Asylum 5 Report - Friday & Ghost Tour
Man... I can't believe it's already over again... I've waited so long for this weekend and of course time flies when you're having fun - and I had fun... more than that... I've had the time of my life!
Note: Sorry for the crappy quality of most of the pictures, MJ's SD card is some weird Korean size that doesn't fit into my laptop and so I had to take pictures of the camera's screen... HQ versions of all the pictures will follow soon (next week) !!!
FRIDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2010
I left my place around 5.30 am (after getting up at 3 am) and went to Frankfurt airport. I was flying alone this time so of course I was a little nervous but everything went quite good. I arrived in Birmingham around 9 am and after picking up my luggage I went outside. Met a friend at the airport and showed me the way to the hotel.
Eventually we arrived there and I went to the reception to check-in. Unfortunately the room was booked on Jen's credit card and in order to check-in I had to either use my own credit card and since I do not own one this option was out of question - OR pay the whole amount for the weekend (about 300 £)... well, I decided to do neither and just wait for MJ to arrive so that we could split the payment. Afterwards I bought some magazines in order to kill time. At some point he came back and told me to grab my bags and come with him. I helped him preparing the tickets for the Coffee Lounges (writing down Misha's name, the date and time for each CL... so... if you own a ticket written with a blue biro!? That's one of those I wrote... APPRECIATE MY WORK!!) and also additional Photo tickets. Later I met ellethdartagnan and two of her friends (Paul and Jee) and had a very expensive lunch (a salad for 9 £).
MJ and me cam-whoring ♥ | Photos by MJ
On my way to the so-called rape-y-bathroom (the lights were VERY dim and and downright creepy) someone shouted „I know your face!“ and I recognized Salyiha Castiel, whom I had met on the German convention. Shortly after mj_on (Mijung) finally arrived and we could split the payment (130 £ each) and get into our room at last! And it was about time, cause I HAD to change my clothes and shoes. After taking some crappy ego-pictures we got downstairs again and searched for the registration desk, which we couldn't find. After getting my trench coat from upstairs (it was frickin cold) we met Alan, who had just arrived, and his friend Liz and had drinks in the bar.
Registration started around 2 or 3 pm but the people who didn't get their confirmation mails (me and MJ for example) should come back around 7 pm... well, the Ghost Tour started around that time so we could forget about this.
GHOST TOUR
Our wonderful tour guide | Photo by Gillian Blackaller
All this time I was not really sure if I really should participate in the Ghost Bus Tour that evening but eventually someone said something like 'all the guests would be joining' so of course I purchased my ticket. We even managed to get MJ a ticket and so Jen, MJ and I were getting on the bus around 7 pm. Gosh, we were so excited, like literally shaking and squeeing.
MJ, Jen and me, already completely terrified | Photos by MJ
Unfortunately Misha was not on the tour but still... we got Jason Manns, Julie McNiven and Aldis Hodge and as always everyone in the bus was very polite and quiet once they had gotten in.
Julie, Jason and Aldis | Photos by Gillian Blackaller
We travelled around Birmingham for about 45 minutes until we first got off the bus. Our tour guide had told us stories about haunted houses and pubs, about murders that had happened at several places in Birmingham. Our first stop was a house in the jewellery quarter where a 40-year old man had brutally raped and killed a young girl. Why he had thought that the front stairs of his house would be a great hiding-place for the body? Noone really knows...
The tour guide on the stairs of said house | Photo by MJ
Our tour guide explained that the murderer was the last person publicly hanged in the UK (I think) and showed us how long the rope had to be for a man in this time (he demonstrated this on Jason XDDD). He also asked for Aldis' weight (because you don't ask a lady for her weight XD) cause the rope had to have a certain length in order to break the neck of the convict.
Photo by MJ
Later we walked onto a graveyard and down to some funerary chambers. Our guide explained that there are graves in Birmingham where over 100 people were buried in just one huge grave. When we were leaving the graveyard, Jen stumbled over something and downright SCREAMED!! GOSH, my heart XDD!!!
That's the lovely Julie McNiven and her boyfriend on the right ♥ | Photo by MJ
We got on the bus again and passed several haunted places. In the end the tour lasted about 2 ½ hours and it really was fun. But to be honest - I'm not sure if I would do it again... I mean, the idea was great but in the end we didn't really have much of the guests. It was dark and the group was just too big. We were about 40 people and... yeah... it was great and of course better than just sitting around in the hotel lounge. But in the end the only really 'entertaining' thing was a stupid, drunk chick who insulted our tour guide. And of course I couldn't restrain myself and told her to shut up and suddenly the staff members were all around me and asked me to stay calm. Cause obviously drunk British people can get very violent and aggressive very fast XD Jen also said something about how alcohol obviously kills brain cells and Jason was patting her back, trying to calm her down XDD
Finally we returned to the hotel and I was DEAD. Srsly, I couldn't keep my eyes open (what with being up since 3 am and all). MJ and I went to the registration desk but - surprise surprise - it was already closed and we got told to come back at 7 am on Saturday. So I went upstairs, undressed and fell asleep immediately. I didn't even hear the other girls coming back from having a very late dinner...
That's it for now, detailed Saturday report about to follow the next days, so make sure to check back here cause let me assure you - you don't want to miss that ;)
Note: Sorry for the crappy quality of most of the pictures, MJ's SD card is some weird Korean size that doesn't fit into my laptop and so I had to take pictures of the camera's screen... HQ versions of all the pictures will follow soon (next week) !!!
FRIDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2010
I left my place around 5.30 am (after getting up at 3 am) and went to Frankfurt airport. I was flying alone this time so of course I was a little nervous but everything went quite good. I arrived in Birmingham around 9 am and after picking up my luggage I went outside. Met a friend at the airport and showed me the way to the hotel.
Eventually we arrived there and I went to the reception to check-in. Unfortunately the room was booked on Jen's credit card and in order to check-in I had to either use my own credit card and since I do not own one this option was out of question - OR pay the whole amount for the weekend (about 300 £)... well, I decided to do neither and just wait for MJ to arrive so that we could split the payment. Afterwards I bought some magazines in order to kill time. At some point he came back and told me to grab my bags and come with him. I helped him preparing the tickets for the Coffee Lounges (writing down Misha's name, the date and time for each CL... so... if you own a ticket written with a blue biro!? That's one of those I wrote... APPRECIATE MY WORK!!) and also additional Photo tickets. Later I met ellethdartagnan and two of her friends (Paul and Jee) and had a very expensive lunch (a salad for 9 £).
MJ and me cam-whoring ♥ | Photos by MJ
On my way to the so-called rape-y-bathroom (the lights were VERY dim and and downright creepy) someone shouted „I know your face!“ and I recognized Salyiha Castiel, whom I had met on the German convention. Shortly after mj_on (Mijung) finally arrived and we could split the payment (130 £ each) and get into our room at last! And it was about time, cause I HAD to change my clothes and shoes. After taking some crappy ego-pictures we got downstairs again and searched for the registration desk, which we couldn't find. After getting my trench coat from upstairs (it was frickin cold) we met Alan, who had just arrived, and his friend Liz and had drinks in the bar.
Registration started around 2 or 3 pm but the people who didn't get their confirmation mails (me and MJ for example) should come back around 7 pm... well, the Ghost Tour started around that time so we could forget about this.
GHOST TOUR
Our wonderful tour guide | Photo by Gillian Blackaller
All this time I was not really sure if I really should participate in the Ghost Bus Tour that evening but eventually someone said something like 'all the guests would be joining' so of course I purchased my ticket. We even managed to get MJ a ticket and so Jen, MJ and I were getting on the bus around 7 pm. Gosh, we were so excited, like literally shaking and squeeing.
MJ, Jen and me, already completely terrified | Photos by MJ
Unfortunately Misha was not on the tour but still... we got Jason Manns, Julie McNiven and Aldis Hodge and as always everyone in the bus was very polite and quiet once they had gotten in.
Julie, Jason and Aldis | Photos by Gillian Blackaller
We travelled around Birmingham for about 45 minutes until we first got off the bus. Our tour guide had told us stories about haunted houses and pubs, about murders that had happened at several places in Birmingham. Our first stop was a house in the jewellery quarter where a 40-year old man had brutally raped and killed a young girl. Why he had thought that the front stairs of his house would be a great hiding-place for the body? Noone really knows...
The tour guide on the stairs of said house | Photo by MJ
Our tour guide explained that the murderer was the last person publicly hanged in the UK (I think) and showed us how long the rope had to be for a man in this time (he demonstrated this on Jason XDDD). He also asked for Aldis' weight (because you don't ask a lady for her weight XD) cause the rope had to have a certain length in order to break the neck of the convict.
Photo by MJ
Later we walked onto a graveyard and down to some funerary chambers. Our guide explained that there are graves in Birmingham where over 100 people were buried in just one huge grave. When we were leaving the graveyard, Jen stumbled over something and downright SCREAMED!! GOSH, my heart XDD!!!
That's the lovely Julie McNiven and her boyfriend on the right ♥ | Photo by MJ
We got on the bus again and passed several haunted places. In the end the tour lasted about 2 ½ hours and it really was fun. But to be honest - I'm not sure if I would do it again... I mean, the idea was great but in the end we didn't really have much of the guests. It was dark and the group was just too big. We were about 40 people and... yeah... it was great and of course better than just sitting around in the hotel lounge. But in the end the only really 'entertaining' thing was a stupid, drunk chick who insulted our tour guide. And of course I couldn't restrain myself and told her to shut up and suddenly the staff members were all around me and asked me to stay calm. Cause obviously drunk British people can get very violent and aggressive very fast XD Jen also said something about how alcohol obviously kills brain cells and Jason was patting her back, trying to calm her down XDD
Finally we returned to the hotel and I was DEAD. Srsly, I couldn't keep my eyes open (what with being up since 3 am and all). MJ and I went to the registration desk but - surprise surprise - it was already closed and we got told to come back at 7 am on Saturday. So I went upstairs, undressed and fell asleep immediately. I didn't even hear the other girls coming back from having a very late dinner...
That's it for now, detailed Saturday report about to follow the next days, so make sure to check back here cause let me assure you - you don't want to miss that ;)