Die Krone

I went out with Marion last night to the Goldene Krone to see a band and have a couple of beers. The Krone is an age-old tradition in Darmstadt. It is a very old place with lots of features. The ground floor has a disco on one side and a pub on the other side. Upstairs there is a room with a stage for bands and the like, a small movie theater, and another pub room with a pool table. I like it because if you aren’t having fun in one room, you can easily go into another where something completely different is happening. The Krone is one of those really dark dingy places that definitely shows its age, and that’s all part of the charm in the atmosphere.

As I rode my bike to meet Marion, I noticed that there was an awful lot of broken bottles and throngs of teenagers everywhere. I assumed it was graduation day for all the teens. As I got closer to the Krone the density of the crowds grew. Right in front of the Krone was apparently the main party point for all of them. The street had been closed and there had to be thousands of them there partying. I was a bit hesitant to lock my bike up anywhere near the chaos. Large amounts of teens and alcohol are not a very good combination. Marion and I managed to find each other and we went inside. We milled around between the rooms for a while until the band began to play. They were pretty good. I don’t know the name of the band, but their style was a cross between brit-pop, goth punk, and indie rock. The last time I went to see a band was with Helmut to see Wishbone Ash.

The highlight of the night happened right before we were to leave. We decided to see what was going on in the pub on the ground floor. On the small stage was a three man band called “Heiner, Rainer, and ein andere”. It rhymes in German, trust me. A Heiner is the nickname for persons born and raised in Darmstadt, and “ein andere” means “another”. Heiner plays the piano, Rainer sings and plays the tambourine, and another plays the drums. Their sound is really raw, but they are fun to listen to just the same. They were playing Beatles toons when we happened upon them. There were a couple of older men sort of dancing to their music in front of the stage. One of them latched on to me and tried for several songs to get me to dance with him. Marion ended up dancing and I followed. In the end I ended up dancing with him for a couple of songs. Marion finished her beer and we left. As we were walking out of the Krone, I remarked how sweaty the old guy was, and she said “welcome to the club”. I guess I will have to get used to being an object of manly desire as it comes with the territory. It was fun anyway.

When we went outside, the ground was completely covered with broken bottles. Marion remarked that when she graduated it was nothing like that. Kids these days. My bike was still there where I locked it, but it had been lightly disturbed. Luckily everything was still intact and nothing bent. The tires still had air in them, so I was able to pedal my ass home, dodging the shards of glass along the way. It was good to get out for a change. We managed to talk about things other than work the whole night and we had much fun.