Eurofurence:Tuesday (I arrive in one piece)

[furtech]

[You can skip the wordy posts and go straight to the pics-- see link at bottom of page!]

After weeks of cramming to get two heads finished for the con, taking care of the day job's duties and dealing with 112f heatwave, I finally arrive in Germany! Flight was mercifully uneventful: (aside from the crazy Euro-chick) I slept, watched "Bleach" on my iPod (love these things! And just got $100 back because of the price drop!), ate and wrote. Baggage and customs at Frankfurt were fast and non-events.



I can't tell you how happy I was to see Loriana's smiling face on my exit! She had accompanied Loewi down to Frankfurt to pick me up (she could recognize me-- though I think I was the only asian on the flight...). Loewi rented a minivan to accommodate all my junk and I was amazed at what a minivan on the Autobahn can do! 105 mph! Wow! I wonder if German-sold cars have better suspension systems than US ones?

The drive was beautiful: I had only been in big cities in Germany before, so I enjoyed all the trees and forests. Now I really want to see the Black Forest! The hotel was visible quite a number of miles away: the Ringberg Hotel is located on the top of a mountain.

Checked in and found a huge room waiting for me. Later I would let Aeto store the manticore there since his standard room was a little small for two sets of costumes (his and Frysco's). The goodie basket was filled with local foods (Weiswurst, Jagermeister!, bheer!, chocolates, etc!). The glass-enclosed balcony had a spectacular view of the surrounding area. I unpacked: all the costume stuff arrived in fine condition!

Here's the GSD head I made for the charity auction.

At Dinner I met more of the Eurofurence staff: Bluepanther (artshow) and SomeWolf (Chief Improviser-- who told me where to find hiking trails nearby) and the ex-patriot Brit who lives in Switzerland now (whose name I -cannot- remember, despite hanging out with him all weekend! Bad me!).

I had vowed not to hide out in my hotel room watching tv, so I went down later that evening and took a walk around the hotel: spooky dark forest outside the ring of lights. Easy to see how it spawned Grimms fairy tales!

I sat down with some people in the bar and ended up chatting until nearly 3am...totally eliminating any chance of getting up in time for breakfast!

EDIT: Forgot to mention my tourista moment: bought what I thought was lemonade from a vending machine...turned out to be some nasty lemon-flavored bheer! Ack! Was reminded not to assume anything just on appearances...

Here is a link to my Flickr page with Tuesday's photos. If you want to cheat, you can check out the other picture sets-- but I haven't finished annotating them yet!

Comments

[spunkywulf.livejournal.com]

I like your doggy head! I miss seeing your costumes, and I miss you.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

So-- what's your next con?

[spunkywulf.livejournal.com]

FurFright and then hopefully MFF?

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Aw man, your photos have made me homesick for Germany! German pretzels, mmmm!

The Kinder-Schokoladen eggs have been around forever. My grandparents used to send crates of them to my sister and me. They were never sold in the US because of the choking hazard. 9_9 But we have tons of the little toys around, still. They used to be really inventive little toys.

I should probably go to Germany the next time my mom goes. I'd like to go back and see more castles. :D

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Hey..

when i get my new car and my passport I want to go on a road trip.

We have Kinder surprise in Canada. Maybe I should go on a road trip to Spokane with a case of kinder eggs for you :D

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Not as detailed or cool as the Choco-eggs (with the animals and pets), but still cool. I am amused by the variety of stuff they can contain (some little wooden carvings to odd local cartoon characters).

Choking hazard be damned! Why can't they sell them as *grown-up* toys?!?

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Man. I want to go to EF now!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I think you'd really enjoy yourself! Very friendly folk!

[waynekaa.livejournal.com]

Here's the GSD head I made for the charity auction.
I didn't know you were into Gundam Seed Destiny!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

This is the only Gundam Seed Destiny I could see making a costume of...

[diadexxus.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize you were GOH! Congrats on that. :)
Great pics, nice head you donated to the charity auction!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us... :) I hope to see you soon! (MFF? FC?)

HUGS
-J

[furtech.livejournal.com]

You would love the place-- I remember you being a chocoholic, right? AMAZING selection of chocolates. I brought a 99% cocoa bar back for someone and the chili-chocolate bar has an actual kick to it!

Probably not MFF, though I want to get back to that con. FC, definitely!

PS:I need a mailing addy for you-- can you send it to my usernme at gmail.com?

[burmecian-storm.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping up with your posts. Glad to hear you had a great time! ^_^

May I ask you a quick question - what, in your opinion, are the best tools for carving foam on a fursuit (head, mostly)?

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Sure! I do most of my rough cuts with an electric knife (really saves on your hands!). Then medium cuts/starting sculpting/sculpting with a pair of the soft-touch Fiskars. Depending on the type of foam, I'll also use a bunch of safety razors to cut pieces out (I usually sheet-foam sculpt-- less mess).

[burmecian-storm.livejournal.com]

Thanks muchly! Much appreciated.

[mistahbojangles.livejournal.com]

Neat discovery of the spare tire art and sticker, -thanks for shooting that! I also really dig the design of the ferret costume, -nice! Glad you had a good time, -looks like a terrific place to visit.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I saw Tracy's fox first and said, "Oh, that's a *cool* fox...haaay-- I know that artist!" Be better if you were there, though! You'd love the place-- leggos, German engineering, etc. Plus, chocolate and stuffed animals for Tracy and kid.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

That beer looks scary. Even scarier for saying its both lemon and grapefruit on it. Like one or the other wasn't bad enough!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

It was like they were over-achieving making something I would gag on just before bed and after a twelve hour flight. Winner!

[hawthorn.livejournal.com]

Great pics in there! Good for remembering the con
(I myself didnt take a single pic... duh! :p)

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Alcohol in vending machines! Do they still have the cigarette ones too? :D

[blue-panther.livejournal.com]

The other Ex-Pat-Brit living in Switzerland - besides me - would be Faolan Redwolf.

Glad to see you enjoyed yourself that much, was a real pleasure meeting you.

[doco.livejournal.com]

It has to be duly noted that these movie posters down there were of East German origin and usually looked vastly different than their more worldly counterparts from the West. :)

(Also, Beverly Hills Cop didn't make it into GDR cinemas before 1988.)