Mrazmerized

The people that know me well, know that I am crazy… Crazy about music most of all, but also very crazy in general. So when Brenda told me she got tickets to one of the LRC's of Jason Mraz in a little café in Berlin, I knew I would be going even though it wasn't the best choice to make at that time…

Finally it all worked out and we had tickets for both nights and also already had our train tickets for the ride back home. For the way to the concert we figured it would be best to travel to Venlo and buy a weekend ticket for Germany.... that would have been a great plan, wouldn't it have been for me not hearing my alarm, oversleeping for 4 hours and then fall asleep again whilst waiting for a text reply from Brenda on what to do next... Still so sorry sweetie! But in hindsight... you know what I've said about having things going completely wrong... It's all about balance... ;)

So we agreed on meeting at Amersfoort and taking the 5.40 pm train directly to Berlin. And luckily this time everything went according to this plan Z. ;)

We had some fun in the train thinking up schemes like the one we pulled with the t-shirts at the first Gavin DeGraw @ Vredenburg gig.

We especially couldn't stop laughing when we envisioned ourselves wearing humongous paper mache (sp) heads of Gavin and his band members like the ones you can see in the U2 video 'The Sweetest Thing'. Remember that one? Of course we could also made one of Jason, but since Gavin always performs with four that would be funnier... LOL

At around 11pm we arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof and now our search of the hostel would start, which turned out to be quite easy to find and was located next to a bar called the Red Rooster. How appropriate... *grin* For the ones who aren't in the know, my last name when translated into English would say the Rooster... ;)

On the way to the hostel we found ourselves surprised at the business on the streets... Many places where you could buy food, groceries or rent dvd's and video's were still open and the streets were crowded with people going out and drinking and eating on the street. Yeah this was going to be fun. Party all over! LOL

At the hostel we had a small drink, ok mine was a Berliner beer of 0,5l, and a nice chat. Went we went to ask for our key our new roommates were asking for the key as well. They were this really nice boy and girl from Iceland that had been partying hard that night. The boy kept asking us we were from and every time I answered him again, he said: Oh yeah you've already told me that.. LOL

The next morning we got up early and met the two UK girls that we shared the room with… Both the Iceland guy and one of the UK girls was reading the lasted Harry Potter and I offered them to tell them the ending, but the freaked out when I offered? Weird huh, or is it just me… ;)

Unfortunately we had to move to another room, since we booked another one originally. That was before we knew we had to leave a day early. It was a shame since we were sharing with such nice people. Ah well, let's see what the other one beholds for us. ;) When we entered the room no one was there, so we changed the bed sheets, locked up our stuff and went outside for some very touristy sightseeing… LOL

Right after we left the hostel, we came across a festival/market looking thingy and thought it would be fun to walk over it… Well it was looonngggg… and it was a beer festival… Literally thousands of meters (at least I think so, I am pretty bad at estimating distances.. That's why I bump into doorways, windowsills and an occasional wall on a regular base…. LOL) of different kinds of beers, bratwurst, Berliner sausages and whatnot… Also very few meters there was a stage and sometimes there were German artists playing German music on them. Have I ever told you I'm allergic to Schlagers? LOL… Walking around on this very German festival I felt I needed to get myself a pair of lederhösen and should have joined the beer drinkers… haha

After a loonnnggg walk we finally got to the end of it and decided to walk instead of taking a tram to Alexanderplatz which was quite a walk, but the weather was nice and since we haven't really had summer here in The Netherlands we liked walking in the sun. We passed the TV tower, took a quick pic before we walked passed this awesome fountain with Neptune sitting on top.

And of course I had to get into the fountain, not only cause it's fun, but when it's hot out, there's not better than to walk into a fountain with cold refreshing water… LOL Walking around the fountain I noticed all these beautiful sculptures that it was made out and I actually couldn't stop looking it, but hey, we were only in Berlin for two days, so time to move on. Reluctantly I put my shoes back on and we strolled on.

Next stop the Dom and what a gorgeous building that is. We of course had to sit down in the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden). Not only of it's very interesting name, but what is a better place to sit on a sunny summer day than a field with a fountain in the middle and a beautiful building as a view. The Vondelpark (Amsterdam's most famous and very nice park) sure can't beat that.

After that we arrived at the famous street: Unter den Linden.

I know about the importance of this street, but to me this street is better know because it's sung about in this beautiful BEAUTIFUL Dutch song that tells about the difference between East and West Berlin and asks what all of it is worth if you can't go to the other side. If you can't say what you want when your in East or when you've got freedom in the West, but no job and no house. The chorus always gets to me most. I'll try to translate it:

And only the birds, they fly from East to West Berlin
They won't get called back, or get shot in the back
Over the Wall, over the Iron Curtain
Because they sometimes want to be in the West, and sometimes in the East
Because they sometimes want to be in the West, and sometimes in the East

That song just blows my mind! And I'm happy that it doesn't apply anymore!

(Wow this is turning out to be novel length blog… Ah well, I tend to do that… you knew what you were getting into when you started reading this.. LOL)

So on we go. Strolling down Unter den Linden and after jumping in and out souvenir shops (since I wanted a souvenir with the Ampelmann on it) we finally arrived at the Brandenburger Tor. You've got to love that one! So beautiful! I love it when you can look far into the distance. It makes me dream and fantasize about different worlds and different lives and makes me feel like anything is possible. So even though you're looking at this immense structure, you can still look through it and see beyond.

And then the Reichstag. That building has so much history to it. (by the way, I know you're waiting to read about mr. A-Z, but bear with me, I'll get there.. Can't just ignore the rest of the trip… J)

Ok, so where was I? O yeah, the Reichstag. Well there's much to say about it, but I don't want this blog to become an epic novel.. LOL Go and check wikipedia if you want to learn more about it. And if you do, check out the other ones as well! J

After that we just walked around a bit, rested our feet whilst enjoying a beer and an icecream and decided it would be best to go back to the hostel and get some food and get ready for the first of two gigs Jason would be doing in the Dachkammer in Berlin. We were getting excited now. J

After having grabbed an easy dinner at the McDonalds we went to the Dachkammer and were greeted by one of our very excited partners in crime… LOL After going in, I quickly discovered that the places we were standing at would get crowded and maybe a little pushy and since I don't like that and was definitely not in the mood for that, I went to the back end of the room and sat down on a bench I could stand on once the gig would start. I was a bit bored while sitting there and wait, so I took out the map of Berlin they gave us at the hostel and wanted to check out stuff we could do tomorrow. That's when I found out that it was a funny map. On the backside it had sentences in English that were translated into German. What's funny about that you probably think. Well… There were many funny, crazy sentences on it and the funniest one being: Watch out there is huge frog about to land on your head. That just killed me. When Brenda decided to come and sit next to me I shared it with her and we had lots of fun about it. She even suggested to give the map to Jason so he could have some fun with it as well. LOL

When Jarrod (travelling with Jason and filming the trip) came down to set up the merchandise he recognized us from the Ootmarsum party and came over to say hi. That was just the cutest! Especially since HE's extremely cute.. LOL.. He told us that they had been strolling around the neighborhood and would be doing the touristy thing the next day and also that they were going to get a tattoo.

It didn't take long for the show to start after that and we both stood on the bench which normally is a great way to see, but this time people put seats in front of us and would stand on those, making it harder for us to see the complete thing. It was a great show though. Jason did most of the well known songs and the atmosphere was very up beat. The only thing I don't understand is why people travelled from Danmark to Berlin and talk through the whole thing… Weird…

At the start of Mr. Curiosity one of our partners in crime noticed that the battery of her video camera went dead and she shouted something out of agony. Couldn't help herself, was just frustrated with that happening. But Jason heard and it got him so distracted that he couldn't remember his second line. That was just too funny and there's a clip of it on YouTube. Will post the link later… J

Since the room was small and there were these wooden benches at the sides and backside of the stage, people were invited to sit up there and Jason tried his best to include these folks into the show as well. At one point he wanted to turn around, cause they had been staring at his saggy jeans all night.. Then he thought about that and realized he would show that to the whole crowd by turning around and so decided to move to the other side of the stage instead and face us sideways… That was hilarious, but you probably had to be there… J

At the end of the show he made a polariod photo of the whole crowd and promised to put it on his microphone at every show from now one. So if he would do a show in let's say Milwaukee, he would yell to the crowd: Berlin it's so great to be back! LOL Must say I like that idea to be sung to every time even though I can not actually hear it. Which ofcourse would be way better. I need to find a way to travel cheaper. Cheaper I hear you think. Yeah cheaper, I might even start sleeping under bridges… hehehe

After the show Jason joined the crowd that was still there and talked to everyone and handed out autographs and took pictures with everyone. Of course we had to have our pic taken as well, even though I already had one from Ootmarsum. You can never have too many, right?

Since I am always very random and never know anything intelligent and interesting to say to people whom I don't really know, I started telling Jason about the fact that he has his b-day 3 days before mine and that we are both Cancerians… Yeah, I know.. but I don't know why… I just get very random sometimes… LOL… He told me that he had written a song about Cancerians and I suggested that he would play that the next day, but it couldn't be done without his band, he said. So I made him promise to play that in the Paradiso in Amsterdam when he returns in December. He said he would, but he probably has already forgotten that.. That's ok though… I'll remind him.. hehe.. LOL

He told us about him and Jarrod getting a tattoo the next day I suggested that he should get the sign for Cancerians, yeah yeah I couldn't let it go LOL, and he told me he already had one. So I told him I have one too and asked him if he too always gets the questions why he's got a tattoo of 69.. All the dirty minds out there.. ;) And he said yes. Well I've got a great answer to that question, I told him. Just say that that's the way you've been conceived. J

(oh my dog, this blog is transforming into a bottomless pit. You know what… I'll make two parts of it… Day 1 and Day 2.. Pretty smart for a blonde one ey? Well dark blond.. hehe… but being a true blonde is on the inside and not on the outside… ;))

As we went outside for a little air one of us said something loud in Dutch about Jarrod and while I looked around I noticed his feet a few yards away from us. So I told her: he's right there and I ran off.. LOL… So we all ran off and we're afraid to return even though he can never have know what was being said, since I think he doesn't speak or understands Dutch… Well at least I hope so.. LOL I've waited my entire life for the moment that you can tell someone who's speaking of someone else that that person is right behind them… LOL After walking around in circles around the Dachkammer we noticed Jarrod was gone and went back inside. Yes, yes we are chickens..LOL

We had a great time at the bar and before Jason left to go to his hotel, he said goodbye to everyone that was still present. He put a bag on our table that had some ad for clementines on it, so I, again very randomly, said 'Clementines! Do you like those?'. And Jason told us he had a clementine tree in his back yard and I warned him for not letting me near, cause I would steal some… Again, I made another brilliant impression… LOL

I asked him if he would do another improvisation song like he did in Ootmarsum and he looked like he might. I told him I was glad that he also loves the word flabbergasted, which I yelled out in Ootmarsum, cause I always figured that I'm the only person crazy enough to have flabbergasted as a favorite word, but that I would yell out Bamboozled if he would do another one of those. He told me he would make a list of rhyme words for it. J

We then said our goodbyes and see you tomorrows and went to our hostels.

One last thing: I like a good hostel since they're cheap, they're everywhere, but you can't get 'home' all excited and chat all night about your experiences… J

Well I'll leave you with this for now… Until shortly!