Pukkelpop 20-22/8

As our campsite is just over five kilometres from the festival site, we decided to hire bikes for the duration of the festival. It was pretty reasonable in cost and took us a bit over half an hour to ride there each way, depending on how tired we were. We were a bit sore after the first day as neither of us has been on a bike for a while, the last time for me was in Darwin in March. Needless to say, we felt the bumps a little bit more than we would have liked. Bike parking was provided by the festival just down the road and secured on a ticket basis, there would have been over a thousand bikes in there at peak times so finding a spot to leave them was a bit of a challenge. Thursday had a fantastic line-up and we were pretty lucky this time around as there wasn’t a lot of clashes between time slots for things we wanted to see. Most other festivals we've had to chose between two good bands but here it was easy enough to walk from one stage to the next, it’s also quite a small site so not too much of a hassle to get about. Maximo Park kicked off procedings (for us anyway) on the main stage and they performed a pretty similar set to Benicassim but an enthusiastic one. Next up we saw Razorlight who seemed a little bit lost on the main stage, we were fairly far back but it didn’t seem like a lot of the crowd were paying attention, they sounded quite good though. La Roux was up next in a smaller tent known as The Club, when she was on at Glasto they’d just been hyped by the BBC so we couldn’t get anywhere near the tent. This time it was still pretty busy so we’ve not actually ‘seen’ her, just heard the set both times - this time the sound was better though so we enjoyed ‘Bulletproof’ and some other tracks a lot more. Between acts we had a bit of dinner and heard a bit of the Deftones who we are mostly familiar with through our friend Kirsty (Hi KP! - they were pretty good!). There was a secret act on the Marquee Stage next so we checked it out as there wasn’t anything else worth seeing at the same time. At Glastonbury the ‘secret’ acts are normally well known bands making a surprise appearance, here it was slightly different as Them Crooked Vultures are essentially a new band consisting of some people that have played together before. Dave Grohl and Josh Homme have performed together in Queens of the Stone Age, in Them Crooked Vultures they are joined by John Paul Jones, formerly of Led Zepplin and one other guy who might of looked familiar but I can’t place him. The main thing is that they played like they had been together a long time and like men possessed - their whole set was sensational and we thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. It was also realy good to see them enjoying themselves, they seemed to really enjoy the mostly local crowd and each other, Dave Grohl in particular grinning a lot. Time for some metal next with Opeth at a small stage known as The Shelter, it was quite an intimate space to see such a well known act but it was good to see them up close. Ten minute metal epics are childs play for Opeth and they too were having a good time. We heard a bit of Ladyhawke while we were sitting down waiting for Faith No More, she sounded pretty good but it was a bit lost in the crowd noise for us. Faith No More played a similar set to Roskilde but in quite a different fashion as Mike Patton was quite antagonistic towards the crowd, openly having a go at some audience members and also singing some of ‘Evidence’ in Portuguese. Which sounded pretty good by the way, I just don’t think everyone understood where he was coming from. It was a good performance though, just different. Last act of the night (for us) were My Bloody Valentine, a band I have been waiting almost 20 years to see. They reformed early last year (I think) and it didn’t look like we’d get the chance until I saw that they had been added to the Pukkelpop bill about six weeks ago. I am hesitant to try and put such an amazing experience into words so I’ll just say it was everything I could have hoped for... only louder - nothing else came close for volume for the rest of the festival, earplugs were essential! We eventually had to move back as we thought the sound might have been a bit too much for the bubba. Pure white noise. The ride home was a bit easier than our ride there and we had a bit of a sleep in on Friday before heading out in the afternoon to catch Eagles of Death Metal on the main stage. Another band that was having a good time, their set was great from start to finish, we sang along to ‘I Really Wanna be in LA’ knowing that we will be there in a few weeks. We saw the end of The Living End playing at The Shelter, they had a decent sized crowd and sounded good. We went to see Glasvegas next, in the Marquee, a much more intimate setting than at Benicassim and their performance benifitted a lot from it, they were fantastic. Big singalongs too, once again a huge one for ‘Daddy’s Gone’ - stirring stuff. The Ting Tings played the main stage next, getting a good reaction for ‘That’s Not My Name’ which was eagerly sung along to. Vampire Weekend (who all looked like they were 12) were at the Marquee next and they were really good, trying out a fair bit of new stuff in with the hits, they came across well to an enthusiastic audience. Snow Patrol played the main stage while went to find something to eat, we heard all their set but would have appeciated some older stuff in with the newer hits (I suspect I’m just being a snob there). The dark and mysterious Fever Ray had the Maquee stage covered in faint lamps so while they were playing only small parts of the stage were lit for short moments, they were all costumed too so combined with the atmospheric songs it was quite a show. I’m not sure if it was sitting right with a ‘festival crowd’ but we liked it. Vocals very much like the singer’s other band, The Knife. Placebo were on the main stage next, a set identical to Bilbao BBK so not much in the way of surprises, they played well but a little variation might have been nice. Last act for us was Blood Red Shoes at the Club, a small venue for this British band who we hadn’t heard anything of before, we were checking them out based on hype from NME. It was worth it as the two piece put on a great show in front of a loyal audience. Pretty tired by this stage so we went to collect our bikes as Kraftwerk started, we heard a little on the ride back but we’ve seen them before and didn’t expect any surprises. During the day on Saturday one of the bands mentioned that there were 60,000 people at the site, we were not sure of the official figure but it did seem like Saturday was the busiest day. The crowd seemed to be a bit older than some of the other festivals, still a mix with young campers but there was a whole heap of middled aged guys about the place getting drunk which is heartening for my future. We started proceedings with Dinosaur Jr on the Main Stage. We’ve not seen them for a number of years, certainly not while the key members have been back together so it was cool to see J Mascis rocking out playing ‘Out There’ and ‘Feel the Pain’ again in front of a stack of Marshall amps. We listened to Florence and the Machine after that (the tent being too busy to see) but it sounded good, even if it was suspiciously like Siouxsie and the Banshees in parts. We heard a bit of 50 Cent on the main stage, he had a large crowd but it was pretty unimpressive as far as we were concerned - but then he is just not our cup of Earl Grey. We went over to the Marquee to see Klaxons next, they had played a secret slot a Glasto but there was something else on at the same time. The singer looked a bit out of it but they put on a good show and the keyboard player had on a vintage Sonic Youth t-shirt the same as I have at home so that was cool. N*E*R*D were on the main stage after that, again not entirely what we’re into but it sounded quite good, I recognised more songs than I didn’t and they sounded a lot tighter than 50 Cent had earlier in the day. Second to last act of the day for us was Tortoise, once again listened to outside the tent as they’d drawn quite a crowd and it was too smokey inside. A good set, we only own the album ‘Standards’ though, so a lot of the material is unfamiliar but still good. Arctic Monkeys were finishing up on the main stage and early in the set they played an excellent version of ‘Red Right Hand’, very different to the original in that it was almost twice as fast but played really well. They put on a great show with songs from their new album as well as hits off the last two records, great stuff. We managed the final ride home easily, a bit less sore than the previous two days but a decent rest was definitely required.

Vanpark Action and Daytrip to the Netherlands

We’ve spent a few days at the van park which has been nice, it’s a nice spot with a pool, cafe and bar, swimming lake and loads of semi permanent residents over the other side of the lake in portable houses. On our side of the lake is a spot for all the tents and camper vans. There’s a real mix of different campers about the place, from 1950’s style caravans through to American GM V8 trucks/vans. We’ve seen more of these style of trucks here in Belgium and the Netherlands than anywhere else, a few bikers too. We headed out for a drive on Tuesday 18/8 to the Rijksmuseum in Maastricht and had lunch at the museum cafe before heading inside. The main exhibition was named Palazzo, after a group of Dutch collectors who were primarily interested in Italian paintings and some furniture for their private homes and whom amassed their collections between the World Wars. Most of the works on display were donated from these private collections and made up one floor of the museum, an impressive amount of works were featured. There was also a number of huge tapestries on display, chronicling the classical works relating to Diana. There will be some photos up soon to show just how massive in scale they are, it would have been amazing to see them when they were new as the faded colours you see now only give a hint of their past glory. On the top floor (the middle floor was closed as the exhibition had finished so we got a discount on admission) was some photography, mainly of oriental interior spaces. Peoples bedrooms, bathrooms, the inside of a yurt (tent thing) and a mortuary were the main topics. After spending most of the afternoon at the museum we returned to Belgium via a ‘shopping village’ full of discount stores, mainly specialising in European fashion and boutques. There was some interesting stuff there but not much caught our eye. We arrived a bit late and the places we would have most likely found something were closing so we headed back to the camp for dinner.

Paris to Belguim 16/8-18/8

We left the van park on Verneuil sur Seine on Sunday. We enjoyed staying there as it was quiet and cheap, the only thing lacking being a washing machine. We headed back to Versailles to check out the palace after some great morning tea at our local Patisserie (mmm croissants, eclairs, flans, cafe espresso) but unfortunately arrived at what seemed to be the peak time, it looked as though the queue would be taking well over an hour just to get the ticket before joining a second queue to go inside. As it was pretty hot by this point we decided to give it a miss and headed out on the motorway to Belgium. We arrived in the early evening without incident and have found a good van park not far from where our next music festival is to take place. We are booked in until Sunday night which is a relief. Kirsten is not really keen on camping in a tent anymore. Something to do with a belly getting in the way. Staying here means we can use their facilities as well as use our supplies for breakfasts in the van. We are hoping to hire a bike each to ride to the festival site as it is about 5kms away. That way we can leave the van in the safety of the park and not have to worry about it getting broken into or vandalized by festival punks. Not that we've had any issues so far but now that the van starts we have to be paranoid and stressed about something. In other news it looks like Moscow is off the cards. Due to us not being in the same spot for long enough, organising the 'official invitation' as well as the visa would be a hard task. It may be a blessing in disguise as we will now have a bit more time to sell the van before we head to the US. We've organised flights to Vancouver from Vegas to visit our lovely friend Dara whom we lived with when we were in the UK in 2001. For now it is back to relaxing. We will be offline for a couple of days but will be back next week with a full report on Pukkelpop. Lookout!

Paris 12/8 and 14/8, St Germain 13/8

We headed into Paris from Verneuil sur Seine mid morning on Wednesday. As the campsite is a distance from the small village and we didn’t want to leave the van in the station carpark all day, we decided to get a cab to the station. We then caught an overland train into central Paris and then swapped for the Metro. We headed out to Port Dauphine first as the Russian Embassy is situated there and we intend to go to Moscow after all the festivals are over. After a bit of a trip on the Metro and some walking we found the embassy but too late for any visas to be processed that day. We decided to head to the Champs-Elysees to get some lunch and to have a walk down this famous shopping strip. The first stop was to check out the Arc De Triomphe and then food. We found a restaurant a street away from the Champs Elyssee in the hope it would be a little cheaper. We were quite well fed for the price and then we headed off. It’s been eight years since we had visted here but it’s hard to tell if many of the shops have changed. McDonalds, Quick (the French fast food chain), Paris St Germain (soccer club) and Sephora (giant perfume/makeup/everything shop) were still in the same places. One outlet that was very busy was the Peugeuot store, a mixture of retail outlet and concpt vehicle showroom. The other major French manufacturers are represented along the street but they weren’t quite as busy, Renault came close. After a stroll and a drink we had made it to the end of the main drag and caught the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. As it was a beautiful summer afternoon the queues to go up to the top of the tower were massive so we elected to give it a miss this time. We did however, spend some time relaxing near the base checking out the fantastic tower and people watching. After that we had a drink a couple of streets over at a typical French brasserie before heading back to Verneuil sur Seine. As we came back about 10pm we had been hoping for a taxi at the station but there wasn’t anyone around. Our attempts to call one were met with and answering machine, it seems that not much happens in rural France after 10pm. What it did mean though is that we had to trudge back to the campsite which took 45 minutes to an hour, not something we needed after such a long day. We were incredibly glad to be sitting down again once we reached the van. We had a rest day on Thursday, we tried to catch up on some internet and some washing but after a few attempts at towns nearby it wasn’t happening. We did get to have a look around St Germain which seems to be a trendy town with loads of bars, cafes and great looking shops. Yes mum, we were thinking of you. Heading back into Paris on Friday, we drove in and parked a few streets away from the Russian Embassy as it’s on the edge of the city where a forest/park begins so we thought we’d be able to park without incident. Unfortunately we’ve had a second visa issue, this time the Russian visa clerk reckons we need to have an ‘invitation’ from our chosen accommodation sent to us and then present this to the Embassy. As we’re not in France long enough we can’t get it sorted out here so we’ll see how we go in London. Next stop after Port Dauphine was Notre Dame Cathedral which was heaving with tourists but with good reason as it looked stunning in the morning light. Photos to come. After we had spent some time walking around Notre Dame and sitting in the garden out the back we had lunch in the Latin Quarter. I had a massive serve of Mussels Provencale while Kirsten had some garlic prawns, very impressive. After lunch we had more of a wander around the Latin Quarter, very narrow streets and loads of restaurants, before we got onto the Metro again and headed out to Montmartre. As it’s higher up on a hill and the metro is a decent amount underground, getting out at the Abbesses station meant a huge walk up some spiral stairs meaning that we we both stuffed at the top before we’d even had a chance to walk around. When we did get going, we discovered that this lovely area has loads of great shops, bars, restaurants, traditional streets and houses and of course Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. We caught the funicular railway up the steep hill to the cathedral where huge crowds were enjoying uninterrupted views out over Paris as well as watching the talents of some local breakdancers. There was also a wedding (not in the main cathedral) and they used Sacré-Cœur as a backdrop for some photos. The black couple looked very striking. All white suits for the groom and pageboy and a big white dress for the bride. The funicular either had some problems or was just swamped by the huge crowds so we walked to a local Brasserie and had an impressive iced coffee and icecream combination. More people watching which was lots of fun. We wanted to stay put and perhaps go to a restaurant for dinner but we had no room for any more food at that point. Definitely an area to revisit another time. At the end of the day we went back on the metro and back to our van. We both had our fingers crossed that it would still be there, not have its wheel clamped and have no fines attached and we were relieved to find out this was so. Woo hoo! This time it was a lot easier to get home although not easy to leave as we both have loved our time here, Paris is fantastic.

Verneuil sur Seine and Versailles

We arrived in Verneuil sur Seine, about 40 minutes drive from Paris, on Sunday 9/8 after trying to find a spot at two other campsites around Paris. We’ve found a good one though in that the location is convenient and the price is good. The campsite is quiet and set in amongst lots of pine trees. Next door there is a holiday complex with a large swimming lake, cafe, restaurant and leisure facilities. We had dinner there on Sunday night as we didn’t have a great deal of supplies with us and we thought most local shops would be shut. On Monday 10/8 we drove to Versailles (thoroughly enjoying that we can start and stop the van as we choose) to see the palace. Turns out it’s shut on Mondays but we had a good opportunity to walk around the massive grounds and gardens on site. We spent a few hours enjoying the sunshine and views before we headed back to to the van (we plan to check out the palace later in the week). After that we went to a local shopping centre for a bit of a look around, returning to the van with a whole heap of stuff we hadn’t set out for (and the item we had looked for - shoes for me, we went without). We had intended to go to Paris today (Tuesday) but we’re a bit tired from yesterday’s long walks so we’re tidying up the van and relaxing today before we hit the city tomorrow.

It Lives! (La Seyne sur Mer, Cannes and Antibes)

The van is alive and well again after our stay in La Seyne sur Mer. Peugeot have replaced the starter motor and the battery for an obscene amount amount of Euros. While the van was in the shop (five days) we spent one night in the Novotel which was very decadent, and the rest of the time in the budget Formula 1 Hotel chain. We are both certain on which one we preferred. We also headed into town for an evening to get new books as we are going through them at a rapid rate and we had a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant. We picked up the van on Friday 7/8 and headed along the coast towards Cannes. We were able to find a park along the esplanade a few kilometres out of the city and we headed into central Cannes via train. This turned out to be a good move as the city centre was packed with thousands of holidaymakers. It’s an attractive city and we had a long walk along the promenade which was full of designer boutiques, hotels and restaurants. The large marina was full of expensive craft and there was a large number of trendy types swanning about. We had a sensational seafood dinner at a local restaurant before heading back to the van. We decided to free park out of Cannes to make up for a bit of a splurge on dinner and so it would be a little quieter. It turned out to be a good descision as the centre of the city was gridlocked in traffic or almost an hour watching a huge fireworks display out over the bay. Once we managed to evade the worst of the traffic we headed towards Antibes and found a park near a very small beach and got some sleep. The next morning we went down to the beach for a bit of sun and a swim. The whole beach was only a few hundred metres long and the public section was only about 50 metres wide (most of the beach was taken up with cafe’s and restaurants that had private beach chairs). As we didn’t want to pay for the privilege we found a good spot on the public beach and set up. Kirsten found the water too cold but enjoyed people watching on the beach. I went in for about half an hour. It turned out that there was a large number of small jellyfish along the coast, a guy near me ended up getting stung twice, prompting him to pack up his family and leave. I was stung once on the stomach but I didn’t feel it at the time, I only saw the welt once I was out of the water. Not a big deal. We worked on a theory that the guy who made his family leave didn’t want to be at the beach anyway. It was a really nice morning and a good farewell to the French beach culture. We left Antibes in the afternoon and took the motorway towards Paris, watching thousands of holiday-makers from all over Europe head towards the coast in vans and caravans. We stayed the night in another free park off the motorway in one of the many well kept and well equipped rest areas.

Leaving Spain, visiting Le Bacares, Marseilles & La Seyne Sur Mer

After Barcelona, we spent a couple of nights at the El Delphin Verde caravan park on the north east Spanish coast. It is a huge park, the biggest one we’ve stayed in yet with tennis courts, huge pool, beach frontage, supermarket, shops, bars and a restaurant. They also have separate stalls serving crepes, hamburgers and ice creams. A large Nordic contingent seemed to be holidaying there, with a large proportion of holiday makers seemingly intent on turning themselves a deep brown or orange. We had one of the van superintendents give us a tow start as we didn’t have willing onlookers to help push start the van but once we were on the road we were fine. We’re trying not to let the situation get to us but it’s a bit of a comedy of errors how much stuff seems to be not working or falling off the van at the moment. More on that later. Upon leaving Delphin Verde we saw a Peugeot mechanic and stopped in for a chat, my rudimentary Spanish was enough to understand that he wasn’t that interested in trying to understand or help, instead fobbing us off to another mechanic whom we never found. We continued the drive to France and went to Le Bacares on the French coast, about two hours over the border. We parked down by the promenade and the sea and went to have some dinner, a pretty decent pizza each. We also went for a bit of a wander around the main drag, it was quite nice but some of the shops were pretty expensive, fitting in with the seaside resort theme. We spent a night in the carpark along with a couple of other vans, trying to save a bit of money. Probably not the best place to park in the end as it was a popular spot until quite late, after which it got more popular with some hoons on hotted up mopeds racing each other. We got an early morning wake up too. Some local traders had arrived at 5.30am to set up their stalls for a market. Still, we managed to get our own back slightly as they had to push start the van for the priveledge of their space. We deliberated for a while on our next move and thought it might be best to strike for a larger city centre, hopefully with a greater concentration of mechanics. Marseilles was about three hours along the coast and is a very large port city. We set off down the motorway, we are quite impressed with French motorways as there’s parks quite often and you can have an easy rest stop. It was at one of these parks I saw that a small chimney/gas vent on our roof was bent back and about to fall off. After clambering up on a nearby skip to get access to the roof I saw it was held on by it’s last screw. Kirsten and I rattled off a list of things not working or falling off the van and tried to make light of the situation. At least the van goes... once it's started. We arrived in Marseilles just before lunchtime and Kirsten jumped out of the van while I parked illegally (it was absolutely heaving down by the port) to head into the tourist information office. We had a bit of help to find a couple of local mechanics and we set off. The first guy had a bit of a theory but couldn’t see us until after 4pm so we tried the next suggestion. They were a tiny, single car garage that the van had no hope of getting into so they suggested a nearby servo where we met again with helpful staff and mechanic but no room for the van to fit in the workshop. They advised us of two more places we could try on a nearby street, the first turned out to be closed and we couldn’t find the second one. We were getting a bit hot and bothered by this stage so we thought we’d try and find a park and go and have a drink somewhere. A lot of the city is on a hill so we tried in vain to find a park on a slope so we could roll start the van without too much trouble. After almost two hours of trying to find a park (it is no wonder so many people drive micro or Smart cars here) we gave up in bitter frustration and left the city. We didn’t end up going back to the first mechanic as we suspected the van wouldn’t have fitted in his workhop anyway (he never saw the van, only the manual which depicts a shorter version). The nearest campsite was 60km away so we left Marseilles without a real chance to look around which is unfortunate but we didn’t have much of a choice. The next caravan park, Mimosa, is a very quiet family affair and we’ve set up (near a slope) and have been quietly reading (I’ve just finished 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and thought it was excellent) and relaxing since then. A local supermarket ended up having a massive range of food (something like 20-30 types of Brie alone, but I suppose that yes, it is France) so we got some stuff for dinner - lovely. There is also a Peugeot dealership just down the road where we've finally been able to book the van in to be looked at. Fingers crossed for Monday!