Half of yesterday, most of today as I’m typing this at the train station / on the train back home.
Sleep | Only 5:40 hours. I had planned to do a bit of sightseeing today, so I got up early-ish, after a late night last night. Gig and coming down and showering and all that. Only after I packed and went down for breakfast I realized that it’s raining. And it hasn’t really stopped all day.
Coffee, Cake & Chocolate | Not too much coffee yesterday (the one at hotel breakfast was only okayish). Yesterday I joined a 15 minutes waiting line for some cookies. And they were worth it. Yes. I couldn’t believe it before either. Van Stapele. I bought a box of six. I’ve still got four left. Today I went to Tony Chocolonely. You could make your own brand of chocolate! It took about an hour, 7.50 € for 180g of chocolate bar. Expensive, but so cool. Not sure if my milkchocolate, caramel, raspberry and sprinkles combo is any good. But it was fun. I also bought some more from the regular bars.
Steps | 14.400 steps yesterday. Almost 9.000 today. Yet.
Been More Kind | I think so. I think I’ve been the least kind to myself, which is definitely something I need to work on.
Gig(s) | The real reason I was in town… :-) I met with some other Frank Turner fans around 6 and we got into the very small queue 20 minutes before Doors. Getting to the front row rarely was so easy. Very nice. Frank and the Souls played for an hour, an all around greatest hits set with two songs from No Mans Land, which was very nice. I think quite a few of the Dropkick Fans knew Frank from before or were at least open to him. He definitely turned up the entertainer bit of personality a notch. At least that’s what it felt like and it was a good thing. Either way, I had fun. It’s been too long since I saw a full band (in full action) show.
The Dropkick Murphys played a great, slick show from what I could tell. They had just the right amount of gimmicks – confetti, video clips etc. We had moved out of the front after Frank’s set, went out for a drink and a wee. When we got back into the main auditorium it was packed. So we didn’t even try to get further in, which was a good think, probably, because at some point we probably would have been showered in beer. That was one thing that really bugged me with this crowd, even already during the Frank gig. The instruction was to “run in circles” not “run in circles and throw your half-full beers around”. Though while I type this another German who was at the gig last night as well, messaged me that this must be typical Dutch and that she hadn’t experienced that at a German DKM gig yet. Let’s see how it’ll be in Dortmund in a few days.
Moody Sightseeing | Not as much as I’d liked to be honest. I did a cool tour at the Rijksmuseum. Free Wifi and an app, which leads you through the museum and all. Very neat and 21st century. I also did a canal tour, but not much more. Expect stand in the cookie queue :-) The rain threw a wrench in my plans today, so I just went to the Amsterdam Museum, wandered around a bit, had yummy Indian Food for lunch, went to the Chocolate Store. I’ve been a “Travelling Fangirl” for a couple of years now and I should have learned by now, that I’m not in the mood for much after a gig night. I’m still a bit hyped, partly reliving the best bits, and partly either mourning that it’s too long till the next one or happy that it won’t be too long. Either way, I’m often not really present for new things the day after a gig. So maybe I should take that into consideration for the next trip and cut down on the sightseeing afterwards. At least that’s obviously where my head is at the moment.
Ouch | I can’t really blame my post-show-mind for my clumsiness, I’m afraid. I took a stupid fall earlier today, one I probably would have done even if I hadn’t been to a Frank gig the day before. I wanted to cross the street quickly, while the lights were still on green. I missed the curb and like a sack of potatoes, me and my umbrella fell down. Sprawled on the cycling path. Ugh! Luckily nothing happened, I obviously instictivly dropped the umbrella, so I could use both hands to catch my fall. And my knees too. It must have been quite the sight. But other than my ego, nothing got hurt. Even the knees only got slightly bruised. I think. There was no way to check and neither a way to ice them, so let’s see how they’ll look at home tonight.