It was still before 12 when we arrived to Ponferrada and we were heading towards a huge lake that was indicated on our map. Well, the lake turned out to be a dam holding water and creating an artificial lake. We had breakfast with a view from the dam and tried to chill on the rocky lakeshore. I even went swimming, it must have looked funny, considering that far in the back a power plant emitted probably some toxic stuff..Then afternoon spent in Ponferrada shoping mall. Later one, when Pedro was off work we could meet and occupy their home. He, his girlfriend and their dog, Tofu, were all super nice to us. We got delicious food, had the possibility to take showers, do some nerding etc…Then we went to the venue, a bar called La Vieja. Pretty cool, but relatively small place, almsot packed and warm atmosphere. People appreciated both bands and I was super content to see that some older dudes showed up too.
Next morning churros for breakfast ruled!!! Waving bye to our hosts and heading south-west we were driving to Portugal. We got there in time and managed to load to that amazingly beautiful building that hosts casaviva. Soundcheck, short walk in the neighbourhood and then a decent show with pretty many people. We were the first band to play after the summer break of the venue. We had a one-woman noise/experimental opening act as opener and an equally unique post-concert performance by a guy and a girl from the audiance. Then some chats, allergy healing attempts (thanks again for trying to help our folks) and sleep. Breakfast, then sighseeing.Porto is simply beautiful, too bad we could not have a longer walk. Anyways, back ont he road (foookin expensive portuguese highway too) and driving to Setubal. But before arriving we took a short bath break and went to Figuerinha beach in Setubal. Pretty late for such activities, though we felt the need to at least jump inside and stay in water for a bit. We also met our friends Cristina and Joao who came to see our concert. Then there we were at Kylakancra squat, eating their nice, potent dish, getting familiar with this farmsquat. Many bands, including The Skrotes in which Boris (who was helping us booking the Portuguese dates and also destroy youreself records) beat the drums. Cool show, cool band. Then some more friends showed up and then we played and some more bands played and then an allnight-long afterparty,started. We all passed out pretty fast and were not doin the party people too much. Next day breakfast at a shopping and up we were heading to Salamanca. This show was a kinda last minute show, but it turned out to be a fuckin cool one. We arrived to town pretty late, due to taking seconmdary roads in order to save some money. Anyways, the venue 13 Monos, is a Garage hall and there were quite a few people showing up and we liked the atmosphere, the people, the food, everyhing.We slept at three different places and then some of us had sightseeing, including a cool breakfast. We have to thank to Toni and his friends for their hhuge help and hospitality. Some hundred kilometeres and then next stop Putzuzulo Gaztetxea squat in Zarautz, Euskadi (basque country). I had been to that this place before so I had huge expectations. Condition and food and welcoming-wise everything was tottaly up to my expectations. The only problem was the lack of people, but it’s just bad luck…There was a spanish and an Irish band sharing the stage with us that night: the more 90’s hardcore-like Only Fumes and Corpses (IRL) and a more experimental band from Barcelona reminding me of refuse at some points. Both bands were consisted of nice folks. Our concerts were okay, the handful of people liked what they got. Then down the floor horizontal position, preparing for a long trip the following day. Through Basque countries’ secondary roads that were curving on the seashore and through the French payroads we arrived close to Clermont-Ferrand (the Michelin city in a valley), here I had to practice my petrol saving skills for we were damn too fuckin short of petrol by the time we arrived to the hills/mountains surrounding the city and no petrol station in view…So we rolled down the serpentine trying to consume as little gas as possible which meant smoking breakes by the time we finally got to the city. Huhh..what a relief it was that we didnt fuck it right before getting to town…Anyways, impressive club, warm food and friendly folks waited u s in Raymond’s Bar. We had an opening act consisting of only 2 members doin some experimental stuff that was kinda good tol isten to. Then we played a show for a moderate crowd, however we had a nice time and just as much as elsewehere I enjoyed playing. Cool sleeping place wird happenings right before we giot into bed. Coffe, tea and breakfast, goodbye to local folks (Flag, Manak thanks everything!) then again supermarket bullshitting and then we were ont he road navigating towards the watchmakers country. We were pretty much concerned about whether dr Slayer could get into the country without any valid document apart from his driving licence and an old type ID. No worries, there we were in Basel without even noticing of crossing any borders. Hirscheneck restaurant, bar and association gave us the possibility to show our „talent” there that night. It was Heiko from Never Built Ruins who set the show up for us and Dog’s Holy Life. Too bad the americans had to cancel this date due to health issues, too bad Heiko got to know about that only few hours before the show was supposed to start. Anyways, there we were with food enough for 6 more people..hehe. And what food, what service!! Well, the place is a funky restaurant, thus everything was pretty tasty and looked cool (not that I would like to degrade any of the food service we received before that on the tour). Then again a not too huge crowd, though enough people too have a cool atmosphere to do good Tyrannicide and Rivers Run Dry concerts. I have to state that this tour was not the one wehere we seemed to move the most people….at least that was what the lack of dancing people suggested to us. However not one place did we have the feeling that people did not like our shit. They were simply like that I guess. Anyways, Hirscheneck was cool and was nice to see the Never Built Ruins folks showing up. Thanks!. Then we slept in a pretty old (i guess more than 600 year old) house and had yummy breakfast the following day. This sunny day we were driving to Augsburg Germany to do our last show regarding this tour. Again some unbelievable food hunting gathering in a supermarket to fuel our hungry bodies and then we arrived to Augsburg, Ballonfabrik club in time. Dog’s Holy Life was supposed to play too, but of course they couldn’t, however they showed up later on. Nice (but not many) people, friendly environment and a bit fucked mood from our side characterized this show. Thanks goes to Julian for helping us. 
Then we had to drive through the night, with a short stop in Austria, to pick our dearest Vera and we got back home on Friday morning. Cleaning the van other and bullshitting waited us, though we were all extrafuckingdamn tired as hell. Dötch folks stayed at Botond and Slabó’s place (thanks!) and went to see Trial that night. The rest of us had other things to do (work, attending a wedding etc…) Well, to me, it was one of the best tour for it’s length and because of the fact we were so many good people in such a fast van, doing a road that I like and already did a lot. Most of us must have had shitty periods and some of us were probably pretty difficult to support sometimes. We knew we were doing our last tour with our beloved doctor in our ranks, buti t turned out that we were losing our drummer as well. So, from this perspective the tour sucked. However we made friends with Gabi’s band buddies and I personally enjoyed a lot my time with these fönny dötch boers. Yeah, I guess, that’s all, though I am aware, that reading these lines it might not seem as funny as it was (that’s due to lack of my writing skills), but believe us: it was fun to do this whole shit! Thanks to everyone providing us / helping us out with shows, food, drinks, floors, beds, showers, good advices, kind words, friendship, info on their culture, country, venue, collective, scene etc…Thanks and huge hugs! L
(sorry, but i did not have the patience to put the pictures in chronological order)
