Theme: Serengeti
Location: Maritim Hotel
Could it be?!? YES, I am finally posting my long EF report. Have fun reading through it if you're interested (Photos included!)
So it all started on Sunday...
I finished packing my stuff and my brother took me to the international bus terminal where I took the 16:30 bus to Bratislava, where Tabbie picked me up and we drove to Prague for an overnight stay at Tombi's and Mafis' place. We had some pizza before we went to bed.
Our estimated driving time to Magdeburg was 4 hours, but due to heavy rainfalls, bumpy Czech roads and a closed Autobahn part it looked like we'd take longer. Luckily Tabbie's car was so powerful, we just drove 200km/h while listening to drum'n'bass and made up for it. YEAH!
At around 16:00 we arrived in Magdeburg at our Couchsurfer's place. Yippee was already there. The place we stayed at was a student connection that had a history back into the 1850's. It was a really great place, despite being unheated. After dumping our luggage, we decided to give the Maritim hotel a quick visit just because we were so curious and the place we stayed at was only a 10-minute walk away. We were really excited about being there 2 days before the con.
After checking out the hotel and buying food for breakfast, we went to pick up TopDog from the train station. Having that done, we had a little art jam in the evening and went to bed early, especially since Yippee was pretty jetlagged.
We got up at 10-something and had some nice breakfast and cleaned up the room we were in. Yotie was already at the hotel, so I told him to come over, which he did. Around 14:00, when the registration at the hotel opened, we made our way there with a car jam-packed with luggage, so Yotie, TopDog, Yippee and I walked to the hotel. The line got longer and longer, luckily being one of the first gave us a waiting time of only about 20 minutes.
One of the coolest things was that the badge worked as a roomkey, finally no more key trouble like in the Ringberg hotel!
We checked in, dumped our stuff and finally had some lunch at the "Papaya" Asian restaurant in the mall across the road. Then we went to "Kaufland" and got more breakfast supplies.
Back at the hotel I met Sonny and some other people and went straight to the pool with Tabbie and Spikie. The pool was more like a bigger bathtub, but they had an awesome free sauna and a steam sauna that was on all day. I love steam saunas so we went there and relaxed a bit after all that travel stress. After the pool I met Tifou and Titash in the lobby.
And Titash is not only cute, but evil at the same time! Anyway, it was time to wake Tyler up, so he went to the Lobby and had an art jam with Titash. Also Tyler met JBadger and made him buy a commission drawn with the giant pencil on the giant sketchbook. He tried to explain to JBadger where he was from, but JBadger didn't know a lot about geography, so Nevermint had to come to the rescue.
After a break, Tyler checked out the Piano Bar. The Piano Bar was surely my favorite place of the hotel. It featured comfy chairs, nice (and not too loud!) music and a really relaxed atmosphere. At about 3:00 I went to bed, ready to meet more awesome people when the real con started.
Got up at 9:00 being woken up by Henrieke, Katara and Ashanti who knocked on our door, had a quick breakfast in the room and went down to the lobby in order to meet arriving people. We sat down a bit with Keenora, Neo, Katara, Karakina, Titash, etc.. and eventually got Henrieke's roomkey. We moved the stuff to our room and went to the spanish restaurant "La Bodega" with Titash, Henrieke, Tabbie, Spikie and Kougo.
We had a little art jam there and I drew something for Spikie. Then we went back to the hotel where Henrieke put up her pictures in the art show while I was talking to people at the BBQ. We saw that there was a comic store right across the street, so we went there and discovered that they only had American comics and manga, baw.. Kougo took us to his room afterwards and showed Henrieke, me and Yotie his Arend suit. Then Henrieke, Titash and I went to Kaufland to shop for some groceries and then wanted to get dinner, but in this weird country called Germany the restaurants closed at 20:00. So our only choice was Pizza Hut (expensive) or McDonald's. Out of desperation we had something at McDonald's.
Back at the hotel, I picked up stuff ZotCoon had brought for me (Chicago style deep dish for making pizza, Oreos, dog-bone prop). I forgot my backpack in his room though and spent the next 20 minutes looking for him. I met Maily there and Nitro & Spark, who are awesome. Henrieke and I went to the room again and got Kiki and Tyler out and they had some fun (and fights) with Titash.
They also met Twilight and JD! After that, Henrieke and me went to the lobby again but not a lot of people were there, there was a nice little dance in the piano bar. I danced a bit and went to bed at 2:30.
Got up at 9. I sat down a bit with Philot, Neo, Henrieke, etc.. Henrieke already sold some of her patches. Kiki and Titash took part in the fursuit games at 12 and Tyler also went down to the lobby and draw a bit for people along with Kougo spotting him.
Outside the hotel I was interviewed by a german lady for an article in the Hamburger Morgenpost. Back in the lobby, Tyler got some giftart drawn by some dutch guy with the help of Shay. Thanks again! I got a headache and took a nap in my room until Henrieke returned from the fursuit game preliminaries. Kiki and Titash made the last place by the way, but probably were the most awesome team. Henrieke and I went to the Dealers Den afterwards, talked to artists and Henrieke got her 4 meters of fur for Lindy the blue-eyed lemur. Then we went to the room again with Kougo and chatted a bit.
Got up at 11:00 and went to fursuit photoshoot. We didn't manage to get an appointment anymore though. Afterwards we went to the Dealers Den with Katara and Ashanti. Outside of the Hotel lots of fursuiters were waving to cars, getting only positive reactions. Met Duncan outside who was about to go to the mall to get sewing supplies since a seam on his roo suit popped, but since I always have my toolkit with me I was able to provide him with what he needed. Went down to the Dealers Den again to Henrieke's temporary table where she sold patches and drawings. Since Yamavu wasn't there, I took his table in the meanwhile and sold one commission to a very nice Brit who had a Crux character.
It was really nice and I got to experience what it feels like sitting in the Dealers Den. I also hung out a bit with Yippee and we watched some videos together. Later Yamavu came and claimed his table back. Then I hung around a bit more and waited for Henrieke to finish her commissions, then we went to the mall. Pretty much every store was closed, so we ended up getting Joghurt, Salad, mixed fruits and Bananas at the "Vitamin Paradies" and had the first healthy dinner at EF. Being rejuvenated by all the vitamins, Henrieke felt like suiting, so we got tiny Tyler down to the lobby.
He drew a commission for Maverique and interacted a bit with JD. Since Henrieke had some contact lens problems, we went to the room again. Henrieke went to the Artist Lounge along with Tyler, who took his giant sketchbook and pencil with him in order to art jam with Sonny and JD.
After that Tabbie and I got our Guy Fawkes masks, created some ironic protest signs like "I dream of Eurofurence without furries" and protested.
We got mostly funny reactions, though some furries don't get irony even when you shove it into their face. Our badges were visible at all times, defeating the purpose of wearing masks to stay anonymous. We even had a better idea, which was putting the masks on other people and giving them the signs before they notice what happens and identifying them as haters. ;) At 4:00 people were still in the Pianobar, but we were wasted so Henrieke and I picked up Tyler from the fursuit lounge and went to bed.
Got up at 11:30, not much time before the fursuit parade started. We woke up Kiki and Tyler and sent them down after having some Cereal.
The parade was through the whole hotel at first, then there was a group shot in the lobby and afterwards we went to the "Hundertwasser Haus" near the city center. Since the route was announced in a Newspaper, a lot of people waited for the giant animals, and reactions were more than positive with so many kids laughing. Being back in our room, we called Tabbie and found out they just went to the "Palazzo" Italian restaurant next to the hotel, so we joined Tabbie, Spikie, Yotie and TopDog for a very tasty lasagne while it rained out of buckets outside. While waiting for our food, I finished the Sketchbook trade drawing for JD and went to Kaufland with TopDog afterwards to pick up some drinks.
Henrieke went to the Dealers Den and Tabbie, Spikie, TopDog and I hung out on our rooms. When I went down to the Dealers Den, Henrieke apparently looked for me but I couldn't find her until 20 minutes later, she was kidnapped by that evil meerkat Titash! We met at the fursuit photoshoot where Henrieke was offered a slot she politely refused in order to be able to watch the PawPet Show. While Henrieke waited at the art show pickup, I started drawing Sonny's commission at a table with Pegla and Atimon. Apparently Bent-Tail was roaming around in the lobby but we totally missed him. :( We sat down again near the piano bar when Henrieke was finished, were tortued by Titash and I finished Sonnys drawing. Met BBF outside who gave us the bad news that Bent-Tail was in his room already.
Then the PawPet Show started. I got some Bratwurst and orange juice for me and Henrieke and watched the beginning. After the first break Tabbie asked me whether I wanted to join him for the pool, which sounded like a nice Idea so we went there. It was me, Tabbie, Spikie, TopDog, Neo, Nitro, Spark and Shivon and we had the greatest time!!
We waited for the PawPet Show to end and then the dance started. Sonny was totally up to do the "Vincent" with me to other people. For people who don't know it, the Vincent is a dance based on Vincent's amazing dance skills. Only improved. So we did the Vincent to Cake, Katara and eventually Vincent himself. Also Yippee who never had such an amazing experience.
I kind of ran back and forth between the Artist Lounge and dance floor. In the Artist Lounge Henrieke, Titash, TopDog, Yamavu, Pegla, Neo, etc.. arted and watched "The Princess and the Frog" together. I got an awesome drawing from Neo and drew something for Henrieke. At some point I was pretty much falling asleep while sitting, so I went to bed.
Got up at 12, planned to go out for lunch to a Sushi place, but since it was closed we just went to the place next to it. Titash, Kougo, Yippee, Pegla, TopDog, Henrieke and I waited about 1 hour to get our food despite being the only guests. Also Titash got the wrong pizza so he had to wait another 20 minutes.
At least this gave us enough time to art-jam. Right when we stepped out of the restaurant it started raining of course. And right when we reached the hotel it stopped, leaving us soaked. Me and Titash planned to go suiting in the city but due to the wet floor Tyler and Titash only interacted with people in the hotel. Also they waved at cars and got positive reactions and smiles. I loved the location and the people there! :)
In the lobby Timduru was suiting, his head was in a very awkward position though. Tyler did a commission for some Russian guy and earned 5€! Henrieke was sitting in the piano bar with Tani and Dark Natasha and worked on a collab, and Tyler drew gift art for Tani. Tyler went to the room again later and I went to the pianobar again where Titash was still roaming around. I sat at the Table with Phil, TopDog, Yamavu and later Titash and we art-jammed while enjoying SWolf's awesome mix.
He played all the cheesy 90s stuff like Vengaboys, Mr. Vain and bouncy stuff. Henrieke even drew appreciation art we gave to him. Yippee already had to leave, so quickly we got everyone who knew Croc to write/draw a little message for him on a postcard which we gave him so he could deliver it to Croc.
I finally got to draw into Titash's con-book and in return he drew me something a million times more awesome, of course.
Later Henrieke and I went suiting again, so Tyler and Kiki looked around for fun things to do in the pianobar, said goodbye to people, got some photos and went to the room again. Henrieke went to bed and a drunk Tabbie, Spikie and me went down to the lobby doing stupid things. We did some long exposure photos with glow-sticks outside while apparently 20 meters next to us some drunk guy assaulted furries, luckily it didn't end too badly since the EF security did a good job and in the end 4 police cars were there. Since there was nothing going on anymore, I went to bed as well.
We got up at 11:00 and had to leave the room before 12:00, but packing took until 13:00, luckily the hotel staff was not too picky about that. In the meanwhile Tabbie brought the car to the service since something in the exhaust system was broken. Titash came to our room and said good-bye and gave me a giant hammer as a gift (thanks!). We went to the lobby, said good-bye to a lot of people and waited for Tabbie. It was me, Henrieke, Philot, Kougo and TopDog sitting on a table.
First I went to Subway in order to get lunch for me and Henrieke, then to kill time we played that game where people stick cards to their heads and have to guess who they are. TopDog was Weird Al Yankovic, Kougo was BBF, Philot was Pluto, Henrieke was Captain Planet and I was Patrick Star. We spent quite a while figuring out things for TopDog since he was left behind without a ride or a place to stay, which made us depart about 8 hours later than we planned to.
After sharing the price for a train ticket so TopDog could afford it, we finally departed with a car full of fake fur and foam. Sometime late at night we arrived at Henrieke's place and were welcomed by her parents and had a good night's sleep.
