First stop was the famous Arc de Triumph. It was here that I was able to sport the t-shirt Blake suggested for the first time.

After the arc we proceded to head to The Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa and Venus Di Milo, among other famous pieces of art. Here did I not only get to wear my shirt again, but I also got show the Louvre what was up. And the number of people who want to see the Mona Lisa is ridiculous. An entire hallway was dedicated just to that one painting:

Well if you haven't been to a day of school in your life, or you just don't like Jerry Louis you should know what the last four pictures were of. And if both those statements apply to you (I apologize if they do) then it would be the Eiffel Tower. First we have the tower during the day, then at night all lit up, and then at night all lit up and sparkly, and then another during the day with Dave Gibbs who had no idea my shirt said that.

Notre Dame was huge, and the inside was even...huger. That's me lighting a candle. Solemn, yes. But you should have seen Lee. Oh yeah, The Hunchback was there to say hello as well.

I can't really remember if this picture is of Napolean's tomb or of the war museum. Whatever it is, it's one of the coolest pictures I took.

Well I told you I drank a lot of beer. Here me and the boys are celebrating the fact that we're in Paris drinking beer while every other drum corps back in the U.S. is rehearsing. God I love being a Blue Devil.

Italy.

Italy was a great place aside from its shitty bus drivers. Our first stop was Venice, the day after our two days in Paris. And just so you know, Paris is not all that close to Venice. That meant we had to go without showering and walk around in the same clothes we had on the day before. Not a problem though, because I took a picture of the library/converted church from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Yeah that�s right, be jealous. Also, Venice is really dirty.

Aside from the smell Venice was a neat city. The second picture is the church from The Last Crusade. Yeah, awesome. The famous square with all the pigeons in it, the one you see in movies, is in Venice, but I forget the name of it. Venice was also the last place I wore my shirt. In Europe anyway...

We couldn�t believe our eyes when we got to Lecco, Italy � our first housing site. Beds, stretching from one end of the gym to the other, with free goodies on them were there waiting for us. Not only that, but they had snacks out for us too. Delicious croissants and more. And Lord knows I love croissants. But wait, there�s more. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they shuttled us from our rehearsal site to a restaurant down the street where we were treated to some of the best food we had all summer. The hospitality we were shown was absolutely phenomenal. And then there was the scenery, absolutely gorgeous. If you�ve seen Ocean�s Twelve, you know the rich thief, the Night Fox? His mansion was next to the same lake where we stayed. But no, we didn�t stay in any mansion.

Yeah, beds. And would you look at that view? I'd rehearse there anytime.

The next day we had our second evening performance, and first performance in Italy. The crowd was definitely not as into us as the one in Belgium, and much to our dismay most of the Italian crowds were like that. We had a number of shows where the same Italian lady announced. Hearing the words �Italia Marching Show Band!� over and over got real old, real quick. We also made time to make a new enemy (at least in our eyes), the Millennium Marching Band I think it was. They were the Cavaliers basically�If they wore blue, had no age limit, marched woodwinds, and had girls. I think it was our lack of real competition that spurred such heated emotions towards them. We killed them anyway, no big deal.

For the Fourth of July we traveled to a new housing site. Twas' no Lecco, but we did have air mattresses supplied for us. The food was also not up to the same standards, so we were "informed" of a grocery store next to where we were staying. Did you know that they have slices of fat as lunch meat in Europe? Anyway, as you can imagine we were all slightly bummed at the fact that there would be no fireworks. But much to our surprise as we stood on the field during retreat (and after playing a piece we had learned only two minutes before) the lights went out and the fireworks started, right behind us actually, close enough to burn our horns anyway. The best part was when we all started singing the Star Spangled Banner, all 135 of us. I�m not sure what the Italians thought of that but we didn�t care. We were after all, American.

After another ridiculously long drive we found ourselves in Kerkrade, Holland which would be our final housing site for our stay in Europe. During the trip one of the bus drivers somehow managed to lose it and throw a shoe at one of the members. I�m not real sure what was going through this guys head when he did it, but somehow I don�t think he knew 134 other people would wait in line to beat his ass after the first was done with him. Thankfully we were done with the Italians after that. Upon our arrival in Kerkrade we found, that�s right, more beds. Apparently while on tour we had forgotten we were all ten so we decided to build forts. Yeah, forts. Alliances were made and alliances were then broken when several forts attacked one another. My favorite fort name had to be Clitoris Maximus, although the Gayzebo was up there too.

In the first picture you can see the Hound Fort on the far left (the largest of all the forts), a group of guys playing nutball (a tradition started in 2004 - don't ask), and the Gayzebo in the back. In the second picture you can see the drumline fort in the back (still under construction) and Clitoris Maximus on the fart right near the drumline fort. Yes, we are all ten years old.

Sandwiches. I had enough sandwiches to last me the rest of my life while in Kerkrade. We had them for breakfast, and for lunch, everyday, for nearly a week. That�s a lotta� sandwich. While in Kerkrade we participated in the World Music Contest, a four weekend event that had participants from all over the world competing for a real �world championship.� Which we won, bitches. On our second to last day in Europe Mystery Tour 2005 continued. After what we thought was just going to be a parade and standstill we had to perform another show, then another standstill. The fact that we were all so pissed off about it (and that it was our last show in Europe) is what probably made it a good one.

One more rehearsal day and we were on a jet plane headed back to the states. But not until we were subjected to another long bus ride, and denied sleep. Once back in the states we jumped back into the DCI circuit, and got fourth place. The end. Fuck, everyone. Europe was a good time though, well worth it. I only wish I could bring with me the beer and croissants. I think I had more croissants in Europe than I have in my entire life, they�re just so damn good. I miss my friends and hope you are all doing well adapting to real life again. I hope to make it out to banquet, but that�s still a maybe. Good luck with school, work, and life in general.

MUSIC: The Fire Theft - Summertime