Arriving in Switzerland (English & Deutsch)

English

On our 2nd day the sun had to fight with the fog, while we didn't take the short cut, but the long way along the lake's shore. In Switzerland all bicycle and walking paths are well signposted, but we were not brave enought to cycle uphill to St. Gallen as there are trains running, taking bicycles as well. That was a wise decision, as I would have needed several days to push my bike up the mountains, although the people living there find it easy! In the mountains the sun had already arrived. St. Gallen itself has plenty of slopes and hills and we drove over a huge bridge to get to our relatives the easy way, although it was still exhausting. I really should do more sports at home to get fit!

Deutsch

Am 2. Tag kämpfte die Sonne noch recht lange mit dem Nebel während wir nicht die Abkürzung, sondern den langen Weg am See entlang fuhren. In der Schweiz sind Rad- und Wanderwege top ausgeschildert. Trotzdem trauten wir uns nicht, nach St. Gallen hoch zu fahren, sondern nahmen den "Velozug". Das war eine weise Entscheidung, denn ich hätte sicherlich Tage gebraucht, um mein Rad dort hochzuschieben, obwohl die Leute dort die Steigungen locker meistern. In den Bergen war die Sonne schon da. St. Gallen selbst ist recht hügelig mit steilen Straßen und wir nahmen den Weg über eine riesige Brücke um relativ einfach zu unseren Verwandten zu kommen. Das war anstrengend genug. Ich sollte wohl doch mehr Sport treiben um fit zu werden.

Local train that takes also biycyles up the hill!

That is the bridge we crossed with our bikes - we left on a different one, so I could take the picture.

View from our guest room in St. Gallen.

Cycling to Austria (English & Deutsch)

English

On Sunday we started our tour via Lindau, Bregenz and Lustenau (Austria) to Hoechst. It's a nice way along the lake and there are plenty of different views. In Lindau we came across a harp concert on the street - a lovely surprise for me! It was a harp player from Ecuador. As we visited Lindau before, we moved straight on after lunch. From there it wasn't far till the Austrian border and as we had also visited the town before, we just made a little rest at the promenade.
Lustenau was a little bit out of the way - but it was a nice chance to visit a friend I had not seen for some years. Our accommodation was in the next town, right beside the border to Switzerland.

Deutsch

 Am Sonntag starteten wir über Lindau, Bregenz und Lustenau nach Höchst. Die Strecke am See entlang ist angenehm zu fahren und es gibt immer neue Ausblicke. In Lindau gab es ein Harfenkonzert auf der Straße - eine nette Überraschung für mich. Es war ein Harfenspieler aus Ecuador. Da wir Lindau schon kannten, fuhren wir nach unserem Picknick gleich weiter. Von dort ist es nicht weit bis zur Grenze nach Östereich und auch dort machten wir nur eine Pause an der Promenade, da wir die Stadt schon öfter besucht haben.
Lustenau lag nicht direkt am Weg - dort haben wir eine Freundin besucht, die ich schon länger nicht gesehen hatte. Unsere Unterkunft war im nächsten Ort - direkt an der Schweizer Grenze.

Holidays! Off it goes (English & Deutsch)

Englisch

This year we travelled by train with our bicycles to Friedrichshafen to cycle with them around the lake. We left the autumn weather behind and arrived at the Lake of Constance with fantastic late summer weather. We are lucky to have lovingly relatives in this famous town of Zeppelins and love to visit them.

Deutsch
 
Dieses Jahr fuhren wir mit unseren Rädern mit dem Zug nach Friedrichshafen, um mit ihnen um den See zu radeln. Wir fuhren im Herbst los - und kamen bei schönstem Spätsommerwetter am Bodensee an. Wir haben zum Glück ganz liebe Verwandte in der Stadt der Zeppeline und besuchen sie gerne.

My Wacken Open Air - World Famous Heavy Metal Festival

Those who regularly read my blog might be surprised to read about such an event and to tell the truth - I'm not a hard core heavy metal fan. In my teenage years I loved the rock of the 70s - and some of theses bands are still around and they do play at Wacken, although not all of them in the same year. This year Saxon were there.

That would not have got me to the tiny village of Wacken, especially as the tickets usually are sold out within 24 hours - a year before the event! My visit was not just for fun, but to work as crew for Dunkelschön and there wasn't much time for myself on the two days we spent there. Still - it was an unforgetable adventure and I'm full of gratitude that I could have been there. You need to go there to understand - at least I can give you some facts.

During the past 25 years W:O:A has grown from a 1-stage on a field festival to a huge event with 75000 visitors, most of them staying in the camp sites, with 8 stages and more than 130 bands playing on 4 days!

The blue fields are all camp grounds!

We already arrived on Wednesday, although the real festival starts on Thursday. Dunkelschön played on Wednesday and Thursday on the Wackinger Stage in the Wacken Village, which is a kind of medieval market beside the "Infield", where the loud bands play on the two largest main stages.

Beside the Artist catering was a huge tent where an International band contest took place. The bands playing there had won band contests in their countries and got the performance at Wacken as prize. They had to sleep in one of the camp sites - but it was the adventure of their lifes! I didn't see any of them, but there's a film about Wacken at the cinemas where I learned all the things I missed when I was there. 

The band contest tent by night.

One of my jobs was checking in at the hotel, in a town 50 km away. Have you ever checked in 10 persons before check in time? Although I only needed the keys without going into the rooms it almost took 1 hour - thanks to the very friendly staff. Otherwise I would have lost more time, while I was rather impatient to get to the festival ground.

The bands staying at the hotel got an artist shuttle from the festival and back - so they could celebrate and enjoy their time.

First I had to get there and as I was "only" crew, my car hat to stay far from the stages and I got some nice impressions of the camp sites on my way.

 While I had got my wristband at the artist check in, the 75000 visitors had to queue to change their tickets for wrist bands.

Finally I found my way to the backstage - thanks to very friendly securities! Never before have I met securities who were relaxed and helpful!

With the band I went to the artist catering which was a little Wacken paradies with almost everything with Wacken printed or shaped on it.

Every artist got a warm meal a day and as much coffee, cold drinks (without alcohol) and ice cream as we had time to drink/eat. In the evenings there were also sandwiches and wraps to eat. Actually I was too excited to eat much, but had several ice creams.

Next the band got their instruments behind the stage and then got dressed in one of the tents you see above. While the stage got hidden by a Wacken curtain, Dunkelschön got ready on stage.

As there were no merchandise stalls, I had time to watch my friends from the crowd and it was great to see the metal heads rocking to medieval rock music. 

After the concert I had sold CDs in front of the stage out of a chest.

Backstage I met many bands I know from other medieval festivals or concerts, like Pampatut, Fiddler's Green, Mr. Hurley & die Pulveraffen, Saor Patrol, Faun and Vogelschrey.

It was midnight by the time we were taken to the hotel and all too tired to have a party at the bar. Festivals are exhausting!

After a common breakfast we had a band meeting before the shuttle took us back to "HolyWacken". Although stage time was later than on Wednesday, the band was even more busy. First they had a "Meet & Greet" for their fans - beside Saxon giving autographs to their fans. 

This was followed by several interviews in the press tent while the first bands were playing on the large stages.

There was just enough time for some food and back to routine: instruments behind the stage - onto the stage and POWER! The village was packed with people, although there were bands playing at other stages as well. There was also one of the top German TV stations (ZDF) ready to record Dunkelschön's performance.

This time I also had my appearance on stage - to take a remembrance photo of the band with the audience. Wow - that was special!

The setting sun gave the stage a wonderful glow and the light show was much more effective - just perfect for a fantastic show!

This time people were queueing up to buy CDs. Never before have I been this busy after a concert - it reminded me a little bit of my first job in a record shop - at Xmas time. 

This evening we had a party in the backstage tent until the shuttle took us back to the hotel.

Thank you Wacken for a fantastic time!

If you want to see more of my wacken photos click here

There are countless videos at YouTube, but this is my favorite. It shows many impressions of this year's festival. Enjoy!

Tickets for 2015 are already sold out - but if you're interested in this festival

Have a look at their HP