TOUR DIARY: Leaping (Swedish) Lemurs

Greetings from Lund, Sweden. I'm looking out my window right now at a massive cathedral built in 1066, which is, technically speaking, old as hell. The journey here was not easy and I'm, technically speaking, tired as hell, but I'm happy to be here at the start of this 2 month European tour. It began with 25 straight hours of travel, as last-minute logistical changes ended up moving the first date of my tour from Stockholm to Halmstad. That meant I had to fly from NYC to Munich, then Munich to Stockholm, then pick up a rental car and drive 7 hours straight across the entire country, then get out of the car and step onstage. I saw a wild moose on the way, beautiful lakes, and the ocean on both sides, so even though I was a bit delirious when I got there, I at least had a good story. The show was opening for Otis Gibbs, a songwriter who I respect a lot and will be meeting up with again tomorrow, and there was a great crowd by the time I got there, so it was all worth it.

This morning, I only had a short drive to Lund, so I stopped about halfway in Helsingborg to visit the Tropikariet. It's a small indoor zoo that they would *never* be allowed to have in America. The lemurs and monkeys are just loose in their habitats, and they'll walk right up to you. I've never been that close to them before, and it took every ounce of strength in my body not to let one climb into my bag and smuggle him out. I could use a good co-pilot on the tricky Swedish roads.

I've been lucky so far that it's been smooth sailing except for some minor hiccups. I accidentally ordered the kids meal at a cafe (sliced up hot dogs and meatballs on a skewer) and it takes me about 20 minutes to figure out what the parking signs mean (that happens in NYC, too, though). Tomorrow I head to a festival in Hultsfred playing with Otis again, but first I'm hoping to explore Lund in the morning. It's a gorgeous university town with an insane amount of history. The house I'm staying in tonight is built on top of a LOT of medieval skeleton, so it's, techincally speaking, haunted as hell. Sweet dreams!