Spontaneous Disappearance?

Our German adventure came to an end around 10:55pm last night, as we awaited the delayed departure of our Easy Jet carriage... A minor extension to our holiday was provided by some crazy man flipping out and wanting to get off the plane, taking his luggage with him and causing a massive security risk, sparking a wild frenzy that almost ended in a male flight-attendant and Tan in some sort of on-plane armshouse.. Massive entertainment...

However, back-tracking 4 days... Me and Ronald set off on the thursday from Luton airport, having been driven from London by the greatest living taxi driver, the most brash Turkish mafioso greez ball. Our planning for this trip was slim on the ground, we'd basically booked our return flight, and we knew we had press passes to a festival, the rest was pretty much up in the air.. On arrival in Germany that was sort of apparent as we struggled with maps and ticket machines, finally getting on a train and then to a hostel only to find it was fully booked.. so we wondered around the city looking for other alternatives, and 3 hostels later everywhere was still fully booked. Fearing the worst (an expensive hotel) we braved it in one place to find out the room was not only cheap - but INCREDIBLE as well, billed as a 2 man room, it was the size of a small apartment.. Biggest result.


Decor of the train was a bit 1960s.



Taken whilst wondering around Berlin, during our search for hostels.

That evening we headed out around Berlin, which is a really amazing city, and took some photos of some tourist attractions.. see Ronald's coming soon post for more info. Found the best kebab/pizza/lamachum/pasta place just down from our hotel.. which was where we ate most (if not all) of our meals whilst in Berlin.


Brandenburg Gate (sp??)..

On waking up the next day we set ourselves the task of purchasing a UK adapter plug for the EU plug points, failing to remember to bring one from England, and with all of my electrical equipment on dwindling battery resources, it was a much needed aquisition. We tried in vain for some time (one guy didn't even know what a camera was).. until finally being directed to a massive shop in Alexanderplatz where we got a tripod and an alternative charger for my camera battery.. Then rushed back to the hotel to get the train to Bitterfeld, which was the nearest station to Pouch - which is where Splash festival was to be held.. So we arrive at the event after much kerfuffle with our V.I.P wrist bands, meeting M.O.P + groupies and German support acts along the way.. pitch our oh so humble £6 Tesco tent, one German guy even enquired if we intended to sleep in it, or if it was just for storage (shame), and made for the festival, within 5 minutes the heavens opened and we darted for cover, and began to fear the worst for our flimbsy tent, and more importantly - the contents therein. The rain passed and we met up with Tan and his RT gangalang, who had just finished their piece in the Write 4 Gold European final. Milled around for a while and awaited the judges decision.. I'm gonna hold back the finer details of that to allow Tan the power of suspense.


This was their wall. Charged with the task of painting a Science fiction themed piece with the two words Science and fiction being painted too.



Some of the other competitors..


This is where we watched M.O.P from.


And this was the back-drop.

After the verdict me and Ronald headed for the V.I.P, got quite drunk and headed back to our tent, finding all contents perfectly in-tact, and no internal wetness, second biggest result of the trip. Saturday brought about - red sizzurp, more grafitti, sun-burn, missed photo oppurtunities with Saigon & Sean P (don't watch it) and another great sunset (in a nutshell).


V.I.P toilets, God forbid what the poor people had to put up with.

"That's what happens when you have a grafitti competition"


Red drank.


Tan, contemplative.


RT applying the finishing touches to another wall.

Saturday night brought about more drunken behaviour.. And we moved our hot-dog tally to around 6 or 7 each for the whole trip.

On sunday morning we made the executive decision of returning to Berlin early, as the lineup was strictly German.. Leaving behind our tent we made for the exit, and instead of waiting for the Shuttle bus we decided to just trek the 6k to Bitterfeld station, like the young heroes we are. Along the way we met the Death Rider from Hell, and soon after we stumbled across a SICK abandoned building.. photo oppurtunities aplenty.








After that we once again did battle with the German train system, incurring a 30 euro fine for getting on the wrong train. Even so, it was a welcome return to Berlin, where we spent the remainder of our trip relaxing and photograph taking..









This is the place that kept us alive/fed.




Nort Berlin - deceptively small, and an underwhelming stock-list...

In summing up, Berlin was amazing.. Splash festival wasn't what it was made out to be, and our press priviledges were mythical, but we still had a great time there, despite being very different from our expectations.. Hold tight Tan and Ron who will surely contribute the missing pieces. Big up all of RT too, despite minimal interactions they all seemed like wholesome characters!

Big up Shamz Le Roc as well for hooking us up with the free tickets!! You smashed it.