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EF 23 - Ancient Egypt
Aug. 25th, 2017 11:40 pmLast week we made the now annual pilgrimage to Berlin for Eurofurence. Post-Brexit I always feel a little sad arriving in a city that really feels like home, and so it proved once again, with me only returning more determined to move there before the sands of time drain away. Regardless of the contrasting emotions, however, both Wolfie and I had an excellent time at the Estrel and we are undoubtedly going to return next year, even if the con has become increasingly pricey due to the lamentable poor exchange rate.
We shared a room with four others - Arc, Draken and Taneli from the local area and a New Zealander called Cheetor whom we had never met before. He was really lovely and although I had a few reservations going into the con about the sharing arrangement, it all worked out rather well. I did find it a little restrictive regarding kink-related things, but it wasn't too bad, and we were able to have a very successful beer tasting party on the Wednesday night. Indeed, this was pretty much the first room party I had ever organized at a con and with around twenty people in attendance, it was quite the success. I had asked people to bring two bottles of a local brew, which was a little misunderstood as many just brought one bottle of a number of different beers. This meant there wasn't an awful lot to go around, but we did get to try 31 tipples of varying styles, with British, Dutch, German and Polish beers all in attendance. Indeed it was a good way to sample a large range of beers from places not overly accessable to us, and while a good 50% of our contingent were from the Yorkshire and Lancashire areas, it was great showcasing some local brews to our international friends. It was definitely a success, with the event lasting four hours in the end, and we are definitely going to repeat it next year.
By my own admission, I probably focused more on sex and kink at this con than any other I have attended. I have found a rather nice fetish group on Telegram and since JFTW I have become far more open to new experiences. This has broadened my horizons and has enabled me to introduce other people into our play. I won't name names, but we arranged a number of events beforehand while we even got a few people back to our room interested in experiencing a range of the implements we had brought. This turned out to be quite advantageous, not to mention fun, meaning that I got to experience an awful lot. In addition to this was our usual trip to the fetish club Qualgeist. We went for the main Animal Farm event on the Friday and this time a number of our friends joined us. This resulted in Wolfie demonstrating a range of equipment to them, meaning there was little time for myself, which was somewhat frustrating. Still, I did get to experience an isolation box and I also got the opportunity to meet some new people in the nice bar area, so it wasn't all bad. Still, I would have liked a little more I guess. Compounded by this was our fetish shop tour the day before - where we spent six hours trailing around Berlin shopping for a variety of gear. I kinda went a bit mad and splurged €750 on fetish stuff, although some of it I had been wanting for quite a while. The guys at Blackstyle now know me by sight, while it was great popping into McHurt once again. Mr B I had never visited before, while Sling King, where we had got our sling, was a nice place to see too. After the shopping, we headed down to the main Turkish area of the city for food, with us having delicious donner kebabs in the traditional style. Due to the Gastarbeiter, Berlin has the greatest concentration of Turks outside of Turkey, so this was definitely worth experiencing.
Due to all the kink, I didn't get an awful lot of time to fursuit, regrettably only doing it on the final day just as we were about to leave. This was a shame but I was so busy that I barely had time. A fair number of furs only really know me by my suit so it was heartwarming to get so many hugs, pictures and social time with people in suit. It was great meeting one of my friends from the Philippines again after so many years, along with putting various names to twitter avatars. In the end, I only got to suit for about three hours at the con - a similar amount to the US cons in all honesty - which is making me question why I go to all the hassle of bringing the suit.
Aside from this, we just chilled around the con really, chatting to people, reacquainting ourselves with old friends and making new ones. I skipped the main rubber gear party in favour of chatting with Ralesk for a few hours, not having spoken to him properly for years. Meanwhile, I also bid successfully for a nice fetish piece of artwork from EosFoxx, which is now hanging pride of place in our dungeon. The line to claim this was impenetrably long, but it was certainly worth it. I didn't make any of the panels or events outside of Motorfurs, which was good to wander around but far too crowded and loud for my liking. The cars on display were awesome though and I imagine it would have been a huge joy for petrolheads.
Tropical Islands on the Wednesday was its usual mirth, being around a group of friends at a waterpark always is. We took the piss out of a few of the more clingy fet people, while enjyoing the rapids and the pool, where we had a number of inflatables. It was a very chill day and although it perhaps went on an hour longer than it needed to, it was enjoyable. Whether I go back next year or not I don't know - I've kinda done it now and there are still things I have yet to see in Berlin. One of those things we did get to see though - Bernauer Straße - which is the street bisected by the Berlin Wall. There is a row of rusted metal poles detailing the lineage of the wall along with huge photographs on the sides of buildings highlighting what the place looked like between 1961 and 1989. One of the main churches here was destroyed in the mid-Eighties and has since been replaced by a sweeping curved wooden structure, which looks really nice, while there were a number of signs highlighting life on the wall as well as some of the buildings that were reacquistioned as the wall literally went through them. The details of the people whose lives were affected - residents on this very street - added a personal touch to things while the closing of the U-Bahn station was very interesting too. We were down here as the Berlin BrewDog was just around the corner, and it was great seeing this part of history before enjoying a nice beer.
So all in all an excellent con, meeting loads of friends and making new ones. It's always the highlight of the year and next year it doesn't clash with the Leeds Meet, which is very useful. There were a few problems in our absence last weekend from which we have learned lessons, but it's always handy that we can attend. Fortunately, there are no such worries for 2018 and hopefully we'll be back, if not living there by then.
We shared a room with four others - Arc, Draken and Taneli from the local area and a New Zealander called Cheetor whom we had never met before. He was really lovely and although I had a few reservations going into the con about the sharing arrangement, it all worked out rather well. I did find it a little restrictive regarding kink-related things, but it wasn't too bad, and we were able to have a very successful beer tasting party on the Wednesday night. Indeed, this was pretty much the first room party I had ever organized at a con and with around twenty people in attendance, it was quite the success. I had asked people to bring two bottles of a local brew, which was a little misunderstood as many just brought one bottle of a number of different beers. This meant there wasn't an awful lot to go around, but we did get to try 31 tipples of varying styles, with British, Dutch, German and Polish beers all in attendance. Indeed it was a good way to sample a large range of beers from places not overly accessable to us, and while a good 50% of our contingent were from the Yorkshire and Lancashire areas, it was great showcasing some local brews to our international friends. It was definitely a success, with the event lasting four hours in the end, and we are definitely going to repeat it next year.
By my own admission, I probably focused more on sex and kink at this con than any other I have attended. I have found a rather nice fetish group on Telegram and since JFTW I have become far more open to new experiences. This has broadened my horizons and has enabled me to introduce other people into our play. I won't name names, but we arranged a number of events beforehand while we even got a few people back to our room interested in experiencing a range of the implements we had brought. This turned out to be quite advantageous, not to mention fun, meaning that I got to experience an awful lot. In addition to this was our usual trip to the fetish club Qualgeist. We went for the main Animal Farm event on the Friday and this time a number of our friends joined us. This resulted in Wolfie demonstrating a range of equipment to them, meaning there was little time for myself, which was somewhat frustrating. Still, I did get to experience an isolation box and I also got the opportunity to meet some new people in the nice bar area, so it wasn't all bad. Still, I would have liked a little more I guess. Compounded by this was our fetish shop tour the day before - where we spent six hours trailing around Berlin shopping for a variety of gear. I kinda went a bit mad and splurged €750 on fetish stuff, although some of it I had been wanting for quite a while. The guys at Blackstyle now know me by sight, while it was great popping into McHurt once again. Mr B I had never visited before, while Sling King, where we had got our sling, was a nice place to see too. After the shopping, we headed down to the main Turkish area of the city for food, with us having delicious donner kebabs in the traditional style. Due to the Gastarbeiter, Berlin has the greatest concentration of Turks outside of Turkey, so this was definitely worth experiencing.
Due to all the kink, I didn't get an awful lot of time to fursuit, regrettably only doing it on the final day just as we were about to leave. This was a shame but I was so busy that I barely had time. A fair number of furs only really know me by my suit so it was heartwarming to get so many hugs, pictures and social time with people in suit. It was great meeting one of my friends from the Philippines again after so many years, along with putting various names to twitter avatars. In the end, I only got to suit for about three hours at the con - a similar amount to the US cons in all honesty - which is making me question why I go to all the hassle of bringing the suit.
Aside from this, we just chilled around the con really, chatting to people, reacquainting ourselves with old friends and making new ones. I skipped the main rubber gear party in favour of chatting with Ralesk for a few hours, not having spoken to him properly for years. Meanwhile, I also bid successfully for a nice fetish piece of artwork from EosFoxx, which is now hanging pride of place in our dungeon. The line to claim this was impenetrably long, but it was certainly worth it. I didn't make any of the panels or events outside of Motorfurs, which was good to wander around but far too crowded and loud for my liking. The cars on display were awesome though and I imagine it would have been a huge joy for petrolheads.
Tropical Islands on the Wednesday was its usual mirth, being around a group of friends at a waterpark always is. We took the piss out of a few of the more clingy fet people, while enjyoing the rapids and the pool, where we had a number of inflatables. It was a very chill day and although it perhaps went on an hour longer than it needed to, it was enjoyable. Whether I go back next year or not I don't know - I've kinda done it now and there are still things I have yet to see in Berlin. One of those things we did get to see though - Bernauer Straße - which is the street bisected by the Berlin Wall. There is a row of rusted metal poles detailing the lineage of the wall along with huge photographs on the sides of buildings highlighting what the place looked like between 1961 and 1989. One of the main churches here was destroyed in the mid-Eighties and has since been replaced by a sweeping curved wooden structure, which looks really nice, while there were a number of signs highlighting life on the wall as well as some of the buildings that were reacquistioned as the wall literally went through them. The details of the people whose lives were affected - residents on this very street - added a personal touch to things while the closing of the U-Bahn station was very interesting too. We were down here as the Berlin BrewDog was just around the corner, and it was great seeing this part of history before enjoying a nice beer.
So all in all an excellent con, meeting loads of friends and making new ones. It's always the highlight of the year and next year it doesn't clash with the Leeds Meet, which is very useful. There were a few problems in our absence last weekend from which we have learned lessons, but it's always handy that we can attend. Fortunately, there are no such worries for 2018 and hopefully we'll be back, if not living there by then.
