The Events of Sunday, July 10, 2011

                It was warm this morning, and I walked for an hour with no jacket or sweatshirt. All the others were awake before eight o'clock, so Pam and I cooked up some eggs with bacon and cheese. Abby delighted in her role as toast- and tea-maker. It was a lovely morning to enjoy a relaxed breakfast before a big day.

                When we booked our lodging here in Kaufering, our host told us we might enjoy seeing the Kaltenberg Jousting Tournament. Definitely! So a couple weeks ago Ben and I purchased our tickets online, and today we attended the tournament and the fictional medieval city in which it is set. 

                We arrived at the "city gate" before the eleven o'clock opening. As we waited, two men in the shelter above the gate shouted to the crowd in German. Well, it was mostly in German. At one point we heard, "Peru? You're from Peru? Hola!" Later, one of the two talked to someone in the crowd from Australia. "You're from Australia? You are the far far-away-est person here. But you are an ugly old man. This lady from Peru, she is very pretty. She comes in early." The crowd shouted its approval. 

                Ben bought us a program, so we would know where and when to expect special events and shows. That was a good idea. We first headed to the palace, Schloss Kaltenberg. There Caitlin found a pretty cross pendant made of lavender stone, which she bought as her souvenir of Germany. 

                The program listed a show about to begin, so we looked for the area and found seats in the shade. (It was already quite warm in the sun.) Lindsey, Caitlin and I visited a pen with a gaggle of geese. It was amusing to watch them drink from their water trough with loud slurp noises. One drinking goose stretched its neck high and let out a call, to which all the other geese responded with stretched necks. There seemed to be a goose leader who was directing the rest of the group in some exercise or drill. Soon we noticed colorfully painted people approaching the stage. Some were carrying musical instruments, others were on stilts, and still others wore grotesque masks and costumes.  We enjoyed watching them perform, whether musically or acrobatically. Jugglers and acrobats took turns performing, always accompanied by energetic instrumental music. 

                After wandered around a bit more, we focused on finding ourselves some food for lunch. From food stalls we bought grilled sausages on a stick, fresh bread, a baked potato, sautéed mushrooms, and hot pretzels. I also bought a one-liter stein of beer, a refreshing and memorable souvenir that somehow amused the kids to no end. 

                We finished lunch just in time to watch the parade. Wow, what a parade! We heard marching bands playing fanfares on straight horns and drums. We saw soldiers in armor, nobles in purple and gold, and peasants in simple clothes. A pair of men in nothing but tight shorts stopped often to flex their muscles. One was clearly a body-builder, with tan skin and multiple layers of bulging muscle. The other was a stereotypical 98-pound weakling, with pale white skin, ugly buck teeth, and few muscles to flex. Our geese also participated in the parade, waddling along together They were led by their diminutive goose-herd and a corralled by a very alert dog, a sheltie I think. 

                Next we enjoyed a show with two juggler-entertainers and lots of audience participation. As a non-German speaker, I felt very much an outsider, though it was amusing to see how much fun the other audience members were having. The next act was a musical trio. They sang sometimes in German and sometimes in Italian. Most of their instruments were percussive, but some were unusual types of lyres, with both melody and drone strings. (I learned more about medieval instruments by talking with the store/workshop owner, Mr. Riedel. I enjoyed exploring his website, www.instrumentenbaukurs.de, which is full of information.) 

                Too soon, it was time to head toward the arena and the "big event." Our seats for the jousting tournament were in the standing room area, so we found a good spot above the bleachers, about midway between the two ends of the arena. The weather was quite warm, so some of us drowsed or read in the sun, while others sought shelter in the shade of nearby trees. 

                While audience members were still finding their seats, a falconer came out with some of his birds. I could not understand anything he said, but I enjoyed watching these noble birds of prey, soaring and swooping around the stadium. 

                The main show is difficult to categorize. It was an odd combination of rodeo, circus, magic, WWF (fake-wrestling), and epic drama. Here is a summary of the drama's plot:

  1. The sorceress Morgana summons the black knight Mordred (and later, his horse) from the underworld.
  2. Mordred tames his horse. (This part might seem too short to mention, except for some reason it took about twenty minutes to complete this step. Something was going wrong, I think, but I am not sure what it was.)
  3. Mordred conquers a team of Arabian knights in sword-fighting and hand-to-hand combat. 
  4. With his new Arabian comrades, Mordred defeats a team of Mongolian knights in sword-fighting and hand-to-hand combat.
  5. With his Arabian and Mongolian knights, Mordred invades Camelot and terrorizes the common people.
  6. One by one, Mordred's team defeats King Arthur's team of Round Table knights, first in jousting, and then in sword-fighting.
  7. Morgana reappears and magically extracts the sword Excalibur from the sky. (This involved a black bag loaded with sparking fireworks, hanging from overhead cables, one of which malfunctioned and flopped into the bleachers in front of us.)
  8. With Excalibur, Mordred fights King Arthur. 
  9. Arthur wrests control of Excalibur and wins the duel--but while the King is celebrating the victory, Mordred attacks from behind and kills him.  

Yup, that's right, here in Medieval Kaltenberg, evil conquers good in the end. What would Walt Disney say? 

                As the crowd filed out of the arena, we agreed to explore the rest of the fairgrounds. There was not much left to explore, and now it began to drizzle. We took cover from the rain in a beer-hall to strategize our next steps. We had pretty much decided to head home when we heard the first crack of thunder. The rain increased, so we waited. The lightning and thunder drew nearer, and the rain became very heavy. So we altered our plans, opened our backpacks, and pulled out our picnic dinner. While we ate, the lightning and thunder faded, but the rain continued steadily. So when we finished, we put on our raincoats. Hustling down the muddy streets, through the muddy gate, across the muddy parking lot, we jumped into the car and drove home.

                This is such a spacious apartment, so we found plenty of room to hang our wet clothing and backpacks. After starting a load of laundry and cleaning up from our picnic dinner, we sat down to watch the overtime periods of the USA-Brazil Women's World Cup game. After last night's awe-inspiring performance by the Japanese women over Germany, both of tonight's teams looked sloppy and undisciplined. Even so, it was exciting to see USA come back to tie in the last two minutes of overtime. When our girls made all five penalty shots for the win, we all shouted in celebration. Good job, USA!