GLASTO

Soon we were off to King's Cross yet again. But this time, we were taking the train to a little stop called Castle Cary for Glastonbury festival. It had been described to me as a modern-day Woodstock, the biggest music festival in Europe, but I was also told that it was simply impossible to describe or imagine until I had been. 300,000 people, 4 days, hundreds of bands.

We arrived at the station to see hundreds of young people, hustling and bustling towards the train specifically designated for Glastonbury Festival. Many were wearing wellies, and most were carrying huge camping backpacks, stuffed to the brim with food, sleeping bags, tents, and the kitchen sink. We filed on to the train and set off into the country side. The festival was on a huge, privately owned farm, and must be postponed every 5 years for the fields to recover and grow.

Arriving at Pilton Farm, I began what has thus far been the most surreal experience of my life. We waited in line for about an hour at the train station to board buses that would take us to the campgrounds. In the meantime, a bluegrass band started playing, and someone walked around selling popsicles and bottled water. People wear wellies because it inevitably rains every year, and there's no shelter, but this year there was not a drop. On the contrary, it was HOT. Oh, did I mention you don't bathe for 5 days? Eek.

We finally get to the campgrounds what we thought was early, with the intention of catching most of the World Cup game England was playing that day, but apparently everyone else had the same idea, and our campsite ended up being less than ideal. a good 15 minute walk to the bathroom or the tap. Which brings me to a sidenote: since we were quite far from the taps, we would fill up our water bottles each night to have over night and to make coffee with the french-press that we brought. However, this, being England was a place where you were also allowed to bring your own alcohol. Keep in mind that vodka is clear...One morning we were looking around our massive 8-person tent (complete with pods for sleeping) for spare water for coffee, and someone found a full bottle on the ground. A few minutes later, the coffee was brewed and poured into cups. This was only after the kettle to boil the water shot its cap off as if it were about to explode rather than just whistling. One of the friends we were with took a few sips, commenting that it tasted a bit funny, but kept drinking anyway. I held my cup to my mouth, about to take a sip, when I noticed that something sort of burned my throat as I smelled it. Upon first sip, I spat the coffee in to the grass. It was definitely NOT coffee. Turns out that extra bottle of "water" was really someone's bottle of VODKA. We had coffee brewed in boiling vodka.

Aaaaanyway, the whole 4 days were an experience unlike any other and truly were unimaginable. I saw bands that I never dreamt of being able to see live (Muse, Stevie Wonder, Phoenix, the list is much much longer...just go to the webiste), along with comedians, circus performers, and fire-breathing metal spider DJ booths. The food was to die for (they had just about every ethnic cuisine you could ever imagine-the Moroccan Lamb Tagine was among my favorite meals), and the Brothers pear cider was even better. There were vintage clothes shops, tons of different stages (4-5 main ones, and other peripheries, main stage being shaped like a giant pyramid), a "healing field" and people from every walk of life, from A-list celebrities to hobos to lawyers to small children. For the atmosphere that it was, I was shocked and amazed at how family-friendly everything was. Those were certainly some lucky kids. Another thing was the fashion. It's a bit unrealistic to make a fashion statement when you haven't showered in 4 days, but somehow, people succeeded wonderfully. It was hard to keep up...

To save breath, I won't try to describe the rest of the festival, as to repeat myself, you really can't imagine how unbelievable the whole extravaganza was, and I certainly know that my words won't do it justice...I'll just put up a few pictures and leave it at that.