Yesterday morning at breakfast I thought I was ordering an iced coffee, but instead I ordered an ice cream coffee. They’re crazy about ice cream here. It was delicious, but took up about 50% of my calories for today. The landscape in Germany is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. It’s made up of hills and mountains covered in thick green forests, so I don’t mind the long drives we make every day. I’m amazed at how green it is here. It’s like being in northern Ontario, except hillier. We’re staying in a tiny little village about 6km outside of Marburg at the town’s one and only hotel/restaurant.
I played at Molly Malones Irish Pub, and it was kind of dug into the side of a hill and then underground. Every other place I’ve played on this tour has had to have the music finish by about 10pm because of noise restrictions, but not this place! There were more English-speaking people in the audience than any audience I’ve played for so far. Which is kind of a relief because usually when I’m talking between songs the people just stare at me blankly. But this time when I told them that the fizzy water they have here makes me burp onstage, they laughed.
One thing I will say about this country is that there is no way to avoid the tolling of bells at all hours of the day (and night, and morning). This morning (Saturday) I was woken up at about 7:30 by a bell that seemed to last for about 10 minutes. I thought that maybe it was broken and had gotten stuck on “ring”. Then there was the garbage truck that seemed to go up and down our street about 3 times at 8am. On Saturday morning? Seriously? Clearly I am just tired and grumpy. But today we’re going back to the EuroHof hotel in Duisburg where we spent my birthday because it is just sooooo awesome and beautiful. So I am very excited for that. 2 more gigs left!