Deardaoin 11ú lá Lughnasa 2022
Thursday 11. August 2022
The road trip began in Vienna. Dave and I left Vienna around Midday. Plans change, as they tend to in this wild world of music. One of our crew came down with a bad stomach whilst on his honeymoon in Turkey. Now he’s okay… just under the weather and a little skinnier. So we’re down a man, but we will as they say manage. We would be meeting Ken in St Gallen.
Kenneth Whelan, is a dixie finger accordion player from my home town. The newest addition to the ensemble, Ken did in fact go to school with my sister. So we’re keeping it family. We hit the road… and eight hours later we are driving by the Rhein in Switzerland and Austria… not Germany (this is a fact that was new to me). We will in fact be on the Rhein soon.
But did you know that the Rhein formed a border between Austria and Switzerland! Did you?
St Gallen arrived twenty minutes later. And what a lovely sight. A gem sat sweetly beside the Bodensee. Our accommodation for the night was the wonderful Einstein Hotel. After unloading backstage for the St Gallen Busking festival (they gave us the coolest trolley with bouncy wheels), we met Babsi & Ken and headed into town for a well earned cool beer. The fullest of moons rose gently over the Swiss Alps and it was all too clear. We were spellbound.
Part Two and the whole summer madness part of this blog has still to come. Truth is – the summer just took off. And that’s my excuse… Anyway how do you even begin to put to words the goins on this summer!
Beidh mé ag scríobh arís go luath.