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One of our most painless journeys for an event: travel to Frankfurt via London City airport, the small 'business' airport in the east end, just 20 mins cab ride from our flat. No trekking via Tube to Heathrow, no 2 hr lead time before even reaching the airport. Bliss.
Frankfurt is one of the civilised cities that has a train station *at* the airport, making the next part painless too, though it's stinking hot. We spot Sir Peregrine in the airport and manage the train ticket machine ok, though with too little time to visit with him or with Ozbeg and Kat, who are somewhere in the airport.
Instead we bump into Duncan and Helena from Harplestane, who have backtracked when their train didn't go to the expected destination and are standing on a platform halfway to Witzenhausen Nord, on our way to Burg Ludwigstein.
Arriving we find the castle shuttle waiting and hand our bags in, and the shuttle drops us off in town to browse. It's a picturesque town built on a hill, with cobbled streets and small boutiques in the highstreet, and no chain stores I can see. (The Aldi, Lidl and other grocery store are on the flat wide ground on the other side of the river.)
For some reason, it feels like every fourth shop is an apothek - a pharmacy - not just here, but in Worms too, where we wrap up our trip (more later). None of them seems very large, and they're all airy and have most of their stock behind the counter - about as unlike a Boots, chock full of toiletries and cosmetics as you could picture. Apparently pharmacists here don't muck about selling makeup and shampoo, unless it's medicated. And a very helpful lady at one points out where to find lamp oil and the best groceries.
I don't know if the Germans are very concerned about their health, or they just don't have chain pharmacies that are halfway to being grocery stores the way they are in London. Certainly from the numbers, there's no shortage of pharmacists to consult.
So on to the castle - it's melting hot, high 20s C and very humid. The castle is, unsurprisingly, on a steep hill, and the valley is full of cherry trees - this is apparently the cherry capital of Germany, with a cherry queen and festival and all.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
edith_hedingham and jpgsawyer find cherries by the kg on the roadside, and they're beautifully sweet.
Blessedly the early arrivals have set up our pavilion, so we only have to set up our own bed and hangings to make it all mod con. And we have the excellent company of terafan, who is catching up with his pavalino-mates in the mostly-Insulae-Draconis encampment. It was like old times, sliding straight back into company chatting and laughing and hearing about how people recognise his stuff from the internet ('are you sure you didn't buy that? cause I saw one just like it on the internet, on this website called greydragon.org') and have no idea who he is.
He's the premier of the equestrian order in Atlantia (one of his many earlier homelands) and is one of the leading lights in equestrian activities at Gulf Wars. The opening procession, with all the royals on horseback, starts *on time* when he's in charge :-), much to the shock of some participants!
I've told him if he ever stewards the event from horseback, the way he wants to, I'll go to Gulf Wars myself to see it. It would bring the game to a new level to have the guy in charge of the encampment of a war supervising from horseback - NO GOLF CARTS.
We had the happy chance to drive with him from the site on to Worms on Sunday, and visit in the car the way we used to on long trips around Drachenwald - that alone was almost worth the price of admission.
Absolutely sweltering. It's hard to lace into a fitted gown but the skirt is cooler than my jeans.
Dinner is in the dining hall in the castle and it's our first real look at the site - again, perched on a hill, with steep stairs everywhere. Even the closest outbuilding, where breakfast and lunch are served and near the tourney field, is several steep sets of stairs from the castle. It has a small courtyard with buildings all round, and one is the indoor kitchen and dining hall, where we have great slabs of meat, sausages, pasta, and pickled salads.
We catch up there with Bartholomew and katherine from Southron Guard, who are on an extended visit travelling round Europe (unfortunately their colds caught up with them too, and they're voiceless for almost all the event, with K feeling particularly low). And see many others, including Etienne and Melisende. Etienne and Cernac are beginning to resemble each other in a way I'd never have have guessed when I met them. :-)
The Two Barons tavern, in the cellar of the main building and shaded from all directions, proves to be the coolest spot in the whole site! though I'm told the swimming was wonderfully cooling for those who were starting to suffer from the heat. To me, it felt like a heatwave, but it felt *right* - it's late June, it should be hot.
Frankfurt is one of the civilised cities that has a train station *at* the airport, making the next part painless too, though it's stinking hot. We spot Sir Peregrine in the airport and manage the train ticket machine ok, though with too little time to visit with him or with Ozbeg and Kat, who are somewhere in the airport.
Instead we bump into Duncan and Helena from Harplestane, who have backtracked when their train didn't go to the expected destination and are standing on a platform halfway to Witzenhausen Nord, on our way to Burg Ludwigstein.
Arriving we find the castle shuttle waiting and hand our bags in, and the shuttle drops us off in town to browse. It's a picturesque town built on a hill, with cobbled streets and small boutiques in the highstreet, and no chain stores I can see. (The Aldi, Lidl and other grocery store are on the flat wide ground on the other side of the river.)
For some reason, it feels like every fourth shop is an apothek - a pharmacy - not just here, but in Worms too, where we wrap up our trip (more later). None of them seems very large, and they're all airy and have most of their stock behind the counter - about as unlike a Boots, chock full of toiletries and cosmetics as you could picture. Apparently pharmacists here don't muck about selling makeup and shampoo, unless it's medicated. And a very helpful lady at one points out where to find lamp oil and the best groceries.
I don't know if the Germans are very concerned about their health, or they just don't have chain pharmacies that are halfway to being grocery stores the way they are in London. Certainly from the numbers, there's no shortage of pharmacists to consult.
So on to the castle - it's melting hot, high 20s C and very humid. The castle is, unsurprisingly, on a steep hill, and the valley is full of cherry trees - this is apparently the cherry capital of Germany, with a cherry queen and festival and all.
edith_hedingham and jpgsawyer find cherries by the kg on the roadside, and they're beautifully sweet.Blessedly the early arrivals have set up our pavilion, so we only have to set up our own bed and hangings to make it all mod con. And we have the excellent company of terafan, who is catching up with his pavalino-mates in the mostly-Insulae-Draconis encampment. It was like old times, sliding straight back into company chatting and laughing and hearing about how people recognise his stuff from the internet ('are you sure you didn't buy that? cause I saw one just like it on the internet, on this website called greydragon.org') and have no idea who he is.
He's the premier of the equestrian order in Atlantia (one of his many earlier homelands) and is one of the leading lights in equestrian activities at Gulf Wars. The opening procession, with all the royals on horseback, starts *on time* when he's in charge :-), much to the shock of some participants!
I've told him if he ever stewards the event from horseback, the way he wants to, I'll go to Gulf Wars myself to see it. It would bring the game to a new level to have the guy in charge of the encampment of a war supervising from horseback - NO GOLF CARTS.
We had the happy chance to drive with him from the site on to Worms on Sunday, and visit in the car the way we used to on long trips around Drachenwald - that alone was almost worth the price of admission.
Absolutely sweltering. It's hard to lace into a fitted gown but the skirt is cooler than my jeans.
Dinner is in the dining hall in the castle and it's our first real look at the site - again, perched on a hill, with steep stairs everywhere. Even the closest outbuilding, where breakfast and lunch are served and near the tourney field, is several steep sets of stairs from the castle. It has a small courtyard with buildings all round, and one is the indoor kitchen and dining hall, where we have great slabs of meat, sausages, pasta, and pickled salads.
We catch up there with Bartholomew and katherine from Southron Guard, who are on an extended visit travelling round Europe (unfortunately their colds caught up with them too, and they're voiceless for almost all the event, with K feeling particularly low). And see many others, including Etienne and Melisende. Etienne and Cernac are beginning to resemble each other in a way I'd never have have guessed when I met them. :-)
The Two Barons tavern, in the cellar of the main building and shaded from all directions, proves to be the coolest spot in the whole site! though I'm told the swimming was wonderfully cooling for those who were starting to suffer from the heat. To me, it felt like a heatwave, but it felt *right* - it's late June, it should be hot.
