The Prague report, finally
Sep. 5th, 2008 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gothikmausWhile I'm waiting for a new assignment, I'll just post the Prague report. I should remove the red eyes from some of the pictures, but I don't have Photoshop on this laptop, I'll upload them later.
Prague, 18th-24th August 2008
I left from Budapest on the 18th with the 5:30 AM train to Hamburg. Going to sleep after the last concert wasn't an option, of course, so I wandered around the various stages with my friends, then fetched my luggage and went to the station by taxi. I'm still shocked that the train ride from Budapest to Prague only cost me 19 euros, by the way. I got to Prague around 12:30, checked in at the hostel, had a shower (there was no one around so I could take my time, yes), ate something (€1.30 for a delicious ham-cheese-salad croissant? I love this city) and decided to go for a walk. That wasn't such a smart move, as after a very short time I was exhausted (I'd only slept a few hours on the train) and decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap before dinner. I ended up sleeping from 6:00 PM to 10:30 PM, and only woke up because I heard the two ladies I was sharing the room with coming in. So I just took out my contact lenses, took off my clothes and went on sleeping.
The next morning I felt much better and went for a walk after breakfast. At 10:30 AM a couple of fans were already sitting in front of the Roxy Club (you crazy people, you); I ignored the temptation to just sit down and wait, and saw a bit more of Prague's old town. When I came back the DÄ truck was there, as well as a few more fans; I went to my room and when I came back 15 minutes later the tourbus was there. I could have slammed my head against the wall for missing the moment they arrived. Anyway, I didn't feel like waiting there the whole afternoon (it was just past 1:00 PM), so I just wandered around, got myself an iced latte (mmh, caffeine), and tried to spot familiar faces. I was among the first to get inside, but didn't even try to run, I didn't want to get to the front row anyway, my ribs were still hurting, but I got the perfect spot in the second row in front of Farin, just behind two short girls.
Some random memories of the concert:
- Before the beginning of the concert, Farin's roadie put a bottle of water on the little table next to Farin's mike and all the fans around me went "ÄÄÄH?! Kein Tee?!" and started taking pictures. XD
- DÄ got on stage wearing towels on their heads, hiding their faces.
- The first song was "Stick it out": the audience went crazy.
- Bela introducing Farin: "I'm so happy to see one guy, I really fight for his friendship and I always lose, but maybe tonight I get a chance to get closer to him."
- Farin introducing Rod: "My lover-to-be, later tonight, as soon as it gets dark..."
- Bela introducing himself: "And to make him a better lover, I'll get him drunk tonight. My name is... Udo Jürgens!" XD
- Random Bela quote : "The first time in Prague, and we're so happy to see so many Czech people here!" Farin burst out laughing at that.
- Random Farin quote: "Czech me out!"
- The club was quite small and I was so close I could clearly see Farin's grey eyes. Meh.
- Bela walking up to Farin, saying "You've had a hair on your chin for the whole concert!" and gently removing it. Aww. ♥♥♥
Clic to enlarge
- After a short time the place got so hot and humid, everyone was sweating, band included: Farin's guitar was all wet, I'm not kidding. At one point, after about an hour and a half, I looked at my hands and my fingertips were all wrinkled, as if I had been taking a bath! And after the concert my top was totally drenched, I had to wring it out. o_O
- When they got back on stage for one of the encores, Farin asked Rod something and Rod mouthed a letter, probably the first chord of the next song, as he walked back to his spot. I love little details you can only catch from the front.
- "Lasse redn" introduction:
Farin: "Does anybody live in a small town?"
Audience: *cheers and waves hands*
Bela: "Dresden?"
Farin: "Not that small!"
- Bela and Rod wore silly hats and fake glasses with penis-shaped noses during "Nichts in der Welt". Farin actually turned around and saw that near the end of the song, grinned, shook his head and went back to playing.
- After the concert I was so exhausted and dehydrated, that after drinking a big Fanta (I swear I drunk more Fanta in those 2 weeks than in my whole life), I had a coke too, and I drank it all in one gulp. Since I don't even like Coke, that's quite an accomplishment.
- After the security made us go outside, the crew set up barricades in front of the entrance, and since the tourbus was still there, I thought I'd just stay around; I didn't think DÄ would stop for pictures or autographs, but I wanted to catch a glimpse of them while they left. It turned out the guys left through the backdoor ( D: ), so I just hung around around and had a little chat with Nico and someone else from the crew, telling them DÄ should come to Milan next.
- While I was in front of the club after the concert, a group of Italian guys showed up (I could tell they were Italian even before they spoke) and they asked me - in English - what was going on. I told them about the concert and they were like: "A German band? OMG Rammstein?!" Doh. I replied that, no, it wasn't Rammstein, it was Die Ärzte and they went "Oh. If it was Rammstein, I would totally go!" Ehm, hello? The concert is over. Tsk. And for some reason they thought I worked there at the club. WTF?
And that's it. The next morning I felt so depressed, the concert was over and I was alone, not even sharing the bedroom with other Ärzte fans like I had hoped. After breakfast I had a short chat with another fan and just loitered, I had to go to the airport to pick up my friend Stefano, but it was still early. I really have to thank him, by the way, when he arrived my mood improved at once. I'm really happy he decided to spend a few days in Prague with me, otherwise I would just had moped around a lot and probably gone back home the day after the concert. Instead we had a great time: he had been a week in Berlin to visit our friends and when we got back to the hostel he gave me Wayne's CD (I had asked him to buy it for me), I gave him the T-shirt I had bought for him in Budapest and then we started our exploration.
We renamed Prague "White blood cell city", because every building blended into the one next to it incorporating it, so that the final effect was one building made up of several buildings, all different in colours and decorations.
In the following days we saw pretty much all the touristic stuff (old town, new town, castle, hill), went to an acoustic guitar concert and ate delicious food (OMG bagels! <3) I can't understand why Italians keep saying food abroad is bad; well, of course if you only go to Italian restaurants you're bound to be disappointed, be a bit more open-minded, please. We also found an amazing vegetarian restaurant (Stefano is vegetarian), which was also so cheap. But everything is cheap if compared to Milan. And I even found two kinds of beer I like, whoo, go me!
On the plane to Milan we listened to DÄ and Farin songs (we're going to the FURT concert in Hamburg with Elena in December, he's such a Farin fanboy) and took silly photos. A great ending to a great holiday! :D
Man, I thought I had written too much about Budapest, but this is even worse! D:
Prague, 18th-24th August 2008
I left from Budapest on the 18th with the 5:30 AM train to Hamburg. Going to sleep after the last concert wasn't an option, of course, so I wandered around the various stages with my friends, then fetched my luggage and went to the station by taxi. I'm still shocked that the train ride from Budapest to Prague only cost me 19 euros, by the way. I got to Prague around 12:30, checked in at the hostel, had a shower (there was no one around so I could take my time, yes), ate something (€1.30 for a delicious ham-cheese-salad croissant? I love this city) and decided to go for a walk. That wasn't such a smart move, as after a very short time I was exhausted (I'd only slept a few hours on the train) and decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap before dinner. I ended up sleeping from 6:00 PM to 10:30 PM, and only woke up because I heard the two ladies I was sharing the room with coming in. So I just took out my contact lenses, took off my clothes and went on sleeping.
The next morning I felt much better and went for a walk after breakfast. At 10:30 AM a couple of fans were already sitting in front of the Roxy Club (you crazy people, you); I ignored the temptation to just sit down and wait, and saw a bit more of Prague's old town. When I came back the DÄ truck was there, as well as a few more fans; I went to my room and when I came back 15 minutes later the tourbus was there. I could have slammed my head against the wall for missing the moment they arrived. Anyway, I didn't feel like waiting there the whole afternoon (it was just past 1:00 PM), so I just wandered around, got myself an iced latte (mmh, caffeine), and tried to spot familiar faces. I was among the first to get inside, but didn't even try to run, I didn't want to get to the front row anyway, my ribs were still hurting, but I got the perfect spot in the second row in front of Farin, just behind two short girls.
Some random memories of the concert:
- Before the beginning of the concert, Farin's roadie put a bottle of water on the little table next to Farin's mike and all the fans around me went "ÄÄÄH?! Kein Tee?!" and started taking pictures. XD
- DÄ got on stage wearing towels on their heads, hiding their faces.
- The first song was "Stick it out": the audience went crazy.
- Bela introducing Farin: "I'm so happy to see one guy, I really fight for his friendship and I always lose, but maybe tonight I get a chance to get closer to him."
- Farin introducing Rod: "My lover-to-be, later tonight, as soon as it gets dark..."
- Bela introducing himself: "And to make him a better lover, I'll get him drunk tonight. My name is... Udo Jürgens!" XD
- Random Bela quote : "The first time in Prague, and we're so happy to see so many Czech people here!" Farin burst out laughing at that.
- Random Farin quote: "Czech me out!"
- The club was quite small and I was so close I could clearly see Farin's grey eyes. Meh.
- Bela walking up to Farin, saying "You've had a hair on your chin for the whole concert!" and gently removing it. Aww. ♥♥♥
Clic to enlarge
- After a short time the place got so hot and humid, everyone was sweating, band included: Farin's guitar was all wet, I'm not kidding. At one point, after about an hour and a half, I looked at my hands and my fingertips were all wrinkled, as if I had been taking a bath! And after the concert my top was totally drenched, I had to wring it out. o_O
- When they got back on stage for one of the encores, Farin asked Rod something and Rod mouthed a letter, probably the first chord of the next song, as he walked back to his spot. I love little details you can only catch from the front.
- "Lasse redn" introduction:
Farin: "Does anybody live in a small town?"
Audience: *cheers and waves hands*
Bela: "Dresden?"
Farin: "Not that small!"
- Bela and Rod wore silly hats and fake glasses with penis-shaped noses during "Nichts in der Welt". Farin actually turned around and saw that near the end of the song, grinned, shook his head and went back to playing.
- After the concert I was so exhausted and dehydrated, that after drinking a big Fanta (I swear I drunk more Fanta in those 2 weeks than in my whole life), I had a coke too, and I drank it all in one gulp. Since I don't even like Coke, that's quite an accomplishment.
- After the security made us go outside, the crew set up barricades in front of the entrance, and since the tourbus was still there, I thought I'd just stay around; I didn't think DÄ would stop for pictures or autographs, but I wanted to catch a glimpse of them while they left. It turned out the guys left through the backdoor ( D: ), so I just hung around around and had a little chat with Nico and someone else from the crew, telling them DÄ should come to Milan next.
- While I was in front of the club after the concert, a group of Italian guys showed up (I could tell they were Italian even before they spoke) and they asked me - in English - what was going on. I told them about the concert and they were like: "A German band? OMG Rammstein?!" Doh. I replied that, no, it wasn't Rammstein, it was Die Ärzte and they went "Oh. If it was Rammstein, I would totally go!" Ehm, hello? The concert is over. Tsk. And for some reason they thought I worked there at the club. WTF?
And that's it. The next morning I felt so depressed, the concert was over and I was alone, not even sharing the bedroom with other Ärzte fans like I had hoped. After breakfast I had a short chat with another fan and just loitered, I had to go to the airport to pick up my friend Stefano, but it was still early. I really have to thank him, by the way, when he arrived my mood improved at once. I'm really happy he decided to spend a few days in Prague with me, otherwise I would just had moped around a lot and probably gone back home the day after the concert. Instead we had a great time: he had been a week in Berlin to visit our friends and when we got back to the hostel he gave me Wayne's CD (I had asked him to buy it for me), I gave him the T-shirt I had bought for him in Budapest and then we started our exploration.
We renamed Prague "White blood cell city", because every building blended into the one next to it incorporating it, so that the final effect was one building made up of several buildings, all different in colours and decorations.
In the following days we saw pretty much all the touristic stuff (old town, new town, castle, hill), went to an acoustic guitar concert and ate delicious food (OMG bagels! <3) I can't understand why Italians keep saying food abroad is bad; well, of course if you only go to Italian restaurants you're bound to be disappointed, be a bit more open-minded, please. We also found an amazing vegetarian restaurant (Stefano is vegetarian), which was also so cheap. But everything is cheap if compared to Milan. And I even found two kinds of beer I like, whoo, go me!
On the plane to Milan we listened to DÄ and Farin songs (we're going to the FURT concert in Hamburg with Elena in December, he's such a Farin fanboy) and took silly photos. A great ending to a great holiday! :D
Man, I thought I had written too much about Budapest, but this is even worse! D:
