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Leipzig
December is always a good time to visit Leipzig, because it is this time of the year that Christian von Aster's famous Christmas Reading takes place. This time it was under the Motto "Buchstabensuppenkasperletheater" (loosely translated: Letter Soup Punch & Judy Show") and the decoration was aptly chosen.
Christian von Aster's big entrance
The reading was a blast even though our dear artist was labouring under a severe cold. I of course used this opportunity to complete my collection with books and accessories which were released while I was away. At the end I had my bags were filled to the brim ;).
On Sunday I had the chance to accompany Christian to his reading in Chemnitz and thus I got two events for the price of one! ;)
All pictures from Leipzig can be seen in my webalbum.Labels: Book, Christian von Aster, christmas, city trip, leipzig
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Riedhburg XVIII - Rights and Servants (Rechte und Knechte)
Last weekend was the follow up to 2 Weddings and a Funeral, the first peasant LARP featuring the four families from Tannenbüren:- Kellermeisters are well known for their wine, liquor and other alcohol production.
- Roggensingers focus on farming
- Waidmanns forte is hunting and tending to the woods
- Webers are the richest family in town and are mostly merchants and cloth dealers.
A lot has happened since that eventful Thanksgiving Feast. A war has started between Riedbhburg and neighbouring Falkenburg and many of Tannenbüren's sons were drafted and lost. Another casualty was Arnold Roggensinger, the previous steward of Tannenbüren. Now, as it is custom, it was time for Tannenbüren to elect someone else. This of course warranted another big meeting at the Roggensinger's house.
But politics wasn't the only thing on the agenda. The Bachelor society of Tannenbüren planned to celebrate their reunion with (illegal) gambling and parties. The women on the other hand were scheming to plan advantageous marriages for their unwed daughters and sons. This of course didn't please the Bachelor's at all ;).
After some long internal debates the final applicants for the position as steward, were announced and were asked to present their Agenda:- Gotfried Kellermeister (myself) wanted to strengthen the village by focusing on traditional values and bridging old grudges. His motto “Yes we can” (or as it was in Swiss-German “Ja mir chönd” was well received, mostly by Kellermeister family members, but in the end his experience in dealing with the last crisis was also a beneficial factor.
- Urs Waidmann wanted to abolish the old traditions and introduce shared wealth and possessions. I don't have to mention twice, that once his true agenda was revealed, he stood little chance ;)
- Gerhard Weber mainly wanted to strengthen his own position in the village.
- Waldemar Waidmann was all for hard work to overcome difficulties, however, he seemed to depend too much on his mother Annerös.
At the end of the day I was elected with a fair margin in front of Waldemar Waidmann.
People were also very active on the marriage front and so we could celebrate four marriages, bonding the families Kellermeister and Waidmann as well as Weber and Waidmann.
Although the Weber's turned out to be the sore looser when Agnes Waidmann eloped with their farm servant!
Early the next morning Baron Hannibal arrived to give his blessing to the election. Unfortunately, he was in the mood for painting and thus the village first had to pose for an idyllic farm picture.
The End - for now ;)
It was a terrific event with lots of laughter, intrigues food and of course alcohol ;). All pictures can be found in my webalbum.Labels: Fun, LARP, pictures, Switzerland
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Lots of Dancing and Literature
Last weekend I kept myself busy ;).
Friday night I attended a Céili, that's a traditional Gaelic/Irish social dance in Bern. There were about 150 people present and it was simply brilliant.
Saturday, I first wen to a Conforama to scout for a new couch and wardrobe and I did indeed find both in abundance. About four wardrobes suited my tastes and that after I have only found one in Fly, Ikea and TopTip. I should have gone to Conforama from the start! ;).
Home again I remembered that it was the Long Night of Short Stories. Browsing through the program, I noticed that most events were already over, but then I spotted something that sounded interesting. And so I ended up at the Razzia im Seefeld. This bar and place for culture was originally opened as a cinema in the 1920s with breathtaking wand murals. Over the years these have unfortunately been covered over but now it has been softly restored and some of it's old glory is shown again.
But back to topic. Joey Goebel read from his new novel Commonwealth and it was hilarious! After the reading I couldn't stop myself and bought two books to get them signed ;).
Following the reading was a party with tunes selected by Joey, who is a former member of a small punk band, and so I ended up dancing late into the night again. ^^
On Sunday I almost overslept. It being the end of daylight saving time, I dutifully changed the time on my cellphone during the night that it would wake me on time. Unfortunately, the cellphone then changed the time on its own, which meant that it was now running one hour behind! Luckily, I woke up on my own, checked the cellphone and heard the church bells at the same time discovering the discrepancy and getting up in time to travel to Lenzburg.
In Lenzburg on the castle I attended another Medieval Dance course led by Andreas Rutschmann. I've visited his courses before and they were fun and instructive as always, even though I had danced most of the pieces before.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I'm looking forward to the next Céili, reading by Joey Goebel and Medieval Dance course. However, I wouldn't be mad if they weren't all on the same weekend! ;)Labels: dancing, Fun, Literature, weekend
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Gallery updated
I finally found time to update the gallery of my homepage with all the albums hosted by picasa.
This makes the Gallery your main place of call if you're looking for my pictures :)Labels: info, metablog, pictures
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Wunderbaum LARP
Finally back in Switzerland I could resume one of my favorite hobbies: LARP-ing ^^. I signed up as an NPC (non-player character) at my first LARP in 17 months, since I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough time to prepare a new character in time. As an NPC I was assigned to the Border Patrol. They had observed strange people in the woods and have suffered severe losses recently, thus our captain sent a cry for help which was answered by 45 adventurers and various other characters.
Soon after everyone arrived, a dark magician entered the scene trying to scare the players away from his land. Subsequently, we at the border post suffered severely for this and we were attacked multiple times and the four guards were regularly outnumbered.
I suffered a bad leg wound in one of the attacks.
To make things worse, we were hit by a course which subsequently drained our powers until we no longer could wear any armor or wield two-handed weapons. Fortunately, we were able to uncover hints for a cure and by the end of the day, the players could destroy the curse and restore our strength.
At night everyone was vastly relieved and thus celebrations were in order all around. I joined the Landsknecht at their tavern.
The Landsknecht convincing a Guest to part with his mead!
But the celebrations were too early, and the evil magician made his presence known the next morning, which led to an epic, although rather short, battle in which the magician was vanquished.
Despite a short spell of bad weather, it was raining for most of Saturday, we did have lots of fun and I enjoyed meeting many old friends and making some new ones!
The Border Patrol in its entirety
More pictures can be found in my gallery.Labels: LARP, pictures
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Goodbye USA
After three thrilling days in Las Vegas it was time to return to Switzerland. But first I had to drive back to Phoenix. That's 300 miles or 5 hours 40 minutes: Not an ordinary one-day distance for a guy from Switzerland! ;)
Thus I left Vegas early in the morning and made a pit-stop at Hoover Dam to take the full tour. I already stopped at Hoover Dam on my way to Vegas, but alas I was too late for the tour then. The tour first took us to the Power Station, which was quite interesting and then led us into the Dam itself. This was terrific. We had a small group and an extremely knowledgeable guide, she practically grew up on site and knows every nook-and-cranny! At one of the stops inside the dam we could look out through a ventilation grill and take an awesome picture of the dam itself.
Hoover Dam as seen from a ventilation grill in the middle
Driving the rest of the way back was very long, especially because I ran into rush-hour traffic in Phoenix itself, but I managed to keep my dinner appointment :).
I had no clue where to stay for the last night, so I headed towards the airport and kept looking for a motel. Fortunately, I found one after only a short bit of driving around. And the best part? It was just next to a gas station! Thus I could fuel up my car early next morning and arrive at the airport well in time.
Since I'm fond of statistics I wanted to share the following, my distances covered in cars in the last four weeks in North America:
2'236km in Pennsylvania, New York and Canada.
1'880km in Arizona and Nevada.
The return trip, with a stop at Washington DC, was very uneventful and I arrived in Zurich on time. And this time my luggage arrived completely as well.
Breezing through Customs I immediately spotted a very special welcoming committee: Michaela, waited for me in full fantasy-armor! :)
My welcome committeeLabels: pictures, road trip, usa
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Las Vegas
Arriving a day earlier as planned in Las Vegas, I first headed Downtown. After all, I had two nights booked on the strip and thus decided to check out the Fremont Street Experience.
I was lucky to find a moderately priced hotel just around the corner from Fremont Street.
Fremont Street hosts some of the oldest Casinos in Vegas. To compete with the Mega-Resorts on the Strip they covered part of Fremont Street with a huge screen. During the evening hours music videos are shown there every hour. While I was there I saw American Pie, a Tribute to Queen and a Tribute to Kiss. This was very impressive. I also tried my luck at the slot machines. However, it wasn't meant to be and I left after twenty minutes, once my five dollars were spent.
In addition to the video show, Fremont Street also had a stage where an Army Band played popular Rock songs.
Fremont Street ExperienceDay 2 - Exploring the Strip The next day I relocated to the Excalibur, one of the Mega-Resorts on the Strip which chose medieval times as a theme.
After settling in I ventured to explore the Strip. The Excalibur is situated at the South End and thus I started heading north, checking out the Resorts on the way. My ultimate goal was the Stratosphere, the highest building in Vegas; because I heard that on its top one could ride four high-thrill rides. On the way, I made a short detour through Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops and witnessed the Indoor Thunderstorm, which is very bizarre ;).
The Strip is much longer than I expected, but I finally arrived at my destination. Fortunately, there weren't too many people so I didn't have to queue up to get to the observation deck or to join the rides. The rides were ok, but not really something I would have done multiple times a day.
On the way back I checked out the rollercoaster in the Sahara. It was also rather short, so not much to write home about.
Then it was time for the big highlight of the evening: The Blue Man Group. I had organized tickets that very morning at one of the many half-prize ticket booths. The show was incredible. A mixture of light, sound, comedy, information and art which was thrilling to behold. It was definitely worth the price of admission.
My next stop was Treasure Island and its outdoor Pirate Show with two full ships and some pyrotechnic. A must-see if you are in Vegas.
On my way back to the hotel I stopped to observe the exploding Volcano at the Mirage and the Fountains at the Bellagio.
Excalibur by NightDay 3 - Looking for Sharks Paying five dollars extra a day as a resort fee, I thought I should at least check out the swimming pool, which was huge! Or rather, they had three different pools. One of which with short water slides! Unfortunately, my day was packed again so I didn't linger for long.
First on the program was a trip south to explore the last Resorts on the Strip. So I walked through the Luxor, which is very impressive both inside and outside and onwards to Mandalay Bay. There I took some time to visit their Aquarium. That was very interesting, especially because every visitor received an “Audio Wand", which played short sequences about the different exhibits. The highlight was of course the big shark tank located in a shipwreck.
Heading back North I went to the shopping mile at Cesar's Palace, to acquire the latest iPod Nano in the Apple Store. Nearby I stumbled into a breathtaking gallery and ended up buying the book to the exhibition.
Then it was already time again to go back to the hotel. On the way I rode the rollercoaster in New York New York. The best one I saw in Vegas, but still a very rough ride.
The highlight for this evening was The Tournament of Kings: A medieval dinner show at the Excalibur. I was seated in the Dragon section, so we could cheer for the bad guy. Unfortunately, he lost in the end :(. Nevertheless, they did an excellent job in delivering a good show and I enjoyed it a lot.
Next was a show of The Sin City Comedy Club. It was a fun event, but I was a bit distraught by two things. First, by my neighbours who ended up talking amongst themselves more than paying attention to the show. And second, the fact that every comedian repeatedly pointed out that it was all Comedy and shouldn't be taken seriously. Come on, that's supposed to be self-evident!
Even though it was a long day, I felt like going out to party. So I headed over to the New York New York and paid the Coyote Ugly a visit. That was fun. There were lots of girls dancing on the bar and some of the songs they played were actually good.
Visiting Vegas was definitely worth it, even though I ended up spending a lot of money on entertainment, food and shopping ;).
Luxor
All pictures from Las Vegas can be found in my webalbum.Labels: Fun, pictures, road trip, usa
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