Der Schweiz!

Oh, I thought I´d never say this but thank god for the EU! Gestern war ein ganz komisches Tag fur uns. Wir kam nach the Swiss border and were stopped by the Grenzshutz. A man, or no, more like a He-Man, ein Kapitän des Grenzschutz, came up to us with a powerful moustache and a grim face.

- Passports and driver license please! His voice was pretty much like the one I imagine that the Phantom has (you know that comic character that lives in Bengali and has a wolf as a dog?). Ok, here we go, everyone doing their best to look very friendly and sweet (which is not a big effort when you´re a Hellsinger). When he got two swedish passports and two swedish driver licenses he immediately (with that ultimate and top notch border patrol feeling) sensed that something was wrong, deeply and madly wrong! He once again said (but this time with an even harsher voice) - PASSPORTS, I NEED THREE PASSPORTS!

Dann habe Ich in meine beste deutsch gesagen, - Tut mir leid, aber Ich habe nur mein drivers lice... -WHYYYY!!! He shouted and looked at me with a very böse swiss face. Ich habe dann gesagt dass Ich mein Passe in Göteborg vergessen haben und that we had done everything to get it to Stuttgart but it hadn´t arrived in time. You could easily say that he was everything BUT pleased with this and he disappeared into his Wolfs den.

After some minutes he came back and stated the following phrase, - Sie beide sind welkommen in Schweiz, aber du muss zuruck fahren! Ok, how did he think that such a plan would be possible? Should I then just go out of the car and then Johan and Harriet would continue into Schweiz like nothing had happened..? I looked at him with the bluest eyes of Scandinavia and added a bit of tremolo in my voice when I asked him, - Are you sure? Is there no possib... -OF COURSE I´M SURE! Switzerland is NOT a part of the EU and you don´t have a passport, therefore you cannot enter here!

Ok I thought, one last attempt! And with the friendliest smile that the world has ever seen, looking like Gods own little lamb, I whispered with roses in my throat, - But you know this drivers license is all I´ve got and I´m so, so, sorry that I forgot my passport. It was extremely stupid of me and I really do know that Schweiz is not a part of the EU, you just get so used with using your drivers license when you travel in Germany. And we have a show tonight in Zurich, after that we´ll just go back again so we´ll only be in Scweiz for one day, promise!

Somehow it seemed to work because he mumbled something and went away again. When he returned the Swiss gods must have blessed me (or him?) because all of a sudden it was possible to enter Switzerland if I went to the German Grenzschutz and got myself a temporary passport. Phew, the show in Zurich was saved!

The rest of the day was very nice. We checked in at a most peculiar hotel which didn´t have two rooms looking the same and after the soundcheck we went to a most premium vegetarian restaurant - I think it was called Hiltl. My, oh My - nach eine halbe Stunde satzen drei very stuffed and happy swedes ins Restaurant. Vielleich das beste vegetarische Kuche des ganze Europa? We were sooo pleased.

Some hours later we got on stage at the Mascotte. Die Publik war noch einmal sehr nett but surprisingly enough a lot of people smoked indoors. This feels a bit stone age to us, being used to the non smoking attitude that rules northern Europe nowadays. Trotzdem haben wir ein gutes Moment and the show was good. There was this really cool opening act, Evelina Trouble, singing songs only accompanied by her own bassplaying and afterwards Karaoke from Hell entered the stage. Ein ganz tolles idee. Sie spielten heavy metal-, punk- und rocksongs und die Buhne war frei so wer dass wunscht könnte ein song mit die Band singen.

The only thing that was a bit sad was that we were so tired afterwards that we didn´t manage to see the Human Beat Box. He was a very nice bloke with a classical background and he sang all sorts of songs just by himself. It´s probably a great live act and I hope that I will get a chance to see him some day.