Away I go to Tokyo!

It's been a while since I've written. Not because nothing's been happening - it just seems that I need to have myself planted in an airplane seat before I find time to do certain things that I intend to! 

You may have seen in a post over the summer that King Diamond was booked to play Loudpark Festival in Tokyo. Talk of negotiations being in the works came out back while we were in Helsinki. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we were excited. None of the band or crew have ever been to Japan so this was an opportunity for all of us to see a new part of the world. I am always very grateful for the opportunity to travel that working for KD gives me. Japan is not somewhere I would ever plan to go on my own, and until now, didn't expect to go with the band. I don't take these opportunities lightly and have become more and more determined to take advantage of them to the fullest. That being said, there was no way I was going to Tokyo for a weekend.

Step 1. Change flight ticket for a later return date.

Step 2. Figure out the rest!

In the past year I have found some great ways to travel cheap. The downside of looking for bargains is it's time consuming. The past few weeks have been eaten up by countless hours emailing and researching places to stay. Just in time to go, I had my accommodations *mostly* figured out, but was happy that when I arrived In Japan there would be a couple days to iron out details while we prepared for, and played Loudpark - not to mention festival staff to greet me at the airport, take me to a hotel and feed me for a few days.

So the days before my departure were filled with the usual packing and preparing, and also cramming in work to launch a collaborative project that I will be telling you all about in a future post. To top it off my niece Christine, who I haven't seen in years, was in PA visiting from Arizona with her fiancé Anthony - so of course despite all I had on my plate I had to clear time to spend with them. I just wish it could have been more! I went to bed Wednesday night with a long list of things to get done the next day… you know, while I wasn't driving home an hour after seeing family, at work during the day, or in class that night. 

8:20 am Thursday. Yawwwn, wipe crust from eyes, check email. "Sorry for the result. Please stop taking flight for all crew."

Nooooooooo! Our show was cancelled due to all of our gear getting delayed in transit. (If you want to read the whole story go here: http://www.kingdiamondcoven.com/site/category/news/) Panic ensues. So begins the mental debate: Do I still go? I don't have a hotel - I need a place to stay! How much is this gonna cost? Should I still go? How will I get around? What do I know about Tokyo?? I don't know Japanese!!! Why I bother freaking out over things like this I'll never know, cause deep down I already knew I was getting on that plane.  

Which brings me to Friday - departure day. I've had 2 hours sleep and despite yesterday's mixed feelings, I am psyched to be writing from aboard ANA flight NH1. I am already loving the Japanese airline staff. Everyone is so polite and sweet and smiley. Why don't more people smile? It makes even dreadful events like stepping onto a plane for a 14 hour flight delightful - at least for a moment. I've already eaten with chop sticks and even my airline food was well decorated :)

This is going to be awesome!

Yay for leg room! Plus empty seat next to

me - bonus!

Subway signs. Apparently super hero pandas get very 

upset when their capes get caught in the doors.

Psyched to see right away that Halloween

is alive and kicking in Japan!

Always a good sign :)

Seemingly high-end jewelry store rocking the skulls

Where I will dwell my first 3 nights. 

Another bonus - no one is renting out the other beds !

Ljubljana - Who knew?!

I never heard of Ljubljana before I booked my flight there to meet up with the band to play Metal Days Festival. I arrived 2 days before and hit rehearsals. Having had no sleep leading up to my flight there, my first night was fairly uneventful, and the next day was filled with costume washing, catching up on sleep, and booking future travel plans. I did venture out that night tho to grab something to eat. I of course had checked happycow.com and was pleased to see that Ljubljana had many veggie restaurants, unfortunately, it was late and they all seemed to close pretty early. I wanted to wander a bit anyway so I stopped at reception, grabbed a map and hit the street. 

Wow! What a great little city. Just a short walk from the hotel was the main street leading to the town square. The woman at reception told me "it's beautiful at night and people talk to each other there, face to face!". I laughed at her comment, but it was true that there was a friendly, festive feeling in the air. As I ventured further I noticed a lot of street art, and a cool creative city vibe for a pretty small town. Even better, I also noticed a sign that read "VEGAN" and stepped in to grab some grub. 

Available outside seating was limited to a large table, so when I sat I told the waiter I'd take the table and if anyone wants, they can join me. Minutes later a girl came along, was seated with me and we wound up hanging out the rest of the night. From Finland, she spoke excellent English and was about half my age and traveling alone for the first time. We swapped stories of travel and life, discussed theories regarding gender perception, how people treat each other, and how, if ever, society's deeply rooted thought processes can be altered. I was impressed. Barely in her twenties, she was the most intelligent person I've encountered in a long time. After hours of talking we said goodnight and I realized I never even got her name!

But back to the task at hand… Friday came and it was time to head to the venue. We took shuttle vans 2 and a half hours west, up the mountain to the fest. The ride was windey, bumpy, even a bit car-sickening, but the views were breathtaking. Blue skies over snow capped mountains in the distance; tree covered hills all around. The road followed the river which was a bright green color like no water I've seen before. Were we really headed to a metal show? Upon arrival, it just got better. I addition to the setting I just described, there was a beach where 2 rivers met. The temps were in the upper 80's and plenty of people were taking advantage of the cold water. Standing there on the rocky beach, I also had a metal bar with Testament playing over the PA behind me to my left, and a 24/7 vegan food truck behind me to my right. Could it get any better?! Lastly, back up by the dressing rooms, I watched all day as parachutes filled the sky. One after another parasailers launched from the peak directly behind the stage. At one point I counted 23 in the air. To me this seemed very similar to hangliding which I've always wanted to try. Between that, the great vibe in Ljubljana and everything I was loving about the fest, I pretty much spent all day planning to come back and take full advantage of them all :)

As quickly as we arrived tho it was time to leave. Most of us had early flights in the morning so we had to pack up and start driving right away. Another sleepless night of travel. Sorry fellow flyers for showing up with half my stage makeup still on - probably a pretty confusing sight for many so early in the morning!

I dunno anything about this door but I
want to find out!

Mike Wead hanging out at what is probably the prettiest
hotel terrace ever.

Pretty sweet spot to relax before the bands go on.

Awwwwww yea!

The small stage - saw Candlemass here at the end of the night.
Nothing like rocking out right in the middle of the woods :)

I Miss Prague Already!

Back in Copenhagen after a 9 day excursion to Prague. I could have stayed longer - much longer. I felt instantly at home in that city and at the same time, like I could be there 10 years and never see it all. I wanted to check out everything, but it was overwhelming. How could I decide where to start? I planned a few destinations, but the small roads weave a web that can be quite difficult to navigate. The great thing was, when I couldn't find what I was looking for, I found something else just as interesting. It didn't take long for me to realize that the best way to investigate was to just pick a starting point and see where it lead.

I didn't go to a single museum or take a tour of any historical building, or pay for any of the countless attractions that I'm certain are worth seeing, yet I still witnessed more every afternoon than I could have hoped. The streets are cobblestone. I skipped running entirely but walked for hours each day - in Chucks - I do not know how the women of Praha wear heals in those streets! For the most part, pedestrians obey the traffic laws and cars stop for people in cross walks. For someone who drives down 2nd Street through Liberties Walk 5 times a week, THAT was an incredible site in itself!  Another huge difference from Philly - those streets were clean. It wasn't until I saw one piece of trash in the road that I realized it was the ONLY trash I saw. How refreshing! Mainly tho, it was the amount of detail spent in the creation of Prague's architecture that got me. Various styles are represented, each more ornate than the last. Of course you expect it from the Baroque churches and Gothic castle, but the post office and the pizza shop, and the apartments down the street - the sheer abundance of beauty amazed me. And where there was a break in the buildings, there was a park, with even more sculpture. 

Besides eating at a different vegetarian, often vegan, restaurant every day, a big highlight was getting a tour of Prague. My host works as a tour guide and was generous enough to spend 5 hours showing me the highlights - free of charge! By that point I had seen most of the city, but hearing the history enriched my experience of each place we stopped. Prague was occupied by the Nazis in WWII and I again found myself holding back tears as I was told about events that took place not all that long ago. To be honest, I never fully understood the connection that Jewish people today feel with those who lived during the time of the Holocaust. Of course the violence was horrendous. I am disgusted by bigotry and the level of mistreatment was astronomical. I cannot wrap my head around how something so wrong, gained so much power and destroyed so many people. But I had never felt it. I felt it in Warsaw and I felt it in Prague. I felt connected with a history that wasn't even my own, and I thought to myself if I was in a place where thousands of vegans were rounded up and persecuted for their beliefs I would be balling my eyes out. That feeling, along with a personal connection, would be more than I could take. 

During this tour I did learn that the Christians thought to work with finances was to work with the devil, and therefor forced Jews to be the ones who handled the money. Of course it didn't take long for people to realize that those who handled finances ended up with money, which threw everyone off their game. This gave me a good chuckle :)

I will wrap up my ramblings about Prague by praising the people that I met there. Funny enough, most were not Czech. Tourism is huge there and I met a lot of couchsurfers from various European countries.  Travel, as opposed to going to a vacation destination, seems much more prevalent in Europe than the US and I feel more akin to that mentality. Not that I am opposed to sitting my ass on a beach and sipping piña coladas for a week, but I always have the urge to get to know the inter workings of a new place. I will also say that I am a big fan of traveling alone. Again, with another person would be great, but when you are walking by yourself, your company is your surroundings. For me, it makes for a stronger connection with the area and the people in it. Thank you Prague for being so good to me!