THE SPAGHETTI & SCHNITZEL TOUR Part 2

And here's the last part...

Tuesday, July 10 – Travel day to SLOT festival, Poland. The journey to Slot is another one that João will not forget very easily. It was supposed to take 3 hours, but ended up taking 7 because of the extra weight of the trailer, which slowed us down, along with a lot of rain, a half an hour stop at the border for passport checks and a car accident in the middle of nowhere, which caused us to have to take a detour and try to find another way. Our arrival at the Festival was also very odd as it took us a while to convince the people at the gate that we were playing there and then Sambo and I had to stand in the rain, mud and cold to register. THEN, after we had unloaded our stuff and while we were waiting for Lukasz (my contact) to arrive, the guys decided to play hack ‘n’ sack yet again (they’re addicted to that game), but in the dark building. While playing, Pedro hit his head on the corner of a wooden box! So he and Ruben (his brother) went to the hospital and we stayed behind. The guys were really worried cuz they had seen a lot of blood come out of his head, but I wasn’t too worried cuz something very similar happened to Isaac some years ago (I guess you just get used to these things when you have a little brother haha). In fact, it was nothing serious, but he got 3 stitches. Our beds at this festival were mats on the floor of a classroom in the school in which many of the staff members stayed. And that was our first day in Poland! haha
I will never forget how, at the end of the day, when I was sitting on a bench, half asleep, in my pajamas, with a hot cup of tea and my hair, which was a mess from the rain, pulled back, some of the guys looked at me and said that I looked very pretty with my hair up and no make up on (my make up broke just a few days before the tour started). That was probably the sweetest thing anyone could tell me in that moment when I felt so crappy!
Wednesday, July 11 – Triplet opens up mainstage for SLOT Festival
Thursday, July 12 – Ben woke me up by putting something in my bed. When I checked, it was the puppy that I had fallen in love with the day before! Her name is Slotzka (or something like that) cuz some staff girls had found her on the festival grounds.
That day Reform the Resistance played on the small stage. There were many people at both concerts, but the RtR concert was better than Triplet’s.
It was kind of rainy, muddy and cold there and my back really hurt from sleeping on the floor, but the festival was really cool (check it out here) and big and the people were really nice, especially Lucazs. It was funny when he found out that I was 18 because he then said “Wow! That’s so cool! I bet you’re really popular back at home! I know that if I was one of your friends, I’d be bragging about the fact that my 18 year old friend was around Europe with two bands as their road manager!” haha
Friday, July 13 – We traveled back to Germany to the 13-eins, Jesus Freaks club gig in Ansbach. The club was small, but really cool and the Freaks were very nice. I wasn’t able to enjoy the concert very much because I was in a lot of pain and could hardly stand up. The concert was really weird because of all the drunk punks that came in, but the guys enjoyed it, so that’s what’s important. That night we slept in the Freak’s community. It was a very weird, artistic, messy and dirty house, but I was just glad that I could finally lay down and sleep. In fact, as soon as I got there, I just found the room in which Jas and I were sleeping and plopped on the bare mattress that was on the floor. I was so tired and in so much pain that I didn’t even change and take my jacket and shoes off. While I was falling asleep, Ben put a pillow under my head and some covers on me cuz I was freezing. I then woke up in the middle of the night all sweaty and with my head spinning. I’m pretty sure that I had a fever.
Saturday, July 14 – we got up and left for the one-day festival Rock without Limits in Albstadt. We got lost on the way, but, strangely, we got there on time. The place was a very nice, big church, which didn’t actually look like a church. The concert went well and it was nice to sleep in the nursery with clean and comfy mattresses, pillows and covers. Unfortunately, we had to get up early the next day because they had the morning service, but breakfast was really good and the people were really nice.
Sunday, July 15 – we traveled back to Italy and went through beautiful Switzerland. I had fun seeing the guys get all excited about the Swiss Alps and lakes. I think Switzerland is probably one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. I love driving through it - it’s so peaceful. That night we slept at my place.
Tuesday, July 17 – we traveled for about 9 hours to Rome. It was REALLY hot and we had no air conditioning (I actually hate a.c. but the air outside was way too hot and we were used to the German and Polish cold). It was kind of a stressful experience for João and Sambo because they had the “privilege” of finding out what Italian drivers are like, but it was also a very fun drive. I think I laughed the whole time =)
Wednesday, July 18 – we played at CineCitta’, Italy’s Hollywood. It was kind of a weird concert and then that night, after dinner and at 2 am I had a misunderstanding with the pastor there, who was my contact, which got me very upset. That was the worst experience I had to go through on the whole tour.
Thursday, July 19 – we traveled back up north for Rock on the Rock (our festival). That morning, I wasn’t too happy both because of what had happened the night before and because we got a late start. This time it was an even more unpleasant ride because we needed to bring the oldest son of the pastor from the day before with us, since he was Rock on the Rock’s MC and being 10 people in a 9 person van in very hot weather, isn’t much fun. When we got to Rock on the Rock, we were tired and sticky and in much need of cold water. However, we arrived right when my parents were telling everyone on staff that the city council had decided that we couldn’t start the festival. It was weird because a lot of the people there were praying with worried faces and there were people even crying, but Jas and I just laid down on the grass and watched the beautiful blue sky, while we prayed with smiles on our faces because we knew that the festival was going to start, we just knew that it would. At one point, we even started laughing and I felt so happy and free. After about an hour, the mayor came and told us that we could start =).
It was really weird getting there when all the staff was already there and everything was set up, since all the other years I was there from the start. It was even weirder that I went to bed that evening and didn’t get to be part of the first night of the festival, but I was so so tired. It was SO nice that Tehur was there from Portugal to manage the merch (which is usually my job) and it was also really nice to sleep in the gym instead of a tent! The whole festival was way more organized than it usually is!
Friday, July 20 – Both Triplet & RtR performed at RotR. They were great! I remember that while Triplet was playing, I looked around in the crowd at all the people who were singing along, jumping and dancing and then my eyes stopped on this one guy. He was just standing there, not moving, but he had the biggest smile on his face! =)
It was so nice during Rock on the Rock to just hang out with people that have been coming to the festival almost every year, as well as with people who were there for the first time. And it was really nice to get to know Tehur and Marcia better. They said I was their new hero because I was living with 7 guys and only one other girl for a month and I was still sane haha
Sunday, July 22 – The festival ended after an awesome morning worship and prayer for my mom's healing.
Saying goodbye wasn't really easy. For the first time I had to say goodbye to people that are close to me whom I have no idea when I'll see again...And what also got me sad was hearing people say "So I guess this is the end for Rock on the Rock...". We're hoping that it's not. In fact, we're planning on doing another one next year...we just need to find someone in Italy who will take most of the responsibility, since my family will be in Portugal.
That night, Triplet & RtR then had a concert about an hour and a half away.
Wednesday, July 25 – We had a gig at a pub on the lake.
Thursday, July 26 – Travel to Boxberg, Germany for Freakstock Festival. We had no problems getting there cuz this time my Dad was with us.
Freakstock was great! We got to hang out with a bunch of people that we had met at Saxstock and Slot Fest. We mostly hung out at the tea tent, which was awesome. (Yes, isn't that SO weird that I'D hang out at a tea tent? haha) We all said that it would be cool to have a living room like that. It was also really cool that Manuela was there (she had worked in the tea tent at Saxstock too).
The mud, rain and cold weren’t very nice, especially for the guys who were sleeping in tents (Jason, Ryan, Jas and I slept in a room in a building) and the food was probably the worst we had during the whole tour, but we survived and, actually, had a wonderful time there (or at least I did).
What was really weird the last day was that while saying goodbye to everyone I wasn't sad because for some reason I knew that at some point in the future we'll meet again. That's nice.
After the festival, we then went to Nassi and Sara’s house (we had met Nassi at Slot and then we saw her again at Freakstock) in Frankfurt. That was SUCH a blessing! It was so nice to be in a clean and dry house that had normal bathrooms and showers. Nassi and Sara’s parents were also very cool and nice.

And that’s pretty much it.

Great, I wrote too much AGAIN. Sorry...