Germany

First, there was the Jesters Night.
It was impressive to see so many people in costume and I wondered how amazing it would look if EVERYONE had made an effort.

We started by wandering the stalls of handcrafts and peering into the displays of tents and observing the people camping and living here the way they would have in the days of yore. It was easy to imagine what life was like back then, well, visually anyway.

We decided to fully appreciate where we were and get into the spirit of it we should hit the tavern and grab a König Ludwig Dunkel bier, served, naturally, in a one liter steinkrug!

We kicked back in the bier garden and people watched for a while (the most interesting people watching I've had in a while).

After a liter it was decided we should keep moving, as we had no idea how big this place was and getting a little too comfortable sitting drinking.

The whole place was set up as a medieval village around Kaltenberg Castle.

Stages were busy with amazing performances, bands, acrobatics, dances and theaters.

A parade started to wind its way through the streets and all manner of peoples Medieval and otherwise passed by entertaining the gawping crowds.

Food was everywhere and I had a great goulash stew served in a hard bread bowl that I then ate! All crockery should be made of edible materials. A pity my spoon wasnt as well, though I found that out the hard way.
There were also many people practicing and selling their trades and wares.

As the light started to fade, fires were lit, torches hung and the mood started to change.

Deep, dark shadows formed and the fires bathed their surroundings in a soft, flickering, yellow light.
We delved into the taverns where the ceilings were low, the air thick and strange types skulked in dark corners.

We sampled some strange drinks

and all that was left to make the scene complete was a good ol' traditional bar brawl!

Then there was the Tournament Day!

We had time to kill before it began so took the time to wander around a bit and enjoy nature.

This is where we changed into our custom made medieval costumes and fit in with the locals.

We shopped around the fascinating stalls, hmm, I need a new helm,

drank beer by the liter stein, we ate heartily and saw many fantastic performances.

There were alot more knights around today, obviously. Some brandishing their team flags,

some practicing, some acting as security,

and some posing for the onlookers.

When the tournament time came, we made our way to the arena. The crowd was thick, with na'er a seat spare.

The royal box dominated one end of the arena, the large wooden doors underneath, swung open releasing a parade which slowly snaked its way away around the arena.

The knights rode around the arena to the applaud of the crowd, brandishing their banners before splitting up and casting their team banners into the ground around the arena.

Each knight faced the crowd near his banner and worked them into a cheering frenzy. It was understood that we had all been allocated our own team to root for.

But of course, it was not just knights running at each other with long poles trying to knock each other off! As our programs indicated there was an entire story like a Knights Tale drama unfolding before us. The MC was a great story teller and herald and worked the crowd up with his dramatic oratory, translated where necessary by Alisa (thanks for that).

The victor won the fair maiden and all would have ended happily if it werent for the arrival through the crowd of the Black Knight! There were sword fights, horse stunts, music, lighting, special effects and they even had a disappearing act!

After the joust allot left but Emma and I wandered around to check out the post joust atmosphere. We saw traditional court dancing in the castle,

watched fascinated for what seemed like a long time at some blacksmiths at their trade (the rhythmic sound of alternating hammers on metal was mesmerizing),

And got a chance to meet some of the local 'talent'.

Then there was the come down in the aftermath of the excitement, when everyone went home and a silence descended over the castle like the plague had hit town.

Campfires were extinguished one by one, the echo of music faded and people started to disappear until only an occasional glimpse was caught. The fun was over for the night.

For them they would do it all again next weekend, but for us, our trip back in time was over and we would have to wait another year.

We drove to an area called Spitzingsee in the Bavarian Alps!

Hardly containing my excitement, we booted up and hit the slopes!

My first tentative movements were like the scene from Bambi on the ice.
But I had been waiting so long for this that rather than get the feel of moving around I decided to head up the slope and plunge into it.

Starting on the kiddies slope....

I was on the ground often and watched as the children would glide gracefully past me. After a couple of rounds of sliding (not skiing) down the hill, I decided to think about what I was doing.

I watched other people as they came down the large slope, analyzing their moves, experimenting, coming to an understanding of the physics behind it. Trying to see if techniques from waterskiing were applicable.
"Ok, I tilt the skis like this to slow down, bend my knees etc. I get it!"

Then, a lift pass and up the mountainside to the real slopes.
The ride was slow and scenic and much longer/higher than I had thought.

We went as high as we could go then down we went.

The slope seemed to go on for ever and once I got off the red (intermediate level) piste and on to a blue (beginner level) one it was all smooth sailing. I enjoyed the beautiful alpine scenery as I zig zaged gracefully down the slope, the warm sunshine counteracting the cool, fresh air.

I got comfortable with it all very quick and before I knew it was taking photos and videos of my decent, going over (little) jumps and getting a bit too cocky with my speed. I did some very audacious (most likly amusing to other skiers) stacks which where mostly harmless. I got away with only some minor bruises and not the cliche broken arm or leg (thankyou guardian angels).

When we ran low on energy and needed a break, of course there was a beer garden cum restaurant waiting in a valley at the end of a number of pistes.

Then, refreshed, but not drunk (I wisely limited myself to one beer) we hit the slopes again. I must confess that I loved being able to say, in context, "Lets hit the slopes!".

The sun slowly dipped lower casting the slopes in shadow although it was still quite early in the afternoon. Unfortunately, most of the blue pistes were on the north side of the mountain and without the sun they became quite hard to navigate.

What I mean is, as the ground is a blanket of white, the only way to make out the shape of the ground is the shadows behind the dips and bumps. When the entire landscape is in shadow I couldnt tell when the ground rose in a gentle hill or gave way to a steep decent.

So we made our way down the long cross country style trail to the foot of the mountain. It was amazing to ski this track that weaved through the snow covered pines, the afternoon sun making jakobs ladders through the tree canopy. However everyone else took off at their own speed and I meandered along and eventually took the wrong way and ended up in the wrong valley. I was so far off course that I had to take a bus back to where the car was waiting for me! oops. oh well...

What a great day!

Another first and another experience to check off my list.

ho ho ho

Here are some photos from my Christmas. It wasnt quite the white xmas I had in mind. But I made the most of it.
I spent one night in Marienplatz.

I hung out with friends at one of the many little standing tables in the square. The air was cold, my nose and ears were being nibbled by old man frost himself, but the rest of me was warm. My hands being heated from the mug of warm glüwein whose steam rose into my face and melted my breath before it froze on my beard and mostache.

The square was busy from the markets, many makeshift wooden stalls selling christmas themed handicrafts and warm food and drinks.

The sound of carols filled the air and I was taken by the clarity of the sound reverberating off the buildings. As I looked up to the buildings for the speakers I noticed on the balcony was a choir giving a live performance! If it started to snow at this moment it would have been perfect.
But alas, it didnt.

The markets sell traditional food and drink including the classic glühwein, a sort of mulled wine served warm and often in different flavours. The Marienplatz ones are the most famous in München and very touristy. So one night I took my bike and did a tour of all the markets I could reach.

On Wittelsbacherplatz the was the Mittelaltermarkt. Once you passed through the giant bundled stick fence, everything on the inside was designed to look as close as possible to a market from the Middleages. You could buy food and drink served in ceramic crockery,also armor, weapons, clothes, games etc. all from this period.

The Chinese Tower Markets in the English gardens had a live band and horse and cart rides and lots of cool handicrafts like pupets and marionettes.

The Schwabingermarkts were the best as far as art and craft were concerned as this is the bohemian suburb of München and where I happen to live. The quality of the art was amazing, it was true 'fine art' as compared to the craft at most of the other places. I gained more than a few interesting ideas from roaming around here.

I also visited the famous markets at Nuremberg which were way too overcrowded and the non touristy but beautiful markets in Bad Tölz.

I travelled from Bad Tölz to a small villiage called Benediktbauern to see the snow and be shown around my friends hometown. If the snow wasnt going to come to see me in München then I would go and visit it. I also had the chance to experience a traditional, German family xmas.

Everything was covered in white but there was no snowfall while I was there.

The snow on the ground, though it looks magical, is around two weeks old and as such more like ice, slippery, wet and sharp. I wasnt even able to make snowballs out of it. Boo hoo. But I did some sledding,

and watched the sun set over a snowy landscape...

Merry Xmas to all, and to all a good night.

The locals it Fasching but most would know it as Carnivale!

The most famous Carnival events are take place Vennice and New Orleans, the largest is in Rio de Janeiro and in Deutschland the best (and one of the biggest in Europe) is in Cologne. But I had to work so I was in München and I think that wikipedia put it best when they said,

"In the East and South of Germany and Austria carnival is called Fasching and especially Munich developed a special kind of celebration."

and special it was.

Initially, I was annoyed at having to work on this day and it was hard to walk the city streets and talk about serious stuff like Hitler and the Nazis when people were walking past in fancy dress and throwing confetti at me and my group...

but we all had fun people watching and at the end of the tour I hooked up with my Fasching Posse.

As we were all on a budget and heard about the long waits for expensive beer at the festival we retreated to my humble abode to work our way through a carton of Augustiner Helles from the supermarket.

I did my tour in my Fasching costume, much to the amusement of my group, and it was at my place that we made some improvised costumes. And the very least we were facepainted.

And then, out into the fray!

The main event takes place in the Victualienmarkt but the whole city centre became one massive street party!

As we meandered our way in we would see more and more people dressed up.

This one was the funniest costume Ive ever seen in my life!!!

Although I had a backpack full of beer we called in to buy a few more, predicting that we were going to be in for the long haul.

Marienplatz was packed! There were food stands and bars set up along the sides of the pedestrianized streets and a stage set up in every square.

We started to make our way through the crowd in the general direction of Victualienmarkt, every now and then in a clearing we would stop and set up camp.

I could drop the backpack and distribute a fresh round of beers and we would hang out and people watch and take photos.

I bought a Krapfen, which is like a filled donut and is a traditional sweet at the Carnivale. Flavours like tiramisu, coffee, black forest cake, custard, etc, etc.

Victualienmarkt was so packed the polizei had set up a barricade and were not letting anyone in, so we thought we'd be sneaky and go around the block to the other side...

but it was just as packed so we headed back to Marienplatz to hook up with more people.

About this time the beer had worked through me enough that if I didnt find the gents I would explode all over the street.

I was so desperate that I went into Burger King to use their toilets. Alot of people had the same idea and they had a guard inside managing people in and out of the lou's.

All I can say is I'm glad I'm a guy because the line moved quickly.

We enlarged our posse and as it was starting to get dark and cold we headed into the Hofbräuhaus...

where the warm hall, jovial melodies of the Oompah band, friendly, drunken people, and at last a seat wecomed us.

Matt and I went on an adventure through the HBH to the upper rooms where other parties were going on in rooms that as far back as 1920 were used by Hitler for public speaches.

Then came the stagger home, followed by more beers, then sleep....zzzzzz

My new years eve consisted of a pub crawl with music, lots of alcohol, shisha's and insane fireworks shared with 65 other party people and not only was it all free but I got paid for it!

Thats right, I was working as a guide on a NYE PubCrawl. It was......a borderline nightmare, actually. But saved from becoming so by the spectacle of the completely disorganized mayem that marked the birth of 2008.

After handing out a complimentary bottle of sekt (sparkling wine) to everyone we followed in the direction of the fireworks, that we could already hear, prematurely exploding. Out on Leipoldstraße in both directions as far as I could see were people waiting for the countdown to midnight.

Actually, alot of them were already setting off their bought fireworks, either from impatience, excitement or simply a fast watch.
I dont think anybody really knew when the year officially changed over. Without the aid of a large clock or official city fireworks everyone just set off their own when their timepiece said so. The result random countdowns heard up and down the street and the accompanying firework display was something that I can only assume and hope that is the closest to actually being a war zone that I will ever be!

These were not the precision timed pyrotechnicks that we see at a safe distance and set up and planned by experts as in Australia. Or the innocence and short lived, childlike fun of a sparkler. This was chaos and maddness!

Rockets were shooting up from the ground, mounted in bins, bottles and any device that could be found, stable or not. They shot in random directions and exploded at random times and though none came closer than 3 meters to me I still was compelled to duck. That alone made the air ablaze with sparks, as for the ground...

Chinese style crackers were going off at peoples feet and under cars and in bins. Every now and then a group of people would scatter leaving a large clearing around a small, colourfully painted, cardboard box with an assortment of holes in the top and a lit fuse. From this device a flurry of fireworks would shoot out for the next couple of minutes or so.

The street was not even blocked to traffic as cars slowly made their way through the smoke and sparks, windows wound up hiding the either excited or terrified occupants inside.

On and on and on, the fireworks went and just when I thought they were dying down, another volley would be set off. I was waiting to hear the scream of someone who copped a firework in the face or someone running down the street on fire to which I fleetingly wondered how to say "drop and roll!" in German. It never happened though, damb! I mean thankfully.