so I asked you to dance,
but fear is in your soul...”
Duran Duran is the band and the song is ‘Save a Prayer’, and along with Marty, Karyn and Colin we went to see the London show. Not exactly a band that was noted for their time beyond the 80’s, but their music still lasts well, and is far better than a lot of the manufactured rubbish on the radios today.
After a bit of a soggy meet-up at London bridge we found a nearby spot for dinner, then headed off to the O2 for the show. We didn’t really bother with the support band, whoever they were, and instead opted for Colin’s recently acquired tickets to the “Blue Room” to embarrass ourselves with hoola hoops and a bit of pinball. Yes, it was an interesting little bar!
The main show itself was nothing like i was expecting, although I’m not sure just what I was expecting. “Old Band Reunion” and all the clichés that go with this had come to mind, and gladly I was mistaken about this. To a packed O2 Arena, Duran Duran put on one of the best shows I think I’ve been to. Haven’t danced that much since... well, since last weekend in the nightclub in Killarney, Ireland.
Again, I’ll chalk them up with the Cure and Queensryche for their superb live sound, as they too had none of the usual “better CD than live” that accompany so many artists and bands.
Great show all up with no bad music at all - even the dance mixes that they threw in worked very well, and their new stuff was pretty good too.
From the O2 and the show it was home via the tube and then the bus, which meant that I was home well after midnight. No major drama you may think, however, when you need to be up at around 3.30am to get to the airport by around 5.30am for a 7.30am flight (and are yet to pack...)
Needless to say, with a whole hour of sleep it was off to Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 for a three day weekend in Mainz, Germany. An impressive terminal this one, and not a bad spot for breakfast - I can highly recommend Giraffe’s blueberry n banana pancakes! A bit of duty free browsing in an effort to replace my broken sunnies and it was up, up and asleep with BA. I didn’t get to sleep through the entire flight as they were serving food, so i did get a good look at the channel and the cliffs and beaches of Normandy (or Belgium) before nodding back off.
A pleasant enough train ride to Mainz to view the shining sun and German landscape until we reached Mainz-Römisches Theater where the train stopped. Something wrong with the tunnel ahead meant we had to catch a bus from here to the main train station of Mainz - or so we were told. After a good 15minute wait for the bus (and working out that I needed to be on the other side of the road!) I was on my way to central Mainz. It took all of about 3 blocks of travel before I recognised a certain pub/bar that I’d been to the last time I was here, which meant that I both knew exactly where I was, and that I had no need to be on the bus! So that was €2,20 well spent!Off the bus at the next stop and I was making my way to the main square of Mainz and it’s market. A good sized market this one, covering about the same area as London’s Borough Market, and right in the shadow of the main cathedral. Time to poke around for a bit.
I had several hours to myself anyway as both Frank and Anka were working and it was a Friday after all. Time to get reacquainted with Mainz after about 7 years. After poking around the market and getting some lunch it was a quick visit through the Gutenburg Museum before continuing along my way through a few alleyways and cobbled streets til I reached the very modern town hall. In the process I passed by some rather old buildings from around the 1200’s according to the plaques on their walls.
With sun shining and the temperature at around 28C this was my first taste of a proper summer day for well over a year, and what better way to spend it than walking through the parks along the banks of the Rhien river. Nah-fence to Melbourne, but forget Southbank! Anyway, after a while I came across a nice spot under an oak tree and a willow tree where they had several tables and a bar. And I thought it couldn’t get any better on the banks of the Rhien...Eventually finishing both beer and pretzel, and just generally soaking it all in, I headed back along the bank of the Rhien to discover what else may lay along these shores. With a hazelnut cornetto in hand, I passed the preparations for a festival that was coming up on Sunday just near the Römisches bridge (or Brücke), only to discover one of two ‘beaches’ in the area.
From here I headed back towards the centre of Mainz, past several interesting places and eventually to a little bar just off the SchillerPlatz known as the Andau. This is where I scored my two Erdinger glasses all those years ago, so why not head in for another beer... With only about an hour til Frank finished work, a beer and book on the edge of the sunny square rounded out my explorations nicely. I wonder what ol' Des Vaughton would think of this - being my old German teacher at school and me spending a day of no english in his country...Soon it was back to Frank’s new place in his Audi - via what can only be described as a beer warehouse full of a huge variety of beers - for a bbq in the lovely warm evening. Here I met Stephi, his girlfriend, and also Christian, another keen rider. With Anka and Karsten to join us shortly, we had the makings of a fun night.
What I didn’t realise was that I was in for a surprise - Anka’s parents, Kurt and Heidi were dropping in to say ‘Guten Tag’.It was over 7years ago that I met them. That day, Kurt took Anka and myself for a long bike ride along the banks of the Lahn river, stopping at a couple of spots to sample the local wines - a great day. So, you could credit them with getting me back onto bikes again. I’ve been in touch with them ever since, and for them to make the effort to visit from nearby Weisbaden was quite special. Really good to see them again too! (and another good incentive to improve my ability to speak German! Sitting with a dictionary to write a card or letter is far easier!!) A very pleasant start to what turned into a fun night that even had ein flitzer for some entertainment.
Saturday began rather slowly as I managed to catch up on some much needed sleep, making breakfast at around midday... Anyway, a quick bit of shopping to replace those much needed sunnies and once done, we were on the road again with Anka and Karsten to a small village amongst the vineyards of the area. We eventually made our way up the hillside to overlook the valley (see above pic). 
On the way up we passed the sculptures of one of the locals that were ‘interesting’ to say the least. Great views and so peaceful on the walk up the hillside to where we settled to enjoy both the sunshine and the view.
Next stop, once we were back on the road, was to the ‘beach’ on the other bank of the Rhien. A top spot this one, with a groovy ska band doing a show nearby to provide some good music while we lazed in the deck chairs on the sandy bank. Nice of there to also be a beer wagon to allow us to drink while we soaked up the sun. 
Two top summer days in a row - why am I in London again when the whole week's been raining??
With our newly boosted tans, on we went. A short walk from Frank’s place had us all at the Kirschestück wine festival. Along the main road of the vineyard itself, it stretched. Full of people of all ages, although they did get younger as the evening moved into night. 
Plenty of stalls for both food and wines. Dinner was a Winzervesper with zweibeln auf Brötchen too! (a steakburger with onion in a bread roll just doesn’t sound all that impressive does it...) After perusing the festival for a while, it was then time to get stuck into a couple of bottles of wine while watching the folks around us.
Later we headed back to Frank’s to change and continue into the night at the Kuz nightclub. An outdoor beer garden, a “Depeche Mode” styled bar, and a regulation nightclub as well. Here we met some of Frank and Stephi’s friends for a fun night. Well, what I can remember of it was fun! The early music played for those on the dancefloor was mostly German, which was good to hear, 
as it had mostly been English/American on the radio in the car. As the night wore on, then more and more ‘western’ music came to the fore. Unfortunately for me things appear to have gone somewhat a-wry after a few tequila beers... I have no recollection from the dancefloor to waking up the next morning in a park.
I’ve had a few of the blanks filled in, and it’s not as bad as it sounds. The park was only a few blocks from Franks, and once I realised where I was, I could have made my way back there. Apparantly I’d left the cab home due to a needed stop (and wanting to avoid a taxi cleanup fee), and ended up sleeping in the park instead of actually making my way home. There are however quite a few funny pics on my camera that we discovered later on Sunday morning. Some good laughs there too.
Embarrassing? Yep. But only for a while, as it’s now a funny adventure and that’s what life’s about.
Sorry if you think I’m posting some of the more interesting pics here...
Sunday ended up being just a casual day in Mainz where we breakfasted at Grunewald, a cafe/restaurant that overlooks the main square and the cathedral. Nice of them to be preparing a concert in the square, so we were treated to all the soundcheck songs as we ate (see pic for just how nice a breakfast it was). After dodging some European wasps who invited themselves to breakfast, 
we went for a nice cruisey walk for a few hours through Mainz and some of its lesser known attractions that I hadn’t visited on the Friday. Including some recently found Roman ruins.
At the end of this, it was ‘vielen Dank’ and ‘Aufweidersehen’ to Anka and Karsten. Great to meet Karsten, and to see Anka again. Thankfully it won’t be another 7 years between visits!!
One last beer together on Frank’s patio and it was then off to the Frankfurt airport at 210kmh. More Thanks and ‘until we meet again’s with the same knowledge that it won’t be the same number of years between visits.
A great weekend with some good friends!
And the adventure of the weekend didn’t finish there, with the usual round of airport shenanigans adding to the story...
Firstly, don’t bother eating at the Mexican restaurant there - terrible! Next came the confusion with which gate we were supposed to be departing from - it changed twice. Following this, the plane arrived shortly after we were supposed to take off. Naturally, this led to us taking off nearly 90mins late. Thankfully, this meant that the last tube from heathrow had well and truely gone, so it was a fun pair of bus rides lasting over 2hours making my entire journey home last until just after 2am in the morning! Talk about value for money!! Thanks British Airways!!
No comments:
Post a Comment