Ain’t No Party Like A Tollwood Party

On January 7, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany9 Comments

I rang in the new year with Hanley and Esther at the awesome 2012 Tollwood Silvester Party. Hanley wrote about it in her own blog, so if you read both of us, this will seem like a bit of a repeat.

The Tollwood Winter Festival takes place at Theresienwiese, a 420,000 square meter (4,500,000 sq ft) space in the city of Munich. This is the same space that holds the world famous Oktoberfest each year. Tollwood is also a summer festival with a tremendous amount of live music- the 2013 Sommerfestival lineup so far includes ZZ Top and the Pet Shop Boys. I’ll probably wind up there at some point.

The Winterfestival wraps up with a giant Silvester party on December 31st. There are four giant tents with bands and DJs. There’s another tent that is nothing but various types of food. The various tents are on the outer edges of a vast open space where people can congregate to view fireworks. We’ll get to that. This is the view in from the front gate.

When I say tent here, I’m not talking about the little things you use to go camping, I’m talking about things that are larger than the building my apartment is in. This is inside the tent for the first band we watched, the Stimulators. You can see the roof of the tent sloping up behind the giant sphere- these things were huge.

We also saw a pretty nifty band called Jamaram in one of the other tents. They’re a pretty large group.

I hadn’t heard of them before this outing, but a few of their songs were catchy enough to remain stuck in my head for several days afterward. “Oh My Gosh,” for example-

We spent the last hour in a tent watching Rockomotion, a classic rock cover band. Pretty much everything they played was recognizable. They even did Hip To Be Square, and the last song they played right before midnight was The Time Warp. If you search for Rockomotion on Youtube, you’ll see lots of clips of them doing well known songs.

The band stopped a few minutes before midnight to allow everyone time to get out of the tents and into the big central open area, and then there were fireworks. Lots of fireworks. The Theresienwiese is in the center of an access road called Bavariaring, and there were fireworks visible for 360 degrees- all along the Bavariaring. The fireworks went on for more than twenty-five minutes. Some of it was official Tollwood fireworks, to be sure, but some of it was just the German people setting off their own fireworks. This was my second New Year’s Eve in Germany, and I realize now that the Germans are kind of insane when it comes to fireworks. They use a lot of them, they don’t much care where they’re pointed, and they don’t seem to worry about their own safety.

It sure makes for a hell of a show, though. Imagine twenty-five uninterrupted minutes of fireworks at the quantity and frequency of what you can see in the video below. (The video is only three seconds long because I thought my phone was set to still pictures, not video.) The Tollwood party was great fun, even if I did get the flu while I was there. Where did the rest of you ring in the new year?

Like a shark.

On September 13, 2012May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany5 Comments

I’ve heard it said that the first person you meet when you go abroad is yourself. I’ve found this to be kind of true for myself. I’ve learned some things about myself that are no surprise at all, but some of my epiphanies are… not what I expected. Here’s a few of them:

I learned that music keeps me sane.

I already knew this to a point- I knew that music is hugely important to me. I have a freakishly diverse taste in music and most of my friends will agree that if the tv is off and I’m awake, I pretty much always have music running.

What I didn’t really grasp fully was that without music, I get cranky. Really cranky. When my mood is very very high, it can settle me down. If my mood is very very low, it can bring me up.

I’ve commented before that music is often the impetus for a new trip for me, so it serves to keep me exploring as well. Between now and the end of the year, there are four concert trips on my calendar, with another two on my “thinking about going” list.

I’ve learned that I’m pretty relaxed about public transportation.

I haven’t driven a car since last November, and I’m pretty ok with that. I’ve really enjoyed the planes, trains, and bus rides that have made up my experiences in Europe. Even when I’ve gotten turned around, misdirected, delayed, and mildly lost, I’ve kind of had fun.

In addition to that, I really love riding on the rail system here. I’ve been on ICE trains hurtling along at speeds upwards of 250 kilometers per hour- it’s fast, quiet, and very comfortable. There are power outlets on the train, so I can watch a movie or read or listen to music without worrying that I’ll run out of battery before I reach my destination. Most of the trains even have a little cafe/restaurant car called a Bordbistro where I can get a drink, a snack, or a full meal. And best of all, there are no flight attendants telling me that I can’t get up to use the restroom when we’re leaving the station.

Trains are good.

I learned to spot more things that give me headaches.

I’ve had headaches at a mild migraine level for as long as I can remember. I’m always looking for new triggers because having headaches this often sucks royally. I knew that McDonald’s french fries are typically a trigger for me. I think it’s the high sodium, but I’m not positive of that because other french fries don’t necessarily affect me the same way. I learned very recently that Currywurst has the same effect on me as McDonald’s french fries- a near instantaneous spike-in-the-eye-socket of a headache. I’ve also had headaches triggered by the weather patterns that come off the Alps, but I’m not sure whether it’s low pressure or high pressure or both that does it. Speaking of pressure, I’ve learned that any ICE train ride of more than about three hours will trigger a massive headache that makes me useless for most of the rest of the day.

I’ve learned that I’m a pretty adventurous eater… to a point.

When I was in Hong Kong a few years ago, I tried Fugu (blowfish), kangaroo meat, jellyfish, and Thousand Year Egg. None of them bothered me in the slighest, but as soon they brought out the duck with the head and neck still attached, I got pretty squicked out.

On a recent trip to Berlin, I tried the Pferdfleisch pizza. That’s horse meat. It was a little like salty bacon, to be honest- it’s not a flavor I would seek out, but it wasn’t bad. Two days before the horse meat pizza, however, I was at Dult with Jenny and Robert for dinner. Robert purchased a cooked and breaded fish for his dinner, but the thing was still mostly intact. It had a head, a tail, and a spine. That just grosses me out.

I’ve learned that I have to keep moving.

This was a difficult realization for me. I’ve always felt like I was more or less comfortable in my own skin, but then I started to notice certain patterns in my own behavior. If I don’t have very specific plans- somewhere to go, something to do, or someone to see- I tend to isolate myself. My personal inertia can easily keep me stuck in the apartment for a day or an entire weekend. I might be able to peel myself out for an hour or so to get some food, but that’s it. If I don’t have plans, I won’t go anywhere. When I feel like that, I don’t get anything useful done at home either. Homesickness and loneliness can be insidious that way.

I read once that sharks have to keep swimming or they’ll sink to the ocean floor. Without the forward motion to keep water flowing over their gills, some species will even die. That’s kind of how I feel these days, like I need to keep moving or I’ll sink.

I tried to stay put for the month of August, and I made it one weekend before I made plans to leave town again. Two months ago I thought I had locked in all my travel plans through my end-of-the-year US trip, but since that time I’ve added four more small trips, and I’m considering several more.

My friends back home, commenting on the near-constant traveling that I’ve been doing for the last six months, often rave about how awesome my life must be and what an amazing experience I’m having. On paper, they’re absolutely right. Compared to many people, I have a pretty amazing life. Hearing it said just makes me feel worse though. Makes me want to go somewhere else.

Yup, gotta keep moving.

Frankfurt In One Day

On June 10, 2012May 30, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany

A few weeks ago, I took an overnight trip to Frankfurt to attend a Thomas Dolby concert. The concert was excellent, but my train rides into and out of Frankfurt left me with plenty of time to do a quick exploration around the core of the city.

This is the main Frankfurt Bahnhof. It’s enormous inside.

I wandered into this shopping mall at one point while looking for somewhere to eat. I think this is where M.C. Escher would have shopped if he lived in Frankfurt.

Römerberg is the old center of Frankfurt. There’s a big square with a few restaurants and a variety of amazing old buildings.

I can see how he does it, but this guy at Römerberg did warrant a double-take and a closer look.

There is an observation deck from the Main Tower where you can get a pretty fantastic view of the surrounding city, including the Bahnhof below.

Another, shorter observation deck can be found along the Zeil, a major shopping street. This one is attached to a Galeria Kaufhof, with a great rooftop dining experience.

Down To Kempten

On February 4, 2012May 30, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany4 Comments

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I took some time off work for my first solo overnight out-of-town journey by train since arriving in Germany.

It’s been pretty cold for the last few days, with the temperature staying well below freezing. This has the benefit of giving us more sunlight, though, so the train ride was populated by views like these- fields of snow, blue skies, and the occasional road or small town. I love the blue skies though-

Near the end of the trip, I was further south, near the Austrian border, and in the Alps- much more snow, more white, and more trees covered in white. At the start of the trip, however, there was a lot of green in the distance, as in this photo.

So much snow…

At the midway point, I had to change trains in the Munich Bahnhof, which is the central train station for the city. The Munich Bahnhof is, to date, the coolest thing I have seen in Germany. When I was walking between my trains, I saw all the trains lined up at their platforms and I couldn’t help but think that this place reminded me of spacedock from the Star Trek movies.

The stopover in Munich also gave me a chance to get a fresh butterbreze, or buttered pretzel. I am addicted to butterbreze- they’re my crack. One more train ride and I was in the little town of Kempten, down south. My purpose for the trip was a concert, but first I had to get to my hotel near the concert venue. Both locations were a little bit more than a kilometer away from the train station, so I went on foot. This allowed me the opportunity to laugh heartily at this store:

Apparently, the idea of “US Streetwear” here is synonymous with gangster rap- it was sneakers, sweats, giant hats, and gold bling. The entire store was unintentionally hilarious.

My hotel was roughly 150 or so meters from the concert venue, and both were across the street from a shopping mall- this gave me the opportunity to get some food before the show and to people-watch, which is always fun. The hotel, The Hotel Am Forum, is a nice place with a very friendly staff. When they saw me struggling with the German, they immediately switched to very good English. The rooms were clean and well maintained, and the hotel had a nifty floor structure- you go up a spiral staircase to get to your room:

But all of this is set-up for the reason I went to Kempten in the first place. I was there to attend a VNV Nation concert at The bigBOX Allgäu. I was originally not sure why they chose Kempten instead of, say, Munich for the show. However, the bigBOX turned out to be a pretty excellent concert venue. The bigBOX has an upstairs for super huge events, and a downstairs area for smaller shows like this one.

When I got to the bigBOX, a question I didn’t even know I had was answered right away- what do a few hundred concert-goers do with their coats during the show? In restaurants here, it’s not uncommon to have coat racks or hooks near your table for you to hang up your coat while you dine. In a place like the bigBox? There’s a garderobe (wardrobe) with an attendant- for one Euro, they will hold your coat and give you a numbered chit to retrieve it after the show. This is a brilliant and elegant solution- I had assumed I’d just have to hold onto my coat for the entire show, and I’m glad I was wrong.

I’ll conclude this post with three pictures from the show. VNV Nation puts on a great live show. They truly enjoy playing for their fans, and it shows. I’ve seen them about half a dozen times, but all the other shows were in Florida. This is more or less what they look like.