It was a good turnout in the gym this morning, when I arrived, Tim and Richard were already working up a sweat and Glenn and Danny were in there later too. Today's travel schedule was a return trip from Berlin to Hannover, the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony, so named after the Saxons who originally lived in the area. It is still an important business area in Northern Germany and Hannoverians are renowned for speaking the best German both in accent and grammar. Dan gets into Bernie's hybrid Mercedes outside the hotel on Bebelplatz.



We drove past all that remains of the old Berlin wall near the Brandenburg gate.



Our drive to the Schönefeld airport in Berlin was longer than expected due to heavy traffic and the route took us right past the old Tempelhof airport which has now been converted into a recreational area and the main terminal is undergoing development. We arrived at Schönefeld (meaning beautiful field) about a half hour behind schedule and as usual, met Simon the captain and were taken through a portacabin security building at what appeared to be a makeshift GA terminal but has actually been there for years. When we boarded the plane and taxi'd to the runway, I then spotted the field after which the airport must clearly have been named.





I'm a little distracted as I write this as Germany have just had a man sent off and gone behind 1-0 to Serbia. The Germans were looking very threatening until Klose was dismissed after two successive mediocre tackles and yellow cards...Anyway, we landed in Hannover and immediately hit heavy traffic again. Soundcheck was cut short but we still managed a bit more rehearsing of that new tune I mentioned yesterday. There was a masseur at the venue so I took advantage and had 20 minutes before dinner. Matt and Danny followed and the next thing I knew, it was time once again for pre-show warm-ups.



 The Hannoverian crowd were quite wonderful throughout the whole show and afterwards I think all in the band agreed it was a particularly good one. The 40 minute plane ride back to Berlin was wonderful as the sunset was particularly nice this evening. Claire served up some meatballs which were nice but as Matt summed up "who eats mashed potato just before bedtime?". A couple of beers and Bernie and the team met us airside and we were back at the Hotel du Rome on the square once more. A quick drink in the noticeably smokey bar (a smoking bar?) with Richard and John and then off to bed.

Final score Germany 0 Serbia 1. Another shock result...England play later, thank goodness we'll be on stage in Berlin!

I will be running a Tour Diary competition tomorrow and the subject is 'stringed instruments'. . . . Stay tuned.



the GMN interview from Norway