Today I used my last day on Eurail pass and arrived to my last destination of my summer Eurotrip. With a little of confusion, I arrived to the IES headquarters on time. And of course, with the world being tiny, one of the people in the group I first sat down with for some casual conversation attends the University of Minnesota... no Twin Cities like myself, but still. So far everyone has been friendly and talkative.
We did a tour of the IES headquarters and went to town in Berlin so that people could buy cell phones, get passport pictures taken, buy our S and U bahn passes. At one of the stops, five or so punks got on, each had a dog and they were passing around a vodka bottle with another bottle filled with juice. At four in the afternoon. Ach, I could get used to this... yay public intoxication!
My host, Uschi (her nickname is pretty cute, yes?) picked me up and we chatted a bit in German. It's starting to get less and less exhausting to speak.. then again I've been at it for the past four days or so. I get a whole floor to myself! Well, the attic. The whole attic on the fourth floor is mine and she rents it out to students every semester. Nothing felt better than to put clothes from the past week in the wash and to completely empty my bag.
She even cooked dinner and invited me to join! She has two sons (one of which will be leaving for India within a week) and a kittykatty. And bikes! She took me for a quick ride around a park, which was formally an airport (Templehof Park). It's really awesome, people are kite surfing on their skateboards and rollerblades there.
So far, so good.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Memory Lane
So Saturday I spent the most of the driving around downtown Hamburg. Walked around the streets and shops - didn't buy anything simply because I have no space to carry it. We visited a museum with a Rubens, van Dyck, Jordaens exhibit. It was pretty cool, I like noticing things in paintings that my art professor talked about. I'm sure I learned about these guys at some point too, but my memory on names is shit.
We also went to the Rathaus just for the hell of it and check out the "family day" - which is mainly meant for little kids. I also finally got my phone loaded again... after like three attempts and many misunderstandings. At least now I know what to and what to ask for. Hell, I almost bought myself a new phone number because of this complication.
At night, hit up the hookah bar. It wasn't too pricey for the shisha itself, but the drinks were. I paid 2 Euro for a simple cup of tea, but damn was it yummy.
Yesterday, went to the Hamburg Hafencity. Nothing too special, the weather was shit and prevented some serious boating/sailing. Drrr, Deutschland.. Afterwards, I went to the two apartments I lived in while I was in Germany as a little kid. In some ways, the apartments were the same in my memory. In others, I felt like there should have been a hill added or an expanded street. I was however, able to be like "hey, I looked out that window" or "hey my cat used to sit right there".
I was then treated to some dinner and wine... mmm tomato soup and bread.
We also went to the Rathaus just for the hell of it and check out the "family day" - which is mainly meant for little kids. I also finally got my phone loaded again... after like three attempts and many misunderstandings. At least now I know what to and what to ask for. Hell, I almost bought myself a new phone number because of this complication.
At night, hit up the hookah bar. It wasn't too pricey for the shisha itself, but the drinks were. I paid 2 Euro for a simple cup of tea, but damn was it yummy.
Yesterday, went to the Hamburg Hafencity. Nothing too special, the weather was shit and prevented some serious boating/sailing. Drrr, Deutschland.. Afterwards, I went to the two apartments I lived in while I was in Germany as a little kid. In some ways, the apartments were the same in my memory. In others, I felt like there should have been a hill added or an expanded street. I was however, able to be like "hey, I looked out that window" or "hey my cat used to sit right there".
I was then treated to some dinner and wine... mmm tomato soup and bread.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Three Languages, One Day
Yesterday I arrived back to Hamburg Germany, after a nice 15 and a half hour train ride from Zagreb. Since I was alone, I avoided putting my 40 pound luggage up and had it under my feet. Thankfully (and surprisingly) the two trains have been fairly empty and no one had reserved seats where I was sitting. I also made a pit stop to Starbucks at the Munchen Hauptbahnhof out of curiosity. Since milk here tastes so so much better than in the states.. They also called out all the drinks in Engrish, but I'm assuming it's because they get flooded with tourists.
Today I slept in because I was awake for maybe 20 hours yesterday. Argh. I'm staying a family friend's apartment, whom I have known for about 16 years. My German language skills aren't the best, but I'm getting by. We did a lot of driving because the traffic here is intense. I met his fellow band mates and hung out for a bit - saw their potential recording studio, went with them to fix up their practice space, made sushi myself.. it's been a pretty good day.
Now it's almost 3AM and I think I should try to sleep
Today I slept in because I was awake for maybe 20 hours yesterday. Argh. I'm staying a family friend's apartment, whom I have known for about 16 years. My German language skills aren't the best, but I'm getting by. We did a lot of driving because the traffic here is intense. I met his fellow band mates and hung out for a bit - saw their potential recording studio, went with them to fix up their practice space, made sushi myself.. it's been a pretty good day.
Now it's almost 3AM and I think I should try to sleep
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Nature r00lz
Yesterday, I went for a major hike up to Petrova Gora. It's like... legit hiking. See that silver glowy building? Yeah, I went there. It is visible from the apartment. The paved path for cars is over 7 kilometers, but the hiker's path is probably about 4 kilometers because it's so steep.Today was a beach day. None of the beaches I've gone to in Croatia so far have been sandy beaches - they're stoney, bouldery, grassy. Not complaining the least bit, it might be strange for you Americans. This was grassy beach by a river I mentioned in the "MunFest" post - Mreznica. It's super clean and the water is greeny. I only wish I had my brought my googles - I'd been a much more effective swimmer. Damn contacts keeping me from going under as much as I'd like.
This beach had a bit of jungle in it. A really small one, but it was an interesting nature walk. Small water falls, small walking space, big trees, lots of roots.
Things I crave from the Minnesota:
BBQ wings
Valleyfair
Friday, August 20, 2010
Mun Fest
There is not much to do at all for me here. My day usually consists of breakfast, an episode of Dexter (gotta re-watch them before the new season! OH HOW EXCITED! And I better find it streaming online...) a walk around the neighborhood, a book, sudoku, some internets... etc.
I went for a short run yesterday. It's hot as hell out here and there is no AC in the apartments. I also haven't ran for weeks, or months. I miss my bike like no other. I just needed some form of exercise since me and Kevin walked the world! Me and my aunt also went to check out the Moon Fest by a river called Mreznica. It was somewhat of an adventure to get there, but after what my life has been lately, it's hard to say it was a big adventure.
First of all, we had no idea where this place was so we asked, then followed people. It was in a location that reminded me of Wacken - instead of village, it was woods. We parked the car and to get to the festival, we walked a good 20-30 minutes through darkness to get there. I wish I could find the website for this place, but I cannot. Stuck around for three bands and they were kinda fun. I was in the way front taking some photos when this very lovely young man-photographer let e in the barrier area :)
Note to self- bands I saw: Mel Camino, NeZnam, corto
I went for a short run yesterday. It's hot as hell out here and there is no AC in the apartments. I also haven't ran for weeks, or months. I miss my bike like no other. I just needed some form of exercise since me and Kevin walked the world! Me and my aunt also went to check out the Moon Fest by a river called Mreznica. It was somewhat of an adventure to get there, but after what my life has been lately, it's hard to say it was a big adventure.
First of all, we had no idea where this place was so we asked, then followed people. It was in a location that reminded me of Wacken - instead of village, it was woods. We parked the car and to get to the festival, we walked a good 20-30 minutes through darkness to get there. I wish I could find the website for this place, but I cannot. Stuck around for three bands and they were kinda fun. I was in the way front taking some photos when this very lovely young man-photographer let e in the barrier area :)
Note to self- bands I saw: Mel Camino, NeZnam, corto
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Bye, Pikapal
A few days ago, me and my travel buddy Kevin parted ways. He took the train back from Zagreb, the capitol city of Croatia. After dropping him off, me and my aunt headed back to her apartment in Karlovac where grandma also lives. My days here haven’t been too eventful. I personally like some alone time.
I’ve basically been going on walks everyday around here, took a dip in the river across the street – which is ridiculously clear and clean… impossible to compare to the Mississippi for example – started re-watching Dexter episodes. I hope I get to watch season five online. Dexter (the character at least) is probably my soul mate.
Last night, I went to downtown Zagreb and saw Inception. That movie was nothing like I had imagined, mostly because I thought it was some sort of end-of-the-world-apocalypse type of movie plot, but it was about dreams. I even wanted to try controlling my dreams last night, but I seldom remember them anyways.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Stari Grad Krk
We packed up and headed to our overnight train for Krk, Croatia! Krk is the biggest island in Croatia and I landed us a free place to stay since my aunt knows the lady that owns this apartment. I had been here before, maybe three years ago.
We got a sleeper train, which has beds. They’re tiny beds and I kept a backpack on mine so there was very little leg room for me. We arrived at about 10:30 in the morning, converted our moneys to Kunas ($1=5.23; 1Euro=7.13). When I ordered breakfast in my native language the waitress had a hard understanding me and I actually felt embarrassed by that. I mean, I only really speak the language at home with my parents – sometimes with their friends and other relatives. But they know that I never went to school in the country so I just learned the language from speaking it. I think part of the reason is also that I feel kind of insecure when I speak it to strangers so I get all shy-ish. *Shrugs* at least I try. And when switching between English and German as well, all my grammarz, and vocabz get jumbled up.
In order to get to the island, we had to take a bus, since it is connected by a long bridge. The shitty thing about this bus is that they didn’t announce the stops. So I got off on the completely wrong stop and didn’t know it for a long time. So we waited for about an hour and were lucky enough to get on the next bus without an extra charge. The confusing part is that the whole island is called “Krk” but there is a town on the island called “Krk” as well… oh well, we got there safe and sound, luckily the apartment wasn’t too far from the bus station. The only shit this is my fucking bag… it’s heavy and on wheels and kept hitting my calves. I had a nice leopard pattern of bruises.
Two of the days here were very lovely, weather-wise. We went to the beach and swam in the sea. I wish I had brought my goggles, and I wish I still had my swimming condition. I used to be a fucking fish. Now I’m like a… Nemo? Eh, whatever, I got to swim here and it felt amazing. The only bad thing is getting a headache. Going for walks around is awesome as well! I wonder how many miles my legs put on this trip. Between Wacken, beach walks in Holland, beachy hikes here, wood walks in Quentel… Woooweee. The last two days, sadly, weren’t so great. It was cloudy and rainy. So swimming was an option, just not a favorable one. The souvenir shops aren’t that great either, just really ghetto…
Oh, and of course more things have to get messy for us on this trip – our apartment’s water system wasn’t turned on. So we filled water bottles at a fountain and used that to wash our hands, dishes, Mexican showers, drinking water, brush teeth… no shower in a few days, but that’s alright. My aunt arrived and turned on the water!
Yesternight we attempted to go to a club... it's called Jungle and it doesn't start hopping until way after midnight. By hopping, I just mean people showing up and standing there. Not many people danced, but hey, I did for a bit. Not the best club experience but it killed a couple of nightly hours.
I just posted three posts because I got some free Wifi outside a bar. This place is crawling with tourists. It's like 10PM here. I think it's time to check my emails! Pictures coming soon, I hope! I just didn't want to carry my external with me.
This place has shooting stars galore! I saw like... ten in less than twenty minutes :)
We got a sleeper train, which has beds. They’re tiny beds and I kept a backpack on mine so there was very little leg room for me. We arrived at about 10:30 in the morning, converted our moneys to Kunas ($1=5.23; 1Euro=7.13). When I ordered breakfast in my native language the waitress had a hard understanding me and I actually felt embarrassed by that. I mean, I only really speak the language at home with my parents – sometimes with their friends and other relatives. But they know that I never went to school in the country so I just learned the language from speaking it. I think part of the reason is also that I feel kind of insecure when I speak it to strangers so I get all shy-ish. *Shrugs* at least I try. And when switching between English and German as well, all my grammarz, and vocabz get jumbled up.
In order to get to the island, we had to take a bus, since it is connected by a long bridge. The shitty thing about this bus is that they didn’t announce the stops. So I got off on the completely wrong stop and didn’t know it for a long time. So we waited for about an hour and were lucky enough to get on the next bus without an extra charge. The confusing part is that the whole island is called “Krk” but there is a town on the island called “Krk” as well… oh well, we got there safe and sound, luckily the apartment wasn’t too far from the bus station. The only shit this is my fucking bag… it’s heavy and on wheels and kept hitting my calves. I had a nice leopard pattern of bruises.
Oh, and of course more things have to get messy for us on this trip – our apartment’s water system wasn’t turned on. So we filled water bottles at a fountain and used that to wash our hands, dishes, Mexican showers, drinking water, brush teeth… no shower in a few days, but that’s alright. My aunt arrived and turned on the water!
Yesternight we attempted to go to a club... it's called Jungle and it doesn't start hopping until way after midnight. By hopping, I just mean people showing up and standing there. Not many people danced, but hey, I did for a bit. Not the best club experience but it killed a couple of nightly hours.
I just posted three posts because I got some free Wifi outside a bar. This place is crawling with tourists. It's like 10PM here. I think it's time to check my emails! Pictures coming soon, I hope! I just didn't want to carry my external with me.
This place has shooting stars galore! I saw like... ten in less than twenty minutes :)
Woods!
The train ride was alright… we’ve spent a lot of time on the train, but luckily we had some movies on the computer to watch. I really have a love-hate relationship with the Eurail train system. If one train is late, almost all the other trains have to wait because some people need to connect.
We arrived pretty late, so we just went to bed… TO BED! A BED WITH A PILLOW AND BLANKETS AND MATRESS. I had no pillow at Wacken.. so my body was really hating me. We got up and realized we had the internet, so we spent a lot of time getting computer stuff done – emails, skype, facebook, blog, photos, etc. After that we went for a walk through some epic friggen woods. The house we were staying in is surrounded by a forest. The woods walk included edible berries! Mmmm fresh berries. Afterwards, Döner Kebab time. My first time eating this German-Turkish delicacy. Very much like the American-Greek gyro.
Next day, we went to some other, even more epic woods because these woods were once a town. A town where holocaust laborers worked. So there were still ruins of abandoned buildings. It for sure beat going to a museum because you knew it was genuine and not fixed up for the public. The buildings were huge, and there were so many of them. You could see where the toilets could have been and where electric cables were at one point.
I don’t understand how Europeans can eat all the ice creams and cakes they want, yet still have a lower obesity rate than Americans. Probably cause Americans are lazy. And European food in general has less sugar, even if it is the same brand as the US has.
Full Metal Experience
(Note: Most of these pictures were taken from flickr artists and aren't my own work so I won't taken credit for it/steal it)
This was quiet an experience. I am going to attempt to put everything down that happened during the four days of this insanity. I’m sure this post will be choppily written since I keep going back to add stuff and because I’m writing this in multiple sittings. Unfortunately, I am a retard and lost the only set of contact lenses I brought to Amsterdam/Wacken – I was blind and squinting the whole time. The camera I brought with (my little one, not the big black mother) had an error so I wasn’t able to take any pictures – I will put some on here that I got from the interwebz.
We got a ride to one of the shuttles in Itzehoe, which was running every half hour due to the amount of people going to Wacken Open Air – every shuttle filled completely. It was estimated that there were over 85,000 people there at the festival – Let’s assume there were more because there are some sneak-ins here and there. Since we wanted a good camping spot, get situated and be part of the pre-Wacken experience, we got there a day early, on Wednesday. We were very lucky and squeezed into a spot really close to the entrance. There was still a few things going on – such as smaller bands playing, shops and activities set up. The people we met on the train were the first people we saw once we walked into one of the tents to start checking things out.
There are technically seven stages at Wacken. The two main stages – Black and True. The big-but-not-quite-main-stage – Party. Then there was the Red Bull Bus, Biergarten, Headbangers Ballroom and Wackinger stages.
Wacken even had a mini Renaissnce Festival with games, mock (I’d think) Viking tournament things, booths, and even public torturing – yes, it was real :O. So I got to watch some guy get scratched and burned, etc. I also saw a lady get bondaged. Crazy festival people, I tell ya.
The metal market tents were filled with awesome clothes, jewelry, gifts, merch in general. Some of it wasn’t even too expensive. I ended up buying an Apo Reiters shirt for 5 Euro. I also checked out this band, which I ended up liking a bit called Dymytry. They’re mask wearing Czec Republic crazies. For sure downloading some of that when I have more than 15 minutes of internet time.
I walked past this one stage where a band called Lord of the Lost started playing, but no one was really there watching them so I stood up front to see what they were like. Turns out they started playing an hour early and had technical difficulties so I only heard one song. Later that night at the same stage played a really fun band called Fiddler’s Green. They kind of reminded me of Flogging Molly, just more metal. I got to crowd surf for this one and then got dropped (gently, thankfully…) right into a moshy pit! It was a lotta fun, we started this train of people and when I looked up, I realized we weren’t even by the stage anymore. Oh, being short! There was also a naked guy in this crowd. I thought to myself… what if he crowd surfed… and he did! I think this band also did a wall of death – one of the only walls of death through the whole festival. They were banned because of injuries and because of the mass amounts of people getting killed at the other festival in Germany.
There were also movies playing pretty much every night. This night they played an Anvil documentary, which was pretty cool, but I only watched a little bit because I wanted to see Mambo Kurt.
The most memorable part of that night was for sure Mambo Kurt. He’s a one man band who plays the Heimorgel to metal, pop, rock, you name it songs. It was a huge love fest and dance pit where everyone jumped around together. Met a cool German guy who knew no English, but no worries! I know Deutsch!
Sleeping was tough, especially since people at Wacken literally party all day and all night. I got out of the tent to see people already with beers in their hands. Sadly enough, people were passing out on festival grounds by two in the afternoon. Also, I had no pillow. And at night the temperature dropped drastically.
Now, Thursday was when the real party started. This when even MORE people showed up! Since the main band of this day played later in the night (I’m talking about Iron Maiden, of course) I just moseyed about. Me and Kevin pretty much went our separate ways during most of Wacken since we had different interests. This of course meant, me being alone and little girl – drunk men following me around. I was too sober for that because I didn’t want to get too drunk and forget seeing all those awesome bands.
Since food at the festival is absurdly expensive (as with any kind of fair/fest) we went to the town’s grocery store. Since the town is so tiny and so many metal heads want to save money, there was a guy at the door of the store letting people as others left because it was so full. Got a great deal though – five beers, six apples and a milk for 5,80 Euro (which is a bit more than 7 dollars).
I went tent hopping to see some rando bandos. There was also a tent that had wrestling, which I stuck around for for a little bit since I was too short to see. I stepped outside to see a crowd gathered around the Red Bull Bus stage and enjoyed the sweet sounds of Apokalyptica for a wee bit. I saw Svartsot as well – I only ended up seeing them because I thought the name sounded cool and I could right away tell the type of music they’d play.
The time had finally come to walk towards the Iron Maiden stage so that I could at least get a decent spot. This was already hopeless because Alice Cooper (who hadn’t aged in about fifteen years) was playing that stage. I stuck around for him and then Mötley Crüe played on the second main stage. The two main stages had screens on the side so that the crowd could see from far away. They sort of got “IRON MAIDEN’d” off. They’re an okay band, but I just get sick of them kinda easily.
Iron Maiden was amazing, the crowd went crazy and I got completely brutalized. I lost my sunglasses and part of my lip ring – I decided I had to get out of the pit and a little Swedish (?) guardian angel found/saved me! But he got a little bit too over protective. At least I got to go on his shoulders and actually see Iron Maiden. Woooaahhhhh.. For their second to last song I decided to crowd surf my way out, only to get dropped flat on my back and get the wind knocked out of me. When they ended their awesome set, I went straight to the tent and passed out because I was legitimately dizzy and light headed. Early night for me *sigh*.
Friday I sat around the main stages for most of the day. I saw some Amorphosis, some Ill Nino and some Dew Scented – talked to a few random people during this time as well, most of whom were the “Oh, you’re from America! I’m from Israel and have never ever kissed an American girl before!” *hides*. At least it was funny.
Then came Orphaned Land! They put up a really good show, but how can someone not enjoy a band where the lead singer is dressed in a white Jesus robe, the guitarist looks like a tattooed Borat and they sing Hebrew-ish metal. The annoying part about this was that although I was in the second row, my vision was blocked by this die-hard fan who was holding up a flag with his friends for half the set.
Since Die Apokolyptischen Reiter were playing on the same stage next, I decided to stick around, even though the wait was about an hour. It’s all good, found Kevin and rambled with him for a tad bit. This band’s keyboardist is probably a highlight of the show. He’s dressed in leather bondage wear and sits on one of those sexy swings, has a slide and a whip. Overall, very good live and enjoyable to watch. Downside is that I was in crowd surfer’s traffic.
Kamelot was playing in that area, those beauties. I am quite upset about being blind – at first I figured I wouldn’t even be able to see the bands because of my height, but people have been super nice and letting me be in the first row for a lot of the bands. Afterwards, I headed to the tent to get a sweatshirt and rest for a tiny bit – then to Equilibrium! I did not even see them, I just enjoyed myself in the pit with a couple of the people I had met throughout the days. Dududu BLUT IM AUGE! I wonder how many random people have taken pictures with me… if only I had gotten their names/facebooks.
I dared to take a shower after Equilibrium. You have to pay to shower! But Kevin found a pass on the ground so I got to shower FO FREE. It was my first time showering publicly since I had decorated my bodies. Since there was only three people in there, the water was super warm. As I was showering, I looked down and the water that was running down my body was black. DIRTYY!
I headed to the Headbanger’s Ballroom tent because I figured they’d have karaoke after midnight. Instead there was a black metal band, I believe it was Imperium Dekadenz (I’m only guessing by looking at the running order’s time table). They were good and all, but I realized I could have fallen asleep standing there so I headed back to the tent and acquainted myself with the Swiss neighbors.
Saturday was a more mellow day. I sat around more than usual and checked out the shops one last time. The Wacken Firefighters (WACKEN WACKEN FEUERWEHR!) played us some nice polka-folk music to dance to. All the Germans knew the songs since it’s in their roots. They even did a flute solo and a drum solo (SCHLAGZEUG SOLO!)
Watched Delain for a little bit. Thought they were awesome – but got very boring since it all sounded the same eventually.
During my walk, I met two Austrians and a Danish guy. I wish I could have hung out with them longer – we even spoke some German! I have never spoken that much Denglish in my life. I forgot what language I was speaking in half the time. The Danish guy had pure Absinthe.. haha interesting taste. I guess it’s starting to become partially outlawed here as well. Unfortunately, he had to go to first aid so I went to Stratovarious with a different person who had never really listened to them before. While waiting, someone shared their noodles with us. Stratovarious was full of energy the whole time. Unfortunately they didn’t play “Destiny”, but they did “Eagle Heart” so it’s all good! Right next to them was Edguy when they ended so I hopped on over and watched that for a short while because Circus of Horrors would be starting and I wanted a good seat.
I stood in line for quite some time, during which I saw a Jӓgermeister guy who had a backpack filled with it – of course selling the shots for 2 Euro each. And I did get a front spot for the show! Some of the stuff was pretty crazy – they had a suspension guy (pierced back to hooks and was swinging all around), fire breathers, knife swallowers, knife walkers, jugglers while balancing on balls on top of chairs, a guy pierced his cheeks and spat water through the holes, a man with retardedly stretchy skin, a midget who hung weights from his penis… etc, etc.
By my tent I met these fun Austrians and Italian guy who now lives in London. They basically just said “Hey you! Come here, have a beer”. But that’s how almost everyone at Wacken is! Lovely. Hung out with them for a while and someone set a big fire by our area. Then the firefighters killed it. I headed over to the main stages and saw some of U.D.O, which just reminded me of 3 Inches of Blood. The karaoke was cancelled for the night, sadly so back to the tent I went and re-met up with the friendly neighbors!
We actually had no confirmed ride back to Hamburg, so Kevin met these older guys who drove us there on Sunday afternoon! That morning was magical. Lots of tent destructions (Which I think is a waste of money, unless you’re traveling and can’t carry a tent), and “In Norway, there’s church burnings, at Wacken there are tent burnings” so lots of fire fighters were in and out of our area. We did some treasure hunting, I found a Jӓgermeister hat, a Cola cup, four German Pokemon cards. Traffic getting back was brutal as well. We saw our first McDonalds and realized we were back in real society.
This was quiet an experience. I am going to attempt to put everything down that happened during the four days of this insanity. I’m sure this post will be choppily written since I keep going back to add stuff and because I’m writing this in multiple sittings. Unfortunately, I am a retard and lost the only set of contact lenses I brought to Amsterdam/Wacken – I was blind and squinting the whole time. The camera I brought with (my little one, not the big black mother) had an error so I wasn’t able to take any pictures – I will put some on here that I got from the interwebz.
We got a ride to one of the shuttles in Itzehoe, which was running every half hour due to the amount of people going to Wacken Open Air – every shuttle filled completely. It was estimated that there were over 85,000 people there at the festival – Let’s assume there were more because there are some sneak-ins here and there. Since we wanted a good camping spot, get situated and be part of the pre-Wacken experience, we got there a day early, on Wednesday. We were very lucky and squeezed into a spot really close to the entrance. There was still a few things going on – such as smaller bands playing, shops and activities set up. The people we met on the train were the first people we saw once we walked into one of the tents to start checking things out.
There are technically seven stages at Wacken. The two main stages – Black and True. The big-but-not-quite-main-stage – Party. Then there was the Red Bull Bus, Biergarten, Headbangers Ballroom and Wackinger stages.
Wacken even had a mini Renaissnce Festival with games, mock (I’d think) Viking tournament things, booths, and even public torturing – yes, it was real :O. So I got to watch some guy get scratched and burned, etc. I also saw a lady get bondaged. Crazy festival people, I tell ya.
The metal market tents were filled with awesome clothes, jewelry, gifts, merch in general. Some of it wasn’t even too expensive. I ended up buying an Apo Reiters shirt for 5 Euro. I also checked out this band, which I ended up liking a bit called Dymytry. They’re mask wearing Czec Republic crazies. For sure downloading some of that when I have more than 15 minutes of internet time.
I walked past this one stage where a band called Lord of the Lost started playing, but no one was really there watching them so I stood up front to see what they were like. Turns out they started playing an hour early and had technical difficulties so I only heard one song. Later that night at the same stage played a really fun band called Fiddler’s Green. They kind of reminded me of Flogging Molly, just more metal. I got to crowd surf for this one and then got dropped (gently, thankfully…) right into a moshy pit! It was a lotta fun, we started this train of people and when I looked up, I realized we weren’t even by the stage anymore. Oh, being short! There was also a naked guy in this crowd. I thought to myself… what if he crowd surfed… and he did! I think this band also did a wall of death – one of the only walls of death through the whole festival. They were banned because of injuries and because of the mass amounts of people getting killed at the other festival in Germany.
There were also movies playing pretty much every night. This night they played an Anvil documentary, which was pretty cool, but I only watched a little bit because I wanted to see Mambo Kurt.
The most memorable part of that night was for sure Mambo Kurt. He’s a one man band who plays the Heimorgel to metal, pop, rock, you name it songs. It was a huge love fest and dance pit where everyone jumped around together. Met a cool German guy who knew no English, but no worries! I know Deutsch!
Sleeping was tough, especially since people at Wacken literally party all day and all night. I got out of the tent to see people already with beers in their hands. Sadly enough, people were passing out on festival grounds by two in the afternoon. Also, I had no pillow. And at night the temperature dropped drastically.
Now, Thursday was when the real party started. This when even MORE people showed up! Since the main band of this day played later in the night (I’m talking about Iron Maiden, of course) I just moseyed about. Me and Kevin pretty much went our separate ways during most of Wacken since we had different interests. This of course meant, me being alone and little girl – drunk men following me around. I was too sober for that because I didn’t want to get too drunk and forget seeing all those awesome bands.
Since food at the festival is absurdly expensive (as with any kind of fair/fest) we went to the town’s grocery store. Since the town is so tiny and so many metal heads want to save money, there was a guy at the door of the store letting people as others left because it was so full. Got a great deal though – five beers, six apples and a milk for 5,80 Euro (which is a bit more than 7 dollars).
I went tent hopping to see some rando bandos. There was also a tent that had wrestling, which I stuck around for for a little bit since I was too short to see. I stepped outside to see a crowd gathered around the Red Bull Bus stage and enjoyed the sweet sounds of Apokalyptica for a wee bit. I saw Svartsot as well – I only ended up seeing them because I thought the name sounded cool and I could right away tell the type of music they’d play.
The time had finally come to walk towards the Iron Maiden stage so that I could at least get a decent spot. This was already hopeless because Alice Cooper (who hadn’t aged in about fifteen years) was playing that stage. I stuck around for him and then Mötley Crüe played on the second main stage. The two main stages had screens on the side so that the crowd could see from far away. They sort of got “IRON MAIDEN’d” off. They’re an okay band, but I just get sick of them kinda easily.
Iron Maiden was amazing, the crowd went crazy and I got completely brutalized. I lost my sunglasses and part of my lip ring – I decided I had to get out of the pit and a little Swedish (?) guardian angel found/saved me! But he got a little bit too over protective. At least I got to go on his shoulders and actually see Iron Maiden. Woooaahhhhh.. For their second to last song I decided to crowd surf my way out, only to get dropped flat on my back and get the wind knocked out of me. When they ended their awesome set, I went straight to the tent and passed out because I was legitimately dizzy and light headed. Early night for me *sigh*.
Friday I sat around the main stages for most of the day. I saw some Amorphosis, some Ill Nino and some Dew Scented – talked to a few random people during this time as well, most of whom were the “Oh, you’re from America! I’m from Israel and have never ever kissed an American girl before!” *hides*. At least it was funny.
Then came Orphaned Land! They put up a really good show, but how can someone not enjoy a band where the lead singer is dressed in a white Jesus robe, the guitarist looks like a tattooed Borat and they sing Hebrew-ish metal. The annoying part about this was that although I was in the second row, my vision was blocked by this die-hard fan who was holding up a flag with his friends for half the set.
Since Die Apokolyptischen Reiter were playing on the same stage next, I decided to stick around, even though the wait was about an hour. It’s all good, found Kevin and rambled with him for a tad bit. This band’s keyboardist is probably a highlight of the show. He’s dressed in leather bondage wear and sits on one of those sexy swings, has a slide and a whip. Overall, very good live and enjoyable to watch. Downside is that I was in crowd surfer’s traffic.
Kamelot was playing in that area, those beauties. I am quite upset about being blind – at first I figured I wouldn’t even be able to see the bands because of my height, but people have been super nice and letting me be in the first row for a lot of the bands. Afterwards, I headed to the tent to get a sweatshirt and rest for a tiny bit – then to Equilibrium! I did not even see them, I just enjoyed myself in the pit with a couple of the people I had met throughout the days. Dududu BLUT IM AUGE! I wonder how many random people have taken pictures with me… if only I had gotten their names/facebooks.
I dared to take a shower after Equilibrium. You have to pay to shower! But Kevin found a pass on the ground so I got to shower FO FREE. It was my first time showering publicly since I had decorated my bodies. Since there was only three people in there, the water was super warm. As I was showering, I looked down and the water that was running down my body was black. DIRTYY!
I headed to the Headbanger’s Ballroom tent because I figured they’d have karaoke after midnight. Instead there was a black metal band, I believe it was Imperium Dekadenz (I’m only guessing by looking at the running order’s time table). They were good and all, but I realized I could have fallen asleep standing there so I headed back to the tent and acquainted myself with the Swiss neighbors.
Saturday was a more mellow day. I sat around more than usual and checked out the shops one last time. The Wacken Firefighters (WACKEN WACKEN FEUERWEHR!) played us some nice polka-folk music to dance to. All the Germans knew the songs since it’s in their roots. They even did a flute solo and a drum solo (SCHLAGZEUG SOLO!)
Watched Delain for a little bit. Thought they were awesome – but got very boring since it all sounded the same eventually.
During my walk, I met two Austrians and a Danish guy. I wish I could have hung out with them longer – we even spoke some German! I have never spoken that much Denglish in my life. I forgot what language I was speaking in half the time. The Danish guy had pure Absinthe.. haha interesting taste. I guess it’s starting to become partially outlawed here as well. Unfortunately, he had to go to first aid so I went to Stratovarious with a different person who had never really listened to them before. While waiting, someone shared their noodles with us. Stratovarious was full of energy the whole time. Unfortunately they didn’t play “Destiny”, but they did “Eagle Heart” so it’s all good! Right next to them was Edguy when they ended so I hopped on over and watched that for a short while because Circus of Horrors would be starting and I wanted a good seat.
I stood in line for quite some time, during which I saw a Jӓgermeister guy who had a backpack filled with it – of course selling the shots for 2 Euro each. And I did get a front spot for the show! Some of the stuff was pretty crazy – they had a suspension guy (pierced back to hooks and was swinging all around), fire breathers, knife swallowers, knife walkers, jugglers while balancing on balls on top of chairs, a guy pierced his cheeks and spat water through the holes, a man with retardedly stretchy skin, a midget who hung weights from his penis… etc, etc.
By my tent I met these fun Austrians and Italian guy who now lives in London. They basically just said “Hey you! Come here, have a beer”. But that’s how almost everyone at Wacken is! Lovely. Hung out with them for a while and someone set a big fire by our area. Then the firefighters killed it. I headed over to the main stages and saw some of U.D.O, which just reminded me of 3 Inches of Blood. The karaoke was cancelled for the night, sadly so back to the tent I went and re-met up with the friendly neighbors! We actually had no confirmed ride back to Hamburg, so Kevin met these older guys who drove us there on Sunday afternoon! That morning was magical. Lots of tent destructions (Which I think is a waste of money, unless you’re traveling and can’t carry a tent), and “In Norway, there’s church burnings, at Wacken there are tent burnings” so lots of fire fighters were in and out of our area. We did some treasure hunting, I found a Jӓgermeister hat, a Cola cup, four German Pokemon cards. Traffic getting back was brutal as well. We saw our first McDonalds and realized we were back in real society.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Hamster's Dam
So it has been a while since I've been able to get internet access. I will just make a couple posts about the past two big events.
Monday (I think) was when we headed out to downtown Amsterdam. The hostel's breakfast isn't really as glorious as I'd expected it, but that's probably because it was free and the hostel I stayed at last year (which had a selection of fruits, breads, cereals, coffees, spreads, etc) was more expensive.
The shuttle takes about 45 minutes and we also made a stop at the uptown hostel. Our first stop in downtown was a small market because I really really needed fruit because I had only been eating bread and snacks - there's hardly anything convenient while traveling and there aren't really 24 hour stores around. I'm pretty sure I paid too much, but hell, I hadn't had fruit in many days. I also haven't biked in about two weeks... Oh man.
Our next stop was the Anne Frank Huis, which
even in the morning had a really long line to get in.
Took about 45 minutes but we saw this guy:
After the museum we just walked about for a bit, had a cappuccino and snack. Of course, we got massively lost in the city, streets and canals. There was a street preformer who hardly did any tricks. He told some bad jokes then juggled fire with an apple.
Eventually we wound up at the Heineken, and it was quite interesting. I learned how to make beer (well, the general ingredients and process), got to smell some barely, got turned into beer. They had this "ride" where you go in a room and they show a movie of what happens to the beer and they shake the room so it's like you're the beer.
After that, me and Kevin wandered the city and again, got severely lost. But it was fun to wander because it was a whole new world. We ended up going to a vodka museum since it was on the way and it was free - we had quite a lot of time to kill. Not too special, mostly a gift shop. The next stop was a sex museum, which was basically funny naked people statues. And of course we saw the Amsterdam Red Light District with all the ladies.
Then came time to head back to the shuttle and we just hung out in the lobby/bar for a little bit. Then to sleep and off to Hamburg! Who do we meet at our Amsterdam train? FELLOW WACKENERS WHO COME FROM AMERICA! We sat together and talked. We had all of the same stops so we helped each other out.
In Hamburg, I got picked up by some old family friends whom I hadn't seen in over a decade. They live in the same apartment as they did when I used to play there over 13 years ago. In a way, it looks a lot a like, but in some ways quite different. It seems smaller, but that must be because I grew 2 feet. Nickel, the boy I used to play with all the time took us out to the city, the St. Pauli Red Light District and a club with a few of his friends. And I got a phone number there too.... yay? We got back around 4AM and got up at 10 to continue our journey to Wacken
(next post named Wacken!)
Monday (I think) was when we headed out to downtown Amsterdam. The hostel's breakfast isn't really as glorious as I'd expected it, but that's probably because it was free and the hostel I stayed at last year (which had a selection of fruits, breads, cereals, coffees, spreads, etc) was more expensive.
The shuttle takes about 45 minutes and we also made a stop at the uptown hostel. Our first stop in downtown was a small market because I really really needed fruit because I had only been eating bread and snacks - there's hardly anything convenient while traveling and there aren't really 24 hour stores around. I'm pretty sure I paid too much, but hell, I hadn't had fruit in many days. I also haven't biked in about two weeks... Oh man.
even in the morning had a really long line to get in.
Took about 45 minutes but we saw this guy:
After the museum we just walked about for a bit, had a cappuccino and snack. Of course, we got massively lost in the city, streets and canals. There was a street preformer who hardly did any tricks. He told some bad jokes then juggled fire with an apple.
Eventually we wound up at the Heineken, and it was quite interesting. I learned how to make beer (well, the general ingredients and process), got to smell some barely, got turned into beer. They had this "ride" where you go in a room and they show a movie of what happens to the beer and they shake the room so it's like you're the beer.
After that, me and Kevin wandered the city and again, got severely lost. But it was fun to wander because it was a whole new world. We ended up going to a vodka museum since it was on the way and it was free - we had quite a lot of time to kill. Not too special, mostly a gift shop. The next stop was a sex museum, which was basically funny naked people statues. And of course we saw the Amsterdam Red Light District with all the ladies.
In Hamburg, I got picked up by some old family friends whom I hadn't seen in over a decade. They live in the same apartment as they did when I used to play there over 13 years ago. In a way, it looks a lot a like, but in some ways quite different. It seems smaller, but that must be because I grew 2 feet. Nickel, the boy I used to play with all the time took us out to the city, the St. Pauli Red Light District and a club with a few of his friends. And I got a phone number there too.... yay? We got back around 4AM and got up at 10 to continue our journey to Wacken
(next post named Wacken!)
Monday, August 2, 2010
Walking on Clouds
The little shopping area is open for a short amount of time on Sundays so we went to the grocery store and bought some booze since bars are expensive as fuck. I got three bottles and a candy bar for 3 Euro, which about $4.
Some hostel buddies were having a bar-b-que and a group of us went to go try and find them - no such luck. We ended up just walking around looking for them, getting drunk in the process and bonding with everyone. There were two Canadian girls, Michigan guy who teaches in Moscow, and ANOTHER fellow Minnesotan. We never found the bbq or whatever so we just went to a bar, from which I tried to "steal" those coasters that tables have an abundance of and got yelled at for it by the bartender.
Heading to downtown in about an hour to see the Anne Frank Huis, Sex museum, Vodka museum, eat a brownie...
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