Holidays

Photos: http://www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=246

24 September

Got the train at 8.30 to Paris so actually had a bit of a lie in as the hotel was next to the station! The train only took a couple of hours then it was about half an hour on the metro to the hotel!

Gavin went on ahead to the queue while I waited for Jen and Trina who had flown to Paris that morning. They arrived at about 12.30, checked in and off we went to the venue leaving Terry to sleep! The venue was only 4 stops away so we got there quite quickly. Charlie had been trying to save us a space at the front with her and Andrea but the queue already had barriers and was very organised so we couldn’t get in. The 3 of us went to the back and were quickly joined by Andy, who had been delayed by the Eurostar problems. We were about 50 people back in the queue! It was a lovely sunny day, which we spent most of sat on the lovely concrete chatting and trying to translate the French newspaper article about Queen and Paul Rogders… Queen something something Roger something something etc! Trina and I went for a wander and found an advert for a ‘Freddy’ cocktail! Brigitte and Sandra arrived about 5.30 when we were on our last toilet trip so went over to say hello!

During the afternoon, the queue kept moving up then suddenly this random guy pushed his way through and stood in front of us, got a newspaper out and was pretending to talk on his mobile. We had a word with him but he wouldn’t move back so when we all stood up to go in, we pushed back in front of him! The cheek of it!!

Getting in seemed very organised and they only let a few people in at a time! I had a space saved for me at the front of the catwalk, Jen and Trina were just round the corner on the lefthand side, next to where they build Roger’s drum kit on the B stage! This is what is known as the Roger spot!

The set list was:

SURFS UP…SCHOOLS OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN – Full Version
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO
I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
FEEL LIKE MAKING LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

The show was very similar to Antwerp but Time to Shine was dropped and Feel Like Makin’ Love was back (boo!). The end of Cosmos Rocks was a mess but the show generally was great! Paul saw us in Say It’s Not True and said ‘You again!’ Brian looked down and smiled at us during 39!

Terry and I went for a drink after the show with Andy, Brigitte and Sandra. It was great to see them again and catch up! We left them heading off into the centre of Paris and apparently, they went to bed very late!!

Photos: http://www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=245

23 September

I got the metro to the venue, after getting a sandwich and lots of water for the queue and didn’t arrive until 1.30pm. There were actually quite a few people there, probably about 20 – 30 people but the queue was quite spread out over a few different entrances blocked off by bins!! There wasn’t much around the venue and you had to pay 50 euro cents to use the loo at the pizza place opposite! Met lots of people– Caroline, Jens, the JDFK and Tiger Taylor! Japanese Freddie sang for the local press!

It was chaos when the ‘doors’ opened as they didn’t take all the bins away at the same time but we still managed to get in ok and stood at the front of the catwalk, on the lefthand side, next to the JDFK, the Japanese guys and Jens.

The set list was:

SURFS UP…SCHOOLS OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN – Full Version
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO
I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
TIME TO SHINE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Paul reached down to me and said hello during ‘Say It’s Not True’! Pete was doing bunny ear actions at Jamie during the guitar solo! Brian introduced C-lebrity as a song from the new album… which only 3 of you have bought! It seemed like there was a long pause with the first note to We Will Rock You at the start of All Right Now. Everyone looked a bit confused so I think it was a mistake!

22 September

I started the tour ill and woke up this morning feeling really bad! The day got worse as the flight from Berlin to Antwerp was delayed by a couple of hours. Once we got to Brussels at around 8pm, we got the train from Brussels to Brussels which luckily didn’t take too long.

By the time we got to the hotel in Antwerp, it was almost 10pm and I needed my bed! Went out and got a takeaway pizza and went back to the hotel while Terry and Gavin went out! They finally got in at 2.30am, very drunk and had met the crew (again) in a bar! It turns out that the man who designed the video screen graphics also did the cover of Dark Side of the Moon.

Photos: http://www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=244

21 September

I travelled on the metro to the venue and got to the queue at 10.30 to find Jens, Vern, Julie, Jim, Charlie, Andrea and the Japanese guys! A very odd venue as it was next to a swimming pool and not really near anything else. A few of us went for a walk to burger king in the morning for some not very nice breakfast (but still better than McDonalds!). We also saw Viekko, the head of security wandering around during the morning!

At 1.30, the security came out and started putting barriers up a few 100 metres away from where we were queuing and there was chaos as everyone ran over there. We ended up standing in a crush next to the barriers for at least half an hour while the security set up the barriers and confirmed what we needed to do. After that, we managed to get everyone to space out a bit and sit down!

During the afternoon, we had lemon meringue pie kindly donated by Vern and Julie!

The doors opened at 6.30pm and it was the longest run of any of the venues. The venue itself was actually a velodrome and we ran the full length round it, down some steps then UP some steps and across the floor to get to the front! I almost had an asthma attack and people were running past me left, right and centre but I still managed to get to the front of the catwalk!

The set list was:

SURFS UP…SCHOOLS OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN – Full Version
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO

I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
WAR BOYS
FEEL LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

The gig was better than Riga and the band looked more relaxed! They played part of Surfs Up, Schools Out at after the intro – it rocked and I went mental! Paul spotted me at the front during Fat Bottomed Girls and reached down to me but the gap between the stage and the barrier was too wide for him to reach me! I did our usual dance during Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Paul copied it!

We went out afterwards with Matt from Birmingham and Hendric from the Netherlands who Terry had met at the concert. Had some lovely cheese and bacon pancakes!! Yum!

20 September

We travelled to the airport for our flight which was at lunchtime! Met Andy at the airport and went to TGI Fridays so Andy could get some food. We were served by a rather mad waitress who gave us pens to write on the wall. I think I wrote something about Queen and Paul Rodgers! Simon turned up looking rather white and hungover just before we boarded the flight!

Arrived in Berlin and we all got the train together into the centre and all went to check in to various hotels! We arranged to meet up at 8pm at the Brandenburg Gate, including Charlie who had arrived from the UK. Simon didn’t turn up but the rest of us went to have dinner in a Bavarian restaurant not far from the gate.

I had a lovely Schnitzel, my favourite German food, and some steins of beer!! Terry had the scary pork knuckle! Pete Malandrone and some of the crew were also in the restaurant, we decided they must have been following us!

After dinner, we went to the Irish bar next door. The band playing in the bar played ‘Runaway’ and the singer looked a bit like Paul Rodgers!! And we spotted ‘Julie’, Spike’s technician in the bar!

When we left, we spotted this half a church:

Photos: http://www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=243

19 September

Gavin and I arrived at the freezing cold queue at 12pm and we were the only people there!

Nobody else turned up until 2pm, when Simon, Martin and Andy arrived – all from the UK! The local fans started arriving about 3pm when they came round to tell us that we were queuing at the wrong door. We moved round to the right door, where they let us stand at the front of the queue (although there were only about 10 people there at that stage!!).

We had ‘fanni plats’ (fan tickets) so our door opened an half an hour before the main queue. Terry turned up just before our doors opened and we all managed to get a good spot at the front of the catwalk, after going the wrong way when entering the venue! Ooops! Viekko saw us at the barrier before the show and came over and shook our hands and said ‘Nice to have you back’.

The set list was:

ONE VISION
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN – Full Version
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
I WANT TO BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39

DRUM SOLO

I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR

SAY ITS NOT TRUE
Brian Speak
BAD COMPANY
WAR BOYS
FEEL LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Before 39, Brian was introducing the song and said hello to the Latvians and Estonians and then said ‘There are some people from England here too….’ We all screamed and he said ‘All 3 of you!’

The best moment of the show was the Latvian Prime Minister, on drums for All Right Now. We knew he was at the show as some of the Latvians near us had pointed him out in the seating area to the left of the stage. Roger introduced him then took his spot to play the tambourine :) The Latvian Prime Minister was seriously cool and drummed the whole song! At the end, Roger walk over to help him finish, by jumping up in the air and waving his arms around!

After the show, we walked into the town centre (the long way, thanks Andy and Simon!). Stopped at a garage to get water on the way- the lady didn’t speak English so Terry just kept saying water in various different accents! We got some in the end! Went out for a couple of drinks and food then went back to the hotel to get some well earned sleep!

18 September

We flew to Riga from Stanstead and arrived in the evening! It was freezing!! We had arranged to meet Andy at 8pm in an Irish bar that he had been to on a previous trip to Riga. Walked into the bar and there was Andy sitting on a table next to Jamie Moses, Danny Miranda and Spike Edney! LOL! Said hi to them then started drinking with Andy. We had our dinner there too – not very Latvian! When the guys from the band left, Danny said ‘bye’ to us! Sweet! Later on, we spotted Pete Malandrone and Justin Shirley-Smith. Justin came over to our table and said he recognised us – from ‘The Cosmos Rocks’ preview party a couple of weeks before in London (where we drank all the beer!). Had nice chat with him about the album and the shows, and Andy went to speak to Pete!

Later on, we left and went to a couple of other bars, one where we found Roger Taylor sunglasses and we scared the locals!

For my birthday, Terry took me to Torquay and Cornwall! Photos!

In Torquay, we met Trina, Jen and Wayne and went out for dinner as Pirates!!

On Friday, we went to St Austell and the Eden Project where we saw Bill Baily! He was very funny and we saw lots of plants!

In the morning on Saturday, I went for a walk along the cliff and saw some lovely flowers!

We then drove down to Charlestown bay!

We then went to Penzance via Marazion where we got to see St Michael’s Mount! Went to the Goldolphin Arms for lunch, overlooking the mount then went to Penzance to check in! We then went to see St Ives and Lands End!

On Sunday, we went for a walk along the sea front to Newlyn then went out for dinner in the evening to the Admiral Benbo pub! It was so funny, they had a proper old juke box and even played a few Queen songs! The wife of the landlord kept telling him to turn the music down! A lovely old pub!

Headed home on the very long drive on Sunday and got to see all the road schemes on the A30 that I used to work on.. Bodmin to Indian Queens, Carland Cross to Chiverton Cross and Temple to Higher Carblake! LOL!

After a very late night out to see the Queen Unplugged Project, we went for a walk to the Danube!!!!

We found a Jeff Scott Soto advery along the way…

We also found a Queen casino on our walk round the city!

We stopped for lunch and had Goulash soup and Paprika chicken (well Terry had a beef stew thing)!

After that, it was home time!

On the 16 February, we woke up to a very cold Vienna and decided to have a look around until lunchtime! We even saw some snow!!

We then headed to the train station to get the train to Budapest. The train journey was 3 hours so we arrived at 5pm to a verr, very cold Budapest!
The train station is next to the Nep Stadium where Queen played back in 1986 so I was very excited to see that!

We got the metro (which was more like an underground tram) to our hotel near the Octogan and checked in. Had dinner at TGI Fridays which has very slow service and not very nice food then off we went to the Rock Renduvu club to see the fantastic Queen Unplugged Project! Terry and I have seen them before at the Freddie Memorial Weekend in Montreux and they were brilliant! They are also playing at the Queen convention in March!

They gave us a lovely welcome and intoduced us on stage!! :) They played a brilliant set inlcuding a fantastic performance of Great King Rat!

We are looking forward to seeing the band and their friends at the convention soon! :)