No train derailment for me (Safe and sound having lunch in Herdecke)

Yes, there was a train that derailed close to Paris causing multiple fatalities.

No, I was not on that train.

My TGV from Paris to Cologne was 20 minutes late because of 'infrastructure problems', but it made it to Cologne without the particular "infrastructure problem" of derailment.

Crazy German sees Crazy Horse & NY & Okta Logue

So I went to another concert of Neil Young & Crazy Horse (NY&CH hereafter) yesterday.  In Cologne.  There were no opening groups advertised and it said that it opened  at 8pm, so I assumed that’s when the main act would start.  We were on our seats at ~7:30 and at 7:45 the lights suddenly dimmed. ‘ Too early’ I heard. On stage walked 4 or 5 guys (kids I almost want to call them) and suddenly  the poster stretched across the stage made sense “Greetings from OKTA LOG” it said. 

  Darned! I had hoped to miss the pre-groups altogether.   When the lead singer said something to the audience in German he sounded shy and unsure of himself like a 16 year old.  Previous opening act for NY&CH had included Los Lobos, The Waterboys, Patty Smith, and other middle-to-heavy-weights.   I had never even heard of “Okta Log”. What a name!  Start trying to pronounce it; it’ll be useful soon  ;-)

Then they started to play. HOLY SHIP!  This sounds good.  Ah, maybe a one hit wonder. After their fourth or fifth and final song I did NOT want them to leave the stage (consider this in light of the upcoming main act ;-).  The almost fully packed LANXESS Arena seemed to like them as much as I did. ^th at The Luxor.  The Luxor is an old movie theatre with maybe 500 seats.  I’m actually shocked that show did not sell out while the NY&CH concert still was underway ;-(  Yesterday morning these guys were unknown; at midnight they had found their audience.  To whoever pulled the necessary strings: Well Done  ;-)  This kind of reminds me of the story when BAP (at the time a small Cologne band singing in Cologne dialect) somehow had managed to be an opening act for The Rolling Stones playing the Cologne Soccer Stadium. The were singing one of their songs in dialect to the Cologne crowd that is always VERY loyal to its city and its dialect.  The stadium was boiling. Apparently Mick Jagger asked the event manager: "What the F(& is GOING ON?"

Before he left, the lead singer announced that they were back in Cologne on December 4

The main act started with the usual song and the slightly annoying lab-coat Alchemists trying to unpack the speakers. 

  As in shows before (except for Dublin?), the 4 real magicians showed up and stood with their hands on their chests for the national anthem (The German one? The German one! ).

10 seconds after they took guitars and drumsticks in their hands I had a case of the goose bumps already.  They started right into the lovely sound-space&real space filling sawing/whimpering NY&CH sound.  While their guitars mightily weep!

During the concert in Dublin their rendition of ‘Walk like a giant’ mutated into a rendition of ‘noise art’, as my friend Seamus called it.  But the rhythm was still there and one could feel and hear the pain and effort of a prehistorical giant beast trying to get on its feet again.  That beast was in even more pain in Cologne. I loved it ;-)

A lot of people hated it.  Those were the people looking for the nice gentle Neil Young singing ‘Heart of Gold’ or ‘old man’.  Strangely enough, ‘heart of gold’ was played right after that (as an appeasement?) without even a short break for the audience to voice its approval or disapproval of the previous song by clapping or booing. But as in the concerts before, after the concert there was lots of vicious cursing of the old man for not singing the ‘nice’ old songs.  But these people probably also applauded the rendition of ‘Mr Soul’, without understanding the line “Is it strange I should change? I don’t know, why don’t you ask her!”.  I’m sure Jessica Simpson sings EXACTLY what the paying audience demands of her ;-)

I enjoyed this concert the most out of the 3 visited in the last 8 months and the band seemed to like it better too. A smiling Neil Young (!) thanking the audience at the end and the 4 encores instead of the usual 2 probably tell their own story as well.

Are trains on time in Europe ? A can of worms.

I'm sitting in a train in a tunnel. We've been sitting here for 10 minutes. A communication system announcement let us know that we were not moving "due to an infrastructure problem".  WTF is that supposed to mean? Someone stole the tracks? They were never laid?  There are cows hanging from the overhead power cables?  Johnny Depp has his ears on the rail to check when the train will finally arrive?  And why are passengers on a train treated like cattle on the track, namely like brainless idiots?  Would it be too much to ask to tell us what exactly that infrastructure problem is?  Or was it really just human or operator error again and they don't want to admit it ?  Will there be a rebate?

Thalys again ( sans Velo !)

My TGV got to Paris Montparnasse at 14:54.  The walk to the Metro took 15 minutes. There were no luggage assistants (whatever they're called these days) in evidence at Montparnasse.  I arrived at Gare du Nord at 15:40 so I could walk the other endless railway platform in time to get to my seat in time for Thalys to leave at 16:01.  No luggage assistance at Gare du Nord either.  I made it with 10 minutes to spare with only my backpack as luggage. If I had had a big suitcase, I'd have missed my train.  If I had the bike with me, I'd be writing this from within a Paris hospital.  Which means I would miss tomorrow's Neil Young concert ! Can't have that ;-)

In defense of the language skills of people from Quebec (Mais Ouae ! )

For the longest time I thought it strange that French speakers from Quebec would refuse to say 'Oui', like any decent French person pronounces it, as we were taught in grammar school. The Quebecois say something like 'Ouae'. In my ignorance I kept saying that Parisian French sounds like "Blah Blah" whereas Quebecois sounds like "Quack Quack". I've  been travelling through Brittany now for 2 weeks.  And yes, I've heard a lot of 'Oui'.  But ONLY from Tourists and French from other parts of France.  Everyone who lives in Brittany seems to say 'Ouae'.

 So there, I stand corrected and the Quebecois aren't that strange after all ;-)

NICE (a day in the life of Saint Malo)

The post before this was the work aspect of my last day. Now comes the beauty aspect.  I was on the beach at 6:45 this morning. And I was the only one (except for someone with a metal detector, but he doesn't count, does he?).

Impressions:

Do you get now why I DO NOT want to leave?

My pet seagull on my windowsill waiting for more baguette

I could stare at this ocean for hours. Today it isn't only the seagulls that frolic in the wind and surf:

Sitting at the bottom of the stairs, just out of reach of the ocean (some spray gets to me ;-) is an 'activity' most pleasing

The bike is boxed (or Time to say Goodbye)

Considering the Tour de France was here yesterday I find it astonishing that I couldn't find one of those fancy bike bags that even bike-rental places deliver bikes in.  I was lucky to even find a banged-up and torn bike-box (cardboard shipping box). For a while it did look like I wouldn't even find one of those and I was considering wrapping the bike in 2 Yoga mats ;-).
Of course, the place where I found the box was 5 kms from my hotel. And I had travelled there on the bicycle, of course. Now how to get that box back to the hotel?
Simple? Attach the box with packing tape to the backpack. Then wear the backpack and cycle to the hotel.
Unfortunately Saint Malo is quite well known for its strong winds. They don't go kite-surfing for nothing here ;-)  So going downhill with a savage headwind pushing against the huge sail on my back was quite an adventure. But hey, nothing to what the Chinese can transport on a bicycle!

Naturally I went to my favourite restaurant again twice today, 20 meters from the Hotel Le Jersey. Not only is the food great; the people running the place are fabulous as well!

Meli-Melo salad (anything that lives in the ocean ;-)

I forgot what it was called but in the fish-shaped bowl below the mussel can be found anything that lives in the ocean ;-)

When back in the hotel, I fixed the box with more packing tape, used the Velo one last time to buy my train tickets for tomorrow, and then went about the sad task of dismantling the bike. After all, this baby carried me from Brest to Mont Saint Michel. But I'm sure it will be resurrected in the near future, maybe even in Saint Malo again ;-)

The fenders and the rack already came off yesterday

pas de pedals

Bloody handlebar 

Too bad it doesn't weight any less

Tomorrow I will take a TGV to Paris (~3.25 hours), somehow in one hour move myself and my bike from Gare Montparnasse to Gare du Nord, where I will catch Thalys again to Cologne (~3.25 hours). Time only will tell if Thalys insists on their limit of 1.2 by 0.9 meters for luggage brought aboard.  My bike box is about 1.7 meters long, but has some empty room inside (the bike is about 1.4 meters long).  If they insist, I will have to somehow leave the box in Paris and take the train to Cologne to get to the Neil Young concert on Friday, or I will stick with my box, take a slower train, and miss the concert.  Right now I'm still undecided on what to do in that case, but I'm hopeful, because this is France where rules exist for some reason, but not necessarily to be followed ;-)