The way back home

After Brugge we went back to Gent and stayed there another week to have time to make the CD-s and we decided to head towards Germany again and slowly go home before the winter cought up with us. France and Spain can wait till next Spring :P

the end is close :(

We went back to the places where we knew it's good for busking like Brussels and Liége, but we were unlucky and we both cought a cold plus the weather turned really bad. For more than two weeks we couldn't play at all so we spent all our savings. In Maastricht it was raining all the time and I got a bit deppressed about the situation but we had to move on. On the way back we met some old friends of ours, we've made on the road and it gave us such a warm feeling to meet these people again. :)

Maastricht 

Lübeck

Brussels

On the train to Berlin

In Germany we went all the way up to Lübeck through Aachen, Köln, Münster and Bremen again hoping that we would get a couch in Hamburg for at least a week but we weren't lucky so in the end we stayed in Lübeck for 3 weeks again. Our friends made it really easy and comfortable for us to stay there for such a long time. Hope one day we can do something for them. :)

We left Lübeck with a hundred euros and went back to Berlin where we stayed for four days to make money for Prague! :) We were really excited because this was the first time that we could see the capital of Czech Republic and we 've been planning for so long to visit it :)

Busking in Brugge

Brugge

Unfortunately we spent just two days in Brugge which is one of the most beautiful city in Belgium and in Europe. Most of the time we just walked and got lost on the streets of Brugge and we didn't play that much. So this post will be more about travelling than street music. Sorry about that!

Laws:
You have to apply for a permit, which you have to pay for. I think it's quite easy to get it though we played without it but just for an hour.

Our experiance:
It was great! :) We took a bus from Gent to Brugge for 2 euros (though it takes two hours, but you can find trains for 5 euros or so and it's there in 20 minutes) and as soon as we were there we started discovering the city by ourselves. :) It's like you're walking in a fairy tale. Beautiful! :) I cannot describe it in words so here are some pictures:

windmill

sunset in Brugge

canal

We saw some really old windmills at the edge of the city center and it was already dark when we got to the center again. The buildings were lit up and the channels reflected the pretty lights. We were hypnotized by the athmospere. We couldn't make as many pictures as we would have liked cause the camera's battery was almost empty but still we made some pretty pictures in my opinion. :)

the beautiful Brugge

One of the main square in Brugge

Brugge

The last day we tried to play a little in the center right before a bridge in a really narrow street. It could've been better. We made 18 euros in an hour but it was enough to cover our travelling costs :)

It was a really nice small trip, we will never forget :)

Busking in Gent

It was quite easy to hitchhike from Utrecht to Gent. :) Though the first lift took us to a different direction in the end everything turned out to be great!

Gent

Laws:
You need a permission for playing. You can get it from Monday to Friday in the city hall for 10 euros per day. You can play in every spot for two hours which is great but still 10 euros per day is a bit too much...

The best place we found

Bridge to the city center

Our experiance:
first we tried to play on Friday night/late afternoon so we didn't have the chance to get the permit so we decided to do it without it. First we tried in a shopping area in front of the "fnac", but it wasn't good (5 euro per half an hour). We were a bit dissapointed but fortunately we din't give up and we played under a huge construction(Probably it's gonna be a market place, but I'm not quite sure about that) and our luck changed for better. We made around 25-30 euros per hour. This is a really great place.
The only thing is that on weekdays it's under construction and you can't play there. Just Friday to Sunday.
Just once we got stopped by the police, but after 15 minutes we went back and it was alright :).

Beautiful sunset

Best places:

• Poeljemarkt (we played here)
• Veldstraat (where the Fnac is, but it wasn't that good)
• Korenmarkt (we saw people playing there)
• Mageleinstraat(a gypsy played there so we couln't try it)

We stayed in Gent almost two weeks thanks to our friend and we had a really great time. We recorded some songs in the meantime and we had time to really relax again. Thank you Johan!

Busking in Utrecht

Utrecht is a really quiet, small city in Netherlands. It has nice channels and typical Flamish architecture. One or two days is enough to see and enjoy the city. :)

Utrecht

Laws:
Pathetic... You are allowed to play 15 minutes and than you have to move. The good news is that nobody cares :)

Our experiance:
Wasn't that good. The turist season just ended and the school didn't start yet so the city was quite empty this time of year. The average was 5 euros per half an hour wich is really really bad. We tried different spots on the walking streets but nothing seemed to work out. But I have to say it was still better than Antwerpen :P

Little Channel

close up :)

So we spent most of our time thinking about where we'll go next. Back to Germany or back to Belgium. Fortunately our friend, Johan wrote us, so in the end we decided to go to Gent, and it was a really good choise :)

Busking in Amsterdam

We were thinking a lot about whether we should go to Amsterdam or not, cause we heard a lot of storries about police giving big fines or taking instruments away first time without warning, but it's a must see city and we just went there :D

Amsterdam

Laws:
It's quite illegal. You can get a permission and probably the rules are strickt but if you really want to play in the center you're probably gonna need it otherwise the police will fine you. But again we didn't meet any of them so we can't say it for sure.

beautiful channels

we bought some flag stickers and we decorated the guitar :)

Our experiance:
It's a beautiful city. It was so refreshing to see something so different than before. :) We could really apprechiate the channels and the brick houses.:)
We tried out only two places(we were here for 3 days) which were really good. One of them is in a park under a bridge which has good acoustic and we sang there a few times. There was another place close by, where you could play with big chess pieces on the street. So all and all in Amsterdam you can make good money but be careful with the police.

We met a chellist guy, who has played in Amsterdam for years and he told us that he had to go to jail for a few days cause he couldn't pay the fines that he got for playing music on the street. But he lives in Amsterdam, so if you stay just for a few days I don't think so you can get in big trouble.

Me on the bridge :P

Best places:

Busking places for Amsterdam

• Rembrant square (that's the official busking place)
• Vondel Park (we played here)
• Max Euweplein (where the big chessboard is)

So we really enjoyed paying here and being here :)

Busking in Antwerpen

Antwerpen is a beautiful city in Belgium with the biggest train station in Europe. But for us the athmosephere wasn't the best and we couldn't enjoy it that much

Antwerpen

Laws:
The same as in Leuven. You have to get a paper for free from the city hall witch contains the rules for street music/street performances. But again the police didn't really care that much, and if you are polite nothing bad can happen.

tiny valentin and the big gate :)

The biggest train station in Europe

Our experiance.
First we tried the big shopping streets which starst from the Central Station and goes towards to the center. It's really crowded and people seem not to care too much about street music. It's a really noisy street also.(I have to mention a pianist who plays in Antwerp on the streets with a real! piano and he is quite good :)). So we couldn't find the right spot on that street. In the center there are too many terrases and we didn't want to play in front of them. We saw some musicians playing in front of a church gate and we gave it a try too, and it was quite good at the first time, second time it was quite bad... People just seemed a bit posh.
We stayed just for 3 days so we didn't find the right spot for us. We had bad luck.


Maybe if you are loud or you are with a band can be good :)

Busking law changed in Vienna

Vienna

About two month ago a journalist, Sophia Chung (from The Vienna Review) contacted us and asked some questions about street music in Vienna for her article. She informed us that there have been new laws passed last month further limiting street musicians in Vienna. There are now regulations on noise level, number of musicians, and stricter laws on when/where/how long people can play. The laws were tightened because people living in the first district complained of noise and crowd levels.

You can read the entire article here:
Playing for time- A busker in Vienna