Day 26 to 31

Day 26:

London-

Ferry days are usually fun days. You have to wake up early to make your boat, but then you get to chill, or get some sleep, stare at the water, eat some food, etc. 

Today was. It as fun as usual. We had to be diverted to the main building to go through a queue to get our passports/paper checked. Horribly, a bus got in before us, and  extended the time we had to wait, and on top of that, they had to do some weird extra paperwork, and made us sit on the side for a half hour while nobody did anything. They then called us up one by one to stamp out passports and finally send us on our way. By the time they let us go, we had missed our ferry. 

So we had to wait an extra hour for the next ferry. The ride itself was pleasant, and the fish and chips were good, but expensive. 

Leaving the ferry in the other side, we were greeted by the glorious cliffs of Dover, and some nice countryside leading into London. Mike had to get used to driving on the left side of the road, despite our steering wheel being on the left side of the vehicle. 

London streets are very narrow, and quite confusing, and only exacerbated by the fact that you have to remember to stay on the left side of the road. 

We pulled up to the venue and immediately loaded in. Doors had already opened, so we just stuffed our gear wherever we could and then sat down in the backstage. 

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The crowd was incredibly excited, and we played phenomenally. Everyone of us rocked out hard, and we fed off the immense energy of the crowd. 

After we played Mike got us felafel/kebabs, and then we packed up and headed for the hostel. 

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Somehow the wrong address got put into the gps, and we ended up driving halfway across London before realizing the address we needed to get to was actually only a couple blocks from the venue. 

When we finally arrived at the hostel, it was confusing as to how to actually get in. Ever briskly we realized the reception was IN the bar next door. So I dawned my earplugs and we ventured inside. After a couple minutes of annoying dance-pop, and watching some people dance crappily, we made our way up to the room. 

The room was actually nice, but noticing the posters and ads on the walls, it seems like this specific chain of hostels is aimed towards backpackers that want to post up and get s**tfaced and party all night. We, in fact, did not want to. So we had to endure the thumping of the dance party below till we eventually passed out. 

Day 27:

Oostende-

Early morning again, since we have to get on another ferry back into France. There were showers there, but I ended up having to sink-shower myself, since the showers had only one button (a slow release timed button like those on sinks at truck stops) and no temperature control...so after a few seconds of cold water, the shower got increasingly hot the more it stayed on, until it got to a lovely scalding skin melting temp, and I had to exit since now I was simply showered in sweat trying to operate the shower. 

When we got to the passport check before boarding the ferry, we were greeted by an extremely long line of cars. All this was most likely due to the recent events in Nice, and they were taking extreme precautions with border checks. 

When we finally got through the passport check, we had, once again, missed our ferry, but luckily, another was leaving at almost the exact same time, so we were sent to board that one. 

Once off the ferry, the traffic was fairly smooth moving, until we got to the border of France again. The traffic slowed to a crawl at the border, and we saw that they had actually closed off the highway, forcing all traffic to divert to a place checkpoint, again, probably due to Nice earlier that week. 

Once in Belgium, we were sailing quickly to Oostende. 

The next couple days we will be accompanied by our friends Maudlin. We're playing at what I think is some sort of community center. The show got moved last minute from another venue for reasons I'm not sure of, but our friend Davy figured everything out for us. 

The stage was a nice size, but had a giant load-bearing column in the center in front of the stage, so we opted to play on the floor. Unfortunately, the room was not well ventilated, and before the show they mopped the floors, and due to high humidity, they never dried. So by the end of the show, the floor was a sticky, soupy mess, and was very slippery. 

The show itself was pretty cool. A good amount of people showed up, and they were pretty excited. 

Afterwards we stayed at Davys' house. Last time we stayed there, most of the dudes had to sleep on the garage floor, and I slept upstairs on a couch/bed in a room covered in drywall powder. This time, more work was done on the house, and there were two complete rooms available for us to stay in. 

Day 28:

Bocholt-

Davy had breakfast ready for us when we woke up, and it had been a long time since any of us had any eggs, so we were extremely happy and grateful. 

Today will be a day of feasting. We'll play a show in Bocholt, yes, but also visit 2 other houses for meals. The show itself was okay, but the surrounding experience of the day was phenomenal. 

We first travel to Gent to our friend Tims' house. He has a spread of cheese, bread, fruit, and veggies, and we sword fight with his son, and most of us lose. 

After that we travel to the house of the promoter for the show, and we have pasta and lasagna, and various other things. 

The show is at another community-like center, but is a little more snazzy than the one in Oostende. The love room is pretty big, and the stage is already setup for the first band, with room behind their equipment to setup our stuff. The backstage has fruit and drinks, and we apparently have full reign of the bar, so dudes take beers, we make coffee, eat chips/peanuts, and there's also some fruit juices and red bulls. 

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After the show we get taken to what seemed like the middle of nowhere, but that was only because it was dark. We were actually on a horse farm next to a school with a big playground. 

The rooms we were staying in were little cabins on the side of one of the horse enclosures. They were quaint and comfortable, and we got a nice nights sleep. 

Day 29:

Utrecht-

In the morning when we were able to see more of our surrounding, there were some people riding horses, and there was a pen with some goats, a pony, and a big piggy. The bathrooms and shower were also really nice, but you had to walk to the other end of the campus to get to them. 

We made our way back to the promoters house for breakfast. There his wife prepared eggs, toast, sandwiches, bacon, fruits and coffee for us. 

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Off to Utrecht, we ended up arriving very early, so while others headed out to explore, Davy and Ken from Maudlin and I chilled under an umbrella and layer down. Matt called his mom, and Armine slept in the van. 

When the promoter finally arrived, we loaded in and started setting up the stage. Soon after sound check, we had a large spread of varied Chinese foods.

The show was well attended, and folks looked excited. 

We're sleeping tonight in the same bed and breakfast we stayed in last time in Utrecht. It's a cute little cottage-type house. Luckily this year we brought the fan in, since air movement in there was almost nil. 

Day 30:

Koblenz-

The purveyors of the b&b made is a big breakfast, and I learned that jimmies (or sprinkles if you love outside of Philadelphia) are not used as they are in the US, as toppings for ice cream, but rather a topping for use on bread along with butter or another spread. 

We also said goodbye the the Maudlin dudes, Davy and Ken, as they were only with us for those three shows. 

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The next four or five hours to Koblenz is plagued with barely moving traffic, and attempting to find alternate routes via google maps. 

When we finally make it to the venue in Koblenz, we find that the load in area is quite far from the building, so we have to lug the gear up stairs, around a courtyard, down a spiraling flight of stairs, and then into the love area. 

The backstage/sleeping are was upstairs from the live room, and some of the dudes ventured into the kitchen area, and started helping themselves to the food on the counter. We came to find a bit later after sound check that none of the food was cooked yet, but luckily, it was mostly felafel and veggies. 

Once dinner was actually prepared, there was more veggies and felafel, but also some grilled cheese (not the sandwich, a euro-style patty of grilled cheese...delicious), and big German sausages. 

The show wasn't very packed, and the opening band ended up having to cancel due to a members health, but the few that attended were excited.

Day 31:
Leipzig-
A rainy morning in Koblenz. There's no shower, so I end up sink showering and cleaning myself with baby wipes. There's breakfast and coffee waiting for us in the main office area, and then hit the road for Leipzig.

This is the first really rainy day we've had on tour, and it comes as a nice relief from the constant oppressive heat.
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We still hit a bit of traffic, but once in the city, we stopped for vegan tacos on our way to the venue called 'Atacolypse'.