guggenheim_bilbao

My adventure began May 9th when I flew to London and was greeted by my cousin Adrian.  From there we went onto Great Waltham in Chelmsford, Essex.  The following Monday I flew to Lisbon, Portugal where I picked up my Peugeot that I leased for the next 34 days.  My lecture schedule is below:

 

 

05-11-09 Lisbon, Portugal (lecture) Where I was reminded that the streets and drivers are nuts in Europe!
05-12-09 Porto, Portugal (lecture) Where I listened to cooing pigeons and screaming cats while trying to sleep.
05-13-09 Bilbao, Spain (lecture) Where Lions fans paraded in the streets.
05-14-09 Toured Bilbao and Guggenheim Museum (seen above)
05-15-09 Toulouse, France (lecture)
05-16-09 Bordeaux, France (lecture) & drank a Bordeaux 🙂
05-17-09 Rennes, France (lecture)
05-18-09 Paris, France (lecture) Relaxed at the nice Marriott Rive Gauche.
05-19-09 Namur, Belgium (lecture)
05-20-09 Antwerp, Belgium (lecture) stayed at the Fevaca Inn
05-21-09 Toured Brussels with my new friend Duc Nhien (Saw the town, Atomium, Manneken Pis, met famous bizarrist magician Christian Chelman, saw Red Light district, had a Vietnamese meal where the restaurant looked french and the asian waiters spoke french & had a cherry flavored beer called Kriek that looked like blood that we drank from our skull mugs in the famous Coffin Bar.)
05-22-09 Toured Bruges (Town was beautiful & the canal ride was great.  Made a new friend named Gunther Guinee and his girlfriend Sonia treated us to a wonderful Belgian barbeque.
05-23-09 Mulhouse, France (lecture)
05-24-09 Stayed in Meiringen, Switzerland at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel  Toured Reichenbach FallsAareschlucht and Sherlock Museum
05-25-09 Lausanne, Switzerland (lecture)
05-26-09 Grenoble, France (lecture)
05-27-09 Toured Lyon, France
05-28-09 Lyon, France (lecture)
05-29-09 Torino, Italy (lecture) Lectured for the Magic Circle there which had an amazing headquarters.
05-30-09 Toured Rome (ate Lasagna & Pizza) but the place is in ruins! :0
05-31-09 Toured Rome (Giro D’italia was that day w/ Lance Armstrong)
06-01-09 Genoa, Italy (lecture) stayed at the beautiful Hotel Astoria and lectured in a medieval tower. During the drive there I stopped in the town of Pisa to see the leaning tower.
06-02-09 Made a new friend name Carlo who showed me the beautiful town of Genoa (where Christopher Colombus lived) and treated me to lunch and dinner with his girlfriend & we ate Sinatra’s favorite pesto.
06-03-09 Saint Martin-De-Crau, France (lecture)  On the drive there I stopped and toured the beautiful city of Monte Carlo in Monaco. Lectured in a very nice magic shop called Boutique de I’illusion.
06-04-09 Drove onto Nimes, France
06-05-09 Nimes, France (lecture)
06-06-09 Toured Nimes, France w/ my new friend Cedric and had a nice dinner with he and his girlfriend at Le Cheval Blanc.
06-07-09 Hung out in Nimes, France (worked on Vol. 2 of Bamboozlers)
06-08-09 Clermont Ferrand, France (lecture)
06-09-09 Picked up my sister Chelsye in Paris and went onto Lille.
06-10-09 Lille, France (lecture) & toured Paris by bus that day.
06-11-09 Reims, France (lecture) & toured Paris museums that day.
06-12-09 Dijon, France (lecture)
06-13-09 Flew to London and returned to Great Waltham to see family.
06-14-09 Toured Cambridge with family.
06-15-09 Toured London. Saw Big Ben, Tower of London, Crown Jewels, etc.
06-16-09 Toured Chelmsford where my sister bought out the shops!
06-17-09 Returned home!

 

atomium

What a journey!!  On my four flights I flew about 11,000 miles! Not counting the miles I rode on buses or trains I actually drove 5720 miles.  Click here to check out the interactive Google Map to see the actual path I drove; (it may take a moment for the stops to load). 

Some of the highlights were driving through the Pyrenees and the Swiss Alps, driving through the wine and Champagne country in France, experiencing some of the customs, making a few new friends, trying different regional dishes, having the bonding time with my kid sister Chelsye in France and England, touring the beautiful towns of Bruges and Meiringen, making the pilgrimage to the top of the Reichenbach Falls, and seeing family who kept us well fed and entertained.

Family in Great Waltham

Some of the not so fun moments were paying $1000 for excess baggage fees on the way to Portugal, driving around lost when the GPS couldn’t find something, spending on average $100 a day just for gas, tolls and parking, driving down the tiny city streets, the language barrier (since my french is horrible), bad interpreters at a few of the lectures, finding a place to park, missing many meals due to my hectic schedule, delayed and cancelled flights, not eating fried foods for weeks and being home sick and lonely.

Meiringen_Sherlock_Statue

Over my 40 day journey I lectured in 21 cities across 6 countries over a period of 33 days.  Ultimately, it was very profitable and I sold out of practically everything!  My brand name should be well known in southern Europe now.  However, it was way too long to be away from home.  I don’t know if I have it in me to do another tour this long all by myself.  Thanks to Skype I was able to see and talk to my wife almost every night.  It’s great to be back home and see family and friends.  I have a few souvenirs, a few bumps and scrapes on my body (that will soon heal), 650 photographs and memories enough to last a lifetime.

bruges

Being away for so long really makes me appreciate all that I have here.  I am eager to return to the daily grind because I have many exciting projects lined up.  An artist friend has begun the illustrations for my next book and I plan to release a single trick DVD on my version of the Three Card Monte.  Stay tuned!