in my tree: Eurotrip '05: Germany

Sun, June 12, 2005 (Day 12)

"The Amazing Race to U2". Today we depended on the culmination of several (4, namely) modes of public transportation, all working in sequence. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Luckily for us, all went to plan.

Step 1: Said our goodbyes (or FU's) to the bostel and caught the ferry over to Central Station. I should add, we've all come down with some form of the flu due to our endeavors of the last few days. I think the sleeping in near-freezing conditions is what put it over the top. I've got a nasty cough as a warm reminder of my time at the bostel. But I digress, the ferry was successful.

Step 2: Get to Düsseldorf, Germany, location of our hostel for the night. The train was on time. We were good. 3 hours later were there.

Step 3: Get to Gelsenkirchen, Germany, location of the u2 Concert. Dropped our bags at the hostel, grabbed a shower, and hit the road. No problems.

Step 4: Get to the concert. We grabbed some bratwurst and chips at the hauptbahnhof (main station), and a nice lady informed us that U2 ticket holders got free transport to the venue. 10 stops on the Tram and were where there... AT A U2 CONCERT!!! HOLY SHIT!!

The Thrills and Feeder opened - they were pretty good - I enjoyed Feeder. Then, the boys took the stage. It was absolutely unreal. They opened with Vertigo and the crowd went NUTS. Then they came with Beautiful Day.. 60,000 hands upraised... man, the energy in that place. Other notables included Elevation, City of Blinding Lights, ONE (loved it), All Because of You, Mysterious Ways, Where the Streets have no Name, In the name of love, bullet the blue sky, party girls, miracle drug, New years day, Ya weh, Sometimes you can't make it on your own, and my personal favorite: Sunday, Bloody Sunday, which brought the house down. I went nuts. All those hands pointing to the beat. It was an experience like nothing I've witnesses. They ended it with an encore of Vertigo, which was awesome again. Absolutely phenomenal concert! We headed on back to Düsseldorf with the energy of the concert still ringing in us. AWESOME DAY!

Mon, June 13, 2005 (Day 13)

Awoke early this morning with the memory of U2 still fresh. Had some toast and jam at Backpackers Düsseldorf (which was a stellar hostel, I might add), and then headed down to the HBF Station for our 11:00 departure for Berlin. Train was nice and fast (over 200km/h at times), but unfortunately we got stuck with a smoking car because everything else was booked up. I spent most of the trip walking up in the other non-smoking cars cause I just couldn't handle it. We arrived in the city and headed to the Generator Berlin (which we booked because we enjoyed the London version so much). Then we pretty much took it easy - got some grub and a few cheap pint-cans of beer, attempted (but failed) to book some hostels for the journey ahead, and did some much needed laundry.

QOTD: "Slinky...... ICE" - Ginny and I, naming a dumb game we invented

Tues, June 14, 2005 (Day 14)

Today was awesome. We went on Terry Brewer's "Classic" Berlin tour - a 5 hour walking tour of the city - absolutely fantastic. Our tour guide, Barnaby from the UK, took us all around the city. We saw the Reichstag (former government house), Hitler's Bunker, a slew of churches and museums, Brandenburg Gate, Palace of Tears, Checkpoint Charlie, the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, and of course the remnants of the Berlin Wall. It was like a history lesson come to life.... recent history, I should add, which makes it all the crazier. Definitely worth the 10euro.

Grabbed some grub on our way home on the S-Bahn and had ourselves a cheap picnic of sandwiches and beer in the dorm room. Under 5euro for 20 500ml beers!! Man, I need to live in Germany!! Berliner is excellent.

Wed, June 15, 2005 (Day 15)

Today is COLDPLAY!!! Awoke early at the generator, grabbed something to eat and caught the 09:30 ICE (inter-city express) to Hamburg. Arrived at 11:30, and had some initial difficulties in trying to get in touch with Vera (Ginny's friend that we will be staying with tomorrow in Northern Czech Republic). Dropped our bags at the Pension Hotel - had to sneak in Ginny once again, cause we only booked 4 beds! As she waited for us on the street below, she was mistaken for a hooker! Funny - but in her defense, we were in a shady part of town (as I would later learn first hand). Had a bite to eat, but with no bread because we accidentally left it on the train earlier that day. Then we headed back to the station to book our train to Czech for the next day. Turns out the best route they could give us was an 11 hour travel day - ouch. But what can you do? Got showered up and prepared to embark for Coldplay, which I was REALLY looking forward to. It was a gorgeous day in Hamburg - 25 degrees and sunny - the first real taste of summer we'd gotten on this trip.

We arrived at the concert at 16:45, got some beer and bratwurst and had a seat on the ground. It was an outdoor venue, and on a day like today, no one was complaining. The opening act was a German rock group. They kicked ass, even despite the fact that none of us understood a word that they said. The second act was a pleasant surprise - Richard Ashcroft, formally of The Verve. He was awesome, and sang some wicked shit (Bittersweet Symphony was deadly). Then, Coldplay took the stage. Politik, Yellow, God put a smile on your face, the Scientist, Clocks, Speed of Sound, and Everything's not lost were some of the notables. Unfortunately, they must have had somewhere to go or something, because they only played for about an hour and fifteen minutes, including one 2-song encore!! The sun was still up when they finished!! Needless to say, we were more than a little disappointed. I mean, we traveled halfway across the country and spent a ton of cash to see these guys. But, c'est la vie. In their defense, they did play a damn good show for the limited time that they were on. I joked on the way out of the venue that I'd like to buy 1/2 a poster to reflect the 1/2 a show I just saw. But.. I think Pearl Jam's near 3-hour shows have spoiled me a tad.

So we leave and head on back to the hotel. Everyone's hungry when we arrive at the station, but I really have to go pee, so I head on back on my own knowing full well that we're staying in a dodgier (shady) part of town. As I'm walking to the hotel alone, I see 3 ladies of the night hanging out near my door. I watch as they spot me and then casually discuss amongst themselves which one of them is going to approach me. As I walk by, one of the ladies intersects my path, looks at me and says what I assume to be the German equivalent of "looking for a good time?" With that, she pulls down her low-cut top, revealing her left boob!! Oh snap! I had the sudden feeling that I was doing something VERY wrong, and I just put my head down, said "NINE!", shook my head and walked away as quickly as I could. Quite the day! My first proposition... by a German hooker, no less.

QOTD: "I saw a hamburger boobie" - Me