Romania, day 1 and 2

It is time to start writing about how awesome the trip to Romania has been. I barely know where to begin though, because in these 4 days so much has happened!

I was excited when I booked this trip at the end of February, because it was a decision I made in a whim, but it felt right you know. I was already very happy with the prospect of meeting Milla and Nik again. The fact that I got to travel to Romania (a country that holds my interest, because I have a Romanian ex-boyfriend), and to see Agalloch only added to the excitement!

I met Milla and Nik in 2007, at the Agalloch gig in Vosselaar, Belgium. I remember it so well, because Nik kind of stands out with his ‘Satanic’ looks (but such kind eyes), and I thought Milla had such a cute Italian accent. I liked them instantly! I offered them a ride back to their hotel in Turnhout, and from that moment on we kept in touch. The next year they came to the Agalloch gig in the Netherlands as well and it was like we had seen each other yesterday. I love them! I went to London last summer with my good friend Misha to visit Milla; alas Nik was working his butt off on a Swedish farm, so I didn’t see him.

I was 19 when I last traveled alone (to Canada), so I was a little nervous to go alone again. I couldn’t help but be kind of skeptical of Romania’s safety level for a woman alone. Milla assured me that I would be okay, as long as I kept using my head. So with that advice, I decided to stop worrying, do my research and go for it! Traveling alone was kind of fun indeed, but I was very happy to finally meet up with Nik and Milla on saturday, just because I could finally talk with people. I have tried to chat with Romanian people, but I found out that most of them are quite reserved or even grumpy. Many of them also don’t speak English, so that didn’t help in this matter. Maybe I had bad luck, I dunno. I met two nice guys at the Ibis hotel I stayed the first night (friday the 19th), the receptionists. They helped me look up time tables for the train, and they even were interested in Agalloch!

The traintable at Gara de Nord

The next day I had some time left before the train departed, and I walked around a little. I was really struck by the amount of rubbish on the streets, how shabby the buildings looked and how many street-dogs were wandering about! Quite a shocking difference with the Netherlands, where everything is so clean and structured. I didn’t like Bucharest that much to be honest, but on the other hand I don’t think its right of me to judge the city. I have only seen the area around the Gara, and mostly those areas aren’t the best looking. I wish I would have had time to explore the city centre, but there just wasn’t any.

Two women at Gara de Nord
Little puppy I found on the street

Train
The train experience amazed me even more. The train was very modern and comfortable (although a little more space for the legs would have been nice), but it went painstakingly slow! I don’t think it ever went faster than 40km/h at best. I swear I won’t curse at the Dutch trains again! The speed and efficiency of the Dutch trains are godlike compared to the Romanian trains. The view was very nice though, I snapped quite a few pictures.

When I finally arrived in Brasov I was really happy to get out. I packed my scarf, gloves and a woolen vest because according to Weather.com it was -3 or even -15 in Brasov. That appeared to be bullshit, the weather was nice! Like Nick (Wusz) later said: “Weather.com lied to you!”. I will never trust Weather.com again! Brasov is a nice little city, with a beautiful centre. I walked to the pension Sofie, with some help from the local people it was quite easy to find. The lady at the reception was very nice, and called me a cab when it was time to get to the venue. Nik and Milla were still on the train, theirs was even slower than mine!

At the Reduta Cultural Centre a crowd had already assembled. I had to get in line to get my tickets and saw Don already. It was so nice to see him again, we chatted a little then I got my tickets. Downstairs I saw Jason with two American friends of his. They were Nick and Tyson, I recognized their names from Facebook. They were completely awesome, sometimes you instantly like people and I liked them! It was so good to Jason again too!

The show was about the begin in 30 minutes and I was kind of hungry, since I had only eaten breakfast. Alas, there was no more time to get something to eat and we decided to just go in. This show was a seated one, which is kind of weird. All seats were already taken, so we just stood at the side. The band performed a little ritual, with incense (that reminded me of the Catholic church) they walked through the crowd, it smelled really nice! Accompanied by a sample from the song Pantheist, it was really a good beginning. The stage was completely set up for this performance and looked atmospheric.

The band entered the stage to start playing and the sound quality was amazing! They started the show with ‘Dead Winter Days’, as usual. Milla and Nik came in after one minute and it was all hugs and cheers of happiness! I was so happy to see them! They didn’t miss much of the show, which was lucky for them. They told me that their train was very slow, and had more than one hour delay.

Agalloch was playing really well in this show, they were concentrated and into it. It was such a shame that this was a seated gig. The audience was really silent! Between the songs I could whisper to Milla and she could hear me! Wtf! Normally, you shout out your lungs and your throat is hoarse after a show. That’s the way it is supposed to be! Only the photographers were allowed to stand in front and snap pictures all the time. Nik got tired of it and went up to them and started headbanging. A couple of others joined him, but then one guy of the organization came and said they had to go back! Later that guy turned out to be Doru, the one who had sold us tickets even though the show was sold out. He was a really cool and funny guy, but he said that this was an agreement between the band and the organization, which later Don said it was not. Anyway, no headbanging at the front in this gig…I found it really annoying that photographers got priority above anything else, the music is for the audience! All in all, I enjoyed the show immensely in a musical way, but not in an atmospheric way. Thank the gods we still had the show in Bucharest to go to the next day. That is the subject of my next post, because that show is too magical to describe in just a few words!

After the show of course Nik and I had a bunch of stuff for them to sign. I bought the new album the band had printed just for the two gigs in Romania (just 250 printed). John and Aesop were also happy to see us again. I cannot stress this enough, but it is so nice to see that the band appreciates us coming a long way to see them. We do it with pleasure, personally I do it because apart from their amazing music they are such nice people. Their hearts are true and I love them for making such grand music and being such cool guys! I find it impossible to put these feeling into words, I don’t think even in Dutch I would be able to. When I am seeing the show I am truly happy. It is almost the same feeling I have when I am playing in my orchestras or going to a classical concert. Sometimes musical experiences stir something inside me that is dormant most of the time. It puts my mind at ease and it fills my heart with joy and love for everyone around me. Sigh, sometimes I think I should have been born in the 70ies, I sound like a frikkin’ hippy!

After we had all of our stuff signed we took a few pictures with the band, chatted some more and waited for them to finish packing. They were going to the Music Cafe to hang out, but I was really starving by now. We went with them to the Music Cafe, but then decided to go back to a pizzeria that was still open. My god, I was so hungry and was really glad to eat something decent. I think I hadn’t eaten a vegetable in two days, somehow they aren’t really into that stuff in Romania. My pizza had vegetables though, and I was happy with that. We were really tired and took a cab back to the Pension. Day 3 and 4 will be in my next post.

Nik, John and me

The band, Nik and me

Milla and Aesop
Don signs something for Nik