2003-06-14 - 5:45 p.m.

Home Soil

I'm back in the U.S. after a near 3-week trip to Europe. Would I want to live there? Probably not. Will I visit again? Certainly.

WGT was amazing. I'll put the festival and all of my other thoughts to words over the course of the next few weeks. I was keeping a daily diary, but eventually living on Bratwurst, Beer, and 3 hours of sleep gets to a person. ;)

The short summary goes like this: if you are at all remotely interested in Gothic / Wave / Industrial music, then start saving you money now! So that next year I can show you around Germany. I also believe I actually love the French people. All of the French I ran into were incredibly polite and witty. And I'm not just saying this because I *now* have a crush on a French "industrial powered" goth girl whom is an architect. No way would I let a pretty face bias me. ;)

My goal is to next summer fly into Vienna or Coppenhagen and then hit the festival. I also have decided I need to learn to speak German better. In a few years I seriously hope to travel along the Czech-Polish border, which is where my father's family was from about 100-years ago. I'm figuring if I can speak German and English, then I should be able to pass around all of the countries that border German.

But this trip had me visiting: the Netherlands, with a short stop in Belgium, then a night in southern France (Bordeaux), then several days in Valenica, Spain, with a night train trip to Paris and days spent there (such a lovely city ... sigh), and then the festival in Leipzig, Germany, and then the return trip to the Netherlands.

Common known fact (one that Americans are incredibly IGNORANT about ... well except me, since I believe in, 'when in Rome ...'): if you are so drunk that the room is spinning, eating a few Bratwursts and washing 'em down with liters of water will prevent a hang over. The French who adopted me must have thought I was incredibly strange, but on the positive side, they said, "If more Americans are like you, then there is a hope for the future." Then again they were drunk too, but I'll still take it as a nice thing to say since at the same time they were STILL dissing the Germans. (I also met some nice Germans too ... amazing what a bottle of French wine, jump boots, and a bit of thumpy music will do to people.)

Anyway, I will add this. For the first time in my life I actually cried during a concert. As a child I went to the Houston Opera with my mom and her best friend (who has since died from cancer, my mom has terrible luck with her friends and family always getting cancer). I played a violin, and as much as I love electro music, I also have a love of classical music. One of the bands played one of my favorite songs and the setting and music was just enough to bring tears to my eyes.

-=-

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