04/08
Metelkova,
Burek, To Bled, Lake swimming, Olympics
We had heard
great things about a bohemian nightclub playground in Ljubljana so our
adventurous consciences told us to go and check it out. A few beers under our
bed at the Sax Hostel bar and we made the lengthy trek to Metelkova. We arrived
and were greeted by lots of groups of slightly alternative looking people
hanging and drinking in dark corners full of graffiti, broken bottles and 44
gallon drums. Down alleys and laneways led us to a large graffitied quadrangle
where the real party was. On each side of the quad was another bar or nightclub
and another social minority. There was the affectionately named Wigga corner
with white guys in snapbacks, du rags and ice hockey tops crowded around a
small boombox amongst a sea of broken glass. The metalheads corner that
consisted of all things dark including clothing and lighting. The ‘chavs’
corner- local hooligans always looking for a fight with aforementioned minority
groups. Then nestled in some outer areas of the quad were tents, hammocks and
campervans for the diehard fans of Metelkova. Sitting in the middle of the quad
was a large steel 3-storey playground which looked interesting and necessary to
explore. After a beer each and observing that the environment was becoming more
and more fragile we left on the long walk back home. But what better way to end
the night than to have a Nobel Burek! An establishment of Ljubljana the Nobel
Burek stocks gyros in all its forms as well as 3 kinds of Burek all of which
exist as parties in the mouth! That made the walk much faster!
The morning of
the 04/08 meant that Megan was to join the No Longer Anchored tour. She would
arrive to join us for a couple of days in Bled and more. Since we were all in
Europe it was only fitting that Megan be welcomed with a new European name;
“Renault Megane”. Yes it has caught on – use it. The midday Bus to Bled meant
we had the afternoon to hit the Bled beach. Lake Bled is amazing, a freshwater
lake surrounded by hills and mountains where most of Slovenia go to spend some
time over summer. The ‘done thing’ in Bled is activities so our time their was
to be spent doing the exactly the same thing.
We decided that
our first full day in Bled would be spent on a mountain bike riding to Vintgar
Gorge, a gorge carved out by the Radovna River full of waterfalls and steep
cliffs. A long walk along the walls of the gorge led us to the end where we
decided to have a dip in the ice cold water of the river. Riding back to bled
we thought another swim was in order, the lake was our destination. But near to
the lake was a toboggan hill which had caught Megan’s eyes from our arrival in
Bled. We headed for it and it was amazing!!! A small plastic cart down a steel
course of 340 with a vertical drop of 120 and a max speed of 40 km/h. That left
us worn out and ready to head back to the hostel, cook dinner and crowd around
the TV in one of Bled’s smallest bar to watch the main man Usain Bolt dominate-
legend!
The following
morning got off to a poor start- Harros has been ravaged by bed bugs the night
before in our crappy youth hostel- lucky it was our last night and we were
checking out! So we headed to the bus and got our bus back to Ljubljana and the
comfort of the trusty Sax Hostel.
Getting back
late to Ljubljana we wanted a good feed and to chill out. So we thought we would
try one of Ljubljana’s pizza establishments. Sitting down at one we were informed
their oven was broken and to head to one across the river. Arriving to the new restaurant
were told that this was in fact the best pizza restaurant in Ljubljana- and did
it deliver! Amazing pizza left us wanting a bar, a coffee and a bit of Olympic
action. With TV’s everywhere we’d finally caught Olympic fever.
07/08
Waking up to a revelation- Harros
decided he was in need of another pair of shorts. This meant an elite squadron
mission for some Sziget appropriate shorts to last him 5 days of madness.
Trekking all over Ljubljana we succeeded in him getting some shorts but also me
getting a new passport holder (in case you hadn’t heard- I got my passport
stolen). But it was a day to relax and prepare for the train ride and Sziget
festival- best major European music festival for 300 consecutive years,
exciting! And moreover, to prepare for Sally Pearson to snaffle some gold, the
London2012 app had to keep informing us that we were getting dick loads of
silver. The plan of attack that night to find the famous, or infamous
,Ljubljana Hot Horse Burger shop. We set off looking for the Burger store with
no such luck but Harro’s disappointments were consoled in the huge place of
falafel dished out by an attractive girl at a hole in the wall fresh falafel
shop. Turned out next door had the Olympics on so a quick bite to eat and we
were front row ready to get all up, in and around her. Hi 5’s and hungry
chicken’s got around and were ready to head back, hit the sack before an early
get up.
08/08
Train ride
The day started early with a
pretty cruisey 7 hour train ride to Budapest and checking into Astoria Hostel. One
of the main attractions of Budapest other than Sziget was meeting My Man – Andy
Oz. The crew was reaching equilibrium Batts, Harris, Renault Megane and
Andy. Andy not only brought long hair
and a wonderful smile but the great track of “Stoorhoyryan” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te45-pQUcxk
focusing on his Swedish music festival where a group of youths defecated on his
tent then threw it in the lake.
Energised we rushed out to Sziget
to catch the first act of the night Placebo. Epic! Finn got a semi chub over the
drummer’s long hair and tattooed shirtless body. Next we ran around the
festival in a dancing rage jumping from bar to bar until we stumbled upon a
Hungarian Barn which unsurprisingly had a barn dance on. An hour later we
emerged sweaty as a Langos baker and much better at Hungarian Line dancing.
09/08
We all awoke with some crazy
hangover which strangely Andy did not have… was it because he was a round
skipper? Our hangovers were quelled when we flipped though the program;
The US hip hop group The Roots played
and amazing set in the A38 tent. Guitar, Bass, Drums Sousaphone and a rapper
made for an always exciting show. Not only did Questlove, Black Thought and
band rip through all of their own hits, their covers of Sweet Child of Mine and
others were great! One of the highlights of the week.
“Arguably the best band of the
past two decades” F. Batts ;
“My brother forced me to watch their video clips which gave me nightmares when I was 13.” M.Lane.
“My brother forced me to watch their video clips which gave me nightmares when I was 13.” M.Lane.
Johnathan Davis lead his charges proving to Sziget and the world that four washed up old 40yolds still have it. They were amazing and the two best tracks, Its On and Freak on a Leash were only matched by Davis’ sculptured silver naked women with horns mike stand. Korn’s performance could only be matched by Andy as he plucked a leaf off a tree and proceeded to play the leaf to the tune of “Freak on a Leash” dubbing it “Freak on a Leaf” – Gold.
Friendly Fires was awesome but probably most memorably was the front dudes dancefloor grooves. Boy, could he move those hips- just amazing. But past the dance moves, their tunes super cool and they had the whole circus tent grooving their shoes off.
Axwell – Crazy laser show mixed with one of the best dj sets I have seen was a real highlight of the festival and great way to finish the night. Played all sorts of club bangers; both his own and otherwise. Even played the songs Sambo loves (you know the one bro- de de de de de de de de d d d d d d) and it went off But a good dance left us ready to hit the sack.
However a night is never finished
in Hungary without a Langos. This is a traditional bready morsel with garlic,
sour cream and cheese thrown on top. The whole week consisted of trying
different Langos’ with varying success. Winner was the local Hungarian market
just near our hostel where they were cooked by in a wood fired oven.
10/08
The vaccines, the xx- early night
Pretty stoked to see one of my
favourite bands, The Vaccines so we were at Sziget with 5 minutes to spare.
They rocked and the group consensus was that one of their greatest legacies
from this set was that denim vests were now in fashion! Tiger Blood and
Norgaard were crackers!
The whole group was looking
forward to The XX all festival and this moment couldn’t come quick enough and
my they didn’t disappoint. Romy Crofts voice delivered on all levels sounding
exactly I had imagined and heard before. And Jamie XX is just a master on the
synths ad beat pads up the back; kinda just dominating their whole dark
synth/big beat sound. As expected Angels and Island rocked!
A line up that didn’t excite us
today meant the squadron taking the opportunity to have an early in
anticipation of the next 3 days.
11/08
Noah and the much anticipated
whale were first on our bill and a melodic delight, filling the masses
surrounding the “Pop-Rock szinzpad” with a positivity that would last day long.
Sentiments like “your life is your life” and “life goes on” resonated amongst
the crew and the smiles as well as the afternoon beers would compound
throughout the set.
The Horrors were kinda known by
the squadron but not to the extent the other dark brit pop fans that existed in
the crowd were. All we knew is they put on a show and rocked some seriously
cool looking short leather jackets and super long hair.
 |
| Rocking chairs! |
After some wolf pack down time
and some crotch smuggled vodka and oranges we delved deep into the Pop-Rock
faithful for Two Door Cinema Club. To the basement people and beyond, the Irish
foursome did not disappoint pulling out track after track of their distinct
lead guitar and sweet and insightful lyric. We danced, we drank, we sweated and
some probably could not talk by the end of a most entertaining session.
Fink was a must see on Megane’s
Sziget agenda- she did it for all the Dear John fans, both male and female out
there. Real solid live with his guitar and had a fair crowd for someone who I
had never heard of until Megan showed me.
 |
| HUNGRY CHICKEN!!! |
While Finn and Megan got their
Fink on, Harris and Andy took to the circle pits raging for Sum 41. For what we
thought we be a bit of a joke the crowd was probably the biggest and most
aggressive we saw all festival at times having to dive into the throng to
retrieve a shoe or a drunk girl who had fallen under, all this from some 50m
back from the stage.
SNOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPP. The
rumours were circulating that his set could be dominated by all thing Snoop
Lion (Snoop Dogg reincarnated) but they were soon thrown out the window when
the boss opens with Still Dre! And it was only uphill from there playing every
song that every hit the top 10 including the ones where he may have only
featured in a verse- Katy Perry’s California Girls..WTF?!? But it was purely
amazing. A massive party with his crew, an old dude and Nasty Dogg, an
oversized dogg with a massive penis that he’d wave around the whole set.
Flux pavilion was the finish to
our night; a heavy drum n bass/dubstep out fit we expected some serious
headbanging deep bass action. Although some great tunes were played, the sound
desk needed to understand that a big bass sound is imperative to dubstep having
any significance within the broader musical landscape. So it was a bit of a
bore and we left halfway through. Sorry Flux. 2 bureks out of 5.
 |
| New friends..Ben and Millie |
12/08
Paolo Nutini was also another one
of Megan’s must see’s. New Shoes and Jenny don’t be hasty were great but an
MGMT cover in the set didn’t go astray as everyone was in a good mood in the
lovely Budapest sunshine.
Beardy man was reputed to put on
a great show- a loop box artist/ beatboxer/dj again didn’t disappoint. Super
talented and super random but we had to cut our losses to ensure we reserved a
great position for party rocking even though we suspected we’d have to
apologise later.
 |
| Cauuuuttteeee..Pre-party rock! |
Moving to the main stage to get a
great position for LMFAO we caught the last half of the set by Mando Diao,
Swedish rock band that are veterans of 10 years and 5 albums. We had never ever
ever heard of them. But in a quick pop quiz of the largely European crowd they
were shocked to hear that we had never heard of them. Dance with somebody
seemed to be their biggest hit- it went off and is still stuck in our heads.
Red Fu and his Party Rock Crew
had been hanging around the festival the whole day and Megan and I were
fortunate enough to grab a photo with the master shuffler himself. See below. In
animal print pants and ridiculous make up they rocked out, drunk butt loads and
shuffled through more songs than we all expected. Sexy and I know it can be
seen all over facebook and even below.
The festival finished divided-
two to The Ting Tings and the rest to The Killers. Both were great on all
reports. But as I was at The Killers I can tell you they were fantastic-
Brandon Flowers really just dominates the stage and the crowd…so impressive!
Jake the Snake and I had seen the
Killers twice already and their album like performance were too clean for us – we
decided to hit something a bit more aggressive. The Ting Tings (or as we dubbed
them The Taine Taines on account of some French Canadians who speak like
spastics). The duo was very raw and heavy in their set which was a much
appreciated progression from their album. “That’s not my name” and “Make it
work” were the highlights as the lead singer boped around the stage with her
red flat brim that got all the hearts racing.
13/08
Recovery and eggplant parmas
Exhausted after 5 days of
festivaling the day was spent recovering. A good hungover meal was first on the
agenda- a langos topped with hot salami, sour cream, cheese, garlic sauce and
parsley. And what better way to recover than to indulge in one of Budapests
famous spring baths in the late afternoon to cure all of our ills. My gosh did
they do the trick. Hungover, naturally, our next thoughts turned to another
meal and we decided it would be home cooked. We decided on a massive cook up of
eggplant parmas and lentil salad. They turned out much better than anyone had
expected and on full tummies we quickly fell asleep before our long train trip
the following day.
Jake the Snake parted ways with us today. Good
luck dude and have a killer rest of your trip. I’m sure we will bump into you
in a Jo-Berg SPAR.
14/08
Reserved seating train to Zagreb
with missing carriage, good Croatian feed
I was optimistic that the
Croatians would have improved their train system from four years ago. Wrong. We
had learnt our lesson before and decided to reserve seats from the man with
fluttering eye lashes. When we arrived at the platform, carriage 211 and 213
were there however 212 was not. On questioning the conductor where the carriage
was he brokenly told us that it didn’t exist and that we would just have to sit
in the aisles for 7 hours. Lesson learnt; never catch trains in Croatia. We did
arrive in one piece and made it to Funk Hostel where the bin welcomed us with
open arms. A typical Croatian feed was in order so we went to a great
restaurant whose mixed gill was excellent however it paled in comparison to
Tibas. But we made it Croatia!
P.S. Another moustache for you all...
Much Love from Tristan, Finn, Andy and Megan xoxo
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