Time off

So at last a break in our hectic touring schedule. We have arrived today in Bern, Switzerland, at a place arranged by our booking agent. Basically we will be staying in a room located above a venue in a somewhat shady building in a strange neighborhood under a large bridge. The building is completely covered with graffiti, so there are some worries that our van might get tagged as well, but really we don't have options so it's a risk we'll have to take. The room itself is quite comfy, with couches and tables and space for 12 people to sleep. And all for 100 euros for 3 days. Quite a bargain, really, in a country where accommodations are quite expensive. I'm looking forward to some downtime, at long last.

Yesterday we spent a good bit of the day driving through the Black Forest. We thought it would help to set the GPS to give us the shortest route through the forest between Reutlingen and Freiburg, since the typical route takes you around. For the record, the GPS takes the words "shortest route" VERY seriously, and after some time we found ourselves on some one-lane farm roads. Eventually it started trying to get us to take dirt paths through the hills, at which point we reset it to shortest time, backtracked a ways, and got on the highway. In the meantime we saw some beautiful towns with names like Fischbach, castles on hillsides, old churches, and some fantastic views. It actually snowed for a bit as in its upper reaches the Black Forest gets quite high, and there was still snow on the ground in a number of places. Overall a very enjoyable little trip.

When we arrived in Freiburg our first experience was a bit of a letdown. We found out that we had to pay for our own lodging, and the hotel booked for us was pricier by a good bit than we would have liked (although quite cheap for that part of the country). We could have stayed across the border in France for a good bit cheaper, but we just decided to stick with it. Then we went to the venue. We had heard that the venue was taking the first 90 euros from the door, and that we would get 100% of everything after that. After the cost of the hotel, at the proposed 6 euro cover charge, we would have needed to bring 45 people just to break even on the show, a feat we were not likely at all to achieve on a Sunday night. Fortunately, it turned out there had been a misunderstanding, and the venue owner told us we could keep all of the door. Plus he said we could set the cover at whatever we wanted, so we put it at 8 Euro after consulting a few locals, who said that was a standard cover charge in Freiburg.

The owner warned us that the crowd would likely not be very large, so we had very low expectations. Basically, we were quite prepared to lose a bit of money on this show. However, about 35 people showed up, and again about half of them walked away with a CD. We made almost 440 euros. Quite a good night, when all was said and done. Would have done better, but the owner suddenly started insisting on taking a small cut, which, after making as much as we did, we weren't prepared to fight over. That said, he was a shady character. We all agreed that the next time we come to Germany we'll be avoiding that place.

The next morning, we still hadn't yet been told where to go by our booking agent, so we started checking out cheap places in Alsace where we might be able to stay for a few days if needed. We then walked through the old part of Freiburg. And let me say, what an absolutely beautiful town. The town is centered around an ancient gothic cathedral, with cobblestone streets and trams everywhere. It was a bit of a tourist trap, but well worth seeing. We went to an excellent cafe recommended by friends of our German driver, then received the call from our booking agent that we had a place to stay in Bern. So here we are, and here we'll be for a few days. Finally, some steady internet access.