Encore

When I said on April 13th, 2014 that there would be one last blog post, being so late with it was not my intention. But that's how it goes: real life catches up with you quicker than you care for. Soon enough you're back in the everyday work routine

It's unbelievable that the official part of the Tales From Britain tour is over now for two weeks already. Thanks to our dear friend Nicole, we had the chance for a little "encore", since she had invited us to a private party that took place exactly one week after the last show in Frankfurt. More about that later.

For now, let's go back to where I left you with the last post: in Frankfurt.

"The morning after" is always strange. When you wake up after the last show of a tour is over and realize: no need to rush. No need to pack bags and be back on the road because you have to be in the next city on time. There's just that big... emptiness. Which may sound totally dramatic ... but it's in fact just like that. [Note from Stefie: I couldn’t agree more!!]

When you go on such a tour and road trip, you're in a completely different world and mindset. You get into that routine of getting up in the morning, leaving the hotel after a not-too-late breakfast, getting in the car, going to the next city, checking into the next hotel, getting ready for the show, back to the hotel after the show, editing photos, writing blog posts (if you're not too tired), turning out the light way too late, getting up the next morning after not enough sleep, being back on the road on time, writing blog posts in the car (if you were too tired the night before) and so on and so forth. And then after the last show... nothing. All you have to do is pack up, put everything into the car and head home. The worst part of such a trip.

We wanted to delay that part for a bit and since the weather was so very nice, we walked over to the Zeil again (main shopping street), strolled up and down without any real intention of buying anything (except for a few postcards), took some rather uninspired photos along the way, and ended up at Spice Kitchen again. Been here the day before for that delicious Pink Lady drink (see blog post from April 13, 2014). Today we wanted to have lunch here though. Their Asian food is very very good. We both chose "Wok-fried garlic, chili, mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, onions, green beans, Thai basil, bamboo shoots and zucchini in a spicy sauce with jasmine rice" and chicken. So good!!

Went back to the car after the meal. Yes we could've stayed longer. But even though you hate to go home, in the end you don't want to hang out at that last destination for all too long either.

But before we could actually get the car out of the parking garage, there was one last "where is my XY" panic. Those who have read this blog from the start, may or may not remember, that there was some regular searching for stuff chaos here and there. I'm the chaos queen who keeps losing things, Stefie's usually the one finding them. This time however, I managed to find it on my own. The parking ticket, that is. Yay for me!

But before I could actually find it, this conversation went down:

S: Do you have the parking ticket?

H: Um... no. Should I?

S: Gave it to you.

H: You sure?

S: Pretty much.

H searching purse, wallet, jacket and jeans pockets to no avail.

H: I don't have it. Are you sure you gave it to me?

S searching her purse, wallet, jacket and jeans pockets to no avail, actually totally knowing in advance that searching wouldn't make sense, since she probably clearly remembered giving it to me.

S: I don't have it. I'm very sure I handed it to you when we drove into the garage.

H: Do you by any chance remember where I put it?

S: No. Have you checked thoroughly?

AS IF I wouldn't check thoroughly. Tzzzz... Still she now checked my purse & wallet (but spared me the indignity of checking my jeans pockets thank you very much).

S: (giving me the hint of a stink eye): Great. For the loss of a parking ticket we have to pay 30 Euro!

H: -_- (thinking: yeah shoot me now)

All this actually took place before we went to lunch and all during lunch I kept thinking about where I could have put that damn parking ticket, stressing about having to spend 30 unnecessary Euros.

H: There might be a chance it's in the pocket of the grey jeans.

S: And the jeans are where?

H: In my bag.

And the bag was in the luggage room of our hotel. Which meant: unpacking the bag in the luggage room to a certain extent to get out the grey jeans and... THERE was the ticket!!!  :-).

AS IF I wouldn't know where I stash my parking tickets *eyeroll*

Great. Because... it would really have been too bad if we had to pay 30 Euro for the loss of a stupid ticket, right? Went to the garage and put the thing into the machine and it came up with €31. THIRTYONE EURO???? (That's $43 | £26).

Sigh. Okay, we had parked for more than 24 hours in a public garage in downtown Frankfurt. But still. :-/

See? I knew why I didn't want to remember where the ticket was. It would have saved us ONE EURO!!! Damn.

To make things worse, that stupid machine wouldn't even take credit/debit cards so we fed the bitch with the last of our cash. F*ck.

And now there was no reason to stay any longer. Time to get outta here.

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The first two or three days back home it's like your're not really there. Your body is there, but your mind is still on the road... Not quite sure what to do with yourself, you do what must be done: unpacking bags, laundry, putting things back where they belong, watering flowers… more acting likea robot, trying to get used to being at home again.

Thank God there was a full weekend between coming home and going back to work. I remember once coming back from a tour in the late afternoon and then going back to work the very next morning. Hell !!

It was still unreal to go back to the office on Monday, trying to wrap our minds around company-related things. But the money for the next tour needs to be earned so… there’s no way out. The good with the bad: it was a short week. Three and a half days of work, and then – off to Borna (East Germany, about 30 km / 25 miles from Leipzig).

Thanks to both our bosses for being kind enough to allow us to leave early again. We were back on the road at 12:30pm-ish. The Thursday before Easter is usually a heavy traffic day because a lot of people start into a long Easter weekend (we’re off here Friday through Monday) and we were a bit worried if we’d make it on time. Thank God, not many go to the East on such long weekends, but more North (to the coast) or South (to the mountain regions). That’s why traffic wasn’t really a problem and we arrived around 5pm in Borna. Or better… in Altenburg, which is about 20 km/ 15 miles away. That’s where our bed & breakfast – Pension Meyner (very nice place, friendly people!) – that Nicole had booked for us was.

There hadn’t been any time for lunch so we asked the B&B owner for a place to eat. He recommended Gaststätte Zur Leimrute, only a minute by car. The menu looked good, the prices even better, so we placed our order.

It was shortly after 6pm. But then we waited and waited. It wasn’t really crowded in the room where we were sitting, but soon enough we realized there was a different room in the back… and that one seemed to be crowded with lots of people who had ordered their food before us. By now it was 6:30pm and still no food in sight and we had to be in Borna at 7pm. I texted Nicole. Would the show start right on time? Yes it would. Oh dear. So we asked the waiter how long it would take to bring the food since we had to be in Borna at 7pm. He made it clear that this wouldn’t work. It would take another 10 minutes ‘til the food was ready, and we’d need roughly 15-20 minutes by car to get to Borna. Which meant: we had to cancel the order. We offered of course to pay the full price but he said no, just pay your drinks and it’s ok. Maybe you’ll come back another day with more time. What a nice dude! We’d HAVE to find a way to come back.

Paid for the drinks and headed out to our car, and we would’ve broken speed records to get to Borna, if there hadn’t been several drivers in front of us that were obeying the speed limit. We arrived at the Children’s Home at 7pm sharp… and on our last nerve. This had been totally unnecessary. Our only excuse was: we were hungry and there weren’t many opportunities besides that restaurant and we had thought the food would be ready a bit quicker.

Anyway. We arrived perfectly on time and only a couple minutes after we had taken our seats, Lee began with his performance.

His audience on that night wasn’t the usual one, but kids from very young ages to 18 years old, some of them mentally handicapped, but all of them very excited. Doesn’t happen every day that such a talented, cool and funny musician shows up at their place for a concert.

Lee asked them if any of them spoke English… but the answer was no. He replied that he could only sing in English… but he’d do it very slowly then, to which a very understanding boy said “das macht nichts!” (that doesn’t matter) LOL.

So the first song of the evening was the usual first song: Joanna, which seemed to be an instant favorite, followed up by “The A Team” (Ed Sheeran), a song that everyone was familiar with. Especially 18 year old Kevin in front of us who knew all the words and did a nice job, accompanying Lee.

There were more cover songs played than usual, which was a good way to make the kids sing along. Lee would often ask what they wanted to hear and at one point someone threw in the name Rihanna. No problem for Lee. Anyone here who doesn’t know “Umbrella”? No. And soon enough they were all ella-ella-ella-eh-eh-ing along. Even “Help” by the Beatles was part of the setlist… to which only some of us… um… elderly ones in the audience knew the words though. The Gorillaz/Prince of Bel Air mashup was met with the same enthusiasm as the regular show audience (how could it not!) and it was for everyone much too soon when he announced “Smile” as the last song. But there was no way anyone would let him go so quickly. What to play now? Any suggestions? Yeah. “Johanna” was their choice. They pronounced the name the German way, which was cute, and Lee picked up on that and pronounced it in German when he performed the song. Too funny!! There was even a Johanna in the audience and of course Lee dedicated the song to her.

After the official part was over, we all went into the backyard where Nicole and the staff had prepared a cool campfire. We all had a seat on one of the benches that were set up around the fire place and from the moment Lee had taken his seat, he was surrounded by some of the kids who wouldn’t let him go again for the rest of the evening. He’s surely made some new friends in Borna. And all these youngsters couldn’t care less that he’s not fluent in German. They kept babbling and asking him questions while he tried his very best to understand and reply in German. He keeps saying that his German isn’t that good but we can assure you… it’s very good!

As if the concert hadn’t been enough, someone even popped in one of Lee’s CDs into the player, drinks were given out (non-alcoholic for the kids of course, sparkling wine for the rest of us, beer for The Artist), and a grand ol’ time was had by all. This was the most perfect ending of the tour we could have wished for. A very very big thanks again to Nicole for inviting us!!! <3

But even the most wonderful evening has to come to an end. By the time when many of the smaller children were already in their beds (probably… LOL), it was time for Lee to say good-bye. The train that would bring him back to Berlin, from where he’d fly back home to England the next day, was waiting. Together with Nicole we brought him to the station. The farewell was bittersweet. It had not only been a wonderful evening, but wonderful three weeks on the road with 16 amazing shows, but despite all the happiness, it was of course also sad to see him go.

We miss you, Lee! Come back soon!

By the way… we went back the next day to the restaurant where we had cancelled the order 10 minutes before the food was ready. Met up there with Nicole and her family for lunch. We had wanted to meet anyway and Stefie and I said we’d like to go back there. That friendly guy hadn’t asked anything for the cancelled order, he had been nothing but friendly, so we definitely wanted to eat there. And thank God we did, because their food is incredibly yummy, their service is friendly…and he got a generous tip in the end ;-)

Now this could be the end of our reports, the end of the blog… at least for now. But it isn’t. We just can’t let go, you know ;-) This however was the last show report. We want to close, as usual, with some photos. We hope you enjoy them. This time it won’t be as many as usual. It was a private party and not the right time keep clicking away constantly.

Please stay tuned for another post. And we promise it won’t take that long ;-)

(As usual, click to enlarge.)