2013 The Year in Review - Part One

Time for my 2013 Year in Review.  2013 was a big one as 2008 was 5 years before, only this time I came in off the road instead of getting on it.  I moved back to New York but before that I lived in Paris for the first 8 months of 2013.  I traveled all over Europe several times with the best people I know and in the last 4 months I've been able to spend time with them back in New York.  It's hard to boil a whole year down to 35 x 2 images but I've managed to do it.  Let's take a look at the details.



This illustration was for the Wall Street Journal and is about how certain music impairs driving.  I got like 800 new tumblr followers after this image made it on the radar.  Not a big deal for big name illustrators but it raises an eyebrow for me.



These guys.  Marco of Madrid and Ahmed of Saudi Arabia in Ahmed's Paris apartment



Finally got my carte de sejour so I was legal.  There are still 2 more years on my visa with the possibility of renewing for 3 additional years.....



I can officially check these off of my Japanese Daruma doll and move on to a new goal.



inside the Grande Mosque de Paris



Swing dancing in Madrid with Marco and friends.  This is 1 of 3 times I was in Madrid in 2013



Snow day in Paris.  There were two good snow days for photos in 2013



I got incredibly sick and had a super high fever.  I went to the hospital and was prescribed antibiotics AND tamaflu.  The doctor said, whatever you have we'll get it either way.  The antibiotics were found to be harmful to your liver in a study in the new england journal of medicine and elsewhere and after 1 day I had the symptoms they cited that my liver could be getting damaged.  I stopped taking the antibiotics immediately and saw a different doctor.  Obviously I am still alive.  Having a super high fever in bed for 5 days isn't very cool but it is notable.



Explored my new favorite park in Paris, Parc des Buttes Chaumont



my two best French friends both moved to New York leaving me alone and crying in English.



I started my Parisians project on night on a whim.



I did a few illustrations for one of the big news magazines in France Le Nouvel Observateur



My black rapid metal strap thing broke after a year of the metal getting rubbed down slowly and my camera and lens rolled across the street.  Still need to get my camera serviced.



Went to Budapest, Hungary with Yoon.  Who knew Budapest was party city?  It's all about the "ruin pubs".  Some are gigantic party houses basically



we also hit up Berlin.  They are insane there.  Partying at/until/beginning any time of the day or night.  We finally got home at 7am as people were beckoning us to come with them to start partying.



we hit up Holland too and Van Der Kock played host as the stereotypically tall Dutchman that he is.  This is Amsterdam, a canal lover's dream.



I sliced off half my thumbnail with this cheese slicer somewhere in Holland at Van Der Kock's parents house.  It was super ouchies.



Van Der Dad's Van Der Gobble.  He took us around a few small towns.



Of course I explored Paris and took tons of photos.  Somehow I never went down to this corner of Ile de la Cité.  It's super awesome.



I had many many visitors in Paris, 17 in total that stayed at my house, more that stayed elsewhere!!!!  Bob was one of them, we walked all the bridges in Paris proper (aka inside the perpherique).  If you are young it's probably cool, but if you are 30+ it starts to not be so fun after a certain number of bridges (27 total).



Bob encounters the other half of a Zapatilla in Madrid, Spain



we climbed some hill in Granada, Spain



Seville, Spain



we ate Cacio e Pepe in Rome at Al Bric, which I think was the best we had.  This is 1 of 2 times I was in Rome in 2013



we got lost in every sense of the word in Venice.  Venice gets two photos because it was the highlight of Bob's 3 week European vacation.  We met locals, partied went to Venice Biennale parties with them, boated around to other islands, and had the most romantic bro time you could possibly have with your brother





I flew back to NY for a few weeks for #MERALD wedding in a rented gatsby party house in the hamptons.  Fun and Shenanigans for a whole weekend.  Good things happened.  Everyone who was there cited this as their best moment of 2013. 



Alpacamania with my mom in upstate new york.



shootin' guns on the farm.



hanging with these fellas



#SALENIFFER wedding in Maryland at Jennifer's aunt's super pimp southern mansion estate



tons of riding my peugot that still resides in Paris and tons of baguette eating.  I cannot find bread anywhere in the universe of the bread in France and it makes me so sad and mad and sad.  I am bummed I didn't ship my bike back to New York.  Perhaps I will go get it this summer.  I feel naked with out my bike.



I saw the final kilometers of the 100th tour de France on Champs Elysees



I started also interviewing people for my Parisiens series



The Parisiens project was a good one, it took my out of my comfort zone, made me talk to people in French, and allowed me to meet some really cool people that I wanted to draw.  Part two of my 2013 year in review coming up next!

Bob Madrid - Part 2 (written by bob photos half and half)

Entry way into Marco's apartment. I was actually surprised that it was open air. You get buzzed in and then you are still outside.

I am not going to say much that this sign does not say, but apparently this is an "adult theater" where the owner hand writes these signs every day.

Cool market that took an entire neighborhood called El Rastro. It was huge. There were entire streets that only sold certain things... there was a fabric section, a antique section... Super cool market

Spainards drink these little beers. They are super cheap, but it is hard to drink them like a Spainard. As an American I just kind of chug them and then they are gone and Marco still has over half of his. I don't even drink much and I am not really a "chugger"... or maybe I am... maybe I am just a stupid American that drinks like a 20 year old frat boy.

Delicious open face sandwich called Tostas. Notice the tomato smear on the bread.

Delicious fried food. Super salty. Those little fish were super salty. I loved eating them, but I am not sure if they were worth the work.

Apparently you can judge places by the number of napkins on the floor. The more napkins on the floor the better. This place definitely passes this test.

So there was this abandoned pit where there is just a party all the time. There was some vendors selling stuff and kids playing football (soccer for us dumb Americans). We came back later at night and there was a full out party with a DJ and people singing karaoke. People dancing, drinking and having fun.

Seedbombs. I have never heard of this, but you can take these balls and throw them places. There are seeds in them so you can plant flowers and stuff wherever you throw them. I guess this is called guerrilla gardening and I love this idea. 

Jason knows stuff about art and apparently this is good. This is at the modern art museum called Museo Reina Sofia and it was pretty sweet. I got to see Guernica by Picasso and it really is impressive. It is hard to describe and pictures do not do it justice at all.

Line for a Dali exhibit that we did not have the energy or money for. We were walking this entire day and by the end of the day my feet were killing me. 

My feet were ready to explode, but we still had to walk for hours.

Super cool movie theater with blue tile everywhere. I love theaters where you can sit down and get drinks before and after the movie. 

Super cool topical graffiti. 

This place was super awesome. It had a bunch gypsies hanging out at the back table. Someone had a guitar and they were just singing and dancing. It was AMAZING!!! We did not get any good pictures while we were there, but it was just up the street from Marco's. I would be stopping by every night if I lived there.

Marco's apartment... super nice. He bought and redid the whole apartment. I love the rough wood beams.

Some famous square that I was too tired to really enjoy. This is a theme throughout the trip. I was tired a lot, but I really did enjoy everything and it was amazing.

This sandwich is super simple and super delicious. It is just calamari on bread. SO GOOD!!

I LOVE OLIVES!!! Spain had the best olives. I thought they were better than in Italy, but look at all of those beautiful olives. Also I do not think that the girl in red pants thought I was taking a picture of her butt... I was not, but she gave me a look.

This is one ugly fish. Notice the sign asking for "tips" for taking a picture. I did not leave a tip.

Best churros in Madrid. As you can see it is packed with a line out the door. 

Chocolate in cups to dip churros in... this maybe a bad idea for the Raish brothers.

So I am not sure if we were just supposed to drink the chocolate when the churros were gone, but we did. It was some super good chocolate.

Jason keeps talking about how the light was hitting the building and the contrast between the clouds and stuff so he made me take this picture. I have no idea what he is talking about. I like this picture. It is nice, but ... I don't know... it is just nice.

These two pictures were part of a 20 minute lesson on how to use his super complicated camera. I would like to think I am a smart guy, but I don't really understand what is talking about a lot of the time.

I think the camera is so good that it really just makes everything look super good.

Cool palm trees. It was kind of chilly in Spain the entire time so it seemed weird to see palm trees. (also take note of dog sniffing other dog... giggle giggle...)

Beautiful view of Madrid from this park.

Apparently this is an Egyptian tomb that they moved every stone over and built again here.

I was super happy with this picture for some reason. I still like it, but I remember being super excited about it when I took it. 

Hey I am a dog. I am super cute. Look how big my eyes are. The Raish brothers came to my mom's house and pooped here. I was not happy about it.

Happy accident catching the reflection of the TV. Jason loves how stuff grows on the roofs here. Plus these tile roofs are super cool.

Does he look happy that Jason is in his life?

I am not sure why this vacuum was here, but rocking out with it.

This is one of Marco's friend's dog and he was a little jumpy... and by a little jumpy I mean it would not SHUT UP!!!. It was kind of annoying, but I guess it is normally a sweet dog.

Here we are back in the pit for a night party. It really seems like you could just go to this pit at anytime and there would be something going on there.

These pictures don't really capture all of the energy, but there was just this great energy here and I was loving it.

And that was our Madrid trip and now on to Granada.. Check back for Granada, Seville and places beyond.