Ulm, Zurich
We had been to Ulm last year, when we had toured through in June. It had been or first time there, and we had found it to be welcoming and very pretty. The Danube river cuts through it, dividing the town into the upper and lower half. It is also host to the very infamous Bread Museum, which s-Careoline visited last year during our stay. This did spawn a number of jokes not because she went but because we were all truly agog that a museum dedicated to bread could exist, but apparently it does in Ulm, Germany.
The Danube has a unique bit of folklore to it as well. It has been said that went you are there you write a message in a bottle to someone departed and drop it in the river and it will be carried to them where they can read it. Whether there is any mystic quality or the water or it just adds to a backlog of pollution I think the sentiment is nice and it gives people something to look forward to in Ulm.
As Kate and I walked through the town in the early morning after our sumptuous breakfast at the hotel. It must be noted that we each had our own rooms which at this point on the tour was a welcome change. While most accommodations are acceptable little things like that make a huge difference to your mental well being. In my own case I like having the television on, not having one at home, and letting the mindless babble fill the space while I do something akin to Hotel Room Olympics (shit, am I REALLY going to mention the “O” word in every blog? Christ.) The event include the wastepaper basket shot-put, desk/chair triceps dip and the bathroom door swing and jump. I don’t think I will be bringing home gold for Canada any time soon in these events but I am practicing. Whereas lone travellers will do these things to alleviate boredom, when you are finally alone after weeks of other people company, you look forward to little indulgences such as these.
After Ulm we moved on to Zurich where we found a shark on the roof of the club (which I was unable to load into the bus), a Swiss Toki Wartooth lookalike, and some trouble. After the show, which ended early due to sound restrictions (what is with all these cities and their stupid noise laws?) we spent the evening drinking the bar’s booze, making friends, and causing trouble. Part of the trouble (now I have to o by second hand information on this one) was when Kate and Brandy made friends with a fellow who took them clubbing. Apparently shouting down the club door man to get is a good way to avoid paying cover. Brandy punched a drunk guy in the face who tried numerous times to kiss her (“Your face is so strange – but beautiful”) and Kate pulled a LMR and danced on a pole. It didn’t help that our hotel was nestled in an area of ill repute, with strip bars and 5E hookers on either side. My highlight was watching some poor soul be lavishly sick on the doorstep of one of the strip bars. I was able to watch the action from my hotel room window where, oddly enough, no one looked up to notice a topless girl pointing and laughing at Zurich’s late night antics.
The moral of the story? Don’t get the girls hopped up on absinthe, don’t give us an open bar tab, and for goodness sakes, when your walking around downtown at night look up and wave at the topless chicks in the window.
FIN
LMR
