frankfurt

I had no idea that our day off in cologne actually fell on the first day of this city's version of mardi gras. It was absolutely insane. Picture literally thousands of Germans dressed up in all kinds of whacky and ridiculous outfits, all of them with beer in one hand and a bratwurst or sausage in the other. Seriously, this is not an exaggeration.

We checked out of our hotel around noon to find ourselves in the middle of some totally parallel drunken universe. People were making out, peeing on the streets, puking, and lining up to use the 50 euro public toilets. Remember what I said about Germans all seeming on the verge of snapping and going nuts? Well apparently my observation was spot on.

As for last night, the show last night was an odd one. We had a great time playing to a crowd of about 40 seated, quiet, German 40-somethings. Apparently there was a huge football match on that night which may have held the attentions of most of the younger would be MBD supporters. The highlight of the show for me, however, was breaking my low E string (AKA the most important string on the bass) and having to play the rest of the set on just three strings. I broke it on the song 'bring me the workhorse', and had to then do my best to play 'No Quarter' without embarrassing myself. It remains to be seen whether or not I succeeded. Our load out was easy, and I went to bed watching a program called 'Deutschland Idol'.... It was the German version of American Idol, and was essentially completely the same as the American version except that the judges and contestants spoke German. Seriously, even the in-between segment music was the same. I even figured the judges had the same personality types, even though I could not understand a word they said. The oddest thing about the program, however, was that the contestants did American songs. One did a heinous, frightening version of Sweet Home Alabama in a sort of Eddie Vedderesque voice, another did Barry Manilow's song Mandy, and there was even a valiant attempt at Bill Wither's Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone. I think I may have had night terrors about the Barry Manilow tune.

We checked out around noon, immediately finding ourselves in the middle of the fray of Carnival. I took lots of photos, but since I'm now writing from an internet cafe and can't download the pics I sent myself, you'll have to use your imagination until I can post them. After soaking in the local debauchery, we made the two hour trek to Frankfurt. This city reminds me of Beverly Hills, the German version. Literally all I have seen here are stores. I've seen about five H & Ms, two Nike stores, three Mcdonald's, a Foot Locker, and a Pizza Hut. It's weird. On the upside, the architecture of the downtown financial buildings is quite spectacular, with one building that sort of reminds me of something out of that Batman Returns movie (yes, the one with Dannz DeVito as the Penguin...). I'm going to wait on making any offensive judgements on this city until tomorrow, until then, assume that I'm having a pretty good time. That is, aside from my fever, whooping cough, 3 stringed bass, and one wheeled suitcase.