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The Europe Tour 2000-2001 >
Helsinki, Finland |
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We boarded the "ferry" to Helsinki, the Viking Likes' Mariella, and all checked into our rooms, or small box shall I say. But few planned on spending time in these anyway. If you read my entry from Helsinki Pocahontas, you know that this really isn't what we refer to as a ferry. It's a cruise ship. Not a gigantic one with 7 swimming pools or an indoor 18-hole golf course, but a cruise ship nonetheless, and it is big. It holds 2700 people, and has 2 nightclubs, a multitude of restaurants and bars, a movie theatre, and is filled with rug, brass, and marble. My first order of business was to claim a seat at the back window for takeoff. I joined my friends Monique, Joey, and Ariel there before a few others started to show up. We sat there and watched as the engines fired up, the water started churning, and we took off, bound for Helsinki. We moved around several times joining various groups, before I decided I had to get some sleep before trying to go the rest of the night. I got in bed about 7:30, and set my alarm for 8:30. I thought. It went off at 9:30. I made myself get up against my body's wishes and found people up at the Karyoke club singing their hearts out. Karyoke was almost over, and I figured I needed some food in a bad way. Once the last song was done, I made my way to the food area. All the restaurants had stopped serving, although I found that the snack place was still open. I managed to get a good salad and some pizza which would hopefully last the rest of the night. After my meal, I ran into Monique and another friend who were also looking for food, so I sat back down with them in the snack bar and talked for a while. After they ate, we joined a group in the "Fun Club" watching a really, REALLY cheesy stage show. From there, we decided to check out the club upstairs, which was just getting started. I was in the club for the next several hours. After a short time however, I started to feel quite ill. I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep, the food I ate, the rocking of the ship, the little drinking I had done, or a combination of all of these. I started to drink just coke and water and that seemed to help quite a bit. For the next few hours we danced as hard as we could. At one point, I went to my room to pick up my camera and got on the elevator back up, from the 4th floor, the elevator made it as far as the 6th floor before the lights went out and the elevator dropped 6 floors to the bottom. I was scared shitless!! Ever seen Titanic? That's what it felt like, the lights kept blinking on and off, there was a deathly silence, and the elevator car was bouncing back and forth with the rocking of the boat, making a bunch of grating metal sounds. It was entirely freaky, and with my worst fear being death by drowning, I was not happy with this predicament! i pressed the emergency call button, and they said they would send somebody. Seven minutes or so went by, then they came on again and said someone would be there shortly. Well, afew minutes after that, I heard somoene trying to open the doors to the elevator, but he couldn't get them open. He kept saying "Now hold on a minute." After about five more minutes jerking around with the door, he got them to open, and I found out I was 2 feet BELOW the bottom floor! I got out and made my way back up 7 flights of stairs to the club. No WAY was I getting on that elevator again!! Back in the club, things were still going nuts. This trip however was not even near to the point of the last trip. On the last trip on this boat, it was a sexfest on the dance floor. This time it was just a bunch of people dancing. A little hookin' up going on, but nothing close to the previous journey! After a few more hours of dancing, the club closed down at 4:30am. I walked outside the door and talked with some friends about an incident that had happened between two people in our group just an hour or so before...a pretty serious one really. after that, I ventured OUTSIDE where it was freezing cold and very windy to see the waves in the ocean, etc. It was pretty wild. But I didn't last long because it was too cold. i returned to my friends to talk before heading downstairs for a little sleep. I slept for about two and a half hours, half an hour longer than I meant to. From there, I got up and went to breakfast, which wasn't as impressive as I would have thought, then returned to pack up and get ready to leave, because the boat was docking. After waiting for a while in the lines to get off the boat, I made it to the passageway towards the bus. Quite a long hallway I must say! And then, of course, who gets stopped by the passport people? Me. I didn't see anyone else get stopped in front of or behind me, but I got stopped. I have no idea why. But it was just a short stop, so I made it to the bus quickly. Unfortunately, there were about 12 more people riding the busses this time than there were riding to the ferry. We had the same busses (they went on the ferry too) so everyone was supposed to keep their seats. But when you add 12 people, things change. Most of that group decided to get on the bus I had been on, so all the seats were taken by the time I got on. So I had to go find another seat on another bus, while my luggage was on that one. I could have argued, but I just didn't feel like dealing with snotty principals that day. After a really long wait for an unknown reason, our bus finally got going to the hotel. I remember this hotel from last time. It's pretty big, is very modern in the lobby areas, but the rooms are small and very old feeling. But there is a really cool nightclub downstairs in the hotel, so that's kind of cool. I wasted no tiime in getting to my room, because I had to be at work in just 5 hours. I actually managed to crawl out of bed to make it to work on time, which was quite a surprise. When I got to work, I found the same surprise as the week before: the trucks had just shown up. What I want to know is, why does it take 5 hours for them to drive trucks from 15 minutes away? Oh, why do I even bother asking? Loadin went along fairly well, and within 6 hours, I had my entire system on and checked out. We left around 11:30 and went home to get some sleep before finishing the next day. Most of us were starving when we got to the hotel, and there didn't look to be much open, and room service had just closed (like we can afford that anyway!). The hotel called a place just down the street that said they would stay open for us if we came right then. So six dirty boys headed down the street to a little place called Cafe Kuu. Cute waitresses I must say! Sorry, had to. We ordered various dishes and everyone thought theirs was amazing, even the guy who had reindeer and moose (sorry, Rudolph and Bullwinkle). After dinner, it was time for a shower and bed. The next day, loadin continued without a flaw and we were done focusing hours before the show. That gave me a little time to sit down and chill before running the show, which opened to a pretty small house, relative to the size of the arena. After work, there was a company party in the nightclub downstairs. They had some good food and free drinks for us for a few hours. Right now, though, I'm giving up drinking big, so I had only one beer, then had cokes for the rest of the night. I left quite early though, because I was tired and wanted to go to bed! When I woke up the next morning, I looked out the window, and I saw snow. Lots of snow. When I went to bed the night before, there was no snow, now there was 6 inches or so. That's Finland. I planned to go into work early to work on some lighting for skater auditions. I kind of use their auditions as an audition for myself, to show the powers-that-be what I can do programming lighting (since that's what I want to do!!). Renee called me at about 1pm saying they were leaving in 45 minutes, and asked if I wanted to get something to eat. She hadn't looked out the window yet, so she was a bit surprised to see what she saw. We decided not to walk through that to get lunch, but instead ate in the hotel restaurant. Our meal was delicious! After eating, we went to the arena and I worked on the lighting for Renee, and for another guy named Craig. Before I knew it, though, it was time for the show presets to begin. And then a show. After the show, I stayed again to work on audition lighting, becuase I had to finish it! I worked mostly on Craig's, becuase I was done with Renee's. We worked for about an hour and a half getting it all treaked out. When we got home, I went to dinner with Criag and another guy named Boomer (nickname of course) to a restaurant called Chico's. Kind of like Chile's really. Finally a place in Europe which serves REAL buffalo wings, not some glazed chicken pieces dipped in hot sauce. These were delicious and prepared just right. I also took this opportunity to get a plate of fajitas, which I haven't had in a long, long time! After that, it was bedtime. Friday I woke up late and went to get some Chinese food for lunch, then hung around in the room until time for work. I actually didn't go early today! After the show, it was time for the auditions. They went pretty well, although I flawed a few times. I don't think anyone really noticed though. I got tons of compliments afterwards, and that's always a good thing. Hopefully the people who really matter noticed it as well. Afterwards, I had to stay briefly to help with a problem with one of the motors in the grid. We got that solved pretty quickly then returned to the hotel. When I got back, I stopped in the bar to have a drink with two people sitting there. I saw Renee, who was going to dinner with two other friends, Monique and Ariel, so I joined them in the hotel restaurant for another delicious meal. After that, we decided to go to the nightclub downstairs to check it out. Tonight, it was happening! There were tons of people there, from young to old, and some salsa-type band playing. It seemed pretty fun, but I didn't last long. I just didn't feel like clubbing tonight. Saturday was your typical three-show day. Even though I went to bed the night before at a decent hour, I overslept and was late to work by half an hour. Ugh. I made it through the day however and left right after the last show...no staying late tonight! When the bus got to the hotel, we all looked out the window in awe. Our hotel was all ashes. Just kidding. No really, the hotel was lit up in all kinds of colors, had tents outside, and luxury sports cars lining the side of it, all lit up like a showcase...even a searchlight into the sky. I guess there was some HUGE private party for Audi, at least I'm assuming so with all the Audi emblems and cars around. None of us could go to the nightclub, cause it was closed to the public. I just decided to go to my room, pack and order a pizza. Before I knew it, it was 1:00am and I decided to go to bed! Okay, now I don't know what's going on. I stopped drinking and partying solely so I could start feeling better, etc. (not because it's cheaper, because a coke costs just as much!). Now for the past 2 days, I have gone to bed at a normal time of night, slept a decent number of hours, but I've overlspet both mornings. I haven't even heard my alarm. And the even more bizarre part, something out of the Twilight Zone...both mornings when I did up, it was been exactly 9:00 on my watch. What are the chances that two nights in a row you don't drink, get decent sleep, and wake up the next morning without any alarm at exactly the same time. I thought it was strange, but maybe that's just me. Maybe I should go back to drinking...I was never late then! Sunday went along as a normal day, although with only two shows and an early loadout. Loadout went mostly without a hitch, and would have been done very early had the truck drivers not been clueless!! Our stage manager had given them a sheet with the order to bring the trailers in. They brought them originally correctly I guess. But about 2/3 of the way through, they started just bringing in random trailers. When our stage manager pitched a fit, the lead driver asked "Does it really matter?" Well, DUH, yes it does, certain equipment goes on certain trailers in a certain order so that it all fits. And it's ordered for when it gets done during loadout. So then our manager said "Now you have put us an hour and a half behind." Again the guy said "Well, does THAT really matter?" I would have hit him at that point. Anything that extends loadout can get you beat. Now, we would get home later 9we had a VERY early call the next morning) and the local labor would have to be paid for more time. Yeah, it matters. Dumbass. We got done still in a fairly decent time, and made it home before 11:00pm. A few of us decided to hit Chico's for dinner. We got there at 11:00 and they closed at 11:00. Ugh!! So we returned to the hotel restaurant for a very tasty dinner. After that I made a quick phone call, then took a shower and hit the bed. The next morning when I woke up at 5:30am, I realized that I had forgotten to take my laundry bag to work the day before and pack it in my crate. I didn't have room for it in my suitcase or my other bag, so I would have to check my dirty laundry bag! HA! I went downstairs to load my bags and found that the truck was not at the hotel yet, so I went ahead and had breakfast with Monique. Then the announcement came that the truck was here, so I went to put my bags on. Still no sign of busses, so I decided to pay my bill while I waited. Well, wouldn't you know it that right in the middle of my bill payment, the busses arrived and everyone claimed seats. By the time i made it out to the busses, there weren't many seats left, but I got a decent one sitting with my friend Jenna, and we chatted a while before dozing into our own little worlds. I saw one really funny sight on the way to the airport, and I wish I had gotten a picture. Something you probably would not see in America, or if you did, it would be shut down or burned down very fast. The KKK Supermarket. HA! What a name! I was envisioning the announcement "We now have a white-light special on pointy hats on aisle 3!" Of course this place had no relation to the KKK as we know it in the US, but it was still quite funny (as funny as thoughts of egotistical, redneck white supremecists can be). Arriving at the airport was a nightmare. Imagine 75 people all arriving at one time, on two busses, then trying to get bags out of the back of a UHAUL. It looked like a food distribution truck in a starving country. After quite a while I finally found my bags and went into the terminal. Seeing that I would be about 5th to last in line, I decided to forgo the line-standing. I found a nice little cubby, threw down my laundry bag, and propped myself up quite comfily (is that a word?) for the next half hour. I even had visitors come to chat. All the while, everyone else stood in line and waited and waited. I just sat there all cozy. I ended up checking in less than 5 minutes after one person who thought I was nuts for not standing in line. Once I finally got checked in and through security, I made my way to the gate, where I was about the 4th person on the bus to the plane. With about 10 people on the bus, the driver closed the door and it seemed like he was going to drop us off at the plane. That meant very choice seating for those of us on first (our flights have no seating assignments). Well, wouldn't you know it, he stayed and waited until the bus was packed before leaving. This meant that 40 people would hit the plane at the same time, making the chance for a good seat much less. In the hustle and bustle, I ended up being on of the LAST people in the group to get to the plane (and I was early on the bus! grrr). I still managed to find a fairly decent seat (no large exit row though). Luckily, no one sat beside me, so I had my own row for the flight to stretch out my legs. |
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