Three Countries in Two Days

So, having got back from England on Thursday (very kindly met at the airport by Ryan because I would not have made the journey back home alone), I promptly set out on my next adventure. This time I was off to Düsseldorf with Dania and Leonoor to explore the Christmas market.

Leaving Amsterdam Centraal! No prizes for guessing
which one of us noticed the photo being taken!

It's got to be said, mainland Europe is so easy. We popped on an international train in the centre of Amsterdam and in about two hours we found ourselves in Düsseldorf.

Our first evening in the town was a lovely, if a little bit of a cold one. We walked through the various market although, as we later found out, we actually missed a few on this first day. I had to laugh a little though, what with the fact that the 'German' Christmas market back home is actually bigger... so much for authenticity ;-)

I was trying to photograph the stalls but the Dania was quite sure she wanted
to be in the photo. Who am I kidding? She makes it even prettier :)

What was delightful was the way that each mini market had its own theme and atmosphere. It's got to be said that, although we didn't find it on the first day, the Sternchenmarkt was my favourite. It was super busy and seemed to be food and drink focused mainly but it was completely lit by blue white lights making it absolutely magical.

When I booked the trip, my mother made me promise to go on a carousel as I have literally been on one every year at Christmas, well, until I moved out to the Netherlands, that is! Sadly, there were only children's carousels. However, there was a big wheel so we went trip on that and, frankly, I think it more than made up for it. Seeing a bird's eye view of the city by night, lit up for Christmas, was really rather magical. We also got way more than we bargained for and went round so many times that I, quite frankly lost count. We expected to go round twice, or maybe three times tops... by the fifth time we, and the couple who were sharing our car, were both amused and bemused!

On the Big Wheel...pretending we weren't terrified of the height!

We actually set off for home quite early on that day due to the cold and spent most of the night cuddled up in the hotel room watching Abraham Lincoln Vampirjäger despite the fact only 1.5/3 of us could understand what was going on! We did try to get the television in English, and apparently there should have been English channels but it didn't work out so Dania got a quick German lesson instead!

Enjoying the hotel bunk-beds. "Creation of Adam", anyone?

The second day we went into town a bit earlier to go into the shops themselves. It's actually a really nice city with some lovely places on the main drag and, like all cities, there are bound to be hidden gems that we simply didn't find sticking to the central streets. I would like to go back when it's a bit warmer, just to explore the city more thoroughly.

Ready for day two!

Naturally, we spent the evening wondering through the markets a bit more and discovering some really good food, mainly. It's funny, that, whenever Dania, Leonoor and I go somewhere together we end up exploring the food more than anything!

Not every day you come across a field of decorated Christmas trees.

On the Sunday it was time to return to Amsterdam and, for me, to face the start of the deathly stack of deadlines. Distressingly, the train was delayed leaving us waiting on a freezing cold platform for over an hour. On the bright side, Leonoor and Dania used that time to buy a six pack of very good doughnuts for on the train.

What did I tell you? We always end up eating!!

Not for facebook

"Just Popping to Germany"

Last weekend I ignored the many deadlines and exams looming and traveled to Essen to see Faun play one of their extra Luna tour shows. It was a bit of an irresponsible idea but, having missed them at Castlefest because of being stupid and ill, I decided it was worth it. My big exam was today and I didn't feel totally out of my depth so all's well that ends well, right? ;-)

Anyway, back to Essen.

I'm a very happy scrapbooker right now!

Actually, if I'm going to see show that's touring round Germany, I'll try to see it in Essen. It's a lovely little city in many ways. For me, it's great that most people don't speak a lot of English but are patient and really keen to successfully communicate so I get to practice my crappy German without feeling that I'm inconveniencing anyone. I suppose that comes from it not being too much of a tourist hub. It's also comfortable because I've found a nice, affordable hotel about a block away from the theatre.

And now comes the really, really hard bit, attempting to tell you about Faun's concert. Sometimes, well most of the time, it's difficult to find the words to describe a concert. Sure, I've learned to do it academically and, I'm sure if I thought about it, I could tell you a lot of little theatre/literature style analyses but that's not the soul of a performance. 

To cut a very long story short, it was amazing. To be honest, even now, a few days on, it's all still a bit of a blur! There are moments, naturally, that stand out. The memory of the opening, with sudden loud drums making my mother, and most of the audience, jump sky high, still makes me laugh, for example. And I don't think I'll be able to listen to "Walpurgisnacht" without hearing an over enthusiastic audience singing along!

DANKE ESSEN / THANK YOU ESSENVielen Dank wir hatten einen wunderbaren Samstag Abend mit Euch und auch die anschließende...

Posted by FAUN on Sunday, 11 October 2015

Faun are one of my favourite bands; every member is actually quite special, and thoroughly talented, which leads to an all round strength that you don't see in a lot of groups. Rüdiger's drum solo has to stand out though - I mean, it's amazing to hear what can be done by, effectively, 'just' hitting a bit of stretched material. I'm still not quite sure how it was possible! Add to the already wonderful mix a couple of marvelous guest musicians, Efrén López and Maya Fridman, and you have a wonderful musical company.

Something else that I really did like about the show was the way in which it combined theatrics, assisted by the mesmerising dancers Yulya Ayuna Kholeva and  Masha Shushera, with just 'pure' music. There were some songs that were big and all encompassing and then there were other times, like the small set after the interval, when acoustic style music was allowed to shine. This ebb and flow meant that the show was effective in every moment.

To be honest, I could go on in this rambling fashion for quite some time but that's no fun for anyone and doesn't do it justice either so I shall stop.

Something else more than worth mentioning is the signing table moment after the show. It saved me waiting around in the cold to get my scrapbook painting signed - something that is more appreciated than you will ever know. Oh, and it has to be said that the members of the band were even kinder than they are talented, and that's one of the biggest compliments that I could pay.