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yakalskovich) wrote2007-07-15 11:01 pm
yakalskovich) wrote2007-07-15 11:01 pm
Entry tags:
Pictures of Kaltenberg Tournament 2007
As we said last year, the Nazgul and I went back to the middle ages this year, attired as nuns, as to be part of the games and not marked as a mere punter. About 1/3 of the audience comes in medieval or general fantasy/undead costume anyway that they wouldn't wear in mundane life.
1. Here are we in our nuns' habits:
© The Nazgul
Sister Nazgul and Sister Maru. These ahbits are actually very comfortable - put on and forget, unless you fail to secure the whimple properly. It's not made for people with long hair, either.
© The Nazgul
Sister Maru by herself
© The Nazgul
Sister Nazgul by herself. We were actually asked what order we're from, seriously, by a poor lady in the train who then vanished, deeply embarrassed, when I told her that we weren't nuns really, just in medieval costume going to Kaltenberg. We will make a sign for the next time. The people who sat opposite us later rather goggled when I started talking about the whimple in that shape being purely medieval, of course, and what actual real modern nuns did differently, because Sister Nazgul was fighting her whimple very badly at that point.
The modern nun is not complete without her Nikon, of course...
... in fact, she envies her medieval sisters of their mules. Sister Nazgul definitely needed one, especially as she was holding Sister Maru's beer stein while the good sister photographed the naughty trinkets of a sinful world...
© The Nazgul
...which looks roughly like this, including the glee at spotting just the perfect chainmail bikini for a very dear virtual friend. Nothing but a picture is needed to give it to her!
2. What we saw
As you might have guessed, this is said chainmail bikini.
© The Nazgul
A little falcon at the falconer, shaking her head at all the people taking pictures of her, which is why her beak is blurred
© The Nazgul
A rather handsome blacksmith in his smithy
3. The parade
© The Nazgul
Before the great tournament, all sorts of medieval groups walked in a great parade. We were at a turn, on the very tip where they all had to go round - which meant they stopped there nicely, and noticed us in our nuns' habits, and joked with us. We got hugged by barbarians, almost dragged off by Picts, and made fun of by all sorts of fools and jesters. The Nazgul also got a huge copper piece made of candy. The downside was the rather dramatic shadow situation that you notice in this picture - while the people in the background are brightly lit, the ones in the foreground we were actually taking pictures of were in the dark. These are just some random passing knights on foot.
© The Nazgul
A tall, scary creature on stilts
© The Nazgul
The witch Roxana, a staple character at Kaltenberg - she was part of the actual show as well
© The Nazgul
Celts...
© The Nazgul
... and fierce Picts were visiting us from the far-away British Isles, always ready to drag off innocent nuns into slavery, or at least making disparaging remarks about the eating of human flesh and drinking of blood - historically correct and well-researched, and then extemporised nicely. Yay for educated Celts and Picts!
© The Nazgul
And here comes the (almost) main attraction - Corvus Corax!! Not too high and mighty to walk with the parade, either. Recently, one of their numbers tried to look a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow, but rather fails at it by way of being too tall and too clean.
Guess who's my favourite member of that band? Despite me being a nun for the occasion and all that, which is probably why he staaaaares like that.
Yep, that's right. From close up you can see how isn't young any more - but neither am I! The bands I like are growing old with me.
They had a rather younger and quite cheerful drummer, though.
4. The tournament
© The Nazgul
After the first of the half-hour Corvus Corax concerts, the show started. The tournament/stunt show told a story again. This year, there were these young knights in training that block of spectators got assigned one of. We got this strapping young lad that the story of the show later unmasked as a non-noble 'traitor' like William in 'Kinght's Tale'. He then fled to the Holy Land to find his luck and ran into the aforementioned witch Roxana...
© The Nazgul
... who reincarnated him into the Black Knight. We were rooting for the Black Knight anyway, but now we were in an entire block of people rooting for him. They'd been strangely disappointed when their knight had summarily been declared a traitor, and now were the staunchest supporters of 'evil'. We were in that block last year already - I suspect that everybody who shows outward signs of supporting the Black Knight (which we probably do, in Apocalyptica or Davy Jones tee-shirts even on a casual Saturday buying tickets) get seated in block H. It was an atmosphere like in the fan curve of a major league football game, the Nazgul said . unlike me, she has actually been at such events, with her favourite team, Borussia Dortmund (I think the name is).
© The Nazgul
However, despite our best efforts at rooting for him, the Black Knight lost, and this befeathered bloke won. Our block was booing like one man, or deadly silent when all else applauded - of course, ultimately, in good fun. But we were a bit disappointed for real when we heard that the day before, Friday 13th, the Black Knight had actually won. That would have been such a party in the Black Block!!
5. Afterwards
The market continued until after midnight; we actually had to leave an hour early to catch the last bus. Here you see the atmosphere in the firelight. Everything I had on me smelled of woodsmoke this morning; actually much lovelier than cigarette smoke. The purple banners mark the 'Raven Stage' where Corvus Corax played. It was sublime - in the atmosphere the band had been founded for, with all the audience clapping and singing along. The Nazgul went to the Meet-The-Knights autograph op instead, and got congratulated on her costume by the chief knight, the one who'd scripted and staged the entire show. Of course she was tickled pink! And then we saw a cute ferret that ought to be on Cute Overload - white and sweet and so sleepy it was entirely floppy in its handler's hands. It had the sweetest little pink schnozzle - only my cat is could possibly be cuter in the entire animal kindom! For Lucifer, I bought a little medieval bell for his collar; and then we bought some soap. Even nuns have to get clean sometime, and my whimple had absorbed lots of sweat. That means it doesn't run in your face, of course. It all stays in the whimple.
This is the candle from the tavern wench I mentioned last night, picture taken today at home. We had quaffed some more tankards of ale and returned the empty beer steins to this little tavern where we had bought our first round the Nazgul had been holding while I took the picture of the chain mail bikini? They had been joking with us IC-ly then, but now, the tavern wench said, 'Sisters, I have a little gift for each of you - wait a moment while I fetch them from the cellar especially." We waited; there was still time to catch the bus. When she came back up, she handed each of us a candle, very ceremoniously, a simple white household candle. The she opened her mouth to speak, but instead of telling us which (fictional and jocular) saints to light them for, as I'd expected, she said "Take these candles, oh sisters, use them well, and only bring them back when nothing is left but the wick." There was chuckling, and we slunk away, still IC-ly.
Being IC helped, actually, afterwards. The last bus was timed to comfortably catch the last train - but randomly left ten minutes late because the bus driver placidly waited until the bus was full up, for maximum profit, instead of leaving on time. He didn't seem to care that people actually had to catch a train, which was the reason they were taking the bus in the first place. We missed the train by five minutes and had to wait almost two hours for another - thank god it was Saturday night so one went at all!! Still in character as medieval nuns, we totally didn't have it in us to rage and complain like modern people; we placidly sat, got our our books and read, then tidied up our bags and re-admired the natural soap we had bought, and later deconstructed our veils and whimples. We were at home at three at night, each, but didn't mind so much - but decided we'd organise a group taxi and a group that would catch the 2 am train after the market was over, the next time we go - we go again on the last weekend in July, we have decided. Because the wonderful medieval festivities went on for an hour without us while we were caught between the last bus and the penultimate train! We are not leaving early the next time - we will catch the last Corvus Corax concert, and quaff some more in our favourite tavern, and joke with the wench, and then leave. With three or five more people to share the taxi fare, it should be doable.-
1. Here are we in our nuns' habits:
© The Nazgul
Sister Nazgul and Sister Maru. These ahbits are actually very comfortable - put on and forget, unless you fail to secure the whimple properly. It's not made for people with long hair, either.
© The Nazgul
Sister Maru by herself
© The Nazgul
Sister Nazgul by herself. We were actually asked what order we're from, seriously, by a poor lady in the train who then vanished, deeply embarrassed, when I told her that we weren't nuns really, just in medieval costume going to Kaltenberg. We will make a sign for the next time. The people who sat opposite us later rather goggled when I started talking about the whimple in that shape being purely medieval, of course, and what actual real modern nuns did differently, because Sister Nazgul was fighting her whimple very badly at that point.
The modern nun is not complete without her Nikon, of course...
... in fact, she envies her medieval sisters of their mules. Sister Nazgul definitely needed one, especially as she was holding Sister Maru's beer stein while the good sister photographed the naughty trinkets of a sinful world...
© The Nazgul
...which looks roughly like this, including the glee at spotting just the perfect chainmail bikini for a very dear virtual friend. Nothing but a picture is needed to give it to her!
2. What we saw
As you might have guessed, this is said chainmail bikini.
© The Nazgul
A little falcon at the falconer, shaking her head at all the people taking pictures of her, which is why her beak is blurred
© The Nazgul
A rather handsome blacksmith in his smithy
3. The parade
© The Nazgul
Before the great tournament, all sorts of medieval groups walked in a great parade. We were at a turn, on the very tip where they all had to go round - which meant they stopped there nicely, and noticed us in our nuns' habits, and joked with us. We got hugged by barbarians, almost dragged off by Picts, and made fun of by all sorts of fools and jesters. The Nazgul also got a huge copper piece made of candy. The downside was the rather dramatic shadow situation that you notice in this picture - while the people in the background are brightly lit, the ones in the foreground we were actually taking pictures of were in the dark. These are just some random passing knights on foot.
© The Nazgul
A tall, scary creature on stilts
© The Nazgul
The witch Roxana, a staple character at Kaltenberg - she was part of the actual show as well
© The Nazgul
Celts...
© The Nazgul
... and fierce Picts were visiting us from the far-away British Isles, always ready to drag off innocent nuns into slavery, or at least making disparaging remarks about the eating of human flesh and drinking of blood - historically correct and well-researched, and then extemporised nicely. Yay for educated Celts and Picts!
© The Nazgul
And here comes the (almost) main attraction - Corvus Corax!! Not too high and mighty to walk with the parade, either. Recently, one of their numbers tried to look a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow, but rather fails at it by way of being too tall and too clean.
Guess who's my favourite member of that band? Despite me being a nun for the occasion and all that, which is probably why he staaaaares like that.
Yep, that's right. From close up you can see how isn't young any more - but neither am I! The bands I like are growing old with me.
They had a rather younger and quite cheerful drummer, though.
4. The tournament
© The Nazgul
After the first of the half-hour Corvus Corax concerts, the show started. The tournament/stunt show told a story again. This year, there were these young knights in training that block of spectators got assigned one of. We got this strapping young lad that the story of the show later unmasked as a non-noble 'traitor' like William in 'Kinght's Tale'. He then fled to the Holy Land to find his luck and ran into the aforementioned witch Roxana...
© The Nazgul
... who reincarnated him into the Black Knight. We were rooting for the Black Knight anyway, but now we were in an entire block of people rooting for him. They'd been strangely disappointed when their knight had summarily been declared a traitor, and now were the staunchest supporters of 'evil'. We were in that block last year already - I suspect that everybody who shows outward signs of supporting the Black Knight (which we probably do, in Apocalyptica or Davy Jones tee-shirts even on a casual Saturday buying tickets) get seated in block H. It was an atmosphere like in the fan curve of a major league football game, the Nazgul said . unlike me, she has actually been at such events, with her favourite team, Borussia Dortmund (I think the name is).
© The Nazgul
However, despite our best efforts at rooting for him, the Black Knight lost, and this befeathered bloke won. Our block was booing like one man, or deadly silent when all else applauded - of course, ultimately, in good fun. But we were a bit disappointed for real when we heard that the day before, Friday 13th, the Black Knight had actually won. That would have been such a party in the Black Block!!
5. Afterwards
The market continued until after midnight; we actually had to leave an hour early to catch the last bus. Here you see the atmosphere in the firelight. Everything I had on me smelled of woodsmoke this morning; actually much lovelier than cigarette smoke. The purple banners mark the 'Raven Stage' where Corvus Corax played. It was sublime - in the atmosphere the band had been founded for, with all the audience clapping and singing along. The Nazgul went to the Meet-The-Knights autograph op instead, and got congratulated on her costume by the chief knight, the one who'd scripted and staged the entire show. Of course she was tickled pink! And then we saw a cute ferret that ought to be on Cute Overload - white and sweet and so sleepy it was entirely floppy in its handler's hands. It had the sweetest little pink schnozzle - only my cat is could possibly be cuter in the entire animal kindom! For Lucifer, I bought a little medieval bell for his collar; and then we bought some soap. Even nuns have to get clean sometime, and my whimple had absorbed lots of sweat. That means it doesn't run in your face, of course. It all stays in the whimple.
This is the candle from the tavern wench I mentioned last night, picture taken today at home. We had quaffed some more tankards of ale and returned the empty beer steins to this little tavern where we had bought our first round the Nazgul had been holding while I took the picture of the chain mail bikini? They had been joking with us IC-ly then, but now, the tavern wench said, 'Sisters, I have a little gift for each of you - wait a moment while I fetch them from the cellar especially." We waited; there was still time to catch the bus. When she came back up, she handed each of us a candle, very ceremoniously, a simple white household candle. The she opened her mouth to speak, but instead of telling us which (fictional and jocular) saints to light them for, as I'd expected, she said "Take these candles, oh sisters, use them well, and only bring them back when nothing is left but the wick." There was chuckling, and we slunk away, still IC-ly.
Being IC helped, actually, afterwards. The last bus was timed to comfortably catch the last train - but randomly left ten minutes late because the bus driver placidly waited until the bus was full up, for maximum profit, instead of leaving on time. He didn't seem to care that people actually had to catch a train, which was the reason they were taking the bus in the first place. We missed the train by five minutes and had to wait almost two hours for another - thank god it was Saturday night so one went at all!! Still in character as medieval nuns, we totally didn't have it in us to rage and complain like modern people; we placidly sat, got our our books and read, then tidied up our bags and re-admired the natural soap we had bought, and later deconstructed our veils and whimples. We were at home at three at night, each, but didn't mind so much - but decided we'd organise a group taxi and a group that would catch the 2 am train after the market was over, the next time we go - we go again on the last weekend in July, we have decided. Because the wonderful medieval festivities went on for an hour without us while we were caught between the last bus and the penultimate train! We are not leaving early the next time - we will catch the last Corvus Corax concert, and quaff some more in our favourite tavern, and joke with the wench, and then leave. With three or five more people to share the taxi fare, it should be doable.-