Harbour City Ramblings

…And I was one of the few thousand there to see it all go down tonight.

In the past 3 weeks I’ve been to 4 concerts in as many cities. Radiohead in Vancouver, Beck in Victoria, Pennywise in Amsterdam, and finally, Metallica in Berlin. Now it was my very first Metallica concert, Dylan’s second, so it was truly something special. But it wasn’t an ordinary everyday show for them either.

Friday, September 12th was also the release date for their newest album (in about 5 years), Death Magnetic. They chose to launch the album, and open the brand new O2 World Arena here in Berlin. To top it all off it was one of two charity shows (the next on Sept. 15th in London) for only €10!

Metallica @ the O2 Arena in Berlin

Metallica opened with a string of a few new tunes before turning out the classics like Of Wolf & Man, The Thing That Should Not Be, Wherever I May Roam, Blackened, Frantic, Until it Sleeps, Master of Puppets, One, and so, so many more for an amazing two hours. The masters of metal then mixed in quite a few newer songs throughout, including the singles Cyanide and The Day That Never Comes. They ended it all with Jump in the Fire, right before Seek & Destroy. Pardon the French I picked up earlier this trip, but holy shit- that was unreal! Their stage presence is incomparable and their energy unmatched.

Now that my ears are ringing and my neck oh-so-sore, some sleep must be had. Tomorrow we will see as much of big beautiful Berlin, Germany (population 3 million) as possible during the day.

As for tomorrow night we are jet-setting to the southern isle of Crete, Greece for about 5, 6 days, we’ll see! I can’t wait and could really use the sunshine, sand and sea.

We lucked out while in Amsterdam. With the city having a similar climate to back home in Victoria, we prepared for rain and temperatures around 15 to 20 degrees. What we got was much more pleasant.

Amsterdam is a city you could literally walk around for days and days on end. Through it’s multitude of museums, beautiful parks, pedestrian-only shopping streets, and those amazing canals at every turn to wander beside. So with the weather in our favour, at an upwards of 23 degrees (all days except that of our arrival and for two hours mid-week), wander for days is what we did in fair Amsterdam.

The first night in, as my last post stated, we enjoyed a wicked concert at an amazing venue. The remainder of our days were spent just taking in the laid-back vibe and cool culture. We rented bikes, which is truly the very best way to get around. The city is built for cyclists. Every street has separate bike lanes, and usually bike traffic lights. So we hopped on our rented rides and got further access to areas than we would have just walking, as it’s a flat, well-spaced out city.

The Vondelpark & the Anne Frank House

The Vondelpark was the perfect hang-out on the sunnier days for people watching. And it’s near to the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum, which we opted not to partake in. But the small park behind them (the name unfortunately slips my mind), is gorgeous and a must-see, even if you don’t actually spend the many € to enter the museums. Instead, Wednesday around 7:00pm, we found ourselves in the Anne Frank Museum, one of the few things we actually planned to accomplish. It was well worth the €7 admission and took only around an hour to see. It was truly unbelievable to have the opportunity to step inside the Secret Annex that Anne, her parents, sister, and four others spent around two years of their lives in, before their discovery, capture and- for Anne and a few others- untimely deaths. Highly recommended.

Other than that Amsterdam was fortunately pretty chill, compared to nutty France. So it was a good break before hopping on the train Friday morning, Sept. 12th to Berlin for one night, for one well-known metal band’s Album Release party… and what I guarantee will be the best concert of my life.

Tonight is our first night here in Amsterdam, and only our second hostel experience on this European journey since we have found ourselves spoiled with comfortable spots to rest this past week. This one, however- the Aivengo Youth Hostel- is pretty outstanding so far. Extremely clean, safe atmosphere, free WiFi and close to everything the city has to offer.

This evening we were privileged to be at the last show on Pennywise’s European tour- something they made very clear they were extremely stoked about as well.

They played at a venue that was previously an old factory. These days the Melkweg houses multiple rooms in it’s various areas for cinema, dance and theatre productions, art and photography exhibits, and- in the “the Max” area- concerts. It’s one of the two concert halls under the same roof and has standing-room-only anywhere you’d like- balcony, bar stool, steps or floor (with no barricade between crowd and stage) for a mere 1,000 people. The sound was within it’s tightly enclosed brick walls was pretty impressive.

A Wilhelm Scream opened with huge energy. Shortly after their brief set Pennywise took over with a wide range of old and new. From Broken, Living for Today, Pennywise, Perfect People, One Reason, Society and of course ending with Bro Hymn.

Now, I’ve seen Pennywise before in a way, though I don’t think I’ll count it, as it was at Warped Tour a few years back. And I recall listening to them (only, I know) around 10, maybe just under a dozen or so years ago… That made me feel a little old! Their experience and that venue this evening made for an amazing show here in Amsterdam.

Dieppe

Upon arriving in the northern port-town of Dieppe on Thursday, Sept. 4th we headed straight for the tourism office and quickly discovered an annual International Kite Festival was to take place that weekend… And accommodations were sparse. I guess that’s the down side of spur-of-the-moment visits to northern France.

This small town in size and population (around 35,000 inhabitants), is located along the French coast, overlooking the English Channel. We managed to find a tiny room, with a tiny bed, and a tiny shower for one night only. Once our backpacks were finally off our backs again we headed out to explore Dieppe, with not only it’s abundance of French history, but strong Canadian connections as well.

Avenue des Canadiens

The weather could have been better as it drizzled only briefly as we drank beer across the street from an old church still sporting bullet holes from WWII. We then grabbed some kebabs and wandered towards the beach. And that’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks.

66 years ago on this very beach, along with many others along this coast, our Canadian boys and men stormed the beaches, risking their lives and losing many to liberate France and rid the city of Nazi power. The beach is marked with several monuments to commemorate their efforts… It was surreal to see. You read about it in textbooks in school, but to be able to get up close, see the spot and touch the monuments along this rocky shore was an experience I will never forget.

The city is peppered with Canadian spirit. Our flags hang side-by-side with the French and British flags on numerous buildings, there’s even an Avenue des Canadiens. We spent our one night in Dieppe drinking at the Cambridge Pub, then across the street at the Curling Pub, with the welcoming locals who fed us green shots.

Friday we awoke with headaches knowing there was little chance of finding a room that night, and satisfied with the sights we had seen the day prior, we hopped on the train to Rouen, located half-way between Dieppe and Paris.

Rouen

Rouen is an absolute gem. Again, it wasn’t in our travel plans, but this city of 106,000 people was the perfect stop-over. You can wander and see most all sights within a few hours. Their own Cathedrale de Notre Dame boasts the highest tower in France, at 151 meters. We also saw the very site where Joan of Arc was put on trial and tortured in front of her judges, before being burned at the stake in 1431.

Paris

Finally on Saturday we arrived in the City of Lights. One word to describe Paris? Busy. Ridiculously so. We found an inexpensive, dingy little hotel very shortly after arriving in the Gare de St. Lezare station. And dingy is the nicest way to describe our room, but we took it on the advice of many others (and our handy “Let’s Go: Western Europe” guide) and stayed cheap, avoided the museums, but dined like Royalty!

The food? To die for! I could go on and on about the food there, but I won’t… Instead- while on the topic of death- the first site we saw took us over 25 meters beneath the streets of Paris, twice as deep as their intricate Metro system. We took a tour of the Catacombs. Too eerie.

You enter from a practically unnoticeable door street-level and begin the descent down a spiral staircase into what was first an excavation site for stones to build the city in the early 1700′s. Apparently far too many people in 1785 found the smell of the many grave yards truly unbearable and over-crowded. What are city officials to do in such a case? Dig them all up and move them of course! So we toured the dozens of windy tunnels for about an hour, lined with a few tombs, and thousands upon thousands of skulls and bones. Highly recommended, though not for those with weak stomachs.

I can’t fail to mention the larger-than-expected, and breath-taking upon first site, Eiffel Tower. Packed with people we clearly opted not to go up it… Instead we made our way down the Ave. Des Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe, before enjoying another incredible meal.

After dinner, as the sun was setting and the hordes of people departed, we scoped out the city center, on the Ile de la Cite, saw the Notre Dame de Paris and the incredible Louvre. Oh, and ate a bit more! But come on, you can’t NOT try the crepes in Paris!

And once again I am blogging on the train, we’re on board the Thalys after leaving fast-paced Paris for a more laid-back Amsterdam for the next 4, oh maybe 5 days. Anything to wind down after that whirl-wind French experience!

I live in a tourism driven community. Approximately twice weekly on my way to or from James Bay, I find myself behind the lens of a foreigners camera, taking that memorable family photo in front of the Victoria Legislature. Finally, it’s my turn…

We touched down in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday around 4:30pm local time. Upon arriving at the airport we quickly regained our strength at one of the many airport cafes, dinning on tomato soup (or more so, delicious tomato paste), frankfurters and cold beer. Much to my dismay Frankfurt was a practically unbearable 30 degrees… Didn’t much help to have 16 kilos of clothing strapped to my back!

The Netherlands

We had an ICE Train reservation for 7pm to the small Dutch town of Arnhem, a couple hours west of Frankfurt. The train system here is incredible. We moved at a speed of 250 Km+ at times through south-west German rolling plains into the Netherlands.

We were greeted at the Arnhem Central Station by an old family friend of Dylan’s, Stijn. We were then fortunate enough to spend the next few days getting accustomed to the European lifestyle at the home of Stijn, Mim, and their two beautiful young girls, Mirre and Evie in Elst, the Netherlands.

The Horse Market

On Monday, Sept. 1st, we awoke sans jet lag and attended a horse market that has been going on annually in Elst, since 1200. Horse breeders from all across Europe lined the cobble-stoned streets with hundreds of their horses. If you want the best deal on the most impressive horse you’re there at 5am… Luckily we were not. We biked in by 8am, and had a beer in hand by 9am.

Seated next to a table of 4 local gentlemen, I was offered a horse for a mere €40! Unfortunately I don’t believe my landlady Opal would allow it in my tiny flat.

Kinderdijk

The next few days were spent wide-eyed touring the southern Netherlands. We wandered the modern markets and shopping areas of Rotterdam, visited the oldest city in the Netherlands, Nijmegen (an ancient Roman settlement), took a tour of Mim’s coffee factory, and drank a lot of beer- which goes without saying. The highlight was definitely the 250 year old windmills in Kinderdiijk.

Antwerp, Belgium

Wednesday we reluctantly left our incredibly accommodating tour guide, Stijn, behind, as well as the comfort of their home in Elst and hopped on a train headed west.

Our destination was an unexpected one, we spent the night in Antwerp, Belgium last night. A decision I’m most happy we made. This was the first Hostel experience for both Dylan and I. We used his handy Let’s Go: Western Europe book and located the New International Youth Hostel about a 15 min. walk from the Antwerp Central Station. As the book states, it is a well-worn place, but it was most enjoyable and we met folks from all across Europe.

Antwerp itself is stunning, a melting pot of cultures, amazing architecture and world famous fries (to die for, especially with garlic sauce!).

At the moment we’re south-bound on the Thalys to Paris, then we will head north straight-away. Our official plan is to spend a night or two in the northern sea-side town of Dieppe, France, and get our Paris sight-seeing in most likely on Saturday. Dylan’s not big on the French culture, something to do with the French Immersion kids clashing with his English classmates back in his Elementary School days- so we’ll see how he fares with all the berets and croissants…

Today was quite possibly the busiest day of my life thus far!  That is a bold statement.

How do I feel at the end of the day?  Am I sad because I feel on my own?  No, I got by with a little help from my friends- clearly.  Not from the fab-four, though these friends could take on the similar title of fab-five with ease.  My co-workers are a dream team.  When I’m around them I feel, at times, unstoppable!  Batman-esque… I can tackle the day’s more difficult tasks with a BOFF! ZLONK! KAPOW!  Or a ridiculously large-tired motorcycle-ATV hybrid, Bat-Pod-like way of mowing the day’s hurdles down?  Who knows.  But we all had a great day at the ol’ work place.

In any case, accomplished a good mix of work and personal tasks, so I’m content.  I made a few more reservations for the impending European adventure.  Transportation to and from the airport is key.  We have to be there a minimum of 3 hours prior to departure.  From there, a brief stop-over in Calgary to pick-up some folks who pay too few taxes as well as rake in the dough- go figure, then straight to Frankfurt am Main.

I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing true jet-lag just yet.  The vote on which direction gives you the worst case of it was pretty well split in the office.  Some said flying East boggles your brain more, while others claimed it’s heading back West that will drain and disorient the most.  We shall see how I fare!

Enough Euro-talk, and enough of this being awake deal… Tomorrow I’ve got to jet to Vancouver for a concert.  Radiohead @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium.  Should be unreal!