From the past blog, you can probably guess that Dream Theater were going to get their share of pranks being pulled on them. This was probably the most entertaining concert I had been to. Entertaining in the sense of what was going on besides the music.
In the first song, there's a vocal part for Mike that involves some "growling"...well the video crew made a little video to help enhance the moment.
You can't tell from all the way back there (I don't think), but around the 0:52 mark in the video, one of the members of BigElf came and dumped something on his head, probably fries or something. THAT was probably the funniest thing I saw that night. Mike's humor is a great part of the band, and just made it funnier that he started singing the cookie monster song.
There were a few other songs that I hadn't heard them play before, another reason why I like what Dream Theater does. Usually, it's Mike who makes up the set list. There are a few common songs, like ones of the new album, but then he also keeps track of what songs they played the last time, so if you wanted to hear a song but they didn't play it that time, chances are they could play it then! Or at least something different.
For those of you who are interested, (I'm guessing just Luke on this one) the songs they played were: nightmare to remember, rite of passage, JP break/solo, hollow years, jordan break/solo, erotomania, voices, in the name of god, count of tuscany.
I have seen Green Day twice, and they pretty much played the same songs except for the first time I saw them, because that was before their American Idiot album. Not to say I didn't like the songs they played, but it's nice to hear some songs that may not be that popular to some, but favorites for others.
One of my favorite songs from the DT concert was hollow years, a song that I usually don't listen to the album version. During the Jordan break/solo, he played a little bit of the Slovenian song that Simon told us about earlier. I think the crowd got a kick out of it, and I knew somewhere in the audience Simon was telling his other friends that was him who taught Jordan that song!
Here's another prank was pulled in between songs recorded by Jordan on stage. haha I was wondering what some of the Slovenian fans thought of all the pranks going on. If they enjoyed it or not. Either way, it was a very unique show and I'm glad I got the chance to experience it.
I also found it interesting how short of a wait there was for the encore. There was only about half as long of a wait for them to come back on stage as in previous concerts...maybe they were just ready to end the show before anymore pranks were pulled.
After the last song, I knew the after show meeting was next thanks to the show in Copenhagen. The concern of if I see Alex and the other guy from the hostel came into my mind and sure enough I saw him talking with some guys around him in the front of the stage. It was good to see he at least got a front row view of the concert, so he had at least some on ME! haha. I also saw Simon and was introduced to a couple of his other friends that he brought to the show. I used these guys to hide myself from Alex, because I knew if he saw me, he would want to know what I was doing next and with a shiny VIP pass around my neck, things would need to get answered! But, he never saw me.
So Simon, his friends, and I were told to go around outside for the after show stuff, like what I had to do for meeting up with Jordan. There were more fans outside this time, and a barrier around the doors. I was able to flag down one of the crew members from earlier, and he brought us into a little cafeteria room where we waited for Jordan, just like last time in Copenhagen.
So we chatted a little bit with Jordan. He signed some autographs, took pictures and even the singer/guitar player from Opeth came in to say goodbye to Jordan. He told us another prank that I couldn't tell happened. He had a remote controlled farting machine set up, so whenever the guy who works the in-ear monitors wanted, he could switch to the farting machine and give the band members a very unexpected sound!! This happened a few times, including a very soft part in a solo for Jordan. I guess they got a picture of his "priceless" reaction to the noise, haha but I didn't see any strange face from Jordan during the concert. After a few more minutes of talking, Jordan was ready to leave. I said goodbye and thanked him again for what he has done for me. I can't think of many musicians who would do all the stuff Jordan did for me..but then again I don't know that many famous musicians!
Then it was time to say goodbye to Simon and his friends. They had invited me out for a night out on the town, but I was pretty tired and ready to get some sleep, as I probably wouldn't get any real sleep because of the trip back until 3:30 in the morning on Tuesday, and it was still Saturday night!
Before the concert, I was in the hostel looking at travel arrangements for going to a place called Bled. One of the guys back on my floor had been there and said it was a great place to go. I figured to go to Bled and then take the train to Villach, because it's on the way, two birds with one stone!
Sunday morning, I talked with Alex a little bit and he wanted to show me something. I was hoping that he somehow got something signed, but instead he was just showing me his ticket. Since they got there so early, the doors weren't really locked, so they were able to get in without their ticket stub being torn off...they played catch with some of the other crew members as well. I told him how 'awesome' that was, and refrained from showing him all of the cool stuff that I had! After packing up and saying goodbye to everyone, it was off to the bus/train station to get a ticket to Bled and more importantly, my train ticket to Milan.
The train ticket ended up not being nearly as expensive as the one on the way back, and it wasn't the exact same route either. I would leave from Bled at 9 at night, get to Villach, then to Venice and THEN to Milan at 8:30 in the morning Monday. This time I didn't have a sleeping car ticket, which definitely helped bring the cost down.
The trip to Bled took a little bit more than an hour, and the first thing I went to was the Lake. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves about how awesome the lake is!!
First I decided to take the hike up to the castle. On the hike, I took off my jacket because I was starting to get warm. When I got to a point to take a picture of the town from the tower:
I double checked to make sure I had everything. All of a sudden, I couldn't find my train tickets that I kept on the inside of my coat....quickly, I started backtracking down the trail and not too long did I see a family with the Dad holding my tickets!! By the expression on my face, I think he knew right away the tickets belonged to me. I said thank you MANY times, and with the limited English he knew he responded with "Super!", haha. I made sure to put them in my backpack and continued on my walk.
Fortunately, it was just as nice that day as it was Sunday. I then decided to go on a walk around the lake which took about an hour or so. The water was very calm and very clear and probably very cold!
Here is a castle on an island in the lake. You could rent a rowboat and go to the castle, but I decided not to do that. Maybe if there was another person with me I would but just one person in a big rowboat seems a bit lonely!
Here was the castle that I was up on before. I didn't think I hiked up ALL of that, but apparently I did! I really liked taking panoramic shots of this place....
Here's the first picture I took in Bled...quite bright!One more for good measure...
So by the time I made it around the lake, I was ready to go back home...but it was only 4 o'clock!! It was STILL a holiday, so there weren't a lot of places open and the sun was starting to go down and the air was getting colder...eventually, I made it to a coffee/bar and had a cup while reading a snowboarding magazine I bought way back in Stockholm the first day. It was nice to be in Bled, but after the lake, there wasn't much else to do.
After asking where the train station was that was on my ticket, I was informed by a hotel receptionist it was in the next town...about 6 km out...so my plan of action was to take the bus, but it didn't leave until 9:10 and the train was leaving at 9:36..still enough time if the bus got to the station on time....
I was waiting for the bus longer than I had hoped. Looking at the schedule at the station, it said one would leave at 8:30, which I was going to take just to give myself enough time to get there and maybe get something to eat in the next town. The bus never showed up. I checked the schedule again, and it should have been there, holiday or not...my next gamble was that the 9:10 train showed up. there were also some phone numbers for a few taxi companies that I was prepared to call if the bus was a no-show. 9:07, no bus I start to think it's probably better just to call the taxi, and maybe while I'm calling the taxi, the bus will show up. The taxi driver says he'll be there in two minutes. around 9:14 the bus finally shows up a little bit before the taxi. I'm thinking I'll be able to get on the bus right away, and get going. NOPE, bus driver takes his time, helping the other passengers with their luggage, and goes up and down the isles....and all I want to do is get on that damn bus!!
Behind the bus I see the taxi waiting for me. I try to be polite in telling the bus driver I'm in a hurry and his response: "sorry I don't speak English, do you speak Slovenian?" with a shake of my head HIS response was "MEH", shrugs his shoulders and continues checking the bus. That pissed me off quite a bit and I went to the taxi driver instead.
He was much nicer than the bus driver and we chatted the whole 5 mintues before dropping me off at the station. I gave him a nice tip because without him, I might have missed the train and that would have ruined a lot of my plans and cost me much more than the tip...And it was true, as the train was coming to a stop, I saw the bus going by the station...I would have been late for the train if I stuck with the bus! I wanted to shout obscenities (that won't be typed on this blog) to the bus, but kept them in my head instead.
So began the long journey. I got a little bit of sleep, and made sure to set my alarm on my cell phone a few minutes before I got to the next destination in case I went into a deep sleep.
In Villach, I was sitting by myself when a guy came and sat RIGHT next to me...I started thinking maybe he wanted some help, as I had seen him earlier asking people for something. Or maybe he wanted to take my backpack. Either way, I just sat there until he asked me something. He wanted to know if I had a Visa..I was thinking the student Visa, but he meant Visa credit card. He was looking to get a train ticket to Rome, but he didn't have a credit card to purchase from the machine, and was going to give me cash for the ticket. I decided he wasn't going to try any funny business, so tried to help him out. It didn't work though, because it was an international trip, and needed to be done in person with someone at the ticket counter. I had the same problem in Milan Thursday night. I tried to purchase a ticket to Ljubljana from one of those machines but it came up with an error message and a guy behind me pointed me to the long line of people at the ticket counter.
After no such luck, and even going through all the possible options to show him I couldn't possibly do it for him, we went back to sit down. His name was Muhammad from either Afghanistan or Pakistan, I couldn't tell because his English wasn't the best. More than a few times he was trying to tell me something and I wasn't quite sure what he meant. I also had to talk very slowly and needed to repeat myself a lot so he knew what I was saying.
His story was that he was going to Rome to see his friends who had been there for a while. The situation back home wasn't very good, so Italy was a safer option for him. I'm not exactly sure how he got to Villach, but he had been to Turkey, Hungary and Iran before.
During our chat, I decided to show him my snowboard magazine, just to show him what kinds of stuff I like to do. I think he found it interesting and asked how some of that stuff was possible!
Not long after, it was time for me to leave. I hope he was able to get to Rome somehow...
My next stop was to a station in the Venice area. Where I waited a couple more hours before making my way to Milan. It was a long couple hours for sure, because NOTHING was open (not even bathrooms). So everyone had to wait outside and it was quite cold that night...not exactly the weather I was hoping from Venice, but it was also early November...
I almost got on the wrong train too. While waiting, I looked at the schedule for the train to Milan, but I was looking at one that didn't get to Milan until around 8:45, and I was anticipating getting there at 8:30. I looked at my ticket to make sure it was correct, and I saw that there was another train to Milan later, but it had less stops. I was almost tempted to take the earlier train just to get out of the cold, but that's just silly.
We made it to Milan with a lot of rain. There were a lot more businessmen by the end of the ride than in the beginning. The pace was definitely set to fast once everyone got off the train at the central station. I quickly got a ticket for the shuttle bus and got on the first shuttle bus...only to wait for 15 minutes before leaving at 9. I didn't really keep in mind much traffic there would be in Milan on a Monday morning until I was on the train in Venice.
It took 35 stop-and-start minutes before getting out of Milan. At the rate we were going in the city, I thinking I was going to miss my flight, which left at 11:20. Finally we got out of the city and it was much better traffic. At the airport, I was lucky enough to be second in line in a lane that just opened for Stockholm after entering a line of 15 people. I got checked-in quickly and was able to grab something to eat. Traveling can be a stressful thing, but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Again with the airline I was traveling with, (easyJet) they have that extra charge to get on the plane. Here's a picture of the "line" for the flight...basically a few people getting in at a time, then all the other people who didn't pay the extra fee waiting for their turn...a bit ridiculous.The flight was also ridiculous with 150 people on a 156 seated plane. I had no room to put my backpack overhead, so I had to keep it underneath the chair in front of me. I didn't move much on that flight, and tried to get as much sleep as possible. My iPod also ran out of batteries, so it was the soft sound of others talking around me, the occasional announcement on the PA, and of course crying babies!! yippee!!
We got into Stockholm Arlanda around 2, where I had to wait again for another couple of hours before I started my long journey back home. If I would have paid attention to the returning route, I probably would have changed it, because it didn't make much sense. I could have taken a shuttle bus which left every 20 minutes or so from Arlanda to the CityTerminal in Stockholm, and then catch a bus back to Jönköping that way. Instead, I took a bus that went west, and then a bus that pretty much doubled back and went southeast to the CityTerminal....there were definitely a few hours I could have saved...oh well! Lesson learned for next time.
One thing I found interesting were the workers at the Arlanda airport. They had scooters that they could ride up and down the terminals. Some scooters looked newer than others, and I was temped to take one for a ride myself when I saw one by its lonesome.... :) It's not the best picture, but you get the idea.
Stockholm was much nicer to wait than in Venice. I got some Burger King for dinner, and walked around the streets as much as I could and made sure not to get lost. I was thinking how interesting it would have been to walk around Stockholm back in August when I just got to Sweden, instead of going to bed right away at the hotel. I still don't feel I've experienced in Stockholm, because it was nighttime and I again had other plans.
The bus ride back wasn't my most comfortable or pleasant one. I was hoping there wouldn't be a lot of people on this bus, or at least someone next to me so I could get in a comfortable position and sleep all 5 hours before making it to Jönköping at 3:30 in the morning. NOPE. There was quite a few people, and lucky me, I was one of the few people who had someone sit next to them! There were a few kids on the bus, who had been excited waiting for the bus earlier, and the talking didn't stop when they were on the bus...there was also a foreign couple who sat in front of me and didn't know the concept of whispering. I was getting irritated with anything people were doing that was interrupting my efforts to sleep. At one stop, a few people got off and the guy next to me took the empty seats. Hurray! more space for me...NOPE. Of the couple people that got on at the stop, one guy decided to sit next to me! He was also coughing a lot and I could hear his music through his headphones. At some point, the talkative couple got off on an early stop, and I was finally back in Jönköping.
I went to bed around 4 after checking a few things on the internet.
And so ended my epic trip to Slovenia!!! I can't imagine what I would have thought 4 months ago if you would have told me what happened...I probably would have thought you were nuts.
Thanks for reading my ramblings!! It looks like my next trip will be to Kiruna after all, because a few students who couldn't go with the schools organized trip are trying to organize their own trip in late November. One of the reasons I went to Slovenia was because I COULDN'T go on the Kiruna trip, but it looks like I'll have my cake and eat it too!
After Kiruna, I'll be spending my Christmas and New Year's in France...then before you know it, I'll be back in the States!! Time definitely feels like it has been flying by...
No comments:
Post a Comment