Friday, November 2, 2012

Europe, pt. 2

So, we made it to Europe, and even to our first show in Linz, Austria. We were never sure that we would make it, however I always maintained a sense that everything would be ok. To be honest, the journey here was brutal. We finally caught our third flight in Chicago. Mind you, this was 3 days after we had left Omaha... We traveled 8.5 hours by plane, landing in Amsterdam at 7:30 am. We were immediately rushed to the van, where our tour manager, Maarten whisked us away on a ten hour drive to Linz. We got out of the van, ate real food for the first time in about 20 hours, and then got on stage for our first performance of the tour... Sleep along the way had been minimal for all of us, but we managed.

We played our second show last night in Vienna. 

Vienna.... Beautiful! Attendance was good, despite it having been All Saints Day, which is a holiday where people visit their families, their family members graves, and they reflect on those they have lost. It isn't unlike Memorial Day, except that it seems that people don't also use it as an excuse to drink copious amounts of alcohol all day with their friends who are still living. People really do typically use it as a day to mourn, reflect and visit family. I asked a fella I met in Vienna about Halloween, and he said that only in the last 10 years or so have people been dressing up for Halloween, and that it is mostly the younger demographic.

Anyway, we played a set that felt really good last night, and I give all of the credit to our TM (tour manger), Maarten....  Maarten is a god damned sound virtuoso. And just an amazing guy to be around, at that. He doesn't know it yet, but we are already plotting his extradition to the United States to be our sound guy. For forever.

So, as I type this, we are driving through the Swiss Alps... I won't bore/taunt you with how beautiful it is here in the Autumn. We just had a close encounter with Swiss Customs who asked us to pull over to check all of our passports. Maarten didn't have his passport, and I guess they could have insisted we take out all of our bags ands equipment to check the van, but he was kind enough to let us go on, anyway.

And now, will leave you with a few observations I've made so far on my very first trip to Europe.

Toilets. They are different, but they are still toilets. There are two buttons. One is for flushing #1 and one is for #2. I'm still not quite sure which is for what. I tried both, and they both just seemed to flush the toilet. More on that, later...

Food. So far, meat, cheese, bread and chocolate have been the 4 main food groups. It just sort of branches off from there.... Yesterday, in Linz, I did order Liver Dumpling Soup at our hotel. I'm part Czech and Austrian, and have been eating that soup my entire life (except for the 8 years that I didn't eat meat). It was different, but it was still Liver Dumpling Soup. I also had pho at a Thai restaurant in Vienna, and it was some of the best I have ever had.

People. They are different, but really not all that different at all. Although, I must say that I/we haven't been able to ignore the fact that Austrians all typically are really good looking. Go, Austria... We'll be back, soon ;-)

Smutty Reality/Tabloid Television. It is different, but still smut. Only a tad smuttier, as Matt, Sara and I watched Europe's version of American Idol, last night... And also managed to see an interview of the girl who sings "Call Me, Maybe", followed by cell phone photos of her topless.... I pondered why she'd agreed to do the interview... I also pondered if the reason she got the interview may have been because of the photos, but that is neither here, nor there.  As they say in America - "All press is good press!" I wonder if they say that here, also? 

Anyways, hello Switzerland. We're really excited to meet you tonight!

Jenna/Conduits



3 comments:

  1. You are Bohemian which was an actual place.

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  2. Happy for you, and delighted to see what a fine writer you are. Best wishes for a smooth flight back to the States.

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  3. I cannot wait for 'more on the toilets".. ha. love love love the blog. wonderful getting snippets of what you are taking in. man.. i bet the Alps are amazing. love you
    - sweet Bohemian xo

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