This past Europe tour was quite the journey of sorts. Arriving in Switzerland made me smile instantly. I love Interlaken. Interlaken for me, is filled with wonderful, funny memories of being 21,22 and 23 years old and running amuk and meeting awesome people. Of partying every night, leaving work early due to the worst ever hangovers, skydiving, paragliding, hang-gliding, water rafting, canyoning, dress up parties, driving scooters through the mountains, the sound of cowbells in distant... this is Interlaken for me. The first few gigs were fun... and being back in the middle of the Swiss Alps was awesome.

We then played in Zurich for the first time. This gorgeous little bar called the Casa Bar - very European looking. Great wine bar... packed out...and we played between 9 and 2am!! yep, they do it differently over there. Plus, everyone smokes. EVERYONE!! So by the second night I got so sick. Poor 'ol Gav was on the bunk bed above and I was sick as a dog below. Thinking I had swine or worse, I was freezing cold, shivering, sweating out what felt like litres of waters, my entire body dripping wet, sore legs, craziest migraine, weird breathing, huge swollen glands, sore tummy - the whole deal. The next day was just horrible but somehow I got through the next show. I nearly passed out after and again my body was completely wet and gross. So as you can imagine the next three days was spent in bed. Doctor 'wasn't sure' what I had. Maybe glandular, maybe bad tonsilitis, but hey they charged me a huge bill anyways! We had to cancel our first German show which is always a big disappointment.

But we set off on the Wednesday for Germany. My first time ever. I, very cleverly decided we didn't need a tom tom on this tour. I was very very wrong. Every single day without fail we got drastically lost. On more than one occassion. We had the night in a hostel and set off early the next day to Hamburg. Our show was an outdoor concert right in the red-light district... very interesting. Great place for live music and a really enjoyable show on the tiniest stage in the world. The mojito cocktails definately helped and Gav desperately needed them to help wash down his german spam burger. (only two euros- we were on a tight budget!) The next night we played this really awesome cultural fest also in Hamburg. Great vibe, awesome music and amazing food stalls and markets. And the crowd were so fantastic. Dancing and cheering and really getting into it. Having a festival on a tour really adds so much fun and playing with great sound and larger crowd is always uplifting.

Next stop, Holland... and gosh I feel home when I get there. The gig was awesome. We just made it in time. Again another little fest. The place was packed and soooo gorgeous. I am half Dutch, and it's great to be surrounded by a very enthusiastic Dutch crowd. Finally I could enjoy a few wines, some great tapas and an awesome set of music. We had a very gorgeous young girl draw photos of us all - I will try post them - they are the best drawings ever - especially the one of Jean-Guy and his harry high pants! We sold a huge bunch of CDs and left feeling very happy and it was a great mid-point of the tour. The next week was spent in Holland. Four shows. the boys stayed right in Amsterdam in a TINY lil hostel and I had the luxury of a double bed all to myself at my mate Siz's house! Sorry boys. I think you were glad in the end that I wasn't shoved in that TINY space with you!

My week in Holland was beautiful and emotionally draining all at the same time. My very beautiful Opa passed away two months ago. So my week in Holland was all about meeting family that I had never met before. It is so amazing to meet this people you are somehow connected to - and then to realise they are all just as emotional as I am- it seems to run in the family. That mixed with being by myself in the car, and getting so lost that it took me 2.5 hours to drive what should take (as google maps tell me) 25 mins... you can imagine how stressed I was. Yes, I should have invested in the Tom Tom!

Apart from getting teary with family, the gigs were great fun. We were lucky enough to have the Hussy Hicks join us for a couple shows. Such awesome women and awesome musicians. Love what they do! (thanks girls). Our last show in Amsterdam was really packed out and fun... until it hit about 3am and I started wondering why I was still on stage singing! After two hours only of sleep we hit the road again for ten hours and drive all the way to Bern, Switzerland. Oh boy, it's fun getting lost in Germany where they speak, yes, you guessed it, German. Half an hour of German instructions from a lovely, kind German lady and we start pretending we understand, only to leave the petrol station more confused then when we arrived.

Our Bern show was just beautiful and one of my favs. My good mates Leena and Alex (we played at their wedding in Switz last year) organised a private concert. 40 francs a ticket for a show and cheese and wine. Perfect really. And it was. Such an intimate, acoustic, lovely night. Great crowd, great acoustics and great feedback. the five kilos of cheese also made me smile as did the quality red wine. We got to play songs we hadn't played for years. Songs I thought I would have forgot.. but they all came back to me and it was so much fun to pull them out again and explore them musically and lyrically.

Again, lack of sleep and an extremely long drive all the way through three countries. Beautiful drive. Breakfast in Switzerland, lunch in Italy and dinner in France. My favourite day. Amazing views. And then suddenly realising that at the petrol station you are in Italy as this big Italian mumma comes out of the petrol shop yelling at me in Italian. The very Italian panini and expresso coffee made me forgive her very quickly. In fact she somehow became quite cute! The gig in France was by far my favourite (the boys too) We played in a medi-eval village next to a castle! Tiny streets, old buildings and people speaking my favourite language! How perfect.

Le Black Cat was just gorgeous. Like a little dungeon hidden away hundreds of years old. We walked in and loved it straight away. Again, the coffee that our new friend Fabrice made definately helped! The stage was so tiny that only Jean-Guy and I could fit - but we didn't care - it made it even more special. After an amazing dinner and a super quick shower we returned to Le Black Cat. I didnt expect that amount of people to fit into the room, and as we walked in they all started cheering and clapping. It was so welcoming and gorgeous. The gig was just so much fun and so intimate and I didn't want it to stop.

We tried some new things out on stage. The boys really got into the singing and sharing the tiny space, and Jean-Guys name was chanted over and over! Hilarious! The two French songs went down a treat! I was so nervous to sing them, but the reaction was pure gold!! I cannot wait to get back there... Massive thanks to Fabrice for his hospitality!

Our last show was back in Interlaken - after the most beautiful drive ever - over the most incredible mountains, driving through the clouds. What a way to end a tour!

So all in all, the first full band tour of Europe was pretty special. Some great gigs, some amazing people, good times, good music, and loads of adventures! x