Holly's Raggle Taggle Euroean Tour

Monday, June 7th, 1999 - The friday before we left I got to do a little street performing.

	Our last few days in the Netherlands, we stayed in a hostel in Amsterdam. The friday before we left I got to do a little street performing. Earlier in the week, I had run into some street performers (I think they are called busquers)named Lara and Eugene. Eugene plays flamenco guitar and Lara plays castanets, claps and sometimes dances. Well, when I told them that I danced flamenco they seemed pretty open to the idea of having me join them one day. As Lara put it, in a sharp Portugese dialect too intricate to try to translate here, "It would be really fun you know? Its not very good for the money when there are more people to split it with, but it would be fun to do once."
	So, Friday we met at Rembrandt square and Lara and I ventured off to find a decent bathroom to change in. After dressing in our long black skirts and blouses, adding bright flowers to our hair and trading flamenco steps (very noisily) in the public bathroom we paraded out into the square. We spent some time waiting because there are other street performers and as I found out, there is a whole code of ethics involved in deciding who plays when and what terraces. It was interesting watching people play guitar or juggle. Afterwards they would always come over and talk to us--a real little family of busquers. Eventually it was out turn and we stepped onto one of the many outdoor terraces which line the square. Eugene played a short alegrias (a type of song in flamenco music) first while Lara and I stood there and did palmas (clapping patterns which go with the music). Next Eugene played a bulerias and Lara danced first. After about a minute she beckoned to me and I took the "stage." Whenever I have performed flamenco it has always been A. a choreographed number and B. to canned music
	This was live. and even though i tried to do the bulerias i knew, i really couldn't do it fast enough. after about ten seconds i was just dancing in any which way i pleased (within the real of flamenco, of course). It was exhilirating.
	So, we continued like this the rest of the day. Helger came and joined us after a while playing his drum. As did a banjo player Lara and Eugene knew. It got better each time we did it. The banjo player knew how to sing the gypsy king song that I know a rumba to, so that was fun. He also did a few Bob Marley songs. interesting mix. By the end of the day we were an awesome act. At one point while i was dancing, i found myself being partnered by a guy on the street who was very high on something and felt the need to have a spiritual dramatic experience to our music. For a while I let him dance by himself. The audience was laughing. WE just went with it. Then, he decided he wanted to do an intense pas de duex with me. I decided the best thing i could do was go along with it. So, he spun me around and we did a sort of cat dance around each other. That is, until he started crawling on the ground and panting. I stopped dancing then. The audience was incredulous and loving it.
	Well, we left Amsterdam in the afternoon and took a short train ride to Amstel where there is a place for people to hitch out of the city. (This is where my mother freaks out). We got a ride within two minutes. It was a mother and her son. They dropped us off at a place whose name escapes me and again within five minutes a woman with a convertible picked us up and we were off towards Velo, which is on the border of Germany. This woman was really helpful and dropped us in a place where there were trucks traveling to all sorts of places. Oddly enough, we ended up getting a ride with two German guys in a car who we could barely communicate with. Enough was said that they would take us to another town i cannot remember. When they dropped us at the filling station it was dark. Fortunately there was a man getting gas who was going to Frankfurt to pick up a friend from the airport. A very nice family man who drove soooooo fast. Once we got to the airport we decided it wasn't safe to hitch this late so we slep in the airport. no it isn't comfortable, but yes it is safe and it is allowed. In the morning after several hours of attempted hitching, we realized we were stuck in Frankfurt, so we took a train to Nuremburg. After relaxing in Nuremburg for a few hours, we got a ride from a German guy who luckily was going all the way to the Czech border. Well, after a few hours of conversation Michael became a good friend and invited us for a beer in his town where we were going, Plouen. He takes us to this great bar in the cellar of this brewery. Very old and very medieval. Then he invites us to sleep at his house because it was pouring rain so we find ourselves in a comfy bed for the night! The next morning after a German breakfast--bread, cheese, nutella, coffe--and a wonderful bath in his jacuzzi, he takes us not only over the Czech border, but actually 80 kilometers from Prague. It was a great experience.
	It took us a while to get a ride, but once we did we were finally on our last stretch to Prague, sitting in the front of a van--Hans, Holly and Helger--relishing the road in the front of us and wildflowers on either side.
	Prague is beautiful. Everyone told me this, but i didn't realize exactly what they meant. We had a wonderful time there. I'm afraid my story must stop here because I am running out of time on this computer. What i can add is that now we are in Cesky Krumlov (about 150k sout of Prague) and plan on staying here for a while. This cafe is only a two minute walk from the hostel, so you'll be sure to get another long narrative tomorrow. As much as I miss everyone, I am having the time of my life. chow. === The woods are always silent until the pied piper plays.
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