lupestripe (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lupestripe) wrote2008-11-25 11:01 pm
lupestripe) wrote2008-11-25 11:01 pm
Das Tier In Der Nacht...
I have always loved Germany, which is why I had great fun spending my birthday there last week.
There is also something very incidental about November 19 and seeing great bands. In 2006 I saw Muse at Newcastle and now this year, I saw Oomph! at Frankfurt Baschkapp. This was a small venue (perhaps 2,500 capacity) in a suburb of Frankfurt. It looked like a pub going into it but it soon opened out into a fantastic hall. Oomph! are one of my favourite ever bands so to see them in such an intimate venue (as well as to touch the lead singer Dero when he stage-dived on top of me and also pick up a drumstick as a souvenir) was a fantastic privilege.
The two support acts were rather good although the first one - Mina Harker - was considerably better than All Ends. The latter sang in English and I have this big snobbery thing about not wanting to hear my own language when in a non-Anglophone country. Also the music wasn't as good - they didn't really bring much new to the table whereas Mina (who sang in German) was something a little different to what I usually get to listen to in te UK.
Oomph! meanwhile were fantastic. Dero is a fantastic showman who had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout. I admit that there wasn't as much pogoing as I would have liked but the atmosphere was electric. I admit that I got many dodgy looks from the crowd for my singing - whether it was because it was so bad or because I was singing in German with an English accent I don't know. Still, great fun and even Wolfie was singing along!!
Wolfie and I gobbled many sausages whilst we were in Germany too. Not in a peverse way of course (what were you thinking?!) but the deliciousness of German Bockwurst tempted me out of my three year vegetarian stint. I guess Portugal back in June did this for me when I ate fish again for the first time - I just hate missing out on experiences - but the number of sausages we ate (particularly from a particular kiosk at the railway station) was ridiculous. Delicious with tomato sauce, we even forgot about the deliciousness of that other German creation - chips with ketchup and mayonnaise!! All rather sad.
The Thursday was my actual birthday and I must again thank everyone who sent me their wishes. It was a fantastic (albeit rainy) day in which I got a rare opportunity to relax and have a lie-in before spending the day with my wolf. We walked around Frankfurt for a bit, visiting the tacky sex area which looked like a poor man's Piccadilly Circus what with all the lights. We soon made our way out of there and into town were Wolfie picked up an ice scraper for his car that had a polar bear plush wrapped around it.
We also took in the Christmas Market in the heart of the old town but we were sadly a week too late and they were merely constructing the delightful wooden stalls. Still, we saw the gargantuan Christmas tree and it fuelled my desire to one day go to a traditional German Weihnachtsmarkt.
We also sampled some local Frankfurter delacies including Ebelwei (an apple wine cider concoction) and Handkase mit Musik. This is a soft cheese, drowned in olive oil, pickled and coated in onions. The Handkase bit is obvious and the music comes from your backside after eating it - a delightful delicacy. We also embibed a few local pils (like all German beer, it was most excellent) in a pub amidst the dulcet tones of, erm, Scousers (they get everywhere, don't they?!).
Our evening plans were scuppered because of the rain. We had intended to go and hit the gay bars but upon arriving at the gay district, we found out that there was only one bar there and all the other bars were elsewhere. We were also to find out that one of the streets was exceedingly rough and overrun with gangsters. We were getting soaked by this stage so instead of trying to find a traditional German hostelry to get dinner, we ended up nipping into the closest bar we could find.
This happened to be a gay bar run by a 50 year old bloke with a dodgy beard who was so enamoured with me that he invited me back to his house to cook me dinner. I didn't see the hidden subtext until Wolfie pointed it out later on. Still, he gave us free Ebelwei after I enquired as to what it was and after saying I would like to try it. He also gave us a tour of the gay district of Frankfurt and told us where to go and what to see.
Upon seeing my collar and with Wolfie conveniently in the toilet, he enquired as to "der Meister und Sklave" nature of our relationship. It was at this point that Wolfie came out of the toilet and proceeded to piss himself laughing. I told him about furry but he wasn't really sure what it was before we all got talking to the most archetypal blonde German gay guy you would ever see - who was rather pleasant as well. However, he had to go to Bingo, we had to go and get something to eat and so we bid everyone farewell.
A music quiz was avoided in that place but we are most welcome to come back, in fact he insisted on it. We then headed to Fraggles, a local eatery that served good steak (again, bang goes my vegetarianism) where we got to try some delicious local soup.
The day after was Friday and again we walked through the city, investigating the cathedral, walking down the Main river and doing loads of other touristy things. I also bought a few acoutrements from a sex shop that was blazenly in the middle of a main shopping mall (I love the continental attitude to sex rather than the seedy undertones it carries here) that was designed in a very weird yet elegant way.
We also discovered a tour company that a brother of mine had set up called Lupe Reisen. I may sue him for royalties - and why choose CYRPUS of all destinations?!
Apart from that, we headed home through a snowstorm and thought that our plane wouldn't take off. But take off it did, we arrived back in Manchester and the first things we saw were a fist fight, a beggar being arrested and a dude trying to start a fight with a bouncer.
It was good to be back home.
There is also something very incidental about November 19 and seeing great bands. In 2006 I saw Muse at Newcastle and now this year, I saw Oomph! at Frankfurt Baschkapp. This was a small venue (perhaps 2,500 capacity) in a suburb of Frankfurt. It looked like a pub going into it but it soon opened out into a fantastic hall. Oomph! are one of my favourite ever bands so to see them in such an intimate venue (as well as to touch the lead singer Dero when he stage-dived on top of me and also pick up a drumstick as a souvenir) was a fantastic privilege.
The two support acts were rather good although the first one - Mina Harker - was considerably better than All Ends. The latter sang in English and I have this big snobbery thing about not wanting to hear my own language when in a non-Anglophone country. Also the music wasn't as good - they didn't really bring much new to the table whereas Mina (who sang in German) was something a little different to what I usually get to listen to in te UK.
Oomph! meanwhile were fantastic. Dero is a fantastic showman who had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout. I admit that there wasn't as much pogoing as I would have liked but the atmosphere was electric. I admit that I got many dodgy looks from the crowd for my singing - whether it was because it was so bad or because I was singing in German with an English accent I don't know. Still, great fun and even Wolfie was singing along!!
Wolfie and I gobbled many sausages whilst we were in Germany too. Not in a peverse way of course (what were you thinking?!) but the deliciousness of German Bockwurst tempted me out of my three year vegetarian stint. I guess Portugal back in June did this for me when I ate fish again for the first time - I just hate missing out on experiences - but the number of sausages we ate (particularly from a particular kiosk at the railway station) was ridiculous. Delicious with tomato sauce, we even forgot about the deliciousness of that other German creation - chips with ketchup and mayonnaise!! All rather sad.
The Thursday was my actual birthday and I must again thank everyone who sent me their wishes. It was a fantastic (albeit rainy) day in which I got a rare opportunity to relax and have a lie-in before spending the day with my wolf. We walked around Frankfurt for a bit, visiting the tacky sex area which looked like a poor man's Piccadilly Circus what with all the lights. We soon made our way out of there and into town were Wolfie picked up an ice scraper for his car that had a polar bear plush wrapped around it.
We also took in the Christmas Market in the heart of the old town but we were sadly a week too late and they were merely constructing the delightful wooden stalls. Still, we saw the gargantuan Christmas tree and it fuelled my desire to one day go to a traditional German Weihnachtsmarkt.
We also sampled some local Frankfurter delacies including Ebelwei (an apple wine cider concoction) and Handkase mit Musik. This is a soft cheese, drowned in olive oil, pickled and coated in onions. The Handkase bit is obvious and the music comes from your backside after eating it - a delightful delicacy. We also embibed a few local pils (like all German beer, it was most excellent) in a pub amidst the dulcet tones of, erm, Scousers (they get everywhere, don't they?!).
Our evening plans were scuppered because of the rain. We had intended to go and hit the gay bars but upon arriving at the gay district, we found out that there was only one bar there and all the other bars were elsewhere. We were also to find out that one of the streets was exceedingly rough and overrun with gangsters. We were getting soaked by this stage so instead of trying to find a traditional German hostelry to get dinner, we ended up nipping into the closest bar we could find.
This happened to be a gay bar run by a 50 year old bloke with a dodgy beard who was so enamoured with me that he invited me back to his house to cook me dinner. I didn't see the hidden subtext until Wolfie pointed it out later on. Still, he gave us free Ebelwei after I enquired as to what it was and after saying I would like to try it. He also gave us a tour of the gay district of Frankfurt and told us where to go and what to see.
Upon seeing my collar and with Wolfie conveniently in the toilet, he enquired as to "der Meister und Sklave" nature of our relationship. It was at this point that Wolfie came out of the toilet and proceeded to piss himself laughing. I told him about furry but he wasn't really sure what it was before we all got talking to the most archetypal blonde German gay guy you would ever see - who was rather pleasant as well. However, he had to go to Bingo, we had to go and get something to eat and so we bid everyone farewell.
A music quiz was avoided in that place but we are most welcome to come back, in fact he insisted on it. We then headed to Fraggles, a local eatery that served good steak (again, bang goes my vegetarianism) where we got to try some delicious local soup.
The day after was Friday and again we walked through the city, investigating the cathedral, walking down the Main river and doing loads of other touristy things. I also bought a few acoutrements from a sex shop that was blazenly in the middle of a main shopping mall (I love the continental attitude to sex rather than the seedy undertones it carries here) that was designed in a very weird yet elegant way.
We also discovered a tour company that a brother of mine had set up called Lupe Reisen. I may sue him for royalties - and why choose CYRPUS of all destinations?!
Apart from that, we headed home through a snowstorm and thought that our plane wouldn't take off. But take off it did, we arrived back in Manchester and the first things we saw were a fist fight, a beggar being arrested and a dude trying to start a fight with a bouncer.
It was good to be back home.
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Hmm, from the sounds of that, that guy sounds rather creepy, actually. o.o I hope that's just my impression...
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So, just to be sure, *did* he have any ulterior motives? It's not really clear to me anymore now...
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I am really pleased that you had a nice time :) I have never visited anywhere in Europe, sadly.
I hope all is good with you.
Take care.
Ian
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You almost made milk come out of my nose. :P Great to know you had a cool birthday celebration, Germany rocks! *Hugs*
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Germany and Finland are my two favourite countries and I am hoping to move out there one day. Am not sure where yet but my birthday only emphasised how much I prefer Europe to the UK. It was a very good day, made extra special by spending it with my Wolfie :)
P.S. The sausages were delicious, I couldn't wait to get them shoved down the back of my throat...