Torino, Italy…was a whirlwind. Here are a few highlights: I miraculously managed to park our sweet Euro van into the tightest space imaginable.

Greg showed us his favorite monuments.

I hung out with my new Italian friends Valentina, Claudio & Stefania.

These sweet & gracious folks wanted to take us out after the show but sadly, we had to start our 10 hour haul to Vienna, Austria, as we had a show the next evening.

Torino to Vienna goes a little something like this: 3 cappuccinos around 2:20am, 3 Champions in the van (Greg on driving duty, Josh our fearless navigator & me on sleeping duty in the back). Boys = drive, drive, drive. Me = sleep, sleep, sleep. 3 hours later I wake up startled as the van doesn’t seem to be moving & then I come to the realization that the boys have parked us for a night of van sleeping. Not something that we usually do but given the circumstances something that had to happen.

We’re woken up around 8:30am by a parking lot packed with Italian tourists yelling at, or rather, talking very loudly to one another. The 10 hour drive to Vienna continues & we’re all beyond exhausted & achey from last nights van sleep.

The perk of this drive was a stop at the most amazing “truck stop” ever somewhere in Austria. I’ve got to give a massive shout out to Germany & Austria for having the best food stops off of the highways. In America when we tour we actually lose weight because the food on the road is so awful but touring in Europe is turning out to be the polar opposite. In these parts, rest stop food in general is usually very good & the pre-show meal usually involves someone’s relative making you a complete, homemade dinner. This stop was the best of the tour thus far. I’m gonna go ahead and say it was borderline gourmet. The view was incredible as well.

We played at the Arena in Vienna to a small but dedicated crowd. The venue also offered on site accommodations but we already had a hotel booked for the evening. Our hotel was the polar opposite of what you’re seeing here – our hotel rocked it.

The next day I drove us to Prague where we had our first day off in 6 days. To say that Prague is a cool city is an understatement & an insult. It’s an epic, old, beautiful, amazing, romantic, special place. We took the train down to the city center, grabbed food by the water, crossed Charles Bridge & then proceeded to the Prague Cathedral which blew our minds. To say that we all had an incredible day is also an understatement & an insult. We had one of those epic, enchanting & wow-to-be-alive-out-in-the-world days.

The show the next night in Prague was with the Manchester band Airship. Super nice guys. Again the venue staff were all great & super sweet. They made us dinner, treated us to drinks & gave us these great Budvar glasses. The audience was also very warm & gracious. Can’t wait to get back to Prague again soon!

Off to Beilefeld, Germany now. Everyone we’ve talked to about this town says that they’ve heard of it but that they don’t believe that it exists. It’s our Dark Crystal of this tour…the city that doesn’t exist but alas, we’re off at 170km per hour to find it! Gotta love the pace & unspoken mechanics of the Autobahn.

Until next time…xo, m

Read Chapter Two