July 08, 2002
the kaltenberger knight tournament
Yesterday we spent way too much in order to see a knight's tournament held yearly in Kaltenburg, outside Munich. It was a little more authentic than an American Rennaissance fair but not by much. The joust itself was an elaborate scripted battle between four good knights and four bad, the latter led by the "Black Knight," whom we cheered for loudly whenever possible. Unfortunately his unjust, backstabbing ways eventually brought about his own downfall (darn). Then the cast was introduced to the refrain of Beethoven's Ninth, a moving experience the first time around, but becoming plain old irritating after it had looped for about the 20th time.
It was medium grade fun but a bit too predictable. The coolest part of the whole excursion came after the tournament when we listened to an outdoor band consisting only of bagpipes, horns, and drums, with no mikes or electronic anything. There were about eight guys in the band, most clothed only in slatted leather barbarian kilt-like things. One was completely bald except for two tiny red horns of hair on either side. Another, the lead singer, had a long brown mane and evoked Mel Gibson from Braveheart. In the back there was a drummer with red hair and a skinny build whose arms flew up, repelled, from the drum which he beat on slave-ship style, and he was probably the most fun to watch. And the sound, the sound of these guys, was strange, a mix of Scottish bagpipes, primeval drum rumblings, and something like Rammstein unplugged.
Here's a colorful character we ran across. Don't even try to tell me he doesn't look like Gimli...
