Day 1 (Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997)

The adventure starts... with meeting the furs I am about to embark with on a 7-and-some-hour train ride... which is no problem, since we arranged a central meeting point, plus I told the others who haven't met me before to look out for a guy with bare feet. :) And like I thought, I was the only one without shoes.

Furs traveling with me are Mran, Kanya and Vincent_Cloud (who is currently touring Europe, after having been in Korea - and went to Italy after EF3). Hamburg marked the arrival of another group of furs (Dreamfox, his mother Christa - who came along out of curiosity, and liked it there, apparently -, Bearhug, Whitepelt, Fairlight and Kyo), who boarded the train we were on since Dortmund Hbf.

Arriving at Barth, the last train station before the con site (a youth recreation camp of sorts, probably used in former socialist times by the FDJ, or the young pioneers), we already found signs of furs and their paw prints - the number of the staff cellular phone had been applied to the timetable at the platform. And then I already spotted a few furs I knew (Raschkar, Pangur and Jumpy), who were eagerly leading me and the others to cars standing there ready and waiting. And there were not only cars waiting, but even some more furs. Hence, the waiting cars were about to face a true test: split 16 furs up to fit into three cars.

With a bit of squeezing and pushing (which was not that bad for those who like it cuddly), we eventually made it, and we were enjoying the fact that some of the cars were equipped with air condition. Only peculiarity: I wondered why the car gave off that purring sound... until I realized, that FeliciaK was sitting behind me (who is actually capable of purring very realistically!).

The whole kitten caboodle arrived on time for registering, and greeting the other furs already present at the con site... A lot of sniffing and tailwagging ensued - mostly from the two white Canadian shepherd's dogs who had been brought by two furs (*grin*) - and greetings and hugs were exchanged in usual quantities. But first things first: Picking up the con programme, name tag, and free goodies cames before a moment of relaxation... (after all that day had seen some nice weather: sun and about - or over 30°C/90°F) and so most people who had some hours of train riding past them just looked for a corner to curl up and relax a bit, before exploring the surroundings a bit.

I was mostly sitting around the porch of the main building, looking who came and went, having the occasional talk, and greeting furs I knew or came to know there for the first (furst :)) time in real life. One of those I was eager to meet was Mbala, a roleplaying partner of mine on TLK Muck, whom I also told about SPR Muck, and who plays his cheetah character there now as well - others I was eager to meet were the people I already met on other occasions - be it at EF2 or SylFur/SylCon. It is always wonderful to see them in a surrounding like a con, really, where a shared interest brings together a nice crowd of equally nice people (59 there were, eventually!). It was also good to see Nimbl, now out of the army, and doing social service, instead of wielding a weapon. He is more apt to wield his pens and pencils and markers anyway, and those are far better things to wield and use, IMHO. :) The only thing he was unhappy about was the army-ish haircut he still had... but the fur will grow back in, I am sure!

It took till about 6pm for all furs (who were due to arrive on that Thursday) to arrive at the con site, and dinner was already being prepared. Staffers had hammered and tinkered in the afternoon, building a large wooden frame... of which I was not sure waht it was to be... only later myself and others realized not only what they were doing, but why they had hired a truck to get certain things up to the con site: the wooden frame was needed to hold the screen onto which the various movies were going to be projected... not only was EF3 going to be the largest European Furry con so far, it was also going to have a big screen video projector. And there was even more to come: the sound system...! Dolby Stereo with two not quite small subwoofers. Small town movie theatres sometimes are equipped with such stuff. So, hence a truck was needed, all right. Considering the video program as read in the con book, I was about to experience some very nice showings of furry films, indeed. (Especially since there was a laserdisc player rigged into the machinery as well...!)

The dinner on day 1 was simple, but effective, both on terms of being tasty, as well as being easily prepared: potato fritter (which were served with apple sauce, but could also be served with tomato ketchup, since they were neutral as far as taste was concerned). A novelty at EuroFurence: catering. Well, since the next supermarket/shop was too far away, it was best to get all the food in advance, and provide some for all furs. It worked out well, too.

Room assignment did bring no surprise, as far as the people sharing rooms were concerned... a snoring couple (i.e. Dreamfox and me) made sure to make it known to others that we snored, and so it was me, Dreamfox, Mran and Kanya ending up in a small-ish but comfy room. Mran already knew the sound of me sleeping (*zzzzz - insert sound effect of a whole forest being sawn down here!*), and - as we found out - Kanya did not have a very light sleep - at least he was the one to sleep in late... lucky that breakfast was scheduled from 10am to 2pm each day. :)) 4 furs sharing a room (a few rooms had 7 beds) with a small bedroom. Only little fear I had: The beds! Two beds on top of each other, and two heavy furs (I had Dreamfox above me... normally no problem, but the construction didn't look too strong - it turned out to be strong enough, though, in the end (Lucky us! Since it explicitely said in the con book that things in the rooms were done at our own risk... and that was risky, indeed!! :)).

The video program on this Thursday evening commenced after dinner (of which I simply could not eat much... it was too warm, and drinking was much more important, as it turned out...) - and Dragonheart proved to be a fine first offer to the viewers! The sound system could now prove its efficiency, and the projection quality was goos indeed... however, the room in which the video equipment was placed in had to be darkened, and since there were no curtains or the like to accomplish that efficiently, black plastic foil was applied to the windows, which then could not be opened fully anymore. That, plus the heat emissions of the equipment and the furs watching the movie made it rather warm-ish in there. Not to forget: the furs did not hold their breath... the oxygene was not quite gone, but diminished in almost no time... but then, there was going to be a break in between movies to let ir in, and that worked quite well, too. One word about the seating: cozy. :)

The other movies on that evening were The Secret of NIMH, which I knew and did not watch (I was too knackered to watch two movies directly one after the other, and I was not alone), Felidae, of which I watched the first half, and then again went out... I was simply too tired, and went out to sit and chat with other furs, and founf that far more relaxing. Felidae is one of my favourites, but one still needs to be awake to truly enjoy it, I think. After some chats and laughs - exchanging anecdotes - plus some scritches and hugs, I went to bed at about 1 am, missing An American Tail, but clearly hearing a bed calling me, to have some sleep, and be refreshed and awake at the next morning...

Overall it was a splendid start of a con, I thought. The people were mostly tired from their travels, but nevertheless I did not see anyone grumpy, frowning or the like... at least not for longg. The staffers kept a smile, too, which can of course be hard, when after days and weeks of hard work even smallest things can enrage one, and one word might trigger a massacre (at least that's one possibility... the EF3 staff managed to avert the massacre option altogether) - after having been in staff things for a drama festival for a few years I know that feeling. :) The furs de staff, however, still kept cool on this hectic day... and I sometimes wondered on what power source they are running, when seeing their tired faces... maybe the smiles of the participating furs, the sound of laughter and happy voices kept them going...? For that is - I think - the best reward for the stress of preparation on cons/festivals: seeing the participants having a good time! - That is what I drew strength from during the amateur theatre festivals I was exec. organizer of.

Day 2 (Friday, Aug. 22, 1997)

A good night's sleep... breakfast... starting the second day fresh and relaxed... or so I planned. Well, the good night was over at 8 am, when, for some reason my inner alarm clock decided that it was time to get up. No sound, no voice or anything woke me up... after only six-and-some hours. The others did stir at this point, too, and Dreamfox sort of got up only shortly after me - only Kanya managed to sleep longer... seems like he removed the battery from his inner alarm. Something I should ponder doing as well *grin*. Good news of the day No.1: the bed had held, and I was in no danger of being crushed... but then: Dreamfox would have landed softly, had the 'top floor' of the bed collapsed. *Snicker* But, getting back to the 'sleep' thought: whoever has attended any con before will know that some things might be found there in abundance, but that sleep is not among those things. :) However, the schedule had breakfast at 10am planned, and so I was now to spend two hours doing something else... and the something else was foiund rather fast, since a lot of other furs had woken up that early as well... it was interaction, talking, scritching, taking photos, reading... all in all a slow start of the day, which I actually like... instead of going to full speed right from the start, accelerating steadily, so to speak. A candy bar supplied me with the first sugar to get the engine running, and conversation did the rest. With the first staffers to arrive to unlock the communal rooms, and prepare breakfast along with the early-woken furs, it was then the beginning of feeding the wild ones *grin*.

After having breakfast (which went by quietly, since talking and devouring prey at the same time is not easy...), it was to decide what to do next... a bit of relaxing and digesting was OK with me, and so I did - together with a few others. I then remembered, that - due to my hectic packing on early Thursday morning - I had forgotten a towel, and so I asked, who might be going for a town nearby to go shopping...? Several people wanted (apparently more than there was space in one car), and so I ended up in a group with lynard, Dreamfox and Christa, deciding to go to Barth (the town we arrived at by train, approx. 15 minutes away from the con site).

A little scenic tour plus some shopping was on our mind, when we departed for Barth (not a big tour, since we wanted to be back on time for the opening of the Art Show at 3pm that afternoon, the main event of the day, aside from the video program, which had only highlights scheduled for the Friday... more on that later...
But then, on going there, we realized, that plans and reality are not always matching each other... lynard took the wrong turn when exiting the con site grounds (and no one of us did notice either... or did pay attention...) and so we needed not about 15 minutes to Barth but more than 30 minutes... *grin*. But since we were in no hurry, really, it did not matter... However, more of such mistakes in that region would cost more fuel, more money, and cut our purses... so, we decided to pay a bit more attention next time...! Arriving at Barth, we even found a place to park the car without having to walk for hours (I wouldn't have minded, but it was really hot on this day as well...) or having to pay to park it. Into the town center we went to find a market going on... sort of a flea market type of thing, however not with antiques but rather with clothing, books, little things for everyday use being on sale. And guess what: we were able to find something for furries: lynard got himself a 2.00m x 2.40m fluffy and nice blanket with a tiger on it, and I found a sales booth with nice T-shirts, and got me 2 of those... well, they did not have cheetah shirts, nor wolves, but the tiger design shirts they had were rather OK, too. I then also found a place to purchase the towel I needed, and we then went to look for things, and see what Barth looks like, before going back to the car. Little funny side note: On of of the stands that sells any sort of stuff ("each item: DM 0.99") I discovered something that might just fit one of the staffers... we bought it, brought it back to the con site, and later on you could see Raschkar (the man with the tools, so to speak) having a new little keychain, with a little set of tiny, miniature screwdrivers attached to it. I doubt that those can be used effectively for anything, but I thought it was a nice idea... a little joint venture... I saw them, got the idea... the others concurred, I don't remember now who bought them, in the end, but Christa gave it to him, then. :)

In Barth we then encountered some strange people with name tags, and one even wearing a tail... weird!! *grin* Actually, those were Cairyn, Miavir & Kai Silvermane who also had come to Barth to do some shopping... and of course we told them about the market... and guess what: back at the con site, I later saw Kai Silvermane wearing a T-shirt matching one of the two I bought... He grinned and told me that he got the same ones.. luckily I was wearing the tiger portrait one, while he wore the fighting tigers design one. :)

Back at the con site, we were then waiting for the beginning of the art show, watching Miavir (who arrived shortly after us) and the artists walking back and forth between the 'quarters' and the multi-purpose/gym room, which was used as the exhibition and sales room, and setting things up (making the final preparations, that is... since the artists had already set up and prepared things on the late evening of the first day). Everything was running smoothly at that time, and I guess that all people were avoiding hectic, since it was simply too hot to get into panicking. - And, as far as I could see, there was no reason for panic, either.

It was about 3pm (give or take a few minutes) when the door of that room was unlocked, and Miavir allowed the people in and briefed visitors on the bidding procedures and the ballot for best artwork... I decided to at first take a look at the various pieces in the show, before deciding whether I would submit a ballot or not... I am not too much into the thought of contesting for a prize... it is a nice thing to be called the winner of an art show, but then, there also remains the hint of having to have a loser, or someone who is "worse", being ranked behind a winner. To me everyone who had an entry in the show was a winner, actually, and so I ultimately decided not to vote at all. Bidding was out of the question for me anyway, considering the wails and whimpers from my purse as I even thought about it... *grin*

Talking a bit about the art: I looked at the pieces exhibited there, and took my time. I could predict that certain pieces would win a prize later on, and I saw on the next day that I had not been too wrong... Outstanding (not only as far as size was concerned) was a piece done by Kyo. The other pieaces were mostly of smaller format, but as far as quality was concerned, all on a high level. Therefore I refrained from placing a ballot into the box. As I wrote, I thought anyone placing an entry into the artshow was already a winner.

A sunny afternoon was trailing along, filled with wandering around, checking out the facilities a bit more, watching people trying out the outdoor bowling lane there (which was sort of attracting everyone at some point to try it out... and which was smiled about, since it was on a technicla level primitive, but working allright, and had very bumpy linoleum lane, which allowed for anything but a controlled shot down into the pins. :)). During that second day, some more furs arrived, including two from Britain, and, especially, our guest who travelled the fartest: Mayfurr (a.k.a. Terry Knight) - Furry artist from New Zealand. I was doing not much during that time, mostly since it was hot... (when wasn't it hot during the days of EF3, I wonder...?) And so spent the afternoon strolling around only for short whiles, talking to others, taking pictures here and there, reading, and drinking a lot! (And I mean now generic liquid stuff... not alcoholic beverages. :)) A lot of the others did just the same, and so it was a very tranquil atmosphere all around the area. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the evening and temperatures to drop to a more comfurtable level. Also, some furs had cases of a rumbly tummy, and after all, dinner was due at 7pm again...

And about the dinner only this much: "Akeela's famous goulash a la canis lupus" really lived up to its reputation (*grin* - one word of explanation: he made that sort of goulash with lots of tomato and onions first time on the SylFur furry meeting December 96/January 97 at Lutter - the special twist: the meat then were leftovers from a fondue of the previous night and having been spiced the day before, it was really special... here at EF3, fresh meat was used, but it tasted great, nonetheless...). After dinner, however, people were eager to get good seats in the video room, as a whole set of highlights was about to be launched.

The evening's video program was launched with Osamu Tezuka's Bagi (produced for Japanese TV in 1984), which has been referred to as being considered the furry film. Since it has never been aired or shown outside Japan, this film was in the original Japanese version, without subtitles or the like (a detailed plot information was printed in the con book however, to provide a basic understanding of the film's plot... in short: A man tells the story of his life with a kitten named Bagi, which he got as a present when he was a kid. However, this kitten is no ordinary one, as Bagi starts, walking on her hind legs, reads, writes, and eventually even talks. Having been genetically altered in a research facility, she has evolved into an anthropomorphic female cat, who also has supernatural/ESP powers. She and the boy break into a research facility, where she unveils the story of her life, buy forcing the director to tell it, and also what happened to her mother. The boy realizes, that his mother, working as a geneticist there had something to do with this as well... Eventually, along the plot, his mother entraps him and Bagi, wanting to continue her research on the feline. He and Bagi manage to escape, and he sees her running off with something, while his mother staggers out of the building they were held in, lethally wounded. She dies with Bagi's name on her lips, which causes him to vow revenge and kill Bagi for the death of his mother - a misinterpretation, as later is revealed... The film has its charmy and beautiful moments, and Bagi is one really good example of a furry, almost archetypical, I'd say. :) If you can get hold of that movie (available only via direct import from Japan!), get it and take a look.(two plot summaries can be found on Chythar's Furry Anime web site, which was also the basis for the one printed in the con book)

The program then rolled on with Balto, truly another highlight... especially for me, since I hadn't seen it as yet. The release in Germany had been totally, or almost totally unadvertized, and since it was dubbed into German here anyway and I prefur the original, I trusted that it would be shown in the original English version at EF3... and so it was. :) Based on a true story, Balto is the typical and nice story of the underdog (literally) rising to be a hero and win his love. Nice side twist: Phil Collins lending his voice to the polar bears Muk and Luk (yep, both of them...).

Next on the list was The Lion King... of course, that one had to be somewhere on the video program. This time, however, we watched it in large format, from a LaserDisc, with clear and deep Dolby sound in theatre quality! For me, definitely the highlight of that evening.

Last film of Day 2: Robin Hood - which I skipped, since I was quite done for after 3 movies... :) I spent some time again out on the porch, enjoying the cool night air and some talk with others, before going to bed at about 2am (or was it at 3am...?)

Day 3, Saturday, Aug. 23, 1997

Waking up to the third day was again done early for me... my inner alarm seemed to be stuck on 8 am, and this morning it really bothered me, since I got into bed at about 3am... so, less than 5 hours of sleep for me. which is not much. But then again, we had a big supply of coffee, and there was still lots of drinks... or so I thought... so, getting caffeine into my system should do the trick, I thought... and it would have to be done, too, since this day was promising to be the big BBQ day, plus the battle for the best merchanise at the dealers' tables... and the presentation of the Art Show winners. And then, again, four more furry films to be seen... a full day indeed. But it was also to be the day marked with a big 'X' (As in Spooky Mulder and the X-Files), since some supernatural curse seemingly had taken possession of my camera!

Breakfast was as nice and easy as usual, with the usual large amount of coffee I inserted into my system to make it run properly... The day then sort of just went by, with watching some video outside the schedule (which was possible, on request), especially the short documentary off the LaserDisc on The Making of "The Lion King", which provided some niced interviews and background information. Everybody then did his or her thing, until at about 2 pm, people hauling stuff over to the Art Show room indicated that something was set up there, and indeed, something was about to happen there soon. One thing that was extraordinary did happen though... well, not exactly extraorinary, but surprising, for me, that is... Wanting to take a photo of the breakfast room, I used my little camera (a sort of DM 20-instamatic-cheap-stuff model), and switched on the built-in photoflash, heard it opowering up and all (that little whistling sound, characteristic of that...), got ready, aimed, pulled the trigger, and there it was... a loud POP! as the camera did not flash at all, but the capacitor inside it, powering the photoflash, blew instead. Nice special effect... result: only daylight outside photos from now on... :P

Then at 3pm in the afternoon, the dealers' tables were opened, and the run for the best in furry comics, books, T-shirts and other merchandise was on. just like with the artshow, my purse was whining and moaning even at the thought of spending money there, although I would have been tempted very much to do so... however, when I heard about a certain book that was interesting me, I realized that someone had been faster in getting the last of them in stock... tough luck, especially since I won't get it for that price back home! Darn, really... bad luck number two on that day... (spooky, eh...?). But at least I got me a EuroFurence 3 T-shirt! So there. :)

After that, I went for a walk, accompanying Mayfurr in exploring the neighbourhood, especially heading for the Bodstedter Bodden, the large lake before the Baltic Sea, which was within walking distance... only to find that a) the water was rather filthy (so much for the plan of perhaps skinnydipping at EF 3), and b) I lost a toe ring during the walk (bad luck number three...? Spooky!!). Going back to the con site, after taking a few pictures, Mayfurr and I discovered someething truly peculiar...: A bit oif rainbow between two clouds... the afternoon was otherwise clear... and that rainbow lingered for about two hours (we discovered it at about 4.45pm), if not longer... Very peculiar, indeed. :) Before dinner, I realized, that the film in my camera was all full, and so I rewound it to get the second film... I was delighted at having taken nice pics of Skunki in his fursuit (hah, guess the species... *grin* of course, a skunk suit), and was looking forward to get them processed and scanned and put up on the web site here... So I rewound the film (by hand... it's a cheap camera...) and felt the moment, when the film came loose, to slide into the film cartridge.. all felt normal.. until I opened the camera, only to find, that the film had ripped inside the cartridge, and was still fully out... great. 36 pictures of EuroFurence 3 dumped and destroyed! Utterly bad luck number four, alright... and thereby hangs the tale of the curse of the camera.

Thank the Goddess I opened that... thing inside the bedroom, so that no one was near to witness it... I was extremely frustrated, to say the least... I then loaded the camera (that piece of %&$*!!) with the second film, and made sure not to open the camera in broad daylight, should the problem recur... But then, I felt my stomach rumble, and I heard that the BBQ was on its way to being started...

The BBQ was without doubt the inofficial closing celebration of EuroGFurence 3... at least so I felt about it... the last big get-together at this con, where the winners of the art show were presented, and the head organizer, Cheetah, was presented with a special surprise, which had been secretely prepared, namely a huge 'Thank You!' card, plus large amounts of goo from spray cans hurled at him *grin*. The chef du cuisine for the herbivores was Tabalon, who had prepared a salad the quality of legend, while Akeela was tending the BBQ grill outside, seeing to it with a truly carnivorous spirit, that the steaks were served almost alive :)). It was a true delight, and so sort of skipped the schedule aside, as the video showing afterwards got delayed. Roar was taken off the schedule, and just Watership Down, The Fox and the Hound and Meet the Feebles (of course... that one being the last film... :))) were shown. The furs present at the BBQ did not mind, though that it took longer than scheduled, but rather were grateful, I think, to have this final evening to be in party mood, and socialize before the whole event would end on the coming Sunday. I, for one, was grateful indeed. The only thing dampening the thing was Cougar, hurting his knee. I just hope, that it is taken care of, and that it doesn't prove to be something severe. Keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping for the best here, Cougar!

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Day 4, Sunday, Aug. 24, 1997

Breakfast on this Sunday... the last scheduled event of EuroFurence 3, and at least I felt that the mood was still good, but that the shadow of parting sorrow was cast on everyone... it was not as merry and lively as on the days before - no wonder... and people were taking in their coffee and fresh rolls and sandwiches somberly, allowing only for smiles, rather than laughing out, like they did before. The only really nice thing I encountered that morning was the estate's crafty striped tomcat, who was a really friendly feline, and promptly came up to me, tail high, meowing as if to demand that whoever approaches him should stroke and pet him. I complied gladly, and supposed that I did not see him previously, because the dogs had already been awake when I got up on the days before...

Aside from that, the mood was overall rather somber, with people packing, the equipment being laden into the truck, the place being cleared up... I noticed staffers running around everywhere, some taking care of arranging to have furs driven to Barth station... myself, Kanya, Mran, Vincent_Cloud, Mayfurr, and several others had to leave the con site at 12.30pm, to catch a train from Barth at 12.57 - and with all the people running around, I can only say that I was lucky to properly exchange good-byes with some people. But still, I would have really wanted to say goodbye to each and every one, thanking them all for making my stay there such a pleasant one, as it was the people surrounding me making it a special event. All planning and organizing and the perfect surrounding are big parts in such events... but by far the biggest part are the people coming there and contributing to it with their presence. My thanks and greetings go out to each and everyone of them.

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A special 'Thanks':

Thank you, Cheetah! You put your effort, energy and your heart into organizing this event, together with all the others. You managed to herd us all, take up lots of stress, but still smile - which is something that requires special people. Thank you, Raschkar! Finding us this place cannot have been easy... and taking the risk to rent it and pay in advance is something that requires courage. Plus: You have that quality of smiling even in the midst of utter chaos as well. Thank you, Cougar! Being the logistic staff person, truck driver, and also seemingly beingg everywhere for our needs. Get well soon!! Thank you, Akeela, lynard,Tabalon and Jumpy (and the other helpers) All those people preparing the food for almost 60 hungry furs! Three cheers, and loud ones, too! Thank you, Miavir! Organizer and Master of Ceremonies at the art show and the presentation of the winners. Thank you, Amarok! For providing the projector which made the video shows the nice events they were... and here also an extra big Thank you!! to Tabalon and Jumpy for providing and handling the other equipment without which the film showings would not have been possible. Thank you all, dear furs!!! Coming to EuroFurence 3 makes you part of what made this con a great one for me. Even though I could not say byebye properly to each and everyone of you, I hereby do so using this page... It cannot replace a hug, but still... :)

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Some pictures are still online on the history part of the Eurofurence 12 web site. As it is an archived site, some links won't work. But the first (Guests) and the three picture links underneath that one are still OK. Have a look at them right here.

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