Double Daffy @doubledaffy - Tumblr Blog

Lil video recap of Copenhagen + Paris trips January 2018

PRAGUE April 26 - May 5 - 2019 - entry 03

We were sick of the city so Daisy found this super rad place about 1.5hrs north of Prague called Bohemian Switzerland. It was so magical. You basically park, somehow and walk 1.5 miles to the trail head then walk a 7 mile loop through magical national forest and end back at the car. The hike is pretty steep at first, then it is nice and flat at the top and there is a crazy restaurant at the top of the hike that overlooks a land bridge thing. I was scared we’d get lost and tired and die. Why do I have this fear? It was a long hike, but it wasn’t that bad. We ate a nice little spot in a tiny town at the end of the first leg. Chickpea soup and bread. Then we walked down to a gorge for about 30mins and got in a boat that a guy with the same Fjallraven had that I have pushed along with a stick. Then you walk a little more and get in another boat and there’s so much magic and little ducks and more places to eat somehow in the middle of the forest. Daisy was flabberghasted with the beauty. The rental car was a SKODA, stick shift. On the way out of town were many acres of bright yellow plants populating farms. Turns out it’s for rapeseed oil. Huh. Seems neat.

At some point we went into a fabric store thing and I was overjoyed and got some cool fabric to hopefully make some donkey pads out of.

We ate one of our fav veggie places and sometimes we’d stop at the MINI MARKET to grab a snack and water for the AirBNB. Daisy couldn’t get in the AirBNB once before we left for the country when she had to pee because keys are hard sometimes!

We saw museums and gardens and stuff.

Prague_Drawings_on_plane_or_in_AIRBNB_Late_April_2019

PRAGUE April 26 - May 5 - 2019 - entry 02

So we walk around. Daisy copped some Nikes at the Sneaker Garage in the only little street that seemed to have cute one-off stores. Bopped on some Lime scooters, but the cobble stones make it not so worth it! Went to the Jewish Museum near our place in the Old town. Heavy shit. As always. Ate at Kafka Snob Food with my parents. Best ginger tea ever. Mom and dad are good at Museums! Who knew - took some sweet pics across the famous Charles bridge. Glad we pushed the walking despite the rain. ☔️cuz it was nice and special.

PRAGUE April 26 - May 5 - 2019 - entry 01

Hi. We went to Prague to meet my parent’s 50th anniversary. I didn’t take notes while we were there, so I’m going by memory now. Which is just fine, okay? We had a lot of nice times! At first, I was a little sad and didn’t really know what to do or care what to do. Daisy and I booked the trip to be meet my parents. We both don’t love a European city for more than 3 days. Everyone says Prague is AMAZING and just SO beautiful. Guess what, it’s fine. It still has all the same shit all the other Euro cities have - tourists everywhere clogging up the good areas. I can’t imaging a European city before tourists, must have been magical. That said, we still made the best of it and thanks to Daisy, we had lots of activities to do. Some highlights include:

Globe Cafe and bookstore - was neat. Big reservation culture out there, so we didn’t have dinner. First night my parents arrived we met them at Globe - then moved to an Italian joint which was very very good. Met some Swedish rapper outside. He has a lot of plays on Spotify!

We walked around and stuff with my Parent’s, and ended up pooping them out for first night so they stayed in. One day we rented a nice OLD car rental to take us around the city. Iris was the driver, she was nice. My parent’s were psyched.

D and I went to 2 vegetarian restaurants twice because we liked them so much. Estrella and MAITREA, I was drinking more than usually basically was just pooping every 2-4 hours all day everyday.

My parent’s stayed at the UNIC hotel here Soukenicka 1188/25 about a 10 min walk from our little AirBnB around the corner from ONE SIP coffee and CHATTY. We loved La Bottega and Home and Kitchen for breakfast. We also went to Food Lab for breakfast. Food is good there, well breakfast is - all the other meals are centered around big nasty meat dished like VEAL FARTS and BEEF CHEEKS or whatever. Nasty.

Jackson Hole March 24th 2019

PARIS DAY 07 - 1/12/18 You think we slept in again. Welp, you’re wrong. Asshole. We learned our lesson and woke up and got out in the 9’s, which is pretty stellar for us. Took the mother F’n Metro over to your classic Montmartre to grab some traditional French breakfast at a little bakery - Coquelicot (it means poppy!) Traditional French breakfast means you just eat bread and try not to care if you’re a carb avoider like me (lately). They were playing some live J-Cole mixtape I’ve never heard in there and the old woman running the place was mouthing all the lyrics. Just kidding. I had eggs and a croissant and salad and tomato’s and mushrooms and hot chocolate. They did NOT speak English there and it was great - but I did have a little OOPS moment while ordering - I thought it was Coffee AND Hot Chocolate or Tea. Nope. It’s Coffee OR Hot Chocolate OR Tea. You get one. No one in their right minds serves you Coffee AND Tea, you loser. The coffee comes in a BOWL which is pretty sweet. Two hand slurp style. I took so long to poop that the automatic sensor light shut off 6 times while Daisy waited in the cold. Sorry. Slid up to Sacre Coeur. Same some French armed guard bopping around with massive guns and berets. Very Handsome. Very Scary. We went INSIDE the church. It was okay - seen better more lavish holy spots, like in Spain or Italy for example. I got yelled at for keeping my hat on. You need to take your hat off so Jesus can look into your brain, sans-obstruction. I did not get a Pope trinket for 10 euros. We did not get our portraits drawn in the little square but we thought about it. Some of the art from the street vendors is just ever-so. Tried to eat at No Problemo, but it was a classic meat heavy place - duck, ham, veal, etc. All the real EVIL meat that I don’t eat. I once saw a video on Instagram of a pig running over and wanting a belly rub. I can’t eat anything that, like, really wants its belly rubbed. Daisy got a cool crew neck sweatshirt at a small design shop called “The Woods” - stopped at A.P.C and Isakin for some neato men’s fashion. There was a button down at Isakin that was the exact same one I had on, except mine cost way more and was made in USA. Theirs was made in Portugal. Same fabric and all. Hard to know what’s going on in the fashion world. I bet they didn’t expect me to stumble upon their huge shirt scam. Well I did. The jig is up! Oh, so guess what? We ended up going to the Louvre! It was crowded but not too bad. We hit the cafe first to recharge. Saw the Mona Lisa, which was BIGGER than I thought, because everyone tells you how small it is. Dude, it’s a regular painting. Regular size. Not sure why that one gets all the hype. Lots of great paintings in there. Did that one stop a war or something? Did it change the course of history? Or was the marketing team on point for Davinci back then? No way of finding out. No way at all. That whole museum is just a big pissing contest. One artist trying to out do the last. Pitiful. Our baby feet and little legs hurt so metro home wherein Daisy passed O U T on the baby couch under the big white blanky we stole from the bed. I took a a tiny nap too but ultimately researched a place to get a 40 min foot massage and some vegan dinner. Woke up Daisy 20mins before the foot massage and dipped over. Holy shit. We got the same room, 2 beds on the ground, Thai style. They should call it “everything but your midsection” massage. They hooked it up and we really needed it. Walked to vegan din din spot - La Potager Du Marais. Very good. Very vegan. Very nice wine. Now were “home” and need to pack. Boy oh boy, I can’t seem to figure out the dryer - like AT. ALL. Clothes are soaking wet. Like not acceptable. Overall we had a great trip, it was chill and nice and needed after not traveling since Japan in January 2017. Def need some real nature now. Next trip is to Jackson Hole for my 40th. Can’t wait! But can’t wait to see Bamford more, actually.

PARIS DAY 06 - 1/11/18 Woke up a touch later than we had hoped! Good thing we set a 7:15am alarm only to snooze it a hundred thousand times and ruin good morning sleep. We both didn’t sleep well for no good reason, so our little sleepy selves must have thought “you need more sleep, go right ahead little body, take it easy.” Daisy was stressed that we blew our day. I sometimes get like that too but we made the best of it and motored to the same breakfast spot as we went to yesterday. Whoops, breakfast spot was blown out! So we ordered some coffee and a scone while we waited and then…two women left their seats and went outside. Hooray! So me (with my natural killer instinct) zoomed in to grab their table to seem like a rockstar to Daisy (who was right behind me with that same instinct). “They aren’t done yet, sorry!” Said the woman who ran the place. “Oh!” I replied then went back to our bench that we were sitting on outside only to find the two woman having a “smoke” on our bench. They were now casually and selfishly taking up 2 coveted spots in a very crowded cafe. Then the owner came out with our scone and was like “want me to wait till you are seated to have your scone” We replied without thinking “Yes!” But we meant “FUCK NO GIVE ME THAT FUCKING SCONE”. Some mornings just kinda go nuts outta control and you make lots of little mistakes and you eventually have to let go. Once we ate it was on. We met some nice women from Peru and was nice. We flipped the day - shopping first, then Museum d’Orsey later. Lotta up-scale shops in Paris. Can’t quite find that perfect shoe/coat combo tho. I also don’t feel like spending lots of $ on a coat that will ultimately put my bag over the allotted 23kg on the plane ride. A $300 coat will then cost $100 to “ship” — LOL. I did a dance outside the LOUVRE and Daisy took the best pic of the trip so far of the Louvre. We did not go inside the Lourve. I did not go inside back in 2014 and I did not go in now. It’s okay to make that choice. Museum d’Orsey was D O P E. It’s an old huge train station for goodness sake. I bet all the old train engineers are turning in their graves thinking of all the tooty-frooty art that’s occupying their once very important, very functional space. They should rename that museum “Gentle Colors” with all that god damn impressionism in that bihh. Very lovely. Some of the best art I’ve scene and I went to Paier College of art for one year in 1996! Metro home for nappy-poo then ended up at a world class Filafel place near our AirBnB - MIZNON. Place was bonko-hoppin on a Thursday night like a mofo. Classic tiny Europe mini-spot full of life and happiness. No gloves in the kitchen. Grill is popping off. Lady is yelling out orders like a boss. I snagged two bar seats while Daisy ordered and we ended up nailing it. We expected to fully get rejected or be confusatron’d out of there, but we nailed it and had the best time. Food was good. I snuck my cookies from the grocery store and made the experience an overall hundo-P.

PARIS DAY 05 - 1/10/18 Woke up - Felt pretty good. Daisy yelped the F out of the internet and found a cute little breakfast spot. Granola, yogurt, coffee (iced because I was hot as balls in this 40 degree weather) and poached eggs on toast. Again, they were so nice. Parisians love Americans unlike what all those other blogs tell ya. We dipped and started mega bopping around the city. Popped into some shops. I was in the market for a nice long hooded wool coat and some shoes - you know, like not too fancy, not too bulky, not too sporty, easy to put on, etc. Daisy is looking for a BAG of sorts. We ended up on the Promonade De Plant or something. Classic L train turned into a walking park. Things are nice here in the winter. Gray skies with pockets of sunshine. Beautiful light, even in the winter. City is quiet in January, less tourists and people don’t beep as much as Boston. The ambulances emit a peaceful, errrrhhhuuu errrrrhuuuu - instead of the obnoxious - OOWEEEOOO OWWWEEOO in the States. I found the hotel I stayed at by myself with the pineapple under the bed on Ile Saint Louis and was very proud of myself. I was sad and depressed there probably as I usually am when I travel alone. This time Daisy was with me and we were in a good mood. The Seine is over flowing so you can’t really sit down there because of flooding and they are not running boat tours. We only saw Police boats. People watching was dope. Notre Dame was full of Tourists. Little Shakespeare Book Shop was cute. Big push home for a nap and reset then out for shopping and food. Left my back pack at Muji and realize it later when I thought to myself - “boy, do I feel free!” Ran back and there it was, right where I left it. You can leave your stuff anywhere. Just go back later and grab it! I tried on a bunch of hooded wool coats at a high end shop called Sandro. Coats looked nice, but I didn’t LOVE LOVE them. Especially for the price. So I practiced disappointing a nice salesperson and walked out hoping to find one cheaper. Muji had one for 100 euros, but the zipper didn’t work! Hmm?? Got a nice din din at some restaurant - bopped over the Amarillo for Ice Cream and figured out how to get home without using GPS. It was nice. Diarrhea is gone, in case you’re wondering.

COPENHAGEN to PARIS DAY 04 - 1/9/18 Woke up and had slight oggies. No biggie though because I’m a big boy. Made it through the hotel breakfast, packed up and wheeled our big suitcases the 10min walk to the train to save $$ on a ride to the airport. Rolli cases and cobblestone don’t work well together. I knew this but we’re big kids so we muscled to the M train and zapped over to the Airport. Got hot as hell cuz I wore my big heavy fjallraven coat in the hot airport. Scrambled to Joe and the Juice and had a great time wolfing down sammies and juice! DAISY, made the choice to buy some super fancy Bang and Olfsen headphones at the electronic shop. Overall it was a great purchase. I’m listening to my rap album on them right now as I type this email. They are girly colors and look like they are from the future. Passed out on ascent like always and woke up in Paris. Some hot man met us at the airport, took our bags and quietly drove us to our quiet AirBnB. You have to be quiet in the AirBnB and in Paris. Very quiet according to the rules. They don’t tell you that on their page but they sure make sure you be quiet when you arrive. They also leave out a bottle of wine for you then you find a note that says if you drink the wine you have to replace it. We’re confused. Otherwise the place rules. Daisy got all amped up and was a good girl and lead the way to dinner. Pizza. She spoke in French in France for the first time since her high school exchange here. She nailed it and our waiter was super friendly. He wrote down a ton of things to see off the map. It was the best. I came home and had explosive diarrhea then took a second shower! Then passed out and it was lovely. No diarrhea the next day! Voila!

COPENHAGEN

Day 03 — 1/8/18 — Went to bed at almost 2am for no good reason other than I got sucked into A Dirty Frank YouTube wormhole. I had no idea that guy existed. Doesn’t really matter other than the fact that he seems to succeed on the internet as many different personas. Despite going to bed late, I woke the fuck up and went for a run at 8:58am. One of the best things to do in a new city, provided you don’t stumble in a BAD neighborhood and get SHOT UP. The morning commute was bikes on bikes. Ran through 2 parks, frost on the ground, saw neat looking black and white birds, a Herrin type bird and ran up the steps of the botanical garden like Rocky. People are just out and about here, walking their dogs just like in any other country. It’s nice. 30 degrees and sunny. Sunrise is at 9:30am here. And I’m pretty sure the sun doesn’t get up to high noon like it does at home. It’s like perpetual golden hour all day. Which is great for our little photos!! Daisy was PASSED out when I got back from my run, but I brought her a take-away coffee and croissasnt from Coulier 35. Ate at the Greasy Spoon down the street - I added BEANS to my meal. They were great and full of sugar. The guy asked if we would write on the Facebook. We said “sure!” but guess what guy, I don’t have access to that website! So maybe don’t ASSUME bro. I almost fucking punched him, but thankfully Daisy held me back and said “JEFF, CALM THE FUCK DOWN”. She slapped me a couple times but I didn’t feel the slaps from the rage coursing through my face veins. Bopped over to RUNDTARN - or whatever and climbed the tower for great views of the city. Whipped around the mall and got ADAM some BOWLS he wanted and did NOT get an espresso cup that I really wanted. Here’s the things, you don’t NEED anything. You probably have it, or something just like it. So I saved my $ for other shit. Daisy and I both got fooled and confused by the prices at HAY. We went nuts in the what we thought was 50 % off zone, but then we got hit with a big # at the register. Hard to know! I farted in the corner of the store and it was so horrible. Just horrific. I tend to fart. Boy oh boy, we had some food at a little Market and it was OKAY. The market was cute as fuck, but my Sammy was just OKAY. Lotta bread, not a lotta CHEESE. I hunted for a COOKIE and got it. Plus an americano. Daisy and I went the wrong way a bit on the way to Jaegersborggade. That’s something that can very easily happen while exploring a new city - you just kinda go the wrong way for a bit. Once we got there, most of the stores were “All Closed Up”. We made a joke about it and it was funny. A couple stores were NOT “All Closed Up!”. I got a sick TO-DO pad. Daisy got some girl stuff that she’s going to squirt on her hands and lips and stuff. We got coffee and I pooped my farts out in the public bathroom. Most times when I try to poop in a public bathroom, unless everything goes perfectly, I just: Sit down, pee, wipe my butt, leave. Sit down-pee-wipe my butt-leave. It’s perfectly normal. Bathrooms here are great and clean and nice and you don’t have to throw out your poopy toilet tissue directly in the tiny exposed garbage can like in Greece. Horrible place for a honeymoon. I had diarrhea in Greece - not recommended. We ALMOST took an Uber back - but NO BUENO - not offered here. So we walked and it was lovely. Wine hour at the hotel while we did clickies. Here’s what a modern hotel lobby looks like: Lot’s of people sitting around, drinking, looking at their little iPhones and Samsung Phones. Like us. At one point I stood up and yelled “WAKE THE FUCK UP PEOPLE!” Then sat back down, craned my legs back over my head and farted SUPER loud. They all applauded and gave me a gold medal for being brave. Off to dinner at ATLAS now. Lots of vegetarian options! Hope they don’t FUCK it up, amiright?? — Atlas was really good, but we had too much bread and salad to really go to town on our main course! We felt badly! They should have 3 options - take home, trash it, or donate your food. We would have chosen DONATE but I think they just TRASHED it. Boy did they take their time with the check. I think it’s a Euro thing. Just let you be forever. I wanted a SNACK so I dragged Daisy to the local NETTO. Boy is that place all Willy Nilly. It’s so loosely goosey in there that it’s unappetizing. I got nothing. Instead I got a whiskey and a dark chocolate at the hotel bar that came to like 22 bucks. It’s fine. Sometimes when you’re traveling you just have say to yourself when overpaying for things “it’s fine”. We made a Tough Noogies joke at dinner that really got us cracking up. “Uh, we’re done with the food and we’re not going to take it home so…Tough Noogies!”

Copenhagen.

COPENHAGEN Day 01 +02 — 1/5/18 - 1/6/18 Bopped over to the classic LOGAN airport and hopped on a very big very expensive airplane full of other human beings traveling to the same place over the huge Atlantic ocean. Lot of people in BOOTS and COATS because if you have a transfer in Iceland, they you’re probably a groovy hiker of sorts. I have a million thoughts like this when on an international flight “5k is not too bad to upgrade to first class! I don’t need that iMAC or to pay my MORTGAGE, if only to have a bit more COMFORT for these next couple of hours.” On Iceland Air, they give you tiny free bottles of water. Then when they collect “trash” and you hand them the empty plastic water bottle that they gave you, they ask “you want to THROW that out??” While scoffing at you. What’s going on here? 3 million water bottles go to waste a minute in the U.S. I buy water when I travel to Europe and feel like a total asswipe about it. I tried drinking the hotel water from the sink in the bathroom and it tasted bad. I’m the problem. The 711’s here are redick nice. In fact, I witnesses a woman ordering a hot dog thing and the employee was making it for her a la carte. Daisy took photos in the 711 because it was so nice. Just like Japan. We are staying at Hotel SP34. Sankt Peders Straed is the name of our street. It’s quaint and quiet and has cute shops all over the place. Not on Sunday though - all closed up! So we went to the museums - Glyptotech Museum then the Aquarium, then the Design Museum. Design Museum was my fav. We had a nice lunch there as well. Lots of bad design in the design of some of the things in the design museum. For instance, the sticker you get to put on your shirt has a paper back. Once you stick in on your shirt, you now have a small piece of trash. Bad design. The chairs squeak very loudly in the cafe when you move them slightly - bad design. Otherwise, great design! So, this city is nice and flat. Has an honor system with the train tickets and the food is so far healthful and good. Hard to quickly do the Kroner to US conversion but you basically move the decimal over to the left, and times that number by just under 2ish. 290 Kroner is 46 bucks. 100 is 16. It’s fine. Arrived at the hotel at 3pm and took a nasty nap that almost fucked us. We got up tho and it was great to take a nap. You can take a nap. It’s fine. No need to push through. We slept fine later and woke up like good babies at 8:30am. Everyone at breakfast at the hotel was wearing styling casual wear. Like they were ready for a photographer to appear at any given moment. Also, I had a lot of trouble with the eggs at breakfast. Some were soft boiled and I got them all over my hands trying to unpeel them. I said to myself, I wish I had a little mini egg holster to deal with this problem. Then I looked around and realized everyone had little egg holsters. But boy was the breakfast good. Dinner at the Olive Kitchen. French waitress we paid cash.

January, 2017. Daisy and I went to Japan to visit Kevin and Shoko. I wrote a lot about it and made this little video. XO.

1-5-17 Thursday

Kyushu island

Hippo Bakery

Beach walk. Bread. Blendy Stick. Laundry mat. Itoshima - wife and husband. I forgot my back pack on the beach it so happens. Moto guys. Daisy thought Japanese surfers were big water turkeys. Ancient pine forest. Karatsu burger. I hated. Aka egg and cheese. Kagamiyama mountain. Body move move. Karatsu castle. Ripped the cube into traffic towards Akasaka station to meet Tsuyoshi. (We got the laundry while I sat in the car). AirBnB guy. Boom box grocery store. Dars. Wasabi potato sticks. Crying toddler. Google translate sucks. Shoko made hot pot meal. Nummy. Kevin whipped his chocolate pops.

Fun fact. The man who invented Tenga, has the Guinness world record for longest JO. How fitting.

Gross airbnb hair on comforter and towel. Do not want to stay there. Wasting more money. :(

1-6-17 Friday

Big dry heave last night. Woke up at 1am thinking "oh boy, something's going on. Whoops!" Ran to the bathroom, felt the heat rise up my body. Was it the broth? The chicken? The Sake? I placed my hands upon the electronically heated seat of the Japanese washlet and began to dry heave. No barf. I felt like Barfing. But nope. My body wouldn't let me. I felt better though and went back to bed. Daisy told me in the AM that they made the HotPot with pork broth, thought of me, and then decided not to tell me. Maybe it was that. Who cares. I feel better today. Kev made Spanish French toast (torijas) for us. It was lovely. Daisy said the shower she took was the best she's ever taken. That's because there's a huge window looking out in the the sea. It's magic. Daisy and went to 7-11. Big presence here. Kev fully loves it. Apparently they make great stuff and the ATM is reliable. Located right next to the "Titty mags" as Kev explained. I took out Shoko's penny board and we stopped at HIPPO tiny surf bakery and got some snacks for the house. No salty bread. We showed up too late. I left the penny board outside and no one stole it! --- Shoko drove us to a special lunch and snack spot. Snack spot was very Japanese and cute and had weird dessert stuff. Lunch spot was closed at 3pm! Great shoe horn though. I Bought the best spoon ever. White metal. Feels like stone. Expensive ceramic gift shops. Hotto motto dance and curb eat. Sake factory great traditional architecture. Drove to muji and inkcube in the mall. Went nuts at Muji. And stuff. Daisy neck hurt. Back home. Cream soup. Organize pack. Test journals and pens out. Daisy in bed by 9. I stay up and eat cream soup and some dars. White chocolate. Do some photos and stuff. Kev teaches himself Japanese on laptop then plays StarDewValley.

1-7-17 Saturday

Woke up early. Beach walk. Big shell find. Hippo. Too early for SheoPan! 9:30 is the best time. Come back. Blendy stick with Scones and Cream Soup left over. Computer time clicky and and work / taxes shit. Shower ocean view. Skate to Hippo at 9:30. got the SheoPan. Groin pull fall on the way back. Saw Osky and the Corgy photo shoot. Kev takes us to train. I dropped 40 on the train card by mistake. Taking photos on the train is illegal, Kevin explains. Photo sound on iPhone mandatory. Unpack at AirBnb. Then Bounce to Lunch at crazy under ground mall. Green noodle soup. So many people. So many things. So many structures. So much lighting. So much movement. No white people. Babies dressing nicely. Cool gear. Women in mens wool long straight overcoats. Tan and black. Big buttons and ties. Underground mall culture. Walk tour through FuK with Kev. Side of building greenery stair case hike to views. Photo shoot women and man. Stop at Julette’s letters. Got a CLIP and stuff. Wooden baby toys nice. Japanese Love Pop and cool pencil, etc. Walk to DONUT spot. Lots of walking. Donut spot in crazy OTHER mall under ground. Madness. Hot down there. Amazing donuts. Weird that in a mall though, but maybe that’s great. Mall Mall Mall. Energy to go to MUJI. Big walk again. Lots of stores and big streets. Mega complex. Water light projector show. Muju is calming. Hot in there. Got more shit. Wanted everything and a new house to decorate. Book for Ben. Meet up with Shoko at Hippo and crazy recycling bear. Walk to restaurant called CHIKEN. Allow smoking, but place is cool and hip and nice. Light beer life. Moscow mule. Was off, from walking and hunger. Kev big adventurous eater. Raw Chicken - SASHIMI. Crazy. Got a little buzzed and let go. Crazy smokey chicken dish. Tasty food overall. Walk back in the Rain. LAWSON Dars and purple gummy candy and Crunky! Shoko peeled off before the AirBnB after party. Incense at the Airbnb made it smell better. Muji lights. 1/4 xanax or whatever to sleep. Pushed beds together with D and passed out.

1-8-17 Sunday

Woke up. Jon Bellion hate listen. Shower in tiny shower. Trying to meet with Kev at Eggs and Things. Big American style food. Just love the American food. Not so much THAT< I love knowing what I’m eating because I have a special little diet that doesn’t really include meat or fish or pork or anything, and here in Japan that’s hard. Kev showed up. After Eats and Things we popped on the train(s) to Dazaifu - a very old (16th century) Shrine (or could be a temple, hard to remember which is which) about 1hr on the localish trains. People on the trains sleep a lot. It’s nice. Also, no one is loud. Very quiet and respectful. Trains are on time and the stations are clean. One train we took was just the loveliest color scheme - light green/blue and red. V. calming. Tons of people in the terminals at times. Felt like Grand Central Terminal. If I ever felt like wanting to go to a Bigger Japanese city, nope - this amount of people is fine. Dazaifu is amazing. Tiny village full of a billion people swarming up to see the shrine, but it was oddly peaceful because no one is rude and it’s generally quiet. Tiny shops and people cooking meat sticks and shit on the sides on the way up. At the end, before the gate, there was a naturally formed single file line just to take a pic with the whacky animal statue. Formed by the people in a simple organized way. Not like the monster americans at Disney. Just a nice simple civilized line. Inside, we had to do a special hand and mouth wash routine to cleanse ourselves a the water zone. I touched my lips to the water bucket stick because it’s hard to know the customs in other countries. A million Japanese people cycling through there each day, and Jeff touches his lips to the community water bucket. We hiked up into the woods and saw an amusement park on the other side which seemed weird being so close to a shine or whatever. We got soft meatless sweet pucks and sat at a low table. Very relaxing stroll. Felt bad that Kev was in the Glum zone not knowing if his relationship is in the pits. Train back Komono woman sleeping among all the other sleeping Japanese people. Kev bounced, had to work and wanted to be home for the night. We wish we could all just stay at the house. Going back to the AirBnB and not having family dinner with the homie was bumming us out. I was excited to take the reins and figure out where to go in the new city. Apple Maps is great for walking directions on this trip. Great UI. Google Maps looks like garbage. Daisy found a place that has burgers and veggy options called Brooklyn Parlor. No shame in just going to a cool hip place that I know I can get something I like. The thing is, the Japanese food I have eaten is amazing. But when you’re without your Japanese speaking friends, it’s very hard to make sure you aren’t eating shell fish or meat. We saw some other cool small restaurants we’d thought looked nice on the walk. 7-11 stop after dinner to get snacks. The Titty Rags had censorship thingies on the genitals and they also had tape on the pages so you couldn’t open em. Old man barfing at the bus stop, but overall we’re getting a friendly vibe from the city. Plans to watch Finding Dori on the lappy, but might just crash. Trying to plan what to do tomorrow with the rental car with Kev. Hard to plan sometimes! We’re living out of a backpack now because of the AirBnB and would like to re-up / swap out our gear.

(First horn sound we’ve heard here. Wow. Just now as I was typing this entry, just goes to show you, why honk, when you can be patient and kind?)

1-9-17 Monday

Giants

Eggs and things iced coffee?

Train to Kevin's

Rental car madness - couldn’t find Nissan. Goosechase.

Senyoji temple - Magic. Soft. Quiet. Milltion Monks on hill. Old artifacts. Incense. Chanting on Mic.

Everyone backs their car in to the parking spot.

Ichiran Noodle Factory - ticket system. Rice and Egg and cold Mushrooms. Put the plate on the sound thingy and it makes a big sound all across the restaurant signifying that you want your next little order.

Tea Garden Madness - Light up trees across this huge empty yard with pop music blasting from a ton of speakers hidden all over the grounds. I did a BodyMoveMove, naturally.

1-10-17 Tuesday

Tried to go to Hippo today. It’s hard to go there, apparently. Closed on Tuesdays. Whoops! Came back with no pastries, so Kevy Cab hooked up the Pancakes and I took care of the Blendy Sticks. Grabbed the laundry and popped out to the long driving day through windy roads in the beautiful Japanese country side. First we stopped at the big Caldera overlook where a volcano made a blast hole a very long time ago. Then we popped down more windy roads to see the Aso Volcano. It was cloudy, but you could see a massive mountain with a big hole in it smoking underneath sets of ominous clouds. The museum center looked like something out of a Russian Post Apocalypse B movie. Drove to the wrong hot springs, I was getting car sick, so moved up front. The steering wheel is on the right side here, so sitting up front is a treat cuz you feel like you’re just controlling the car with you mind. Finally made it to the real hot springs. It’s a 24hr spot and it’s magical. You pick your favorite little hot spring house for around 1500 Yen (15 bucks). Then you pop in there, shower off, put your coins in the slot thingy that makes hot water blast out of a long tube into a beautiful wooden tub. We would have splurged for the rock tub for an extra dollar. Yup, a dollar for the upgrade. Daisy and I never felt so relaxed. I bought some sheepy slippers at the gift shop and am wearing them now. I also bought a sprite type drink that was about 1/4 size of a glass coke bottle, with a label designed to win design awards. Shoko is now getting car sick, so it’s me and her up front, with her driving. She drives very fast. On the highway she was passing mother fuckers with ease. I was nervous. Grabbed our laundry from the trusty laundry mat (drying only for us). I lay down on the bench while Daisy read Japanese Nylon. I was trying to still my body. Bopped over to the UDON noodle place and got some Tofu Noodle Udon and white rice. It was simply great. Ate at the counter and took some iPhone vids of stuff. At home raging on some 7-11 snacks we got at some point today. 7-11 here is what I want a convenience store to be. It has lots of shit I like and cheap. Daisy in bed now cuz I feel I owe it to myself to document these trips. They’re super important to me and special and I’m lucky to go on them.

1-11-17 Wednesday

Woke up at 8am and popped out to the ocean magic tree zone to dance in public for my BodyMoveMove & Exquisitemovement project. Dancing really gets the heart pumping. Daisy said she wanted to go for a run on the beach but where is she now? Face down in bed, that’s where. I can’t seem to sleep past 8 and I’m loving it. Slid over to Hippo for a pastry run. Scored that ShioPan which is very rare and special, as we all know. Came back and missed the “let’s go” and rushed to get ready. Everyone was making fun of me for being a space cadet on this trip, but I kinda like being loose and spacey when I’m not at the wheel. Most of my life is dictated by me and only me so it’s been really nice that Kev and Shoko are handling everything and being great tour guides. We zap over to Shoko’s parent’s house which is a traditional Japanese magical tiny compound. Garden’s and outbuildings and paths tucked and squeezed into the tiny suburban hillside. They have another house that they open as a cafe and art gallery and everything is as you’d expect a modern day / ancient Japanese house to be. They have a fucking COY POND in the middle of it all with lots of buddies swimming back and forth. Their toilet has a button that lifts and lowers the seat - no touch lifestyle. That sums up the house and how rad it is. We jammed over to a fast food Sushi Roll place that uses a conveyer belt system to deliver your food and you pay per plate. You order on the touch screen and it makes a lot of loud chimes and screams at you, which is the only downside. All this annoyance is overruled by the convenience and novelty. I ate no fish because fish grosses me out and I feel bad for them. They say fish is good for you, but not for me because it’s disgusting and smells like low tide. Your kid isn’t dressed up like he/she is headed to fashion week? Don’t bring them outside then. That’s the rule. Tolls here are very expensive, but the roads, even though I can’t read a god damn word, seem to be great and tight and efficient and clean. Next, we bopped over to the largest bronze Buddah that is laying down. It’s magnificent and peaceful. Snagged a Bodymovemove before going inside and praying at all the little pray stations. Then we got little balls with feathers on them to toss into the tiny buckets but none of us were successful. Guess what? This place is manicured to perfection and has a very hand made feel. Lots of paths into the forest and mini shrines and stuff. Even a tiny Torii Gate you can crawl through. Whoops, sun is setting, so we blast off to another Temple Shrine they’re calling Hay something. It has a lot of stairs and you can see the ocean and whatever. Big hay knot thingy you can pray to. We got gas and stopped at Aeon for food and snacks for gifts. The Nissan March really gets good gas mileage. I can’t find my lens cap, but who cares, I already got the good Bokeh shot on the highway. We’ve been using a “Shared Wallet” System, which is neat. You all put in the same amount of $ at the beginning and when you do group activities you all take out of that. At the end if there’s any left, you split it up. It works well or whatever. Back home Shoko made hot pot - no pork so I don’t need to dry heave over the wash-let again! Beers for everyone but me and desserts and funny convo on the futon and stuff. I took a bath listening to the ocean waves pulse. So nice. That pulsing really does wash away everything bad.

(so that’s it for what I have written. I know we stayed in Japan longer, maybe I wrote the rest of my thoughts in an actual journal? Hard to care to search for it right now. Maybe the video above will do the trick closing that gap. I’m updating this blog right now and it’s 5/11/19 10:07AM)