Köln

Hello again!  Today we got back to work.  But first, something very exciting happened!  I was walking around the old town, Altstadt, when a sign caught my eye: Nutcrackers!  There was a shop selling nutcrackers and other German wood carvings.  Obviously I went down this street.  I was focused so hard on finding the nutcrackers that I almost walked right by the music shop.  However someone was inside sampling percussion instruments which perked up my ears!  I went in, and sure enough this shop was a treasure trove of percussion isntruments.  I sampled various tambourines, bells, and shakers in every possible combination.  I finally told the man working about my problem with the tambourine falling off my foot, and he showed me an actual product called "foot tambourine" that had been right there throughout my sampling.  It felt like Christmas morning.  I was so excited and walked down the street grinning afterwards.  It's a little section of wood with tambourine chimes with a curved edge to go around your foot with elastic to hold it on.  Perfect.  I also bought two egg shakers with handles to put on the other foot.

That evening I headed out to try them out, as well as my new kazoo.  First I went to the plaza by the massive cathedral, a huge tourist spot.  A lot of people walked by and smiled, or of course photographed, but I made literally one tip in a half hour.  My new friend Philip said that the previous night he had gone in the shopping area once shops close at eight, so I headed there but I hate shopping areas so I decided instead to go down by the river.  It was quite lovely, nice night, people sitting on the grass and on benches eating, drinking, and being merry.  I had the Rhine behind me, with boats passing by.  Certainly a pleasant place to pass my evening!  However, I made very little money!  I don't know why, it didn't fall into one of the usual categories for not making money.  I didn't really care though, since it was my last time playing on the road this trip!  Some people were there for a long time, so they heard repeated songs which I don't like, but one was nice enough to clap after each song!  My new hostel friends Yuko and Philip watched for a while too, which was nice.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
1.  Two older ladies walked by.  One asked, "Strasbourg?"  Awesome!!

2. An older woman tipped me two big-girl sized coins and tipped Flaca two little-girl coins.  She picked up Flaca, and I rushed to be the one to untangle her and show her how she can clap.  It turns out this woman is a professional puppeteer, and she said Flaca is hard to operate!  So it's not just me!  Maybe I'll bring Flaca to a pro for some surgery.

3. People said long things in German and I couldn't be bothered to ask about them, so I said, "Danke schoen" to everything.  These comments could have been super negative for all I know.

4. We had a Twin Peaks fan in the house!!  That is all.

5. When the lady tipped both of us I had the idea to say "Danke schoen" in my normal voice for my tips, then say it in a high squeaky voice for Flaca.  But then I tried this just when people tipped Flaca, which was totally out of context so they thought I just sounded like that.

6. I was obviously still a beginner at the one-woman-band stuff, especially because I have a wicked shin splint on the right side so I gave my left foot first-stand percussion duties, but my brain didn't like that.  It was clear, especially to those who stayed a while, that I didn't quite have this combo down, so once it was dark out I started playing just accordion which sounded way better.  I was playing "The Way You Look Tonight" on just accordion when some retirees walked by, and naturally they loved it.  Maybe I should wait to do the new act until I really practice!

7. I've mentioned that I want to arrange "Sir Duke."  Well last night I tried it!  I put out my notebook with notes about it and chords, mainly just so people could see that it was a new song and I was looking at something.  It actually went okay!  I've been so excited to do the instrumental solo, and it was just as fun as I had hoped, and the new kazoo could handle it.  Extra excited now to practice it.

8. When I was packing up a guy who had been listening came over to talk.  He is Belgian and is here for work, but he recently got back from a long trip where he walked from Belgium to Toulouse, France, and just knocked on doors and told people he needed a place to stay and he found places!  He has good philosophies about life and adventure and stuff too.

The end!  Might go out again after my nap, but if I don't, it's been a great intro tour!  In the Fall I will be more serious about busking on tour, and will hopefully have even more adventures.  Before that, we're so excited to get back to Edinburgh tomorrow, see if we can wiggle back into our old pitches, and perfect the new act!

Love,
Sophie, Flaca, and Lil' Red (still not an official name)