The sweet sounds of the 4-hunj

It's been over 4 weeks since I had been on the good old 400. She's been sitting next to the BBQ quietly, gathering dust (and a few ants) whilst I had been at play in Eastern Europe.
Since I woke up at 3pm today I figured I should at least make the most of what was left of this marvellous weather and take the motorbike for a spin.

I knew the poor girl would be running on three cylinders and I was quite sure she wouldn't start at all, but there she went; second go. I let the choke do all the action. Chug-chug, put-put and a pop and she was all ready. Bugger the oil and the tyre pressure, I just wanted to go for a ride. I knew I had to take it easy for a little bit, but when I hit the freeway...

Accelerating to an undisclosed speed on the freeway on-ramp, she was singing. 12,000 rpm and she was loving it. Even more so than me I think... but damn I missed that sound. Up a few gears and back to the regulated speed limit, I passed a few cars and dropped a gear to blow some more of those cobwebs out. That Roo Racing pipe is mint, even after 3 years.

I headed into the tunnel and did the same thing; made her howl. I'm sure there would have been a few irate car drivers with a note resonating though their heads and bellowing out the other end of the tunnel. Up onto East Parade and back into the tunnel for another go. It must be something with Sunday. Who enters a merging lane at 60km/hr when the limit is 80? Damn Corolla driver. Just another obstacle left in the side mirror.

Back upthe freeway and a 5-lane change over to Vincent Street for some more weavy riding through Perth's northern burbs. Up Oxford Street and around the bank, I dropped her into first instead of second and she went a little sideways on me, not enough to worry about, but mental note for next time: don't be doing 50+ and putting it in first *roll eyes*

Easy does it back home, just working the bike up and down the gears and rev ranges. A quick ride, but a nice one. Should have tied my hair up a little better too, I have knots in knots!

This week she'll be getting a good ol scrubbin' for sure!

Everyone's happy =)

A few thank you's

It's been an interesting week. Coming back from an awesome holiday in Eastern Europe, meeting some fantastic people and seeing some beautiful cities.

This week has been up and down. First of all, I *still* have killer jet-lag. I've been exhausted all week and haven't been sleeping too well. Or too well. Last night I got 14 hours, but tonight... well its nearly 2am and I'm awake.

Big thanks to Ben for my wonderful birthday gift (Dior forever baby!) and to Julz who took me out to dinner and entertained me whilst I nearly fell asleep in my sushi, and came along to the Fear Factory family reunion. Cheers dude, you made my night so much fun.

On a side note, I found out today that the drags are now $40. I'm not poor and I'm not rich, but to me that's getting a bit pricey. I'll still go, but not as often as I had hoped to go. I really thought the price would stay at $30 for one more year. Oh well. I'm hoping to get low 13's consistently. I also saw that there's a new concept (funded by entry fees no doubt) - the reaction challenge; where you win money if you snap a really low reaction time. Good idea. Still too expensive. /rant over

Anyway, time for some more sleep. Good nite world :)

FEAR FACTORY - Have left the building...

You may recall that I was so slightly excited by the fact that Fear Factory were coming to Perth in my post here, well there were in town LAST NITE!

_+++______________________________
_+88______________________________
_+880_____________________________
_++88_____________________________
_++88_____________________________
__+880_________________________++_
__+888________________________+88_
__++880______________________+88__
__++888_____+++88__________+++8__
__++8888__+++8880++88____+++88___
__+++8888+++8880++8888__++888____
___++888++8888+++888888++888_____
___++88++8888++8888888++888______
___++++++888888888888888888______
____++++++88888888888888888______
____++++++++000888888888888______
_____+++++++000088888888888______
______+++++++00088888888888______
_______+++++++088888888888_______
_______+++++++088888888888_______
________+++++++8888888888________
________+++++++0088888888________
________++++++0088888888_________
________+++++0008888888__________

The gig TOTALLY ROCKED OUT and I went absolutely mental when FF played Archetype, Lynchpin and Dog Day Sunrise. Of course, can't go past Edgecrusher, Scapegoat and Self Bias Resistor.

To top it off, Julz and I bummed around a little bit and Julz managed to catch Raymond Hererra's drum stick (which I quickly snatched from him - sorry dude)!!! A great night all round. Thanks for tagging along Julz.

The evidence

Back to Berlin

Back to Berlin, and it was time to say goodbye...

Arend the bus driver - the sexiest Dutchman I've ever known!

The Mexicans playing table soccer at bar #1 of the pub crawl

The final dinner - Leo, Me, Susy and Tomas

From there, it was time to head home. Trav and I caught the train the very next morning, but not before some tears were shed in the corridor on the way out. We headed to Frankfurt and grabbed the nearest hotel. Dinner was in the local Irish Pub and I demolished some fish and chips.

The flight home was quite fast an uneventful and it was back to work the next day. I was dead in the ass and wanted to go back...

Next stop... Sweden... Hong Kong... Mexico... Malaysia...?

Warsaw

The last day in Krakow meant we were heading out to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. The tour was fantastic (even though it was my second time here). The best part of the day was licking the walls and jumping up and down in the lifts as we were getting winched up back to the surface. Poor Roberto didn't want to get in and be stuck with good ole Kong! :P

Inside the Wieliczka Mine - the chapel

Licking the walls - YOU MUST!

Arriving in Warsaw, many of us were well hung over so a nice day in the sunshine was in order. I spent the day in Warsaw with the Mexicans and the lovely Costa Ricans and pitched the Chopin piano recital to get some shots of the city from one of Polands biggest towers. We had pierogi for lunch (as you do in Poland) and a "fag" beer with Leo with raspberry syrup. (I know you LOVED IT dude!)

From the 30th floor

The hangover team

The Ice Bar in real colour

Mucking around with Polo and Sarah

Group photo!!!

Krakow

On the way to Poland we stopped in on Banksa Bystrica in Slovakia for a break. We happened to pass the local market and there was so much to eat and drink. The people were so friendly and warm, it was a country town at its best.

From there I gave the tour bus a Polish lesson and we were in Krakow just in time for dinner and a quick walk around the main square (Rynek). That night was the ticking over for my birthday so everyone gave me the good old countdown and shouted cheers. What a bender. The next morning (my official birthday "day") we had a quick tour of the city where I clocked up some more Polish amber jewellery and then it was time to go to Auschwitz. The group was originally meant to go to the salt mines but things were changed around as the mines were doing maintenance. What a way to spend a birthday! It was quite depressing but for me, it was one of those things on the "have to see" list. The day finished with more beers and a quiet dinner in the Rynek and more drinks at a local club.

The eagle show in Slovakia

Markets in Slovakia
Dodgy Mexicans with an even dodgier Polish Mexican!

Birthday drinks in the Irish Pub

More drinks!

St Mary's churchHorses in Krakow

Wawel

He's still working on that camera...

Rynek markets

Budapest

Hungary. Hmm. Tough one. The city is gorgeous, but the people are oh so rude. I have mixed emotions about this city. One thing I do know, is that they have killer outdoor clubs. We went to Rio which closed at 4am and I must admit that for the first time in a long time I actually got on the floor and got down. One of my crazy Mexican friends even taught me the Samba!

The place isn't as developed for tourists as say Prague or Berlin and there's a LOT of graffiti all over the place. Noone will help you on a train or bus for information. But when I did get lost on day two of Budapest a bum helped me out at the bus stop by talking to me in German! Weird culture, but awesome city by night.

The Terror Museum - a must seeWho are those fags with a cup of tea? Anna-Marie and GregCrazy Mexican - LeonardoHero Square

Vienna

Vienna, the home of Classical Music. Only one night here, so apparently it was important to make the most of it. I was actually pretty knackered from the Prague experience so my day and a half was full of the world famous Sacher torte and chilling out the main platz. I only went into the one main museum (Sissy) and mostly enjoyed the dreamy weather.

Indeed, there are no kangaroos in Austria

The local Aussie pub in Vienna centre

He's still trying to work out that cameraFrederic Chopin's star of fame (I couldn't find Mozart's square anywhere...)

Can't go to Vienna and not have a Vienna schnitzel

Prague

Now Prague is a beautiful city. It's quite pretty in architechture, the people are nice and the shopping is great. Nabbed a few bargains in the city square on my "free day" including a goatskin jacket and a wicked pair of jeans! Prague was a very inexpensive trip, many of the local foods and beers were very budget.

Blatant advertising at its best, Cheeseburgers for 20Kc - I'm sure this trend will be in Australia soon

Traditional Czech dinner with folk dancing and all!

Praha nightlife

Guards

The Sex Machine Museum

Some of the killer views

11pm in the city square

Berlin

Today was raining. All day. And not like for about 15 minutes, for hours and hours! But we did a massive day of walking on the 3rd Reich tour. We had a geezer called Nigel who was an absolute legend. We ended up at the pub for many Heffe Weisesn rots (reds) and currywurst!

Hitler stood on that very floorboard

The Berlin Wall

The Bunker

The "new" church

A memorial

Currywurst

There's not enough time in the day to be able to post everything up so you'll all have to wait till I get a free hour. Till then, I'm having heaps of fun and I'm off to Prague this morning so I'd better go get ready!