North America Guitar Tour - spin off
Bregenz
July 27, 2008
Today, I went further south to Bregenz, Austria. This was the second place I hadn't scheduled to play a live show in after Prague. I was staying at the home of Mr. G, a colleague of Mr. B, who had hosted me in Lemgo. If I had more spare time, I would have visited the places where "The Sound of Music" was filmed, but since I had no sense of the area or distance, I decided to head straight for Bregenz.
The rain from the night before had stopped, and in the clear skies I had breakfast with leftovers from the barbecue, and then Mr. M showed me his CD collection and guitar room. He said he had all of Chet's records, all on CD. There were quite a few guitars on display in a room the size of my house. I'm not a collector, but I'm sure Japanese collectors would drool over this kind of environment.
We left home just after 10 o'clock and headed to Ingolstadt Station with Mr. M driving. On the way, we passed a small bridge over the Danube again. The previous day, I didn't notice the river itself until I had passed it, but this time I knew about it in advance and was able to see the river itself. It was a small river, only a few meters wide, not unlike the Danube you often see in photos. After arriving at the station, I bought a sandwich for lunch and a bottle of gum as a tip for Mr. M's son, who came with me. The train arrived soon after, and after thanking him and promising to meet again, I got on and sat in a single seat in the first class section, which was divided into sections. Waving goodbye at the station was also very emotional. Mr. M told me that I had to change to the express train to Bregenz at a station called Ulm, and that it was about 15 minutes to get there, so I had enough time to eat sandwich in train.
At Ulm station, I arrived at platform 1a, which is the end of platform 1, and the only way to get to platforms other than platform 1 is to use the underground passage at the opposite end of platform 1. I walked quickly to the passage with my large luggage, but it was so far away that I didn't think I would make it in the 5-minute transfer time, and what's more, the underground passage was not a staircase but a gentle slope, so I had to walk a considerable distance to reach the passage itself. When I reached the slope to the passage, I started to get quite impatient and almost gave up, but then a large elderly woman came towards me from behind, carrying a large baggage and with a terrible look on her face. She was probably transferring to the same train. Pushed by her momentum, I also picked up pace and managed to get on the train that was stopped at the next platform. All the express trains I had been on up until then had been modern trains, but this train was an old type like a sleeper car. One side was an aisle, and when I opened the door of my compartment, there were box seats for four people. It was very spacious, with four people in a space that would be six in Japan. When I got on, three seats were filled, including me, and an elderly man in a suit sat diagonally opposite me, and an elegant middle-aged woman sat next to me. The man got off at the next station, and I was left alone with the woman. The train took a while to depart from Frederichshafen Stdt, so I looked out the window wondering if something had happened. The woman told me that the front locomotive would be detached here, and a new locomotive would be attached to the rear and run in the opposite direction. It was for crossing the mountains. In that case, I thought it would be better to move to a seat facing the direction of travel, so I left my luggage behind and moved to the seat opposite, and the woman also moved to the seat opposite, and we were next to each other again. From this point on, the conversation started to flow, and when I told her that I was touring from Japan to England, Germany, and Italy to perform because of YouTube, she listened with great interest. She asked me, "Are you going anywhere?" and I replied, "If it's close by, I'll go," and she asked me for my contact information. I didn't have a business card with me, so I wrote my email address, website address, and YouTube name on a piece of paper and gave it to her. I hope I'll be in Germany when she call out to me.
Time passed quickly after I started talking to the woman, and the train soon arrived in Bregenz. After telling the woman to feel free to contact me, I got out from train and a young man spoke to me as soon as I was on platform. It was Mr. G, who's apartment I am staying till tomorrow. He said he recognized me immediately because I had a guitar on my back. I was a bit taken aback because I thought he was a fairly old man, as he was Mr. B's colleague. The apartment was very close to the station, and when I entered the room, there was another couple. The woman was a German from Berlin, and the man was a Canadian saxophone player who was in an orchestra in Berlin. It was my first time hearing North American English on this trip, so I felt a little relieved. Mr. G said that the woman had suddenly come over last night, and that she was his ex-girlfriend. They also had a large dog with them. The apartment was on the shores of Lake Constance, and there were many tourists gathered around the pleasure boats that were leaving right in front of the apartment. An opera with a full orchestra was to be performed on a special stage on the lake beyond. I hadn't planned on sightseeing at all on this trip, but since I was in the middle of a tourist spot, I couldn't help but enjoy it. Mr. K from Chesham, Mr. B and Mr. H from Lemgo were all older than me, and I felt like I was being looked after, but here I was by far the oldest. After taking a break, the four of us decided to go out for a drink.
The performance on the special stage that day was Puccini's Tosca. Puccini on the lake is very stylish. The admission fee was quite expensive so we didn't go inside, but we could see the stage through the gap and hear the sound clearly. I ordered a drink at an open cafe-style bar near the venue and sat in an empty seat, and a man with a guitar came up on the small stage and started singing Beatles songs. There were some young people sitting a little further away who were quite drunk and noisy, but one of them fell asleep, and the others left him and went somewhere else. I was watching him, and he woke up about 10 minutes later, and perhaps panicking that his friends were not there, he fell off his chair when he tried to stand up. This was something no one expected, but it was still entertaining for the viewers.
We returned to the apartment and started drinking beer on the balcony, so I decided to play the guitar. I hadn't played once that day, so it was also a way to practice, but it was a very relaxed and nice atmosphere. The couple decided to sleep on the balcony, so Mr. G and I went into the room, and I fell asleep on the big sofa in the living room, and Mr. G fell asleep in his bedroom. I had only know of Bregenz, so I had almost no prior knowledge, but I had a very relaxing and meaningful time.
*The people mentioned in the text are written with their initials until we can confirm their identity.
Contents
Introduction
Until Departure
Seattle
To California
Day Off
Sunnyvale
To La
LA 2 Days
To Tucson
Albuquerque
To Colorado (beginning of Miracle)
Berthoud
Denver
to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City 2 days
To Texas
San Antonio
Georgetown
Dallas
Houston 2 Days
Benton
Nashville (CAAS)
Roswell
Tampa 2 Days
Miami
Orland 2 Days
Myrtle Beach
Chapel Hill 3 Days
Kingsport
To Indiana
Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival
To Staten Island
Manhattan
Phillipsburg
Nazareth (Martin Guitar Factory)
To Massachusetts (end of Miracle)
Methuen
To Montreal
To Buffalo
Meadvill A Day Before
Meadvill Ghost Hotel
Detroit
Chicago
Minneapolice
Spin Off #1
Spin Off #2 "EU Tour IN 2008 / Until Departure
Czech 1
Czech 2
London
Liverpool
Chesham
To Germany
Lemgo
Ingolstadt
Bregenz
To Italy
Florence
The Last Gig
Going Home