A Fair to Remember

NOTE: I had a difficult time finding time to write these blogs while running around Germany. So I am catching up now that I am at home and at an American keyboard.

An American Renaissance Faire might have the advantage of a good setting, trees, a lake, plowed fields in the background, etc. There could even be the rented Knights to perform the joust or as close to the joust as the NAACP & PETA will allow. You will find the obligatory royalty prancing down the street complete with pomp & Circumstance passing by the merchants and booths. Stages will be filled with dancers and comedy acts. And when hunger hits you there is always a long line to stand in for the typical Turkey leg and the “Toad in a Hole” (Sausage in a roll). And in some states you can quench your thirst with the plastic cup of Budweiser.

When the opportunity came to attend a Medieval Tournament while in Germany, you know I had to do it! I had to see if the German's did it like the American's do, or rather if the American's were creating Faires like the Europeans.

Jerry was dragging his feet about this event from the very beginning. Before we even left Portland. He did not understand why I needed to take a costume halfway around the world. Or that I had to bring the puppet (Snerkle). Even the night before he was telling me we would stay a couple of hours but that he was NOT going to spend the whole day at the faire.

The 5K line of traffic BEFORE the parking lot not only gave Jerry and idea of how large this faire was but also how much time we would spend at the faire. Just walking through the gate we knew this was going to be an awesome faire. We had AnneMarie, Rainier, Lorenz, Beatrix, Turkey & Sandra and little Max in our group. With Snerkle on my shoulder we had a difficult time walking around. AnneMarie took pleasure in telling people behind my back that “Yes it’s real” when they whispered about Snerkle. Lorenz heard some guy say I should hang a sign around my neck “1 pet 1euro” I coulda made back the money for our tickets very easily.

Now allow me to paint this picture of a Faire with a European Brush.

The setting - Kaltenberg Germany, the Prince of Bavaria (the real one) went to Canterbury England in the 1970’s and saw a Re-Enactment of a Medieval Tournament. He was so enamored with it he came back to Germany and decided to re-create one on one of his many pieces of property in 1984. Since then it has grown and grown. BTW (by the way) this is Prince is the great grandson of the King Ludwig of Bavaria that built the Neuschwanstein castle (Disney sleeping beauty castle). Odd behavior runs in this family.

There is a true Schloss (palace) on the property, a full size arena, a fake castle and several outbuildings like barns, Viking village, yurts, wooden hovels . . Oh and Jerry just reminded me about the Brewery that is onsite. There are gravel paths, paved paths and dirt paths. Trees, trees, and more trees. The only areas not shaded by the trees are the arena and the Platz (courtyard) of the Schloss.

Part of the Real Schloss buildings on the left.


This is the entrance into the Platz of the Schloss.


A viking house complete with carvings.


And yes that is Jerry in the pic.

This is just a pic of the area so you get an idea of how many trees and how real (with out the public) the area looks.


Stage Area





Note the REAL bear's head on this Yurt and the NOT real Vikings in the next picture.



Here is a wooden hovel on stilts. . . .under it you see a guy looking back in my direction. . .that is Turkey, our friend, his real name is Florian Tuerk, his wife is in the pic in the lower right, pushing the stroller with thier son Max.


And here is something you NEVER see (and can barely see in this pic) in the U.S. a full on fire pit with full access to the public. The bright white area in the middle left is the fire pit and anyone can just walk up to it and have a sit.





The Food – No Turkey legs here (our friend Turkey would take offense). Within 100ft of the gate we smelled something and saw this.

Have you ever seen a split skillet, or one this large? One has sautéed mushrooms in it and the other had a potato/sausage mix.







OH, and then there is the Beer!!!! Jerry drank it, I couldn’t, it was too hot in costume to add alcohol to me. You pay 5euro for a full liter of beer then you pay a 5euro deposit for the stein. They are commemorative steins. Needless to say Jerry has two of them in his carryon. No where in a U.S. faire can you get a liter of German Beer & the Stein for $13.00.
And if you are interested in Wein (wine), this is how they serve it.



We did get some dessert, Jerry got Apfel Strudel (Apfel=Apple) and I had Kaiser Schmarrn.


Lorenz & Turkey got the German version of a Corndog/Toad in a Hole. 3 Venison Wursts on a stick with a sauerkraut filled roll and lots of Mustard.


Kaltenberg is very ecology conscience. The dish they serve food in is made of food. It is like the yellow ice cream cone you get from Dairy Queen, it is that batter pressed into a bowl/boat shape and baked. So you can eat your dish. They use wooden forks and paper napkins so there is NO plastic at the fair at all. The Steins are reused so there is hardly any non-biodegradable waste. Cool.


Clothing – Not as many Public dressed up as there is in the U.S. Plus those that did dress were in Medieval NOT Renaissance. So there were no LOW cut bodices and double skirts with peasant blouses. The girls/ladies wore Kirtles (for those not familiar with this term, it is a long A-line or Princess line dress with angel sleeves or tight long sleeves).

I also learned about Landsknecht, which there were many of them. This is a group of soldiers that were mercenaries in Germany. There are NO Landsknecht women, those who are dressed in Landsknecht are actually camp followers. Tee Hee (sorry this is a joke for my Renaissance Faire friends)

Make Way. . . . . Make Way. . . .



One last thing I noticed. .a complete lack of Fairy Folk. I am happy about that. In U.S. fairs there is always a large portion of the public that come dressed as fairy folk, just another reason to run around in short dresses and wings that always seem to bump into people as they walk around. No Fairies in Germany!!! But I did see other creatures in Kaltenberg.


Furniture -
Are these cool seats or what?
The horse is in the children's area and is like a glider (rocking chair).





Part Two (Tournament & Merchants) to follow