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The next morning we were picked up by Chris and Mickey who had offered to give us a ride from Cambridge to London in
their rental car. Once we parked the car at Heathrow and took the Tube
to downtown London, we checked into out hostel which was conveniently located right next to Piccadilly Circus -
not exactly a luxurious place considering the mattresses' coil springs
would be stinging our backs all night long, but the cheapest way to stay
in expensive London.
We had about an hour left to go for a sightseeing walk before we met at Embankment Pier with John aka Kripple Rycher, who flew in from Pennsylvania, Slobodan from the German Empire, Thierry from Paris/France, and Chris and Miki. And yes, our Greek Empire brothers were late again :-P. We all took a 45 minute boat ride to the O2 Arena (formerly known as the Millennium Dome), which is outside of London in North Greenwich - if it was not for the many other people on board, we sure did travel in style ;-). |
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The O2 is a huge place, quite fashionable with restaurants and
bars. We convinced some of our fellow Rychers, who had never tasted it before,
to have a yummy dinner at a Thai restaurant. An hour later we stood on the red
carpet of the VIP entrance to the Indigo2, which is the most stylish venue I
have ever visited. Brand new and modern, with a huge bar, granite floors, flashy
neon lights in red and blue colors, it was just amazing, a very classy interior
decoration. While waiting in line (I'm sorry: queue ;-) I ran into German
Alexander - turns out he is another German fanclub member and while he
remembered having seen me in Langen last year, he did not know about the German
Empire. Well, welcome now! We are growing strong, two new members within 3
weeks!
Again the fanclub members made it in first, so we all ended up in first row. Mike had brought his 16 year old daughter Rachel, who happened to be on a trip to London, and while I was wondering if he had dragged her along, I could not believe when she sang along all the songs and partied just as hard as her dad. Damn good job, Iota! Raising Rychean offspring *lol* :-) |
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I don't know
if it was for the venue, the people or the band, but it was the best show I have
seen so far, although we later heard that Whip actually felt sick that night -
but you could not tell while he was on stage, always a pro. Chris was nice
enough to hand me his M&G pass, for he and Miki were heading back to their hotel
- thank you so much! The M&G itself was the biggest one I've ever seen, so many
people, I could not even count them! Since we had been at the M&G before, the
Empires kept in the background - it is all about being there! John aka Kripple
Rycher, who had even taken off his Triryche leg during the show, waving it at
the band, had the time of his life - it was so great to see him talk to
everyone, and I was following him taking his pictures, like Mike Stone actually
playing his leg :-)
It was after midnight that we all took a night bus back into London, and it was time to say good-bye for everyone. The next day we had about 3 hours of sightseeing before we had to catch our bus to the airport to fly back home.... |
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I wish it was groundhog weekend, being able to re-live these days over and over again. It just never gets
boring, there is always something new you can detect or focus on, it is
a little different every time, and of course always special. Besides
having the show experience, it is always so uplifting to share this with
other people who feel the same way - thank you Rychean family!
Ryched hard! Aefa |