Clin d'Oeil

listen to Jazz Liberatorz - Clin d'Oeil. i cannot take credit for stumbling upon this highly talented parisian hip-hop group - that honor is reserved for my favorite chocolate bear. they mix old jazz samples and improvised jazz fusion riffs while intelligently rhyming. there are few groups that make me go, 'oh, wow.' but i would lump these guys in with tribe in terms of how great they are. happy listening.

cheers, jhabra

vienne 1

the beginning of our spring break adventure! oh vienna, it was probably the "nicest" place we went to over spring break. i say that hesitantly because all the places were nice, but not all of them had EVERYTHING. vienna, was unbelievably beautiful, clean, the people we very kind and had great senses of humor, big, lively... on and on. will and i got there in the afternoon. as we walked off the plane, we realized almost immediately that we have no german under our belt, and that getting into the city would prove somewhat difficult, but make for a great story. we eventually find a tourist desk. without the address of our hotel, not even a general indication of its direction (drew had all that information because he had booked it; he didn't arrive until much later in the evening), i remember something about the schonbrunn palace, and ask the guy how to get there. we assumed that the marriot schonbrunn would be next to the palace with the same name. right? wrong.

the very friendly austrian at the desk pulls out a metro map and a city map. he points us in the right direction, giving us information on where and how to transfer in the train stations. about 45 mins later, we get to the schonbrunn metro stop, walk outside with bags in hand, and realize that we have no freaking clue where to go. it's not like we could have asked somebody where it was either... we don't speak the language (later, however, we found out that everyone speaks english in vienna). so we did as any lost pair of 21 year olds would do... walk to the right for over an hour in the complete opposite direction, along the entirety of this palace, which in my opinion is more beautiful and probably bigger than versailles, (probably because it was built later and thus it's more modern?) until we hit a 4 star hotel. we decide to go in and try our luck. mind you, will and i are dressed like bums, we're noticeably sweating, and are clearly not austrian. the two girls at the front desk looked at us, scaled us with their piercing eyes, and then turned around as if we weren't even standing there! eventually we forcefully got their attention and their demeanor changed completely when we told them we were lost. they pointed us in the right direction. after another hour hike back towards where we came, we finally find the hotel... had we turned left out of the metro stop, we would have seen the hotel as if it were the moon in a night sky... what a fantastic start to an even more fantastic vacation.

more about vienna in a little.

cheers, jhabra

last night

starting around 2230, will, sally, sam, sarah, maggie, and i sat on the giant field in between invalides et la tour eiffel. with bottles of wine in hand, and brie and bread in bags, we sat until 0001. purpose: on the hour, ever hour, after it gets dark, the tower sparkles with what i'm assuming are white, timed strobe lights. at 2300, the girls found it imperative to get up and dance while will and i were tools taking pictures. at 0000, it sparkled again as we were walking back towards the metro; maggie almost got hit by a bus.

cheers, jhabra

saint malo

the weekend before spring break, my group had an excursion to saint malo. it's a very quaint and quiet little city, surrounded by a medieval wall on all sides. it kind of juts out like the florida keys as it is surrounded by beaches on all sides as well. we spent one day and night there, and i have to tell you it was one of the most fun nights of my life.

that night, will, drew, and i went out for a traditional mediterranean dinner. we had mussels, some steak, frites, and of course wine... all for a fraction of the price as they are in paris. anywho, we decide to find a grocery store and just pick up some cheese, bread, and wine after having dinner. for those of you who do not know the layout of saint malo, and i'm assuming it's probably all of you, the city has an exceptional beach surrounding the mainland walled-in city. it's probably, from wall to water, almost 100 yards long, and i couldn't even guess how wide. as you look out into the english channel, all you can see are a 3 scattered lighthouses. there are, however, actually five. the other two are to the northwest, hidden by the very old and giant "fort national", which in terms of distance, seems as if it's not really part of the city. to have a look at these lighthouses, and to see ONLY open ocean, one must scale the fort's wall on either side while climbing over the jagged tipped black rocks surrounding the fort. yes, we did it. it was amazing. at this point, robyn, amanda, and amie had joined us back there, a good 300 yards from any real landmass. all we did was talk and eat for a good 3 hours. it was amazing. i don't think i have ever seen such a beautiful horizon in all my life.

there is a much more convoluted story, which happened around 12:30 am when we left the fort, directly involving will and drew, and indirectly involving me, which is probably one of the funniest series of unfortunate events i have ever witnessed in my life... the night included a 40 year old woman, too much alcohol, incessant phone calls, 5:45 am, and sleeping in nondescript places. those of you who care to know can ask me.

more to come on spring break soon... i promise.

cheers, jhabra