So I have this friend. She's very fun, and is always thinking of interesting things to do. For my birthday, she gave me a girls night out- tickets to what she called an adult circus (for lack of a better description). I was thinking that it wasn't my thing, exactly, but we're kind of "when in Rome"-ing it these days, so I went. It turned out to be a pretty amazing variety show, even in German. Skills like that are translingual.
This variety show puts on a new show every two to three months, featuring acrobats, jugglers, dancers, singers, illusionists and comedy. It's in a tent (seating 300 and serving food and drinks). Totally fun!
A night of excitement. A night of discovery. A night of industry and technology?? Once again, I had to trust my friend, and just go along with her, even though it didn't sound very exciting. On the drive to our first location, I was able to read up on it, and it started to sound much better...
"Once a year the Metropolitan Ruhr District celebrates a colorful cultural festival: For one night only, former industrial plants are turned into unforgettable stages for performances by international artists. More than 160,000 visitors will embark on an exciting journey of discovery and be treated to an impressive taste of what the European Capital of Culture 2010 will offer. "
So we started out with some food - always a good start, although I have to say I was a little disappointed since that was definitely not the focus of the evening (like, there were pretzels, sausage and cake - that's it...), and I really like food.
But, we saw some cool jugglers, had great conversation, got caught in the rain, took a boat ride, ate some birthday cake, saw some art, a physics show, and odd exhibits (like these two guys on exercise bikes connected to record players and film strips. An interesting sound/light/motion experiement. Turns out it's very hard to pedal consistently, although I'm not sure they were trying to. Neat effect.). I was introduced to Brause - a candy(?) that all German kids love. (learn more: http://www.todocandy.com/fizzy-sour-candy-ahoj-brause.php) Myself, not a fan, though it was an experience. Kinda fizzy, but mostly foamy. And quite medicinal.
They had these cool light balloons all along the river which added to the festive spirit. And all the industrial buildings were lit up in various fun and interesting ways. The finale of our evening was a Waterworks show (like fireworks, though with water fountains), set to music by 4 avant-garde violinists. Very cool. It was inspiring to see this area (very industrial, blue collar) embracing its roots, and combining that with art in a way that was totally exciting and inspiring. Awesome!
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