Day 2 - April 2 - Berlin

Berlin!

Only a 2 hour drive today, which made for a nice slow wake up. Aside from my cold shower (guess that's what happens when 5 people get their act together before you do), the morning was great. Ralph, the guy we stayed with, made coffee and tea, toasted a basket full of bread, made some hard boiled eggs, and laid out plates of cheeses and dips for us all. So, so nice.

In Berlin we had about a half hour to sight see. We took a walk along the east side of the Berlin wall, bordering the river. I'd never seen it up close and was momentarily astonished by how short it was. It seemed so easy to climb over, but then I remembered that the height of a wall so heavily and explosively guarded is irrelevant. It's a work of art now. Each panel is completely painted over and stylistically independent of the one before it. It's quite the mosaic now, and draws probably hundreds of people daily who stop by just in front to get their picture taken. It's nice when things like that get turned into something beautiful.

Later we took a stroll through a Turkish neighborhood and stopped at a Turkish bakery where I was hit by a German bird! Yes, a bird. Please, do me a favor and try to recall the last time a tiny little bird miscalculated and sailed straight into you. I remember looking down and thinking, oh hey, look at those little guys, they're cute. And then right in the middle of my stride, about 10 seconds later, I felt this semi-forceful thud right into my shin! And then the little guy flew off. what. the. heck.

Our green room was stocked with water and beer, a basket of bread, and plates of cheeses, vegetables and fruit. Oh and a Sega Genesis with a tower of games. Really there was absolutely no reason for me to write anything about the green room, I just liked that someone put a Sega in there...

Tonight was our first show with in-ear monitors for the strings. It's tricky to get used to, but I think things went well. We got another double encore. It's crazy out here in that way. People love their encores. We tip toed through the mess of chords and hopped off the stage into this teeny tiny stairwell that was definitely not large enough for the six of us. Awkwardly close, we paused with the door slightly open (funny), because if it closed it might've locked, and then returned. Our newest untitled song is coming together quite well. And where it used to completely terrify me (in that it is so energetic and there's so much quick movement, it seems as though it could almost explode), I keep catching myself grinning in the middle of it. It's one of my favorites now, without a doubt.

After the show, we took a walk with all of our bags to a hostel 10 minutes away. It's sure nice when housing is free but it's even nicer when its not full of blaring 80s music till 4am...

Next stop, Rostock.