Vienna once again

In the end of May we left Hungary again for a new busking tour!!! :) And it started very smoothly with a lot of sunshine, a bit of rain and a lot of fun.

View of Vienna

Change in the law:
The busking law in Vienna didn't change since last year as far as we know. We heard from a busker that actually now it's easier to get the permit . You have to go to an outside district (unfortunately I don't remember which one) and ask there. The bad thing is that the city will give you a list of when and where you can play in a day for 2 hours only. As we heard there are still free spots in the city(they also changed)but we don't know them either...
For more information you you can call this number(I got this number when I went to one of the district offices to ask if I can play without a permit in Karlzpaltz like we did last year. But of course they didn't know the answer and they gave me this number. Hope it helps):
Stadtinformationszentrum: +43 1 525 50
Rathaus, Eingang Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 1 Fahrplanauskunft

at Karlzplatz again

Our Experiance:
We were really really excited when we arrived at Vienna. Whenever we played in this city we always had a great time and the money was also really good. We didn't go to ask for the permit because we just stayed for a week. The busking spots we used are still as good as they were the first time. And amazingly we didn't have any problem with the police.

But a lot of things have changed in a year also because of the new law. The center which was full of buskers, is now quite empty compared to how it used to be. The musicians, streetpainters and performers have dissapeared from Stefansplatz. 
Also we didn't have a lot of competition in our spots (click here, and you can read where we played before). From time to time there was some buskers here and there but really just a few(or we really lucky that nobody played our spots). For us it was more relaxing to play in Vienna because we didn't have to look for a spot for two hours and we didn't really have to wait for others to finish. And the money was really good also.:)

Relaxing in Stadtpark

So the first week of our trip was wonderful. We've played a lot, met with friends and enjoyed the sun when it was out :)

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 Copenhagen

First we were very sceptical about busking, because we saw the huge, noisey streets and we thought that we can't make any money without amplifier. But in the end we still made enough :P

Copenhagen

Laws:

First time we  played on the shopping street an old lady said that it's legal just between 2-5pm. But the next day when we played in this period an annoyed old man came and told us to stop because between 3-4 it's not allowed to busk. So we don't exactly know what is going on, but if you just start playing somewhere the locals will let you know if ou are welcome or not.

Our experiance:

With an amplifier or with a loud instrument can be really good.

Tuning the guitar

The walking streets are really loud so it's hard to play acoustic. But still on Saturday we made in about an hour more than 200 Denish crowns plus some Swedish and Norwegian coins. :) Actually we were confused at the first time. We didn't know that we should be happy or sad. We had no idea how much the crown's value is. And plus in Skandinavia everything is really expensive.

So we assume it's good money here for us and we hope that the other Skandinavian countries will be the same or even better than Copenhagen. :)

The first country we've never been to before:

Denmark

From Lübeck we decided to take the train to Puttgarten where we could cross the Baltic Sea with a huge ferry and get to Denmark. I forgot my sleeping bag on the train (and on the same day I lost my isomatt:() But all and all it was a great day:) We crossed the Baltic sea and the view was amazing from the ferry(cost 11 euros/person).

crossing the Baltic Sea

from the train

From Rodbyhavn we found a ride quite easy to Copenhagen. The city is just beautiful. This is the first time when we realized we are more and more north. At 11pm it was still light in the sky and at night it never got completely dark and at 3am the sky already started getting lighter.

3.30 in the morning

As always the first day was sunny and the rest of the days were rainy, cold and cloudy.:( We have to get used to this wheater 'cause the more north we'll go, the colder it will be. Anyway we enjoyed being here. Beautiful city, chanels, sea and great people.:)

We were really excited all the time because after being in Germany for more than a month  everything was really fresh. We stayed in a boat (Thanks to Tobias:)) with a really good company and every evening we enjoyed the sunset from the boat.:)

Sightseeing in Copenhagen

• Of course you have to have a picture with the little mermaid if You are in Copenhagen:P There are always a lot of tourists taking pictures.
• The chanels are beautiful and full of boats
• Christiania ("the hippi district") is very interesting(altough not what it used to be:P).
• Every Sunday most of the museums are free(unfortunatly we didn't have time to visit any:()
• Get lost in the city! This is the best way to discover Copenhagen

Sunset at 10pm	little mermaid
our shelter in Copenhagen: Tripitaka :)	Main shopping street