating/drinking here in the states

1 jalapeno's... they are a kind of pepper that they put on every sandwich here... i love it, very spicy though
2 SUBWAYS... it's by far my favorite fast food chain thing.. they don't have it in belgium, but they have one in Lille... they make sandwiches and you choose what you put on there... i am really addicted to subway.. i can eat their sandwiches every day
3 BURGER KING... the only hamburger joint that i really like... i love their breakfast omelette sandwich and i love the triple quarter with cheese... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the french fries are not good though...
(on a note: i hate wendy's and jack in the box and i don't like mac donalds)
4 BURITTO'S... i haven't found a place here like the one in the san francisco ariport or the one in the castro in san francisco but i LOVE burrito's with guacamole....El Pollo Loco has one dollar burrito's that are a good snack
5 GATORADE... i really try every single color they have.. it's water enriched with vitamins and flavours and they have plenty of them... i love gatorade.. they need to introduce that in belgium.. it doesn't look healthy but it is better than soda
6 DR PEPPER... of course, here you can find it everywhere... it actually tastes better than coke.. .coca cola doesn't taste as good here as in belgium... really... it's different.. pepsi has nicer flavours... with lime for instance... pepsi lime... mmmmmm
7 MOUNTAIN DEW... a classic here.. it's better than canada dry and sprite and seven up, it is just a very good drink and i can drink liters of it
8 PEPPERIDGE FARM COOKIES.. they are the best. they don;t have them in new england as they have everything different there, but here in CALIFORNIA they have them in all kinds of flavours.. my personal favorite is the Sausalito one (yes they come with names form places around here).. cookies wiith macadamean nuts and milk chocolate)
9 TRADER JOE'S wraps.. trader joe is an interesting supermarket because it has stuff that non of the others have... they import a lot too.. but they seem to have healthier food... i love their bbq chicken wraps... mmmmmmmmmm
10 Bear Claws: you don't find them everywhere, but it is my favorite piece of bakery here... with cinnamon and almonds... mmmmmmmmmmmm

53 bad communication

What i hate most in this country is the lack of communication skills.

first there is the language problem. i sometimes feel like i speak better english than 60 percent of the US citizens.. that is easy in miami and los angeles because 60 percent of the people there are spanish speaking and just know little english.. but even in new england you have so many immigrants working and living here especially in tourism that do NOT speak english... they have basic language skills and that is really frustrating... it is also difficult to like understand asian americans and latino americans when they speak english over the phone... i am always spelled FABOREEL by spanish people or FAVOLEEL bij asian... I KID YOU NOT...

second: people are just very ignorant... they don't know much. i can sum up dozens of situations where people just do not know what to say when you ask them a question they have never been asked before... most of time they say: I don't know.. or they say: I will have to ask my manager (who is not in of course) or they say something that is completely incorrect... this is really f reaking me out...

today for instance: i arrive at griffith park and want to go to the observatory but there is a road closed.. so i ask the police officer what road i have to take to the observatory.. now, i know this policiemen is not part of the park and is just an officer but he just points me the way that all cars take and that is of course the WRONG way... then i ask someone else they show me the correct way but when i arrive at the observatory it is closed... so i am thiking; why do they not KNOW where it is and why do they not know it is closed if that is the prime thing that is to visit there... people just don't know much that they haven't gotten a training for... nor do they want to know... when i wanted to cash my check in boston i was sent to 4 different places and none of these people could actually tell me or inform for me where i had to go to...

the whole situation with my bank account is driving me crazy.. nobody knows what is going on, nor seems to know who to contact to find out because 'we have never had a situation like this before'... you just have to rely on so many people who do not think and act the way you do that is frustrating... i call a hotel and ask the person if she has 20 rooms, if there is breakfast included, if there are restaurants in the neighbourhood. that person confirms the rooms, says breakfast is not included and says there is only one restaurant across the street... i arrive in that hotel after i had sent to people to the supermarket to do some groceries and this is what i get: there is only 18 rooms, breakfast is included and the restaurant in front of the hotel is closed...

oh well

52 quitting

oh yes i am not working for ATI any more... some reasons have made me quit my job.... a few things that happened very shortly after another made me lose motivation to continue... the main problem is money though.. .i still haven't been paid by the company and the bank has closed my account because of a mistake the person made who opened my account.. i am short of a lot of money that i am entitled too and staying here costs me money but i ain't leaving without it... ok the ain't was a bit too much... but you get the picture

51 best of new england

i am at the office right now and ready to write my ass off... i want to use their computer as long as i can...

so here is my best of new england tour thing for those who might want to travel to the northeast... it is worthwhile although you need good weather to appreciate it...

this is the tour how i did it... i will add some interesting places that i would have wanted to visit but that weren't in the program

START: BOSTON.. it is a nice city but don's spend more than two days here. you can do the freedom trail which bring you to several historic parts of the city but which is very boring and some of these historic sites are so small you almost don't see them.. better is to just walk around on your own and stop where you want to stop... you can also do a black heritage trail which brings you to a nicer area of the town... there are a few area's in the city that are different from one another but you can easily visit them by walking... the metro system is very easy to use, so you can try that too... the only reason why you need the metro is to go to harvard, the famous university but there's nothing going on there... it is not cambrdige it is not heidelberg it is not leuven it is just boring.. only go there if you have time

EASTERN MASSACHUSSETES: it all depends in what direction you travel of course... i went to SALEM, north of boston which is worth a stop. there's a few museums about teh which trials... i wanted to do the live one but there is also a thing with dolls.. there is also a wax musem, you can walk to the harbour, i would not visit the house of the seven gables cos that is not worth its 12 dollar but it is worth stopping in salem... south of boston going to cape cod you have PLYMOUTH which is the place where the first settlers, the pilgrims arrived... there's nothing much to see there except from a replica of the Mayflower, the ship on which the pilgrims arrived.. that is worth visiting

CAPE COD: i would go back there.. we stayed in hyannis which only has some JFK memorials like a memorial (duh) and a museum.. apart from that it is not that interesting.. but you should just drive around cape cod... i liked the lighthouse and the beach of CHATHAM, i loved PROVINCETOWN which is by far the gayest village i have ever seen but which is cool because it is small and you have incredibly cool shops and restaurants.. that is really worth a trip...

ESTERN MASSACHUSETTES: i only drove along the BERKSHIRES which is the area where the rich had their houses.. i.t is nice.. the drive from ADAMS to Pittsflied (not on the Highway but on the scenic route is cool)... we visited the SHAKER'S village near Pittsfield and that was worth the visit too... it's this religious group who lived in their own village but got extinct because they didn't believen in sex... haha... we stayed in NORTHAMPTON but i did not have time to visit the city as the hotel was way out of the centre but it did look cool though.. so i would stop there again

RHODE ISLAND: i did not visit PROVIDENCE but i would want to as it is a student city and apparently very cool to hang out in... i did go to NEWPORT where you can easily spend an afternoon... do visit the old centre near the port.. that is cool and then visit the TEnnis hall of fame which was ok too, and THE BREAKERS or any other of the big mansions there.. i found the visit to the breakers worthwhile.. it is not versailles of course, but it is amazing.. i loved walking there too... there are a few cool bridges getting you into newport so you might want to make pictures there too

MAINE: i did not visit too many things in MAine but i would definitly recommend PORTLAND because that is the nicest city i have seen in New ENgland.. it is small but has an art college and many art students and stuff... i just liked the harbour atmosphere and you have a lot of restaurants and the port of course.. yes, i liked portnad... going to portland you need to take the scenic route off highway 1.. i guess it is called 1a... visit YORK VILLAGE (nice) and drive to cape neddick which has a cool light house.. KENNEBUNKPORT is where the bush family lives but i would just drive through it.. some nice houses...

NEW HAMPSHIRE: this is beautiful territory.. the white mountains were really awsesome... i did a serpentine tour entering new hampshire near CONWAY... do visit the covered bridges in Conway.. nice... then take the KANAMAGUS higway to lincoln.. that is a beautiful ride.. the FRANCONIAN notch just takes you back up north but was not that spectacular.. you can visit the WASHINGTON HOTEL In breetton woods.. i didn't because i was with the bus but it looks cool... we went back to the eastside and stayed in grafton but i would not do that detour... The ride to WILDCAT MOUNTAIN was nice though but i would not include it in a tour if i had to do it... on the border with Vermont you have this place called BATH which is very touristy but fun...

VERMONT: less awesome than new hampshire but different... more farms and villages and stuff... i liked it though... do visit MONTPELLIER,,, i really liked that city, then you can visit the BEN AND JERRY ICE CREAM FACTORY which i unfortunatly did not do... that is nearby montpellier... you can visit the quarry in BARRE but it is not a must... the drive from montpellier over highway 100 to RUTLAND is nice with some waterfalls and stuff.. rutland is not really worth stopping... you hvae to go further south on the eastern site of vermont which has GRAFTON a very very nice village where you can take a lot of pictures and they have a cheese factory and covered bridges... stop only in BRATTLEBRO if you have enough time... the highway along the border with massachussettes is nice..

CONNECTICUT? haven't been there.. but i would include it especially New Haven

50 flightplan and the corpse bride

flightplan with jodie foster has grossed 70 million at the box office and still gets people to the theatres. the reviews were very bad and i did not want to see it, but if a movie can still draw people after 6 weeks or so it must be good word of mouth. i took my chance. the movie started of really bad. it was obvious that the director tried too hard to impress but failed in doing so. i also did not get the whole 'let's make the audience doubt from the first minute wether the main character is crazy or not' effort. you already know who the bad guy is after 15 minutes and you just want to see how the storyline will evolve. thankfully enough the storyline was interesting. i was constantly thinking: how will they make this last for 90 minutes, but they did. the end is poor of course, but the movie was entertaining and that's what's i mportant

tim burton's corpse bride is totally different. it's creepy and funny and i loved it. i was a bit too tired while watching the movie so i did not fully appreciate it as i would have in an awakened state of mind and there were too little laughs, but i liked the story and the idea and the gothic charm of it.

i did sneak in the theatre where they played The Fog, the current number one in the states, but i left after 20 minutes. i liked the fact is was shot in new england... but apart from that it just looked like another boring hollywood horrorflick

oh by the way: the preview of SAW II is very scary but gets an AL certificate, meaning everybody can see the previes, the trailer about the two gay cowboys (one of which is jake gyllenhaal) gets a PG 13 certificate... explain that to europeans...

49 the bravery @ avalon

so i finally saw a rock concert. in boston. by a band whose cd i bought a few weeks ago and of which i really like the song 'an honest mistake'. yes i am talking about the bravery who i did not see perform at werchter nor at pukkelpop. i did not even know they had performed there but i found out on the back of the t shirt of this kid in front of me.

avalon is a cool club but a bizarre rock venue. it's like you would have band perform at the fuse in stead of the AB. the first thing i noticed was that it was not sold out. i asked around why that was because the band is pretty popular here but apparently they had been coming to boston quite often and their show hasn't changed since their last visit before the summer.

another thing is noticed was that the crowd was incredibly young. 16-24. students. after all boston has lots of colleges and universities. i did not really like the atmosphere but hey. it was only 15 bucks. the price of a cd.

the support act came from sweden. international noise conspiracy. they were BORING. that singer had no charisma whatsover and the songs just did not sound right. it's a hyped band though.

the bravery itself were musically great but my god, did that singer sing out of tune. it's incredibly how a band can go on tour and do so many gigs with a singer who can't sing. he is okay as a frontman though. he squeels like robert smith does but looks like morissey. i liked the bass player as well. as with most bass players: they are the definition of cool. some songs were better live than on cd, but too bad the singing was awful.

but it was an okay concert

48 BOSTON

well
i am in boston and it rains and it's cold. i already have to wear a scarf and a hat and two sweaters. i had the best of weather last week (indian summer) but now it's getting cold. boston is just like i thought it would be. it's small in comparison to new york. it has a mix of new and old buildings. there are a lot of young people here. i found a cool used cd store. there's lots of book shops. everything is in walking distance. people look european. the subway system is easy. it is not a beautiful city but it has its charm. there's plenty of concerts here. i really like it. but i am not sure if i want to spend a whole week here. i need to study as well as the comments on the comment sheets all said that i did not give enough information about the area and stuff. i want to go see The BRavery who perform at this club near by the hotel i am staying in. i went to that club on sunday evening to this sunday evening club thing. the music was very old school house but typical for the states. they are 10 years behind the things we listen to in europe. the club is cool (AVALON) and it hosts both dj's and rock bands. franz ferdinand is also performing this saturday but i am not ure if i go see that show as they are not my favorite band.

internet remains very expensive here so bye bye...
nico

47 two movies

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
it's the new movie from george clooney as a director. he also stars in it but it's david strathairn that takes on the major role. i've always liked strathairn. he's that kind of actor you see in many movies and who is always good but who just never gets to play the main character. here he impersonates a news broadcaster who brought down McCarthy with some television shows that showed what an asshole mccarthy was. the subject is a bit boring and not to everyones taste. it's very political and it's very clear that clooney is not a fan of conservatist politics. however, the movie did not bore me at all. i loved the cinematography although most of it is set within a studio and they use a lot of images from the fifties. the movie is in black and white and the scenes are well directed. the opening scene is pretty cool. you see the main characters at a reception and it seems like none of them are acting. good start. after each 'chapter' you have this black woman sing this jazzy song about what's happening. that was original too. and strathairn is cool. he even makes you believe that he is a smoker alhtough he never inhaled (from what i read). he doesn't look as attractive as in la confidential or the river wild though. he looks old. but whatever.

THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN
i really did not want to see this picture as the reviews were not so good and i thought i don't like the actor in the leading role who does the american version of the office. BUT everybody seems to like this movie and it is a big hit and i got in for free after the other movie had ended. (yeah, they still have that here in the states where you can go to another room after one movie has finished). and guess what? I liked it. i laughed so much. i really needed a funny movie like that. it's actually not as nerdy as i thought it would be and the end is pretty romantic. the main character is a nerd but you understand why he is still a virgin. at least i did. and he does want to try and get laid. but his colleagues at work are hilarious. they really want him to get laid although their love and sex life sucks too. there are some really funny scenes in this movie and i loved catherine keener as the woman he ends up wanting to have the first sex with.

46 new england beats england in beauty

WOW

really wow

that whole foliage thing here is so beautiful. i had no idea what to expect. i never thought i would see the brown/yelow/green/red colors in one tree. sometimes al the colors are next to each other and when you drive by them you have this cool color movie. it is real y the most amazing natural thing i h ave ever sen. sure Bryce canyon is stil the most beautiful thing i have sen so far but this is also amazing

we left portland to go to new hampshire and do a sling tour in the white mountains range. first we had a lot of fog. but then we saw the beauty. WOW. my people just want to stop every single minute to take pictures. we have such beautiful weather and i canot blame them. so i alow th em but we constantly run behind schedule. they love the covered bridges. i think they are just ok. and they love the graveyards and white churches. me too. we have not seen moose yet. but we have seen waterfalls and of course the mulicolored trees. i liked the Kancamagus highway a lot (named after this native american chief who tried to get al the tribes together as a union against the americans. a bit like we try with the EU. he failed however) that was beautiful. then we stoped at this famous rock formation that has tumbled down and just is not worth stopping at (it used to lok like an old man, but now you just se the forhead of it) bretton woods was a disappointment. i thought that hotel (the one from The Shining) would be more imposing. also because there was no snow on mount washingon which loked like a normal mountain realy. i have trouble with this keyboard. i canot sem to type to leters after one another. two of the same leter i mean. whatever i did go up the wildcat mountain with this gondola thing. saksia had to think of you when i was on it cos i made me fel like on our day trip in the ardenen however this was a 15 minute ride up with a biger view we we stayed at th is place caled gorham where i had diner with my driver who is a real col guy.

his sister pased away though. they send him a mesage tonight and he canot leave the tour which sucks of course. i don't know what i have to do if someone i am close to dies. i would just demand to get me of the tour.

today we started with fog too. then it became beter. we stoped a few times and one unexpected stop was co ol in bath. some guy owns four unique stores there and he has 40 buses a day coming in. it is cool though. an old supermakert than this shop with al vinyl on the ceiling and then a litle church where you can buy stuf plus a covered bridge. some of the pax on my bus wanted to visit the biggest granite quary int he world so i made a detour for that. most of the pax liked it. i liked it to exept that my schedule totaly mesed up fot the day. the visit is ok if you want to see how they make grave stones and stuff. you actualy se them do it. we had lunch in montpellier whjich i absolutley loved. really,. it has a state capitol and some nice shops and restaurants and it just looks sweet. it has a goiod city museu; too. i wanted to stay there longer. we went to the ben and jery facotry but there were too many people thinking the same thing so we could not get in. i would have loved to visit it as i love ben and jery ice cream but only 6 were realy interested in that. isn t that funy? they prefer granite quarries to ice cream factories.

the road to the hotel was long but we made some stops on demand. they just want to stop every single time they se e a picturesaue something and they blame me when we stop to o far and they have to go back. someone asked me if i liked taking pictures if i like photography cos i only stop at places were they can only take normal pictures without god anlges. so i todl her - she is the bus bitch - "if i want to take unique pictures of a place i rent a car and stop where i want to stop, i do not go on a bus trip." i had to say it. she is the kind of german who wants everything structured in her life. she hates the fact that i canot say when we wil stop for lunch. she does not like my 'we'll see' answer

again bad communication upon arrival at hotel. i had caled to reconfirm everything and to ask info but the info that was given was wrong again. i decide d to take them to a supermarket before going to the hotel because i had the news there was no breakfast in the hotel and no restsaurant. we arive and that person gives me breakfast vouchers for the next day and shows me a german restaurant acros the stret. DAMN. also there was no rom for me and the driver so we had to go somewhere else. far away. i hate ATI my employer.
still: new england WOW

45 sms and email

ps: you CAN send me text mesages. it does not cost you more than when i would be in belgium. and i always appreciate emails.

44 crap start

what a start of a tour

i arrived too late in boston. delay at miami apt. i had to meet up with my pax in the centre of boston where i had never been. so try to imagine this: me getting of the flight, getting into a cap, getting of at the holocaust memorail and 30 minutes later presenting myself to the pax as their tourguide. straight from miami...

they were NOT happy

the people who were there were only part of my group. they had not been greeted upon arrival by anyway. they did get a city walk with a local guide in boston. but their hotel was 30 minutes away from their centre. they meet a guide who has never been in new england before and are really looking forward to the trip. not.

my other pax were staying at this hotel in downtown boston. nobody had picked them up at the airport. nobody knew anything at the hotel until i faxed them a letter that i would pick them up the next day. arriving at the hotel there were 10 buses leaving there so the luggage of my pax never got down in time. all the pax angry of course.

so we leave to salem... a small city that thrives on the stories of witch hunts back in the 17th century. watch that winona ryder movie THe Crucible. it's an okay city but it's SO commercial. i had never been there before so i don't know what to suggest. however it is a beautiful day and the people were fine with that.

then off to kennebunkport with a stop at this lighthouse that people had in their program. i did find the lighthouse by taking a scenic route along the coast. that route is SO beautiful. i just love it up there. it is really very cool. i love the wooden beach houses and i love the ocean and i just love the whole atmosphere there. it wasn't cold at all. so they take a pic of the lighthouse and we move to fucking kennebunkport

george bush sr has an estate there so it is a tourist destination for a lot of americans. they told me to stop there for lunch. however it is such a small city and there are more than ten buses doing this tour that all the restaurants were full by the time we got there which was already late. result: people unhappy.

kennebunkport has some cool rich houses along the beach and we had the luck of seeing some ships in the fog which was really cool. the nice thing was that the bush estate was covered in fog and the pax didn't see it. which made me tell some jokes about bush hiding from ze germanz.

people were getting hungry and annoyed about the fact that the hotel was not in the centre of portland so i decided to take them to the hotel first and then drop them off for dinner in portland. hooray for some people. boo for others who were angry that they didn't get time to visit museums in portland. duh.

we arrived in time for sunset BUT there was FOG again. damn.

i love portland. really, it is a cool town. very young. with art students attending art school. it just looked like a really cool young town. i really want to go back there. not too big. small actually but with plenty to do. very european and at a harbor so that is always cool. yeah, portand got my vote. and some pax liked it very much.

tomorow i head to the mountains. i am too fucking tired to read about it.

oh yes my driver is 60y old and no memory. i like him a lot because he reminds me of you sean. he's black/puerto rican with the coolest smile i have ever seen on a 60y old. he has these glases that you used to wear when you were in junior high (you showed me that picture once) and he has such a FRIENDLY face and looks so relaxed. he is such a hit with the older ladies. not on my bus cos they are german but i am sure that all the stories he tells about having had sex with older passengers are true. i want to hang out with that guy not drive around with him.

the people on the bus all look the same. they are german, have grey hair, are over 60 i guess, get annoyed easily, are very punctual of course and have this german sarcasm humor that i dig. however it can become a problem if too many things go wrong.

i feel like chandler in that episode where he is not allowed to tell jokes. i constantly have to say to myself: nico, don't say it. for instance when i take a decision and i hear someone say that i should have the bus decide, i want to say 'look, i am your dictator on the bus. and i am more friendly than the one you had when you were little kids, so stop complaining' i have joked about their punctuality as well... some passengers arrived one minute before the time i had told them to be there which made other passengers comment on them being too late. so i told them: 'if you really want to be too late and leave a bad impression you have to be here one minute AFTER and not one minute BEFORE'

germans can laugh though. there's a lot of laughter on the bus. but i just don't know why they laugh. my driver took a wrong turn wich made us do a little tour around the hotel and they all thought that was so hilariously funny. they are very cynical and ironic though, but not in a cool way like in BBC comedies. as long as they can laugh it's okay. one person called ANKE DANKERS who hates her name ever since she was a child already made up her mind. she would never ever travel with TUI again cos this is too chaotic. whater.

if you want to laugh with the names. these are the pax on my bus: tiemann, behrendt, grossmann (the only under 40y old on the bus), weigang, lasch, schramm, reber, regier (he does not want to share the same bed with his wife so i have to make sure he has TWO beds in his room, huebner, hengstenberg (cool name), stark und roesch (a gay couple who asked me if they could stay in the back of the bus on the entire trip), narbe (the only single guy traveller on the bus), bittkau, bubitka, hirth and some i forgot.

think about me on this trip..

43 south beach twist

I LOVE SOUTH BEACH

i think that is such a cool place. i had missed my flight. got a hotel at the aiport. showered. took a taxi and headed to south beach. i thought i might as wel have fun having missed my flight.

first the shops that are no different than two years ago. such cool t shirt shops. i talked to the same girl who sold me that tattoo shirt two years ago. they had cool stuff in the shop but it has gotten a bit expensive. cool t shirts and pants and stuff.

then my favorite cd store in south beach.. i spent 40 minutes talking about electro and stuff to the guy who owned the place. there's this cool dance festival end of november that i want to go to. but i won't be here anymore... we talked about tiefschwarz and blackstrobe and stuff and he was the coolest alternative rocker to like electro music ever. i did not buy cd's but it was a cool visit. Sam's Music is the name i guess and yes Lasgo and kate ryand and Ian Van Dahl still have more cd's in miami than MIllionaire...

of course i went to my favorite club in south beach called TWIST. it's one of the only places where you don't pay to get in. i love the place. you have several rooms. one bar plays alternative music genre GORILLAZ DARE (i was the only one dancing though), then you have a patio outside with a bar in there where gogo boys do some lapdancing... incredibly pityful really... i watched the whole thing... some guy puts 10 dollar in the pants of one of those muscle queens and then that queen starts shaking his dick and ass a bit.... not even kissing... it takes maybe 3 minutes and then they look for someone else... they are arrogant as well. i was sitting on a chair and this gogo guy demanded me to give the chair to him. which i refused of course.

then you go upstairs to two rooms. one plays urban music... it was incredible how many people lose their breath when destiny's child is on. then you have a housy room which i do not like all the time. two years ago i heard a remix of madonna's nothing fails which made me dance.. .this year it was a remix of hte new depeche mode. i was so lucky to finaly dance again. then you have this loungee room to and then some stairs down you have more techno. nobody dances there but they played kinda new tiefschwarz remix and i just had to shake my ass... i told them that would play in the main room in brussels not in the smalles one...

the club is predominantly gay but you have plenty of girls too. and they are all latin or black. at least. 70 per cent is. i did not feel quite as unique as a blond (grey after 6 weeks of tour guiding) guy like i did in salvador but still. i managed to flirt my way back to the airport hotel for free. some guy offered me a ride so hey why not accept it ha?

i finally had some club fun in the staes. i want to go back there and do a lthe clubs in south beach i really miss clubbing in brussels. i really had to think of all you guys. it would be so cool if i could invite you to go out in sotuh beach. i'm sure yuou would all love that place.and all of you would be in different rooms. i want to about a TWIST in Brussels. in that building on the corner in front of the belgica and the police station.

42 missed flight

this is how things can go wrong: i missed my flight from miami to boston due to several delays on my last day on the florida sunshine

we had to pick up that irish lady who was still in her room when we arrived at her hotel. at that time i did not want to be too harsch on her because she had been alone for three nights in that hotel. after her not tipping me much, i wish i had shouted at her and pulled her by the hair to the bus. anyways... we left late in orlando

i got a new driver who was not at all experienced and it showed right away. while i was blablabla-ing with the pax he took the wrong exit and drover north of orlando iso east. i found out after a while and asked him what he was doing. he did not listen to any of the directions that i gave until i had to raise my voice. which is very unusual for me. but i had to.. we arrived too late at the kennedy space center... the first imax movie had already started

nasa is in some deep shit. some important guy said that the space shuttle program has been a mistake and they will stop the program. controversy assured. they want to go back to the moon in 2018 and the KSC makes that very clear. the cool imax movie about life on the space shuttle is replaced by a propaganda imax movie about the landing on the moon which i thought was absolutely not as interesting. it was very biased and very child oriented. we took the 12h30 show and left the movie theater at 13h15...

the tour around the centre took forever because they only run shuttles buses every 25 minutes due to huge fuel prices.. still not that much compared to europe.. but three times more expensive than six years ago... iso of 1 dollar per gallon (4 liter) it is now 3 dollar...it doesn't make a difference if i tell american is it 6 per gallon in europe...

we stopped at two fast food chain to pick up lunch... result: 7 chose subway sandwiches (i love them) and 17 preferred burger king (absolutely the best of all hamburger joints)

then we had the rain showers which slowed down traffice.. plus the fact that i had promised to drop of all the pepole to their hotels.. 8 hotels in total. i wnated to just drop them of at the original hotel as it should be done but some had it written explicitly that the transfer to their south beach hotel was included. also... i needed some tipping and i thought they would tip me more if i could make them believe that thanks to my efforts they don't have to pay for a taxi.. those people tipped ok... but again most people tipped less than the minimum.....really that tipping is just such a big problem.

so i had 30 minutes to get from south beach to the airport. there was an accident of course and it rained so i never made it in time. the queues werer so long that i just gave up and went to rebook the ticket. there was no later flight that day..

as a result the people in boston did not meet me until today. i have again pax in two different hotels and i have only seen the ones in this hotel. i arrived late afternoon to go with the pax from center to hotel. i bascilaly have not seen boston at all except of the holocaust memorial and some building. first impression is not that great although i loved the fact that the sun was shining and it wasn't even that cold.

tomorrow we head to salem and sleepin portland, main