I'm amazed by how much I walked that day! I went all the way to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, getting that done in the early morning, then walked to the Pyramid of the Moon and went as far up it as was allowed. From there I walked to the Museo de Murales Teotihuacanos Beatriz de la Fuente. Then I went back to the site and walked to the Museo de Sitio Teotihuacan near the Pyramid of the Sun, then further down the Calle de los Muertos all the way to the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, which I climbed as well — not all the way to the top, but far enough to see the sculptures. Then, rather than having to go through the ups and downs of the Calle de los Muertos again to get to my bus stop, I left the site and walked from Puerta 1 to Puerta 2 down a sidewalk lined with signs (in Spanish and dodgy English) explaining what UNESCO World Heritage Sites are. So that must have been well over two miles, even without all the ups and downs. After I got back into the city, I walked another mile and a half from the Hidalgo Metro station, down the Paseo de la Reforma, to El Plaza Condesa.
As I mentioned before, people already started lining up on Thursday for a concert that started at 8 p.m. on Saturday. The woman at the front of the line was given the task of keeping a numbered list of the people in line. When I finally got in line at 7:10 a.m. on Saturday, I was #112 on the VIP list. I was told to stick around until they gave out the lanyards. The lanyards ended up being cards, and since some people had left, I got #103 — see the photo below, which includes my ticket and gifts from other fans: two Chisaki photo cards and the "Furari Ginza" single, which also contained a Chisaki photo card!
Speaking of gifts, the Mexican fans gave out yellow glowsticks, yellow bandannas, and special buttons to wear in honor of Haruna's birthday (three days before) and upcoming graduation.
Anyway, back to the VIP line. After we got our place cards, we were free to leave until roll call at 11 a.m., so I went to a café and had breakfast with seven other fans, mostly Americans from JPHiP. The Japanese guy sitting next to me asked where I was from. It turned out that he lives in Berkeley, only eight blocks from where I work!
After the 11 a.m. roll call, we were supposed to come back for roll call at 1 and 4 p.m. But at 1:00, things went haywire, because it became clear that they would be selling goods from the window at the front of the venue. I was focused on figuring out where the next day's fan event would be and how to get there, so I didn't notice the mass migration right away and wound up pretty far back in line. The photo below shows the goods line; I'm beyond the left edge of the picture.
Amped wrote:
So 1:00 VIP roll call was scrapped, as we waited until around 2:30 for them to start selling goods. But at about the same time as the goods window opened, we found out that VIPs needed to go back to their line for roll call. So it was a choice between the VIP line or the goods line. I gave up my place in the goods line to go back for roll call. By the time they got me checked off, I was probably after three, so I didn't think I could get through the goods line before they closed it. (People who were in line near me proved me wrong.)
It was a gigantic clusterf***. When I saw Morning Musume｡’14 in NYC and ℃-ute in Mexico City, merch was only sold inside the venue. VIPs went in first, and they could choose at that point whether to buy goods or go straight to the stage. In Japan, H!P concert goods usually go on sale early, and even people without tickets can buy them, but seating for the concert is reserved, NOT GENERAL ADMISSION. Nobody is forced to choose between a line for seating and a line for goods.
When they moved the VIP line into position in front of the doors around 5:00, I was luckily close enough to the goods window to make my purchase. But by that time, they were already sold out of XL t-shirts (my preferred size), photobooks, photo sets, and keychain figures. But I did manage to get a large t-shirt (which will still fit me) and a towel.
The fan meeting the next day was not nearly as insane with regard to lining up early. I arrived about an hour before the doors opened and got #73. There were issues with the numbers, though; just ask the people who got numbers with decimal points written on their hands with a Sharpie.
Assorted grumbles aside, I had a wonderful time. The show was a lot of fun, of course, and I got to say what I wanted to say to the girls, within the extreme time constraints of the handshake event format. And it's always great to meet other fans and see friends that I haven't seen for years.
