Berlin - a Personal Story

The New Horizons Band Tour to Germany and Denmark was a lot of fun for me and for Chrystyna and I am grateful that spouses and friends of band members were allowed to come along.

Berlin was important to me personally because I got to see my cousin, Dr. Friedhelm Pedde and his wife.  They came to see the band's performance at the beer hall and we also got to go sightseeing with them in our free time, especially to the Pergamon museum for which Friedhelm, in his capacity as archeologist, has done a lot of work.

Friedhelm and his wife Brigitte lived very close to the Berlin Wall when it came down in 1989.  Years ago, I asked him to write a personal account about the experience and to share some of the hundreds of photographs he took over the space of two days.  I discuss this briefly here:  http://atavist.blogspot.ca/2009/11/fall-of-berlin-wall-20th-anniversary.html.  In my blog post (from 2009) there is a link to a PDF file which includes Friedhelm's story.

I hope you find the story of interest.

And  . . .   sign me up for the next tour!

Sieg Pedde (husband of oboist Chrystyna)

A humble request

This will only have relevance to about a dozen of us, but Mark Enns dancing to this song in the old town square after our last dinner in Lubeck was actually my number one highlight of the whole trip.

I will pay cash rewards* for pictures or videos that anyone might have of this happening.

I've never seen Mark dance like that before and I probably never will again.** It was wonderful, and if you weren't there, you missed out on something really special.

Drop me an email if you want to collect the bounty. ***



* Not really.
** I have it on good authority that Mark really doesn't dance that often.
*** Seriously, there's no cash reward. I'm just getting worked up over nothing.

A really late introduction, by Adam.

When someone asks me to make a face I usually do an eyebrow/smirk thing. I have no idea why.

Hi everyone,

Hard to believe that it was only a week ago that we dragged ourselves out of bed at the crack of way, way, way before dawn, halfway across the world, and dragged ourselves sleepily home somehow.

At least most of us did, it's now my understanding that some people are still there - I don't know how you do it - I'm a young whippersnapper and I was plenty sore after ten days of travel.

I usually like droning on and on about how to use the blog, but since we seem to have it figured out by now, I'll just say thanks - I have a lot of fun travelling with you folks and I feel super lucky that we've gotten to do it together, some of us, for *eight years straight*? If we do end up doing another one in 2015 we'll have been at it for a decade straight. Wow.

I've had other people talk to me about big Europe trips but I honestly couldn't imagine travelling there with anyone else. Thanks so much for coming. Can't wait to play with you again.

Oh, and keep in mind this is the internet, and anything you do post here will echo through these digital halls for the rest of time. I guess what I'm saying is you should probably post all the pictures you've got of Victor's stupid penis whistle thing, stat. I'll be waiting.

Love y'all,
- Adam <3

P.S. Let's go to Switzerland next.
P.P.S. I don't care that we've pretty much visited every country surrounding Switzerland within an 800km radius. Make it happen people.

Thoughts from New Horizons Band trip 2013

Thoughts from New Horizons Band trip 2013

• Always hire Philip as a driver
• Bring your best singing voice for the bus
• Tattoos and piercings!! – those of us who do not have one should consider!!
• Bikes, bikes, bikes – remember that you can wear your high heels and fancy skirts but forget the helmet
• Be careful of the bike lanes!
• Be careful what you order for a main course at the Hofbraeuhaus!
• Bring your walking poles
• Sometimes dogs are the band's best friend
• You get to know more about the band members as well as their band-aids
• When you have lost something, try looking in your shoe

thanks to all for the wonderful time
Lynne and John Banfield

Trip Highlights

Catherine Blake's post about her favourite non-musical memories about the trip has inspired me to do something similar.

But before I begin, for those of you who expressed concerns about the state of my luggage after it didn't make the flight to Toronto, I have good news! My suitcase was delivered to my house on Thursday. I'm disappointed that it didn't bring me any souvenirs from the Paris airport to apologize for extending its stay without telling me.

Here are some of my highlights:

Shaking my tail feather at the Hofbrauhaus in Berlin (and later that evening at a place called AM to PM. Nightlife in Berlin on a Wednesday is, well, flat) and also in the town square in Lübeck with the Cheery Band. Good times!

Pre-performance in Travemünde, where I had way too much fun chilaxing on one of the wooden lounge chairs near the stage and having Lisa spin me around a couple of times. I think my expression in this picture with Dale says it all.

The food, glorious food. My favourites were the currywurst at the Kartoffelhaus in Berlin, the colourful dessert at the Ratzkeller in Lübeck, and the Danish hash at London Pub in Copenhagen.

Scoring Viking souvenirs, which include the "Bad Viking" shirt (see picture posted by Mark E.) and the miniature wooden Viking figurine. My late maternal grandmother collected such figurines, among other Viking/Norwegian trinkets, so this little guy is a reminder of her. Uff Da!

The Roaming Gnome. Ruta brought a Travelocity gnome on the trip and I was pleased to get one picture of it with Debra.

That feeling of community. What I really like about the band trips is that they allow me to get to know my fellow NHBers better, to interact with players and band aides I hadn't met or known all that well on prior occasions. The whole trip was a barrel of laughs, and it was nice to see people watching out for each other (thanks again to Tam for coming to the rescue when my stand went kaputz during the first Copenhagen performance of Dixieland Jamboree). I enjoyed the evenings when a lot of us would cluster for dinner and drinks in the hotels in Berlin and Copenhagen. One favourite moment was on the boat to the farewell dinner, where Jill and I were waving at strangers on land, hoping to get them to wave back (it worked most of the time!)

I had a blast travelling with you...er...older folks. (I thought about using the word "mature," but after reflecting on the tacky souvenir competition, "mature" doesn't quite cut it.)

Katherine Fletcher