Nederlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg & Germany Pt2
Posted Sunday, June 8, 2008 by Simon
A little bit after the fact but here is part 2. As soon as I left Europe for Japan time just seemed to vanish and it's only now, back in Los Angeles, that I can write more about this trip. This was the first time I had played any clinics in Switzerland, as far as my memory serves me, and I had the most wonderful time. Firstly the day I arrived in Zurich the weather was perfect and myself and Atsushi, from Hoshino BV, met up with Serge Olar whom I was about to spend the next week with driving all through the country. We had dinner outside that evening - in May!!!! Pretty cool for Europe. Some spectacular drives were had going from town to town and I managed to start each day off with a coffee and a croissant outside at most of the hotels. It had been a long time since I had driven through Switzerland and taken in the sights. It's just not the same in a tour bus - you just never look outside much. And for the most part you travel at night. So this was really cool and honestly, even though I was playing every night and doing a set up and sound check each day, it felt like I was on vacation. Aarau, St Gallen, Morges, Brig, Altishofen & Basel were our stops on this tour. I hope next time I can get down to the Italian part of CH. An early flight to Luxembourg and a day off - time to catch up on some rest - oh and watch the Turkish GP!!! I had never had a chance to really "see" Luxembourg since my first visit there in 1978 so I took advantage of the time I had and walked all over the town. I never realized how spectacular this place was until now - and of course shot loads of photos. I even tried speaking a little Luxembourgish at my workshop - interesting language!!! My old friend Stephan Haenische joined me with a rather cool Audi Q7 which we would use to "beam" ourselves from one town to another. And the weather held amazingly - going on 2 weeks - quite an achievement for Europe. From here we went to Sulzbach, Maintal, Hamburg, Bochum & Treppendorf and, as always, great audiences. I believe there were over 600 people at the Hamburg workshop which was held in an amazing WWII bunker, maybe the largest in existence. Of course I had to get up onto the roof and check it out. Amazing to look around over Hamburg from that viewpoint. The last couple of days in Europe the weather broke and lots of rain came pouring down but still an amazing run. Next stop - Japan - and Stephan dropped me off at Frankfurt Airport and I flew that evening to Tokyo. |