Holland/GERMANY

TUESDAY 8/4: Enjoy a longer (complimentary) breakfast this morning, bumping into Cathal again. We decide to share a cab. It's really nice weather again today. Take a train to Duesseldorf and arrive at a really nice hotel room. Naps and computer time. Check a salon re a manicure for me but the manicurist is not there. I've broken four nails by now, but have to forge on. Walk through park to a boardwalk. I'm thinking that Germany is my favorite place on this trip so far (besides Ireland which will always have a special place in my heart)! Have beer and dinner. But it's so hot that we decide to go back to the room for another nap. Nick calls his parents to have them call him back and he has me talk to them too. Go back out late for Thai dinner. Take beer out to the steps by the water where people are hanging out, very drunk, singing and playing guitar. Great atmosphere!

MONDAY 8/3: Enjoy breakfast, including Nutella and salami (although not together :) included with our room for once!! During breakfast we hear a U2 contest (and Vertigo) in German on the radio in the restaurant.

About 7am, get in line at stadium, numbers 12 and 13. We hear there are many lines. See our friend Eleonora who is number 23. Nick decides to go back to the room to rest. I hold our spots in line and Eleonora joins me. She gives me back my pen that she borrowed in Amsterdam. Bono used it to sign his autograph for her on her concert ticket! Watch security set up the steel barriers for the line. All day there are annoying wasps flying around us. Nick, feeling better, returns to the line. I go back to the room to drop off our stuff and change--it has become quite hot.

U2 GEL
(Brono #67, Nick #38)
PHOTOS
VIDEO including Bono closeup
(Bono-only video below)

Nick secures front row center spots on the outer rail. It is his first time being there. We meet a young woman named Manja who is holding up a sign reading, "Larry, U Can drop your sticks right HERE." (See pix above to see it.) At the end of Magnificent, Bono kneels right in front of us to dry his face with a towel, drink some water, and compose himself for Beautiful Day ("BD"). Tears stream down my face as he is right there. I reach out of my hand and say "love you" several times. Everyone is pressed up against us and one guy keeps screaming "Bono!" with a funny scratchy voice. Then Bono begins the intro to BD. He sings, "I looooove youuuu" and I, not realizing that this is a specific intro each night, think he's repeating/singing back to what I'm saying to him! As he rises to his feet, he smiles at me before he turns around to walk to the catwalk ladder where he sits down and sings the beginning words of BD. Listen to my funny screaming too! VIDEO of Bono closeup only

After the show, Nick and I see a stand selling tall cold cans of beer. We buy two and realize it is tequila-flavored beer, which is quite good! The traffic exiting the lots is like nothing we've seen in a long time. We happily stroll through all the cars, parked but trying to drive, with our beers on back to our hotel room. Burger King (right outside our hotel) is packed. We laugh at some guys trying to walk up to the drive-thru. We go to our room a bit concerned about the noise but we fall asleep right away, smiling that we are in a bed and those outside are not....

SUNDAY 8/2: Fly back to Amsterdam to connect with a train to Gelsenkirchen. At airport we get in line right behind Courtney, a mutual acquaintance. I met her in a U2 line in London in 2001. Her nickname is Captive and she was The Edge in an all-gal U2 tribute band called Exit, in Los Angeles. Now Exit is doing their own music but still does a few U2 covers each night as I understand it.

Had an hour wait time so we cruised to downtown Amsterdam to take a few pix and visit a cafe, since our photos got accidentally deleted from 7/22 and we didn't make it to a cafe that day because we were so tired.

The train to Germany took 2.5 hours. Can I just say...I LOVE TRAIN RIDES. My first one in Europe was in 2000 in France. There is just nothing like traveling via an old mode of transportation through lush forests and seeing people's backyards, etc.

See paper flowers hanging from the ceiling at the train station! Get in a cab to hear I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Arrive at Arena Hotel. Super cute room with mini bags of mini gummy bears on the bed. Watch The Simpsons in German on TV.

Go to Burger King right outside our hotel room and order beers (with straws) to go! Walk around outside of stadium, mentally preparing for the line the next day. I keep saying to myself, "You're in Germany!"

That night Nick and I enjoy the twin beds that are put together on one mattress spring. We think this is the solution! A way for couples to enjoy sleeping separately yet together!