utrecht

Didn’t have the greatest of starts in Utrecht – the hostel we had booked (which was gorgeous) had no record of our reservation, and we were sent to another hostel out in the ‘burbs (not so gorgeous)... As we had absolutely no idea where we were, decided to have a night in, picked up supplies from the local supermarket, danny cooked dinner and we had our own little bunk party!

This one’s for you brett – this is the hallway of the hostel…



Utrecht was a bit of a mecca for me – firstly because it was the home of architect Gerrit Rietveld and the location of his Rietveld Schröder House (among many others).



I joined a tour to visit the House - had to wear strange little plastic showercaps over our shoes (to protect the floor, and to my disgust weren’t allowed to take any pics from the inside BOOOOO!!! (sorry brett) We went through the House room by room with the guide demonstrating its features, including the super-cool moveable walls in the upstairs level that allowed the entire upstairs space to become one big room. For its time, this was totally revolutionary.



I think my favourite bit of the house was the Shopping window, with the ‘speaking tube’ linking outside to the upper level. The milkman could ask Mrs Schroder how many bottles of milk she wanted via the tube, then leave them inside the window (which would automatically close) –so that Mrs Schroder did not have to disturbed to come downstairs… brilliant!

Utrecht was also the home of Dick Bruna, creator of the character Miffy, and we visited the museum (and gift shop) devoted to Bruna and Miffy. I think the museum was meant for kids actually but we had buckets of fun pretending to be 7 years old again!



I was a little scared by the giant golden Miffy…



But the best thing about Utrecht was just wandering around the streets – was sooo pretty. We stumbled upon an opera performance on the bank of a canal, and learnt that there was a festival going on in Utrecht that day! The singers were on the far side of the canal in this pic…



All in all a very cool town... loved it!

x

amsterdam

The first destination on my euro travels… yay!

I set off, all bright eyed and bushy tailed… ready to hit the ‘dam! Plan was to meet up with my travel buddies celena, chloe, danny, damo and millie who had already been there for one night. Apparently there was a huge conference in town so we had trouble getting beds. Our hostel was right smack bang in the middle of the red light district – nice. Here’s what it looked like when I arrived…



hmmm

It was ok in the end, pretty festy, but we had some funny dorm roommates on the first night – Gaelen (from Canada) and Casey (from Alaska), doing a whirlwind backpacking tour of europe. They were only in town for one night and unfortunately slept through the whole thing… oh well, next time boys.



Went to the Van Gogh Museum, of course only half of it was open. Still cool though. We absolutely did not visit any coffeeshops at all, none whatsoever. Nor did we wander about looking at naked ladies in the bizarre sex district. Damo certainly didn’t want to go to a live sex show, and I certainly didn’t agree to go with him. But in the end we didn’t go (we actually didn’t). I think it may have caused Damo mental trauma so probably a good thing.



There was this one alleyway in the red light area so narrow you could only get through 1 or 2 people wide at a time, completely lined with bored naked women behind windows, some doing their hair, some talking on the phone, and some desperately wiggling their ass and looking seductive to try to get the attention of passers-by. Oh yeah, that’s the other weird thing, the streets at night are completely filled with men – posses of them. Felt strange to be a woman.

Found a great little bar in the middle of the tourist area for a yummy dinner – here’s me and millie deep in conversation (thanks for the pic celena!)



But the highlight was a bike tour we did conducted by Pete the Dutch-Canadian gay bike rider. About 2 seconds of instructions, then we were let loose on the streets of the ‘dam! Everyone rides bikes, its so great. We rode in single file formation, stopping every now and then for a history lesson.





It was totally ace, took us to the outer city and some pretty neighbourhoods, then right out past the city to a cheese and clog factory. Cheese was yummy, farmer was a total loser – but the cheese won out in the end.



Then visited a windmill… (of course)



Gave us a completely different perspective on Amsterdam, just as well coz I think I would have written it off as a sex tourist hell-hole. Its definitely a place I’d like to go back to another time and discover more off the tourist track.

x

some more random pics from edinburgh...

the Royal Mile in full swing



don't even know what this building is but it looks pretty amazing all lit up at night!



some dodgy person hanging around in a spooky alleyway : )



yummy shepherds pie at the Monster mash (eat your heart out martin parr!)



the first punter for the season at st george's west - we gave her a piece of cake to celebrate!

celebrity sitings at st george's west

of course the most important question to be asked about the edinburgh festival - how many celebrities did you see?

1. kylie



yes, that kylie.

she rocked up to good ole st george's west one night for the havana rumba show (cuban music and dancing). she had a bit of a dance around on stage, hung around and chatted to the dancers a bit afterwards, then disappeared into the night. bri (stage manager) told her to get out of the backstage area (until she realised who she was). mike (production manager) wouldn't let her up on stage coz he didn't know who she was at all (he's american). andrew our publicist almost fainted when he saw her, he was on the phone to the newsdesks until at least 3am. our director took this photo and it ended up in loads of newspapers across the UK... bizarre!
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=631&id=1141762006

2. mandy from hollyoaks



i have absolutely no idea who this chick is but apparently she's famous in the UK for being in a soapie called hollyoaks (sort of like brit neighbours). she came a few days after kylie to the same show - i reckon she was trying to get on the same publicity bandwagon.

3. miranda from sex and the city



my personal favourite. cynthia (her actual name) showed up with her girlfriend looking pretty shoddy actually, greasy blonde hair, daggy clothes. she saw animal farm and congratulated gary the actor afterwards, which is nice. a few days later i saw her standing in the foyer looking really freaked out, turns out she and the gf had come to st george's to see a show that was actually back at the assembly rooms (about a 15 min walk away). she rushed out to the street, waving madly for a taxi, looking super-stressed. couldn't get a taxi at all, gf trying to calm her down loudly in the middle of the (busy) street. eventually tries to steal someone else's taxi but fails miserably. then runs off down the road.

4. sally phillips



from smack the pony (also bridget jones' diary). not really that exciting, but worth a mention.

5. tim brooke taylor

before



after



last but certainly not least, tim came along to see a couple of shows. he's looking decidedly wrinkly now, but still with an undeniable twinkle in the eye. i also met graeme garden at a party i went to one night. he introduced himself as graeme, and it wasn't until about 15 minutes later that i realised who he was. he was really boring, but i think he thought i was too. i went to see the retrospective show he and tim were doing, it was boring too.

some things are better left in the past.

william street

it wasn’t all work in edinburgh (although there was a lot of that)...

william street near st george's west was a pretty regular haunt and it was packed with great little places.

Our local pub was the Teucters – pronounced Tooke-terrs – which I always called the choo-choo coz I couldn't say it right. The barman knew more about whisky than i could ever hope to (although i never seemed to stray from Jamiesons!).



then there was also the Melville across the road, which has a pretty mean pub quiz night on thursdays. it was also the scene of a wild brawl one night (which i unfortunately did not witness) but i am told that there were even women in floral dresses punching each other out - brilliant!



niki's did the best bacon and egg roll for brekkie, woke me up many a morning...



and if we were feeling like being healthy, herbie's did great lunches - especially this yummy couscous and roasted vege salad... yum! also did pretty good coffee, which is bloody hard to come by in edinburgh.

life on the Fringe

well its all over! my first edinburgh fringe festival has come to a close and i have to say, it could actually send a person quite crazy.

here's the lowdown on how i spent most of my time...

so I worked as the venue manager of Assembly @ St George’s West, which is a satellite venue of Assembly Theatre, one of the biggest Fringe organisations in Edinburgh. here's the view from the front..



St George’s West is actually an operational church which is hired by Assembly for the fringe season and converted into a theatre venue. For the first time we had 2 theatres in our venue – the biggest was The Sanctuary, built into the church itself (the stage is built over the pulpit and the organ!). It seats about 470 people.

this is the stage being built in the Sanctuary during bump-in



here's a couple of shots of during performance





For any of you technical types, the rig in the Sanctuary was hung from 9 points in the ceiling of the church, through the holes made for the lights. Heres the riggers Colin and Harpo after coming down from the ceiling - we went to the pub straight afterwards!! (Colin is also the previous Production manager of St George's - an all-round legend and trouble maker!)



The other space was brand new this year, called Candlish Hall, a 100 seater theatre built from scratch in a completely bare room – complete with raked seating.

We had 11 companies performing in the whole venue, with all of them performing almost every day of the 25 day season. The shows were a crazy mix of theatre, music and comedy – including Russian clowns, American super-serious ac-torrrrs, English-hungarian fencers and a Dutch acapella man-band who performed one number in their show wearing skirts made of ties. Yes, it was a mad month.

check out the audiences waiting to come in - they had to queue out on the footpath!



We had a technical crew of about 10, front of house staff of 23 and a box office staff of 5...



here's the busy busy box office



Essentially my job was to make sure that everything was running well at St George’s, particularly the front of house, and to be a general problem-solver, back-slapper and occasional ass-kicker for the whole of the venue, staff and performing companies. It was pretty huge and pretty damn hectic, many loooooong days but lots of fun too. I worked with some great people and made some brilliant friends...



thats mike, lovely production manager and yank (but dont hold that against him) (heehee sorry mike)



On the left, Nora – Front of House Manager - totally gorgeous girl, so funny and completely mad and an actual Edinburgh local (they were rare on assembly staff) with a brialliant accent. Also has a knack at eating any food within reach, and does a mean impression of a yeti. Then Darren, Front of house staffer, an irish boy with the quickest wit this side of the black stump, regularly had me in tears of laughter. Then Andrew, our resident Press Officer and wicked gossip monger. Don’t let his sweet innocent face fool you! He cuts a mean figure on the dance floor and is totally addicted to crisps (or chips in oz language). Then James, classic London geezer, drinking partner and trouble maker, with a permanent seat in the Lane bar, Club bar and of course the Spiegeltent.

this was olivia's mini birthday party in the venue office



So there you have it - Edinburgh was certainly intense, lots of work, but lots of fun too...

L x

I think I must have a sign on my head that says "Randoms: talk to me"

1. Man in Scotmid

There's a supermarket a few minutes walk from our flat called Scotmid. (I love the name, don't know why). It closes at 10pm every night - handy - and about a week ago, I walked down to get some milk just before they shut. As I was standing at the checkout, this guy right behind me starts talking quite loudly to the guy behind the counter. He was middle-aged, dressed in a suit, with a laptop bag, but kind of all dishevelled. Something about him wasn't quite right. He was just loud enough to be a little wierd, but all friendly-like, so no real bother. He seemed familiar to the shop staff - as thought they were used to him starting random loud conversations in their supermarket. His conversation with one shop assistant turns to his (the shop assistant's) girlfriend, as it seems he had been having some problems with her. And inevitably, I get drawn into the conversation... "Girls don't like it when you open the door for them do they?" he asks loudly. "Hmm, I'm not really sure", I politely answer. Of course then the accent gives me away, and he's like "Where are you from?". I tell him. "What are you doing here, are you working?". I tell him, as vaguely, but not rudely, as possible. He tells me all about his 3 BAFTA nominations, how he went to school with Irvine Welsh, he teaches at the university and a bunch of other stuff of other stuff I can't remember. I say "oh, that's... umm... very... good". Then I'm like, "ok, I'll be going then". The guy kinda grabs my arm, not roughly, "Don't go yet", he says. A slight shiver of panic waves through my spine. But there's security guards and lots of people around in the shop, so its ok. Then they turn the shop lights off and kick everyone out, because its 10pm. I find myself walking out with the random into the street. Mental stocktake: I have only about 10 pounds on me and my flat keys, but no mobile. No-one knows I'm here. Fantastic. I'm thinking, I have to play this one verrrrry carefully. I hedge, trying to see which way he's going to walk, and its the same way as me. He says " where are you going". I say "Ohhhh, just up there". He keeps talking a million miles per hour, walking along as though we were old friends. I'm internally freaking out. And then after a few minutes, he stops and puts out his hand to shake mine, says "lovely to meet you, all the best". And he walks off down the side street.

2. Euro guy

The next afternoon, I'm walking down my street with my ipod on after just getting off the bus, and I feel a tap on my shoulder. I spin around, and there's this guy standing there - he looks kinda northern euro, well dressed in a neat northern european sort of way. He very politely asks me asks me to take a picture of him in front of a building. He explains he's been living there and is leaving to go back home the next day. Of course I agree, take his camera and step backwards ready to frame the photo. Then the guy reaches inside his bag and pulls out one of these...



A novelty scottish tartan hat with bizarre shaggy red "hair" attached, commonly called a see-you-jimmy hat. He puts the hat on, and then does this half squat stance, with two thumbs up, elbows out - can you picture it? If he was in aus-land, he would have been saying "maaaaaate" with a tinny in one hand. It completely caught me by surprise, and I totally lost it, shrieking with laughter and can hardly hold the camera still. This perfectly normal, mild-mannered guy suddenly transformed before my very eyes into a euro-scot yob. I took a couple of photos of him, then gave the camera back and he left. I'm kicking myself that I didn't have my camera to take my own shot of him.

3. Crazy black guy

Friday night we had a bit of a meet-and-greet (read: drinking session) at the main Assembly venue for all the tech staff. I was stuck at work until well after it was underway, it was about 10pm before I arrived, the streets were full of drunken crazies and I was on foot. I put my head down and powered through it all. Next minute, this guy appeared in front of me with his arm out, inviting me to link my arm with it. He's African, black as anything, wearing an almost luminescent pink-and-white striped white, and he has this big wierd grin on him face. I say no thanks, I'm ok. He persists. No, really, I'm fine. Again polite but firm. He persists, and its getting embarrassing, so I link my arm with his and walk along the street. I was only about 50 metres away from the theatre anyway, and lots of people (albeit drunk) around. Then the usual where are you from, why are you here line of questioning, I tell him I'm working at Assembly Rooms (not true). He wants to know what shows are on (there's like hundreds), so I say "Oh quite a few". Then he wants to know exactly where I will be because he will come back to visit. That's impossible to say, in there somewhere, I say. He's not being threatening, just annoying. I extract my arm as we appoach the Assembly and then he starts going on about how men and women should be friends more, that people don't talk to each other on the street, blah blah blah. I'm like "that's nice, have a nice life and I'll be going now". And off he goes.

4. Taxi driver

Taxi drivers in Edinburgh don't mind a bit of a chat. Nothing unusual there really. Anyway, last night I was so buggered after work that I caught a cab home, and it all started when a couple of deaf people crossed the road whilst we were stopped at the lights. He pointed them out, and seemed quite generally fascinated by their signing. I asked him if he'd seen deaf people laughing, how they make a "laughing" sign with their hands, kinda like a bird's beak. He laughed at this like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. He seriously was laughing so much that I was worried he couldn't see where he was driving. Once he'd calmed down, its the usual questions. He asked if I knew about - of all things - Chopper Read. "Umm, yeah, I know a bit about him". Then he proceeds to recite lines from the film in his best Aussie accent, which I have to say, wasn't all that bad. I tell him that Chopper is a painter now. He tell me that Chopper lives in Tasmania. I sense that he knows a little too much about Chopper Read, so I pay and get out of the cab. He yells out through the window "cheers love, have a brilliant time and hope everything goes really well".