Hi World
I write you now from the van on the way to the south of France. We have a two day gap in our schedule and we decided to make the sane choice and turn in into a holiday of sorts. Kyle loves swimming more than pretty much any other activity, and we don’t really have anything better to do, so in the name of brotherly love (or apathy), we are indulging him.
Since we last spoke, Snailhouse has had two great shows – one in Paris and one in Lyon, with a day off/travel day in Dijon.
Paris
The Paris show was one of the best ones for Snailhouse ever in that city. We were lucky enough to share the stage with a band from Montreal called Tricot Machines. We hadn’t met before but we had lots of friends in common and the match was, as the French say “sympa.” Before the show and after sound check, we had a few hours. We visited Jim Morrison’s grave and marveled at the phenomenon of The Doors� enduring popularity. Upon return to the venue for dinner we profited from Tricot Machines’ tour manager’s portable ping pong set (yes, ping pong, not table tennis) until show time. We were also blessed by a visit from some other familiar Montreal faces (always nice to see friends) and a bunch of unfamiliar Parisian faces (which was the point of being there).
In the AM we had a nice outdoor breakfast and a big walk, with sitings of French street art.
We would have loved to stay in the city, but the logistics of parking the van were proving too stressful, so we headed off to Dijon for our off day. Not much to discuss, unless you like hearing about roadside budget hotels and dudes watching UHF until they fall asleep. Suffice to say it was what Metz should have been on the last tour (see that entry). We woke up late in the morning and had amazing lunch in a square in the city center.
Lyon
Lyon is a beautiful, chaotic and hilly city. We played at Kraspek Mysik, which is a tiny little volunteer run venue on a steep hill. We had some time to walk around and get a feel for the place, and we even left some time for a mammoth wallball championship inside the entrance to a parking garage. People must think we are dumb Americans. I take a perverse pride in knowing deep down we are dumb Canadians.
Our sleeping place was in the beautiful country house of one of the longtime volunteers of Kraspek. After a refreshing breakfast in the garden with our hosts we were back on the highway.
South of France
We came to play music, but we are now looking at two days of down time. As we were approaching Marseilles on the highway, there just happened to be an airshow happening in the skies above, jets in formation above the highway.
I felt genuiniely lucky to be there, and to have a reason to be there, among friends. I also feel genuinely grateful to be grateful and to have the capacity to appreciate the beauty in the the variety of the situations we find ourselves in.
All that to say: days off in the South of France – we could do much worse.
Sincerely,
Snailhouse.