der ketchup koenig: 11/18/15 day 19: Dresden, DE

Met Mirko and his son for breakfast at Tiki at 10:30. And then went back to the apartment to devise a plan for the day. Max and Peter decided to drive out to some mountains outside of town and Jeff and I opted to further explore Neustadt. We set out around 2 and made it back to the cafe on the corner for more tea and postcards. Families were out in full force today, enjoying some mostly cloudless skies; soccer and kite flying in the park, couples arm and arm, young punks playing acoustic guitar and drinking beer. Today I needed my scarf. First day of the tour I needed it. Might even have a reason to wear the heavy leather jacket I brought on this tour.... Until then, we are enjoying a late Fall.

Alaun Park

Jewish Cemetary from the late 1700s.

Sweet ride

Martin Luther Platz.

We were invited to Max's for dinner and made the 15 min walk around 7. He and Veronika were there, Blues Brothers on vinyl spinning softly in the background, and preparation had already begun on the vegan spaghetti bolognese. Veronica's boyfriend rolled up and all 6 of us got caught up around Max's new dining room table in his spacious new apartment (380€ a month). We spun more vinyl and cracked some wine and chatted about lots of things in English and German. It was really nice. It's so nice to have friends here. Its one thing to be on tour in a town and it's another to have good people to hang with. It can get a little impersonal moving from hotel to hotel, so I am glad to have a Dresden crew. Thank you Max for the hospitality!

After a quick stop at Mirko's house who happens to live around the corner from Max, we headed back to Blue Note to hear some jazz, have a drink, and then we said our goodbye to our extended crew. It's crazy, we've only played there twice as a trio but I feel like we've made fast friends. The whole crew is awesome. Gonna miss these cats.