876 diary of the die-hards tour
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 18:18:54 +0100
From: Mark von Rahden <auf-die-harte-tour@SALUDO.DE>
Subject: diary of the die-hards tour
Die-hards on the road
An exceptional journey covering 1.850 miles to
7 milongas in 5 European countries.
November 9, 2002: Opening milonga in Bremen
Dancers from abroad are the first to arrive - they come
all the way from Heraklion, Vienna, Berlin or Paris, until
eventually the Tritonia is getting crowded. All new
arrivals are examined with an unflinching, bold expression
to see if they meet the expectations. Gradually the faces
relax: apparently also the other participants are
absolutely normal Tango-addicts, possibly just a little
more determined for unusual experiences. Some locals from
Bremen join the group, and after a fulminant milonga the
travellers turn out of sight and into the endless
corridors of the »La Milonga« for some sleep.
November 10, 2002: Bremen - Amsterdam - Den Haag
After a cozy Tango-Breakfast our Bus leaves Bremen for
Amsterdam through an impermeable fog. At the Dutch border
we open the first spontaneous milonga at the motorway
service area. As we reach the Club Ocho in the afternoon
the milonga is already running, and the multi-cultural
experienced Dutchmen integrate us naturally and calmly.
Later at midnight we are missing one of our dancers: »He
is looking for something.« - true! We find him in the
wardrobe and are obliged to wrest him from his embrace
with one of the locals. But this is part of the happening,
so he is timely for the birthday-vals of our Große-Wilde
Ruth-Maria.
The first real challenge meets our transnoche-host in Den
Haag, because this group goes beyond the scope of all
dimensions: at first not all of us will fit into her
apartment, but then the »die-hards« show how to unfurnish
a normal-sized Dutch flat and turn it into a mass
accommodation within shortest time. Each square centimetre
is in use effectively - even the Punchinello-theatre is
accommodating a sleeper. And finally the mystery of some
harmless, equal-looking water-bottles one of our
travellers brought with him (vodka, pear brandy, ouzo,
rum) is unveiled: the contents are verified and destroyed.
November 11, 2002: Den Haag - Paris
Without ending up in the expected traffic jam we reach the
Seine-metropolis. By skilful map-reading we arrive at the
»Espace Oxygène« on a direct route including a city tour
and parasite-tangoing as united dancers (1 heart with 72
feet) in an open-air-milonga at Trocadero below the
Eiffel-Tower. The French can't dissociate themselves from
this very romantic scene: spontanueously some Parisian
dancing couples socialize with us.
At the Espace Oxygène some of the locals stampede when
facing the onrush of travel-bags and travellers, but those
that stay add to a really nice milonga in the
establishment of Claudia Rosenblatt. Indeed the evening
shows an enormous surplus of women, and in the contrary to
their reputation the French men weren't as confidential as
we believed. Another unfamiliar sight were dancers hasting
for the shower directly within the last tunes of the
»Cumparsita«, armed with their towels and toothbrushes.
But with only one shower for so many people you have to
become pragmaticalS
November 12, 2002: Paris - Basle
Early departure for the longest (in distance) stage to
Basle. Our host Mathis Reichel gives us a warm welcome
while we try to acclimate with this huge area: several
die-hard-tours could meet here. The locals are happily
blending with our meanwhile quite intimate gang. It is
still remarkable how important etiquette is here: the men
distribute their "no" politely but merciless.
November 13, 2002: Basle - Lindau - Munich
On our way to Munich and after a brief dance-break at the
sunny shore of the Bodensee we stop to celebrate a
McDonalds-Lunchtime-Milonga for the first time in history:
even our vegetarians and fastfood-opponents can't resist
to take part. At our arrival in Munich another dancing
stop at the Diana-temple was fitted in before entering the
»La Tierrita«. We were invited to perform a dance to our
tour-anthem (Lhasa: De cara a la pared) and impressed with
our striking jostle-rate. Finally convinced we weren1t
that dangerous at all the milonga became very nice and
lasted longer as usual in Munich.
November 14, 2002: Munich - Prague
A wellness-stop at the historic Mueller-Bad in Munich
precedes the continuation of our journey to Prague: our
tour-anthem is sounding from the stereo we smuggled in,
graceful die-hards dance Tango under water and force long
distance-swimmers to zig-zag around them. One of us
accidentally sinks a Bavarian, someone else takes pictures
- everything VERBOTEN. Never mind, we go back on our way
wich seems to be the actual destination of this tour.
While resting for a small Tango-stop with snacks inside
the bald customs-building at the border to the Czech
Republic our bus-driver Helmut from Fulda (a devotedly
Tanguero) is taking care of our entry permits. Suddenly
the bus won1t start up - he repairs the little slip
imperturbably as we wildly continue our border-milonga.
So we are a little late to meet any locals in Prague in
the Zlata Lyra, they all prefer to go to bed very early.
We enjoy a rocking milonga with the petty rest of the
Czechs and stay in an Augustinian Monastery for the night,
this was a real die-hards-highlight for the lack of warm
water.
November 15, 2002: Prague - Berlin
After dancing Tango to Dixieland-jazz on the Karls-bridge
nothing can hold us from coming to Berlin. Again late we
arrive at the Walzerlinksgestrickt and unfortunately miss
the show, but instead do one by ourselves - of course
using our anthem. Many travelled here especially to meet
the tour and the people from Berlin were apparently
anticipating us. At 4 AM the dancefloor is still crowded
so we still dance inside the bus on our way to the
Tangoloft where there still is no end in sight.
November 16, 2002: Berlin - Hannover - Bremen
>From time to time single persons say »good night« for an
hour of sleep, but actually the dancing continues until
our departure - nobody wants to stop. It is somehow unreal
how this whole week could have passed as quickly.
Thank you Petrus for the sunray accompanying our bus,
thank you Helmut for your imperturbability, your common
sense and your driving skills and thank you dear
die-hards: you made this tour not too tough.
Mercedes, Mark, Matthias
P.S. There are images and additional words at
https://saludo.de/auf-die-harte-tour/
-------{----{--@ saludo.de
überall mit tango zuhause.
