Melt festival is held in Ferropolis in Gräfenhainichen Germany. Ferropolis is an open air museum of mining machinery/excavators. The general theme of the festival is hipsters music meets electronic.
All in attendance: Tom, Kristen, Felix, Eric
My best friend from Canada did a year abroad in 2010/2011 in Lyon. This year I was the one to go away. He made good on a promise to meet me for MELT festival in Germany.On Thursday night, I flew from Basel to Berlin and met him at the Goldmarie - the same hostel I stayed in last time. This time we got a private room for 16 euros a night.
The night was spent sharing drinks, sharing pizzas and sharing nostalgic conversation.
In the morning we got German breakfast (hard boil eggs, miscellaneous cold cuts and cheese, sliced fruit and vegetables) and drank enough coffee to feel weird. We went to the East Side Gallery (thankfully it was not as cold as it was last time) before heading to the trainstation and going of to Gräfenhainichen - the town closest to the festival.
The novelty of not needing to drive to a festival has not worn off.
It also took me the entire train ride to learn to pronounce Gräfenhainichen.
There is a bus shuttle service from the train station to the festival. The weather was a bit rainy and mud traps attacked with every miscalculated step.
Highlights include:
- Germans who prepare infinitely more than I do for a festival - 3 square meals a day?!
- M83 and Flux Pavilion
- Indian food stall which sold first-nation theme food
- German hipsters dressed like Aboriginal people
- Partying next to huge excavators
- Learning that the "beach stage" at any festival is always a good time
- Not getting rained on as much as we thought we would.
- Entertaining the idea about starting a tumblr photo blog about "Friends brushing teeth together at festivals"
- Germans drink at festivals like how Canadians use substances
- Learning about Rummelsnuff
- Getting a ride back to Switzerland with my friend Paul and his girlfriend where I did nothing but sleep and each dark chocolate french cereal for 8 hours. Their kindness also made it so I didn't have to catch a 5 am flight out of Berlin.
European festivals provide you with a crazy amount of comfort and luxury such as selling you camping stools and pavilions upon arrival and having running water.
