Berlin is gay...

We got up had some breakfast at the local bakery and then headed into town. The architecture on the buildings is really amazing. One of the coolest places, which seems to be a theme in all of the German cities, was the Berlin Dom. After that we went to the museum district and wandered around town hitting all of the interesting areas. We saw the Fernsehturm, Rotes Rathaus, Brandenburg Tor, Reichstag, Tiergarten, Sony center, Checkpoint Charlie, the Bugatti dealership, a €24.000 cell phone, the memorial to the murdered jews, Siegessäule, a chunk of the Berlin Wall, and more... (I will post some pictures of these sights separately since they are not gay). On our way into the heart of Berlin we noticed some trucks preparing for a parade. We assumed it was preparing for the following day in case Germany won the EM Cup. Turns out we were wrong. Anyone ever get that email about not accepting candy from strangers? This is why you don't...
Ever get the one about Miss Thailand?
We came to realize that Saturday was the Berlin gay pride parade. It is also the largest gay pride parade in the world apparently, and it was raining... What are the odds that we would be there on that weekend... haha... After lunch we went into the heart of communist territory (East Berlin) to check out another Dom and the largest single store in Europe. Finally after about 10 hours of walking around we took a taxi back for a short nap. After 15 minutes of refreshing sleep and 45 minutes of snoring we cleaned up and then went to the club where once again it was light by the time we left. Although this isn't that amazing since it is only dark out from 11pm until 3am. This horrible fact has been wearing on Lorik and I since we like to sleep when it is dark out, but that never happens here...

One last joke... here is our metaphor for the US dollar compared to the Euro. Randomly throughout the city of Berlin there are a bunch of these bears painted by different people etc. They are actually kind of interesting.

The road to Berlin...

We made it to Berlin and back so I'm chalking this one up as another successful adventure. If today's posts are a little loopy I apologize as today I had the most contiguous amount of sleep since Thursday at a whopping 4 hours from 7-11 am. So far Europe has been a study in the effects of excessive red bull, walking/dancing, and sleep deprivation. So the adventure begins...

"The night was moist..." Haha, not really but bonus points to the first person who names the movie. We didn't get in until about 1:30 on Saturday due to a serious UNFALL. That means accident as we found out 1.5 hours later. Unfortunately earlier in the drive I commented on how there seemed to be no accidents here which surprised me. The requirements for getting a license here are much stricter and more expensive than in the US, (Read: €1000+) but I apparently wasn't looking hard enough. So I totally jinxed the trip into Berlin. We did get to wander around on the autobahn as you can see.
That used to be a semi...










Vlad got us a sweet apartment through his company which included free parking and a 10 minute tram ride to Alexander Platz which was the starting point of each day. Since no one had been there before and the apartment was a little unorthodox we pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car and tried to find the 'guard shack' to get the key. We couldn't find anyone, didn't have the number to call the guards, when all of a sudden 3 guys with uniforms and maglights come running around the corner. It was quite the welcoming committee. They were the complex guards and watched us through the security cameras. Apparently they were more freaked out by our presence than we were by their sudden appearance. But we all realized we were looking for each other and it was all good. I later found out that they have a hidden door in one of the walls which explained why the appeared out of no where. Since it was already pretty late and we had a list of sights to see we called it a night and set the alarms for 9 am the next day.

Now you are thinking, 9 minus 2 is 7, but earlier I said 4 contiguous hours was the most sleep I got since Thursday... he should still be able to do simple math right? Turns out we had a snorer in the group. A loud one... so indeed it was not a restful night.

Next stop, Berlin...

At the game last night the topic of places to visit came up at the dinner table with two very high members of ze company and myself (Both have global in their job description). When I mentioned I would be going to Berlin this weekend the Dr. from AG said it would be a good place to watch the game, but there's no way I would be able to make it to work on Monday if I did. I said if Germany won I would have to have a chat about Monday with my direct supervisor here in the morning. So today I had to stop in the office and pick up some things from my supervisor and I hesitate on making any comments about time off since I know they wont be accepted well. Surprisingly he had a meeting with the Dr. at the time we would be finishing. So we go to another office and when we come back the Dr. is waiting in his office. We talk business for a few minutes then the good Doctor drops a line, 'Mr. X, I think Mr. Brown is going to need Monday off.' Much like I couldn't refuse dinner this is a request that my boss couldn't refuse. So far everything's coming up Milhouse this week...

For NicBunny...

Say it with me, 'Bo-de-ga.'

If you don't get it, go rent, 'Half Baked.'

Semi Finals...

I was invited by a very high ranking member of our company for dinner last night. Lorik was coming back from Croatia and we had plans to catch the Germany Vs. Turkey game as these are the two biggest teams in the eyes of the residents of Germany. Of course I could not turn down an invitation by someone with a Dr. title so I had to accept. My trepidation mounted as I heard something along the lines of him wanting to watch the game at his home and inviting me. So I put in a good word that I wanted to go someplace where it would be crazy...
We ate dinner at the Brauhaus in
Oberhausen. As it was getting closer to game time we were nervous since Lorik had yet to show, but was in the area. Luckily we met him in the parking lot and headed to Mülheim for a public viewing of the game. And that's where the adventure began. When we got to the parking area we had to take the road less travelled to get to the viewing area... Which was Awesome!

The video is from Germany's second goal. People were seriously launching fireworks from that crowd. It was a very wild time. At the half some kids got rowdy and got a clubbing by the massive police force present. Really, they busted out the night sticks and were hitting kids. Fortunately the Turkey fans were grouped together and were surrounded by cops. So danger was averted and we found a top notch viewing establishment thanks to my colleague.

I had to drop off another colleague from the US. Keep in mind this is in the podunk town of Heiligenhaus. After I drop him off I hop on the main road (there is only 1 through town) thinking I'll be back at my hotel in about 5 minutes at 40 km/hr. I managed to get there in 40. These crazy Germans over an hour after the game had the street blocked off and were driving down it waving flags and honking horns. It was a really interesting sight and only mildly scary when random drunks came up and started talking to me. I had my Deutschland shirt and flag, but sadly cannot speak German which is generally frowned upon.

What they really think...

I was watching the German version of MTV (although they have MTV here) and came across a hilarious video last night. So if you want a good laugh go on youtube.com and search for amerika. It's worth it...

Update -

I forgot to mention about the status of my health. Last Thursday I was still in a lot of pain and went back to the doctor for x-rays etc. I had to go to the hospital in Velbert in order to have the x-rays taken. My boss was kind enough to lead the way and cheap enough to have us park across the street. So after doing my thing at the hospital I walk out to find a meter maid ticketing my car. I walk up to it as she's taking a picture and she starts going off on me. I say, 'English?' Her response, 'Nine.' Luckily she spoke Spanish and we were able to discuss the situation. With many 'graciases' and 'lo cientos' I talked my way out of the ticket citing my American nationality/stupidity and the fact I would never return to Velbert again. But the x-rays came back negative and the doctor noticed that I had pneumonia in the past which is interesting that you can still tell. I got some stronger medicine so I could sleep and was off. Friday morning, still in substantial pain, I am stretching (reaching for the sky) and I feel a yawn coming on. Now with the condition I was in this was a tricky thing. A very deep inhalation equaled severe pain. I did the best I could to stifle it and hiccuped instead. With that sudden movement of my diaphragm there was a snapping noise and movement from the rib that was causing so much pain. 'Oh crap,' says I... but in the end that was the last of my pain. So I am breathing easy now ready to continue this adventure...

Wuppertal

Since I forgot my climbing gear this morning I decided to head to a new city for dinner tonight. I ate at an Italian restaurant called scoozi. It was pretty tasty actually. A tortellini carne y champignon's in a light cream sauce. The good news is that every meal here seems to come with a whole bunch of bread so I can order smaller, cheaper portions and still go home reasonably full.

Some interesting history though: Wuppertal is an old city that was built along the banks of a river. Over time as more people came in it became apparent that a tram system was needed. However, the streets and all of the buildings were not constructed to support a public transportation system such as that. So what do ze Germans do? Build a bridge spanning the river of course...

except this bridge runs directly over the river and supports the tram from above. Wild stuff! I did not ride this monstrous contraption since not knowing the area at all I was paying €1.50 /hr in parking and only had time for a quick walkabout and dinner. The architecture here definitely puts the US to shame though.

The root of all evil...

No, not women... money. So I am starting week 4 here and it still hasn't been decided who should be covering my expenses. I thought everything was all set since I had gotten my HR guy to fill out expense reports for the first three weeks. At the end of last week he asked me though about a cash advance I'd gotten from the US. I explained what it was and why it was a bad idea for me to use my ATM card etc... and he agreed and said he would follow up on it. So today I give him a call saying it's time for my next withdrawal for food. His response, oh I need to contact the US about this issue since I don't know who is paying your expenses. Apparently if you need something done here you have to continuously harass whomever you need help from. I only have €40 left and that doesn't go very far... Oh well, Berlin this weekend!

Time and money...

On the 18th I asked some of my colleagues where the local laundromat was. Some were confused since apparently it is rare to have a place that has washers and dryers for you to use. Clearly a translation error... I then explained that I wanted a dry cleaners... someone to wash my clothes for me so I didn't have to waste my time doing it. This of course was scoffed at by my supervisor. Pay extra money for something you can do for yourself, Insane! I drove around with Frank to check a few places he thought might be able to clean my clothes for me. We failed... I was left with doing my laundry at der club. Good news, there was a lady down there that said it was ok to use the laundry. Bad news, she was Turkish, didn't speak any English, and the pictured was what I had to work with. I would have said fine wait a few more days, but the overall lack of air conditioning on this continent is a bit prohibitive.

On the 19th I was given a list of possible apartments in Köln. The funny part was they expected me to pick a place out that day after doing nothing for over 2 weeks. I went to Ford and talked to my contact there who lives in the area and had him help me pick a few places out. My number 1 choice was shot down by my supervisor since it cost more than his house payment. Why give me an option I can't have? So I narrowed my options down to 3 places within walking distance of downtown and gave it to the lady in charge of making the arrangements. The funny part is she called me today to check my schedule for a walk through. Now how am I supposed to find these places without a navigation system in any reasonable time frame? Look up a map of Cologne and see if you could find a place pretty easy near down town... The good news is I will forgo eating for a few days since I bought a navigation system on my own. €111 and the company couldn't pick up the tab... She wanted an evening walk through (my time) and actually asked if 5 pm was too early... I'm kind of tired of being bent over by my company. So I told her either Tuesday or Thursday night. She asked about my weekend and I laughed at her and said next week was a possibility. I told her Tuesday or Thursday, not Wednesday since the head of engineering invited me out to watch the Germany game. She asked what I was doing Friday night. I laughed at her again and told her I was on my way to Berlin at which point she finally got the idea that my weekend is MY weekend. I should use a map to find the apartments when I have my appointment so that way I miss them and tell them had they paid for my navi, I would have used it for their business... In the end though I get to move in 1 week. However, it will take at least 2 trips since I can only fit 1 suitcase in my smart car at a time, unless I bust out the back window... haha...

On Borders...

Let the travelling begin! So Lorik flew to Croatia to visit some family which left Vlad and I to fend for ourselves. Having done the whole local thing to death (2 weekends hah!) we decided on a trip to the nearest capital. Now this trip could have been quite tricky seeing as I don't have my passport. When I applied for my work/living Visa they took my passport and gave me a sheet of paper with a stamp on it. Thinking of the borders between Canada and the US I figured I couldn't go anywhere interesting, but we decided to take our chances. So how safe are we really? I totally missed the sign for 'now entering Holland' since there are no toll booths or walls... anyway, we made it no problem at all. How many terrorist bombings do you hear of in Amsterdam?
Talking to Lorik he warned us that the worst part of his trip to Amsterdam was looking for a hotel/hostel on the strip. So Friday at work I decided to do some research and book us a bed. What do you think €50 ($80+3% conversion fee) gets you in Amsterdam? This -

The good news was that it was only a 15 minute walk to the city center. Being totally ignorant I found out that Amsterdam is actually like Venice with canals all over the place and boats and such. In the guide we picked up at the hostel it said that the best way to experience Amsterdam was to rent a bike. Since we were so close though, we opted out on that...

The architecture and monuments are really sweet. Unfortunately there is a limit on how many pictures I can post on this site and I have to pick and choose what I include. With 4 more months left I will have to post pictures sparingly. This photo was interesting though, look closely at the buildings. Its hard to tell from the picture, but you can make out the fact that the buildings are crooked. Yes, a city built on the water with all kinds of houses etc, that are all slanted. I can't understand how the Romans figured out how to build a structure that will look perfectly vertical even after accounting for angle of perspective, yet all these people live in homes that are falling over...
Vlad and I used to work together, but managed to meet up here in Germany. So walking through the red light district, (not all that it's cracked up to be actually... Although be careful because as one of the people in the window showed Vlad, they aren't all women like they look like) after the Netherlands dropped the game to Russia. Imagine how awesome it would have been to be in the capitol of the Netherlands when their team advances to the semi-finals of the Europa Meister cup. We watched the game in a Hooters rip off of a restaurant with standing room only. Same colors, similar outfits. Lets all hope Germany beats Turky on Wednesday so I can watch the finals in Berlin this weekend, although that would require me to call into work on Monday... Regardless we ran into an old colleague of ours sitting on a bench. What are the odds that you could run into someone you know, let alone used to work with, on another continent?
After a quick whopper and our old colleague wandering away we decided it was time to find the dance club. We spoke with some of the locals when we were at the pub and dinner and found the general consensus was a place called Escape. It was about a 25 minute walk from our hostel and we figured we would check it out. So we danced the night away until...
That's right 5am. Check out the background for what the streets of Amsterdam look like at 5 in the morning... Although that's not nearly as crazy as the guys around 4am making a circle and break dancing in the club. Did I mention that people just through their empty glasses on the ground on the dance floor? Yeah, brilliant!

We hobbled back to the hostel for about a 2 hour nap until breakfast was served. Our legs hurt so bad we decided to bypass the museum and head back for home. The moral of the story is this: Do not walk around for 12 hours and then dance for another 3 if you expect to be useful the next day. A hotel/hostel is totally optional in Amsterdam as we saw a few people sleeping on the streets. As some children may read this, I will save my comments about having British people as hostel mates...

New country count: 2

#4

I somehow managed to break my 3rd rental car. I have no idea how or why but after a couple of days it could no longer go more than 110 km/hr. Well, if I forced it into 4th gear I could push it to 120 km/hr, but after I put it into 5th it would slow back down. Now, look closely... yes that reads 140 km/hr. That roughly translates to 87 mph. I'm starting my 4th week so it only makes sense that I should be on my 4th rental car... This is a blue smart car, but it is a convertible which is awesome and got a lot of use over the weekend. The back story is that Avis had sold the replacement car (#3) since the mileage was too high. The doorman told me last week that on friday I had to turn it in and get another. (Un?)fortunately, other than all of you, my buddy frank, and the poor schlep who bought the car, are the only people that know about the little issue.

False advertisement...

So the first meal I cooked in my hotel room was a tortellini in a simple tomato sauce. I ate it out of what seems to be a dog dish since it was the only large bowl and, in retrospect, I really should have washed the bowl before I used it. When I was at the store I wandered around trying to find something that I recognized. I finally settled upon a pasta dish, but which to chose? Since I had eaten pretty much nothing but pork I decided I wanted some beef product. So I picked the fleisch-tortellini (fleisch is meat and I knew that) shown here:
Correct me if I am wrong, but the pictured meat product looks a lot like a cut of beef cooked medium. I get my food back, get it on the stove, then crack out my German dictionary to check the ingredients. Low and behold this is not beef tortellini, but pork. So I would like to make this a case of false advertisement and/or misinformation. Along with the following...

Why does LA need legalization and who in america would wear that outfit?

Last for now, and most important. There is nothing sexy about that... nothing...

Comments are appreciated...

So I found a way to allow anyone to comment... So being lonely here without everyone, drop me a line every now and again so I feel that making this blog is worthwhile. Thanks!

German Laws...

So child labor is totally acceptable...

Drinking and driving has it's own website...

But don't park illegally or someone might pick up your car and take it away... My first weekend in Köln, Lorik and I were treated to the rare sight of a tow truck that, instead of dragging your car up a ramp onto the bed of the truck, they just pick your car up, spin it around a few times for fun, then take it. 10 minutes and your car is gone. I think they could even take my car from the sidewalk...

Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads...

Or legitimate parking spaces for that matter. So today after failing to find a Laundromat that was open, we checked 3, Frank and I stopped for a Dönner. It is a Turkish sandwich that is phenomenal. The pictured is chicken and was my first meal in Heiligenhaus. After walking into the Burgerhaus and getting dirty looks when I asked for a burger I found the only place that looked open and had food. The nice Turkish guy knew some broken english and hooked me up with a tasty sandwich. The amazing thing is that I can get a Dönner the size of a double whopper with two drinks for less than a happy meal. I have decided that the lammdöner is by far the best and is what I had for dinner tonight (18June08).

This is of course far superior to the breakfast of choice by my colleague. Yes that is a raw meat sandwich. It has herbs, onions, butter, and that makes it ok to eat... Seriously Frank wanted me to eat one of these, or at least try it, and could not understand why I was adamant that it would probably make me very ill. After mentioning this to Lorik and getting the same response from him, I managed to convince Frank that since I had never eaten raw meat before and if I started now I would definitely become ill. The best part was after I asked what it was I asked to take a picture since it was so odd to me. Everyone Frank told that I felt his breakfast was picture worthy had a nice laugh.

Which brings us to the end of my day today. So when we were going for dinner, I took car #3 and made my own parking space partially on the sidewalk. I suppose there are some advantages to driving a go cart.

PS: I have come to find that burger in german means people. So a burgerhaus is a people's house. The people being german means it's simply a bar. Cheers!

Accomodations...

So my first day I check into my hotel. It is called 'Der Club.' Apparently it is the local hangout for the highschoolers that go to class across the street. It is always interesting as I am leaving for work in the morning with my backpack of necessities and no one would ever tell that I wasn't on my way to class, but off to work. Except I am dressed well... Anyhow my first hotel room was smaller than my freshman year college dorm room. It even had a set of bunk beds. The problem with the beds is that they are about 6 inches taller than I am. So I am very lucky that I'm a midget in a land of giants.

The view from the window wasn't too bad either. It is nice that Germany, or at least the areas I have seen are extremely green. There are no autobahn billboards or advertisements, just a green wall. It's kind of cool actually. The main problem is that I didn't have a fridge or a place to cook food if I chose to. So my buddy Frank arranged to have me change rooms the following day...
So two days later I finally get to move to zimmer noin. Now this is nice. Off to the left is my stove, dishwasher, and fridge. I've now got 2 tables to litter with my gear, etc... as well as an alarm clock which was hard to describe with grunts and hand gestures. The main guy that runs the club is pretty cool and speaks a little English, however he wasn't around for when I realized I had no alarm clock in my original room. So I have two beds now, an extra for guests. But that is not the best part...
Shortly after moving into the room I look out of the massive rear window and what do I see? That's right, a belly dancing class about to start. So it turns out each night they hold different classes in the building under my window. So far I have seen belly dancing, yoga, aerobics, two forms of other dance classes, and a stair stepping class. Maybe I can find a translator and see if I can teach Tae Kwon Do to the Germans? At the very least use their building so the person underneath me doesn't get upset when I'm training.

zupa deutchland!!! (spelled phonetically)

So we watched Germany win the deciding match on the 16th to make it to the next round in the Euro Cup. I definitely prefer Düsseldorf to Köln and have requested to live there instead. However, much like everything else I have been shot down since, 'it doesn't make sense to live so far away from Köln.' It's a 20 minute drive... right now it takes me 30, does that make sense? Anyhow Lorik, Emily, G.G, and I had a good time. Even though ze Germans did not riot...

Car #3!

Why would I need a third car you may ask yourself... Let the story begin!

DAY 1 - Opel Corsa, brand new manual transmission. This bad boy was my first car and introduction to German driving. As is shown below this is a rather sizable 4 door vehicle. Sure it needs a new clutch and I know I did some damage to the transmission and underbody when I went off-roading, but it's still a decent car.

DAY 6 - The Smart Convertible. Seeing as a 4 door vehicle is a bit excessive for just me as a cost save, on Monday, I got to trade up to this bad boy. Top speed, 150 km/hr going down hill! Supposedly this is the safest car to drive, but I don't see a Go-cart doing 150 and rattling all over being that safe. Especially when passing cars generate enough wind force to require a steering adjustment.
DAY 12 - June 15 2008 MY BIRTHDAY. So I got another car for my birthday. Not necessarily by my choice. Well when picking up my colleague from the states at the airport I realize I should have called to see how much luggage he had. The above car obviously doesn't have much room for luggage. So we make it to the car and of course I am harassed for driving a piece, my colleague decides to open the hatch and put his luggage in. Since this is a convertible only the bottom half of the hatch opens. So imagine a piece of luggage going into something smaller than an oven opening. Well instead of loading the bag into the tailgate he decided it would be better to put it through the rear window instead. He didn't even have the grace to pose next to his masterpiece...
So we get to his hotel leaving a trail of broken glass from the airport parking garage to the parking lot of his hotel. The desk calls Avis and they send me another smart car (thankfully since its a semi-automatic). Although my new one is not a convertible... car 3 still can only make 150 on the autobahn...

Close call - not for the faint of heart...

So around 9pm yesterday (My b-day) my ribs started hurting for no good reason. I didn't get hit or do anything stupid yet, so I was quite baffled. So I figured a good nights sleep would take care of it. Well, I didn't get much sleep since I picked up my old Program manager from the airport in the afternoon and we decided to go out for dinner and whatever else the night brought us. I got back to my hotel around 3 again and went to bed on my side since laying on my back really hurt. So I got up this morning, pounded my morning Red Bull with a side of toast and strawberry jam for breakfast, and headed to Köln to work for the day. In a daze I missed my exit (what a shocker) and ended up at work pretty late. So walking into the plant with my ribs and shoulder hurting not really able to take deep breaths since it hurts that much, I begin to cough. Not only is it more painful then when I broke my foot but I am graced with the pleasant belated birthday present of spitting out a sizable loogey of shiny red blood.

Then my adventure of the German health system has begun. I went to the doctor at the plant and he said coughing up blood is not an issue and gave me some ibuprofen for the pain. Which doesn't work by the way. Obviously dissatisfied with that I got my colleague to get in touch with our home office and called up my awesome HR rep to find a doctor. Somewhere lost in the translation my HR rep calls me and says to head directly to the hospital. Now I've coughed up blood once before, but that was a result of a serious sinus infection. Right now I'm not sick and in a lot of pain, but I don't think it's that serious, but definitely worth getting checked out. So it turns out that thanks to translation error, people here thought I was vomiting blood this morning. Very funny stuff.

I did finally see a doctor and the kind people at my company finally stepped up and they're even covering my bill. Turns out I have something wrong with my spine which is causing the nerve that runs over my 4th rib to be aggravated making breathing and touching the nerve very painful. So the first guy was right and the blood wasn't an issue. I'm going to blame sitting on the benches and crappy chairs in town every day for many hours for this one... well I blame the Euro cup... Anyhow it was an exciting day today full of ups and downs. I'm fine and not dying and will be heading to Düsseldorf in a bit to catch the Deutschland game sporting my new t-shirt and flag. I will not be wearing my €2 jacket, check back at that post for the story.

Cheers!

B-Day Festivities!

Well this weekend was my birthday... I'm now officially old and stopping count. But we had a top notch time this weekend which was necessary for my sanity here. Friday I picked up my friend Calvin from the Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhoff.
This was after getting some Mario Kart in at my colleagues... kicked some serious butt here just like when I make papa bear look bad, in his own home nonetheless... So we met up with Lorik and Emily and went out in Düsseldorf. We had some excellent food and I found what seems like the only good burger in the country. It was amazing at the club Louisiana that all the germans were rocking out to 60's / 70's US music. We finished the night with some Burger King where I paid €2.50 for a whopper junior... sick...

Saturday we reconvened in Leverkussen where I finally got an umbrella, which I promptly left in Emily's purse. We got some phenomenal Dönner's then hit up Köln. We ascended the tower of the Dom for some incredible views then went back to Düsseldorf to catch the Japan fest they were having and pick up the 5th member of our group Vlad. We had steaks for dinner, which were not exactly the greatest cuts of meat, but it wasn't pork and that made me happy.

Once the fusbal matches ended we headed out to do some dancing. Funnily enough we ended up at the club I made fun of earlier. After that it was off to nachtresidenz (look it up ;-) for some serious German clubbing. On the way we had a good laugh as I was Scott Scott the navigator. I of course was the wrong one to be asking if you've seen my posts about driving here. Oh the sights there were excellent like the music. It was a pretty decent DJ spinning some house music. There were so many people there it was crazy. Turns out it used to be a movie theater that's been converted into a top notch club. Seeing as I had to drop Calvin off at 11am the following morning we called it a night at 3, whereas we left Vlad behind to hobble out of the club at about 7. It probably would have been worth staying... Unfortunately at midnight I became too old to do that stuff anymore and the carriage turned into a pumpkin. Regardless, I actually had a good time finally!