Fanart, Fanfiction and Fangirling

It happened. It really happened. The short version is: OMFG IT WAS F***ING AMAZING!!!

The long rambling version is: WOW. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed them. I checked and the last DÄ concert I'd seen was in October 2012. Too, too long ago. The concert itself was brilliant, they're still as silly as ever and they look like they haven't aged a single day (OMG Bela is still so damn hot!) Farin even spoke a little Italian during the night. The venue was a bit bigger compared to some other venues they played during this tour and it was PACKED. 3,000 people, of which maybe 10 Italians? XD

Almut and I walked a bit around the city centre in the morning (she'd never been to Milan before) and we arrived at the venue around 3:30 PM. Cara was already there and so were about 30 or 40 people, lining up probably since the morning. We thought we might not get good places, but we ended up in the second row right in front of Bela's drumkit aaand... the girls in front of us were quite short, so it was like standing in the front row, but without being crushed against the barrier. We also got the special T-shirts for the Milan show, which you needed to buy before the concert, as they sell out very quickly. Success! A friend of mine was also there (we discovered DÄ together totally by change during a trip to Berlin years ago) and she was very impressed both by the band and the audience.

Oh, before I start rambling about the show: Almut and I were in piazza Duomo around 2:30 PM and were about to head to the venue, when I said "What, let's go to the toilet at La Rinascente!" That's a very fancy shop (think of Harrods in London) and I always use their toilets when I'm out and about in Milan, because they're free and clean. So we went and as we were walking out ROD WALKED IN AND WALKED PAST US!!! I blurted out "OH MY GOD!" and I'm quite sure he heard me, but I just couldn't help it. He was so close I could see the white hairs in his sideburns. XD He was wearing sunglasses and was actually taller than I thought. That was the most random and awesome thing.

Anyway, back to the actual concert. Random memories from the show, in no particular order:

- Farin asking the audience in Italian if there was anyone who didn't speak German (I waved my hand just to see what would happen) and then adding something like "Well, too bad for you, but we're going to be a pain in the arse, no one speaks Italian here anyway". He actually said "Rompiamo le balle", which is not only a very Italian thing to say, but quite specifically from Milan, I just about died.

- Rod snarling "Ihre Papiere sind nicht korrekt!" as they were throwing around stereotypical Italian and German phrases. XD

- Faring talking in Italian about the dinner they had the previous night, in a restaurant where Italian music was playing, and of course they know Italian musicians, he said something like "We like that singer, what's his name, and that other rapper is quite good too, and then there's this couple..." And I KNEW what he was about to say, so I started shouting "No! NOOO!" (Both Cara and I filmed that bit and you can clearly hear me, it's HILARIOUS, it's in our Instagram stories.) Of course he was talking about Albano and Romina Power and said there's a reason why they're idols and before they started playing punk, they only listened to Albano and Romina. They then proceeded to play their own deranged version of "Felicità". XD

- Bela mentioning the middle finger statue in front of Milan Stock Exchange. The next day I showed it to Cara and Ben and of course there were other DÄ fans there. XD

- Farin licking the beck of his guitar and making a disgusted face afterwards.

- Farin saying something like "Bela, ich muss dich drücken" and hugging him. Aww.

- Farin dividing the audience into four sectors and asking each part to clap one after the other.

- Farin singing a bit from "La donna è mobile"! He actually got all the text right, I was very impressed.

- Bela singing random bits of songs during the "Abschied" piano intro, I can remember "Gold" and "Woman in red", then Farin singing "Volare" and "L'italiano". XD

- This didn't happen during the concert, but look at what Rod wrote in the band's Tourtagebuch:

( Milano mi amore )

As if I needed another reason to love this band. ♥

We also ended up in a few photos on the Alcatraz Facebook page and in one of them I have such a manic grin, it could rival Farin's. XD Well, that's exactly how I've felt ever since Thursday. I'm so glad I decided to go to Brussels too. It would've been great also "just" seeing the Milan show, I mean, I've had this dream of seeing them here for years, but didn't really think it would actually happened, so it was basically a dream come true. But Brussels is the last show of the tour, I'm sure they're going to be even sillier than usual.

This week has been very intense. We were really busy at work and then yesterday and today I played tourist guide for schwimmerin, who spent the weekend here. I wanted to show her everything and we ended up walking for miles. Oops.

Yesterday I showed her the "local attractions" in my hometown, that is the country villa of the count who built the first hot-air balloon in Italy in 1784 (and who took off in said balloon from his garden) and the small church standing next to the villa. The church was originally in Switzerland, but the count liked it, bought it, had it dismantled, shipped, delivered and built again next to his villa on the other side on the Alps. I mean, who hasn't done something like that at least once in their life? XD So, I showed her those two things and our main church.

After lunch we went to Milan, where we saw all the classic sights and we wasted too much time trying to find Roman ruins. I'd read about this archeological route online and thought it would be interesting but, man, some of those ruins were difficult to find. Also, most of them were only parts of buildings and quite hidden, so it took us a while to spot them, it felt like being on a scavenger hunt. The funniest part of the afternoon was looking for the Roman theatre: it was supposed to be somewhere around Piazza Affari, where the Italian stock exchange is, but we couldn't find it anywhere. And then she saw a sign and we found out the ruins of the theatre are actually under the stock exchange building! Talk about underground theatre. XD Also, if you've never been to Piazza Affari, this is the sculpture standing in front of the stock exchange building:

( Milano, Piazza Affari )

We are so hardcore. XD

In the evening we had an aperitivo along the Navigli, Milan's canals, which is a typical Milan experience in the summer. Luckily it had been raining on and off for the whole day, so we weren't eaten alive by mosquitos (which is usually also part of the experience).

Today we went to Bergamo, where we visited the upper part of town (Città Alta), saw a lot of beautiful churches and bought cute little polenta-shaped mini-cakes. In the afternoon we drove to Monza, where I showed her the historical centre and more churches. She must be so fed up with churches after this weekend. Sorry. XD

And now I'm going to bed because I'm exhausted. Goodnight!

So, I had to go to Milan today and look what happened! D:

http://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2010/09/18/foto/nubifragio_su_milano_esonda_il_seveso-7211905/1/

One of the rivers running through the city overflowed its banks and the other one is about to, so the police blocked the street I have to take to go home. Luckily I know an alternative route and could come back without problems.

The meeting with my former colleagues from the theatre went very well, they were all very happy to see me. We talked a bit about what I've done in the last year and they were all "OMG you don't play any more?! Noo!" They also said I should send them my updated CV. I don't know if I'll be able to work with them again, since they're always a bit short of money (even if they're the most important theatre in Italy), but you never know. And it was nice meeting them again, I had such a good time while I was there. *nostalgic sigh*

Tomorrow I'm going to Turin with some friends to meet our friends from Berlin who are in town for a week or so. Hopefully the weather will be a little better.

I opened Yahoo.de to see the weather forecasts for the next weekend in Zürich (yes, I know it's still early, bear with me) and was greeted by this picture:



I thought "Oh God, what did he do NOW?"

Well, he did this: http://it.video.yahoo.com/watch/3706329/10193982

*headdesk* And the photo! They look like a married couple or something. *washes brain with bleach*

Well, at least I have some good news too: I bought the tickets to Zürich for less than half the price, 49€ instead of 104€, because there's a special "Switzerland promotion". Everything is going SO well, I'm afraid something terrible will happen to compensate. Or maybe... IT'S THE POWER OF ROD'S LOVE! He's doing all this so I can see him! YES! XD

And they opened a new ticket office in Milan's Central Station and, man, it looks like a European station now, not a Third World one. Finally. I only hope they'll remember to put on signs in English too, now there are Italian-English signs but in some places, like near the old ticket office, the signs are only in Italian. Ehm, hellooo, how are foreigners supposed to understand where the new office is? *shakes head* That's the Italian way, baby.

I was going to write a totally useless post about my afternoon in Milan with my mother, but then I remembered what happened 45 years ago and thought I should at least mention it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Mauer

And now, on with the useless post. I went to Milan with my mum yesterday, bought a couple of nice things and took a few photos for my f-list. :)

( Milan under the cut )

In the evening we met with my dad in the park behind the castle to have dinner at an open-air restaurant they set up there in summer, but this year there was only a bar, so we went to an Indian restaurant instead. Luckily it was open, most of the other restaurants and shops in that area were closed for holidays, and luckily my mum liked the food. We had already eaten there once, but my mum is very fussy about her food and I was worried she would end up eating only rice. But she ate everything and didn't complain (much), so that's OK. Mmh, Indian food...