BBP
Super Administrator
Posts: 8052
Registered: 3-10-2005
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Cheerful yet relaxed
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BBP vs Dortmund
The Dortmund Trip Report
After Dir En Grey announced its European tour dates for 2020, it became obvious I would go to see them again - this time in Dortmund. It took me a lot
of mental power - and a lot of loving encouragement from my boyfriend - to get to buy my travel tickets in the first place, after medical en dental
health let me down, cause pain and general distemper, and throw high bills in my way. Fortunately my sweetheart cheers me up and I find my way.
Eindhoven-Dortmund is a trip that lasts roughly 3 hours. The only coach that covers Eindhoven-Dortmund is Flixbus, and unfortunately theirs only
travels at either 8PM or 1AM, the first one would be too late and the other one isn't going to happen.
For the way back 8PM was a good time, so I booked the away trip by bus, the to trip by train for a special price (which means you have to take the
exact trains the ticket specifies), and a youth hostel to spend the night.
The concert hall FZW is very close to the station, and the youth hostel too is close by. Five minute walk between them. I store a picture of the map
with the concert hall and hostel highlighted on my phone. The big day comes: Jan 31st 2020 - off to Dortmund!
The first phase of the travel is the train journey - first from Eindhoven to Venlo, then from Venlo to Vierssen, and from there to Dortmund Hbf.
In Eindhoven I meet a young lady who is highly insecure of which train she needs to take. By looking at her ticket I notice she goes in my direction a
long way, but that doesn't put her at ease - she almost gets out a station too early, at Blerick. Even then it takes two people to convince her that
she can wait for the next stop.
In the second train I get to talk to her a bit. She explains she is from the Ukraine and went to London, and is now going to Cologne for work. I don't
feel too comfortable about leaving her since she has to go farther than I as I finally arrive in Vierssen.
In Vierssen I have to wait half an hour for the next train. With only a bakery and a doubtful kiosk it looks like a long wait. I buy a puzzle booklet
and spend 20 minutes waiting, solving and feeling cold.
Fortunately the next train is comfortable and warm. I spend an hour at it, musing at how in the Dutch intercities there's usually 20 to 40 minutes
between stops, and this one keeps stopping at familiar places at much shorter intervals. Before I know it I went through Essen, Duisburg, Krefeld and
tons of other familiar and lesser familiar names. It's the land of the Rhine industry - at many places the view is machinery.
And then - Dortmund! I get out at 14:07 as my ticket indicates exactly and load the map I put on my phone.
Drat. The map can't be opened. I walk as much in the direction I can recall from the map - to the south past the church as far as I can go and then
left. On the way I encounter rhinoes.
The "Dortmunder Nashorn" was in the planning phase of the local concert hall the symbol of the Dortmund Orchestra. It is a rhino with wings - a rhino
because of their extraordinary hearing, and the wings to make them resemble Pegasus. For an art project in 2006 the Dortmunder Nashorn was picked to
grace the streets - around 150 were put up in the city. By now only the ones that were bought by sponsors are left - on the few streets I went I found
4 statues and of course the lighting ornaments.
I take some more snapshots of the art installations and the st Petri church, which dates back to the mid-1300s but was mostly rebuilt following the
WW2 destruction The heading straight and then left brings me to the Silberstrasse, which happens to be the street my hostel is! Hurray! I walk there,
check in, pay for the room, leave all the things I don't need behind, and all that. Not much after I went in, two ladies walk into my dorm. They come
from the Czech Republic and are also going to see Dir en Grey. Unfortunately their English is not to the extent that we get a good conversation going.
At the front desk I get a map. The friendly attendant marks FZW and the hostel, instructs me to walk along the large shopping street and I'll get
there eventually.
The large shopping street is over 1km long - the Westernhellweg that becomes the Ostenhellweg after the church square. On my way I encounter a
friendly shop with the title "Idiots Records" - in their window a display of Frank Zappa parafernalia! I take a picture and continue my way to FZW.
The concert hall is by the Dortmunder U. A large building with a very big U on it - former brewery, now art centre. The screens at the top show film
footage of goldfish, which amuses me greatly!
The queueing for the show is a lengthy and cold experience during which I finish 4 cheese sandwiches, an apple and a book, "Misha" by Misha Defonseca.
Unfortunately the show was a let-down due to nasty audience. Story here:
http://packardgoose.ploeg.ws/interactive/forums/Files/viewthread.ph...
After the show I make my way to the hostel. I barely sleep - one of the Czechs comes in late and they both leave at 6:30 AM. When I can't get to sleep
at 7 I decide to take a shower.
The shower is already wet and there is precious little place to leave your stuff, which isn't nice considering I have my arms full of daytime clothing
that I intended to wear. The shower doesn't have windows. The only light source is a sensor lamp that flips on as soon as you walk in. Unfortunately
it goes out every thirty seconds - while showering I have to move my arms into the section of the shower where my clothes are, and wave in the hope
that the sensor picks up.
Afterwards I get dressed, have a nice breakfast, and find that my room has a great view of the 15th century Propsteikirche, and the WIFI works! I
spent half an hour chatting with BF. There is rain outside and I don't fancy trodging around in all that yet. I sign out the hotel at 9:30 and start
walking.
The first shop is Thier Galerie, a huge mall with hundreds of shops! I spend a good few hours here - buying a souvenir but mainly funshopping over
three floors. I have a good laugh at the "genuine Dutch chips, echt lekker!" with Dutch "Imbisskultur", all the famous Dutch snacks like frikandellen,
kroketten and bitterballen. I find "Elbenwald", a fun shop with paraphernalia of counterculture, I buy a souvenir for my BF there. As I come home I
see the receipt says "Client #: 00001, our sweetest client from Germany" and "Thank you very much for your purchase. You're fantastic!"
I have fun at the selfie wall...
I encounter a snack called "Dragon breath" - not sure what it is (at €5 for a cup I wasn't prepared to try it) but it's covered in dry ice before
selling and when you eat it, smoke comes out of your nose, hence the name.
By midday the skies clear up and I visit a multimedia shop with this close encounter...
I went to look for the Mayersche, a major book store chain. In their Cologne store I spent a few happy hours. I had marked it on the map on my phone,
but that one's inaccessible... so now it's walking around...
And I visit the Markt, where there's this very old (and very German) pharmacy.
At a euro shop I buy a set of headphones for a euro, so that I'll have something to do on the bus. I even find two Tedi's, but unfortunately nothing
there.
The Ostenhellweg starts out friendly with two churches right across from each other - the 12th century Reinoldikirche and the Marienkirche of around
the same age.
(Rheinoldikirche)
Marienkirche
The Kaiserglocke was put on display outside the Reinoldichurch after WW2 bombing left it unusable.
After a lot of searching through the cheaper section of town, where a man is speaking loudly and irately in an unknown-to-me language to whoever is on
the other side of his phone, I finally found my goal - Mayersche. Two hours later I emerge, well-rested with a cup of hot chocolate and absolutely
nothing else purchased since I had enough to carry anyway. As I walk back, the irate phone man is still on the phone!
There was still the Zappa store, and there was at least one hobby store and one second-hand store on the way. I muse for a bit at both but Zappa
beckons louder. Not much later I find myself in "Idiots Records". As I step in I'm greeted by a man with long curly hair and loud metal. In the
corners I find numerous Zappa shirts along quite a few of other shirts. The records are divided in hard rock, metal, punk, death metal and gothic. And
there are posters, mugs, jewellery, buttons and patches for sale. A sign reads "Shop lifters are killed." I browse, find, consider and put back Frank
Zappa plays the Music of Frank Zappa, note a couple of Zappa patches and a Zappa cotton bag and buy one of each. "I have never seen a shop that looks
this much like my bedroom!" I remark at the shopkeeper. He's friendly - he doesn't laugh too hard at me when I almost forget my wallet.
Om my way to FZW I noticed the pretty Liebfrauenkirche from the late 1800s. I shoot a few pictures, battling the grey skies.
Almost time - I'm too exhausted and in too much pain to walk much more and decide to find myself a good seat in the Thier Gallery as the rain already
starts to fall. At 6 I have noodles at the food court, and I lounge a bit until it's 7:15, when I make my way to the Flixbus stop through a lot of
police. I guess Borussia Dortmund was playing.
Way back goes as planned but with carsickness. Unfortunately the headphones I bought are worth nothing and were broken when I got them out the
package.
After the concert I find it really telling for the FZW experience that the first album I reach for when I come home is not the newly acquired
Unraveling or Uroboros that I got at the show, but instead the good old Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch by Frank Zappa.
I hereby rename the FZW to Frank Zappa World!
(Pictures are coming up!)
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polydigm
King Kong Status
Posts: 2164
Registered: 1-4-2006
Location: Horse Tray Ya
Member Is Offline
Mood: Inspired
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Sounds like it could have been an enjoyable trip without the concert.
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BBP
Super Administrator
Posts: 8052
Registered: 3-10-2005
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Cheerful yet relaxed
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Oh yeah, great place for shopping! I could've bought a lot more at the Zappa shop!
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