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The rest of the trip to 12th Night
Jan. 16th, 2024 11:54 am After I finished my conference talk and listening to the other talks that session, I called Keldor, who had thought about spending the day at Universeum, which is very near the conference site. But he decided that since we had a flight to catch in the afternoon, perhaps there wouldn't be enough time for that adventure, so he was instead enjoying the displays at the World Culture Museum, which is only half a block further away from the conference site. So I checked our backpacks into the conference coat room and took my sewing project with me to the museum. Keldor had already had a couple of hours to explore, so he guided me first to the cellar, where they have a display on games, lots and lots of games, from lots of different time periods and lots of different countries. One of the displays was a board game we hadn't seen before, Chaturaji, first described in detail c. 1030 by Al-Biruni in his book India. They board (actually a table, with the board painted on top, and cups set in for the captured pieces), and instructions printed on the wall beside it. Of course we had to play.
Since this is a four-person game I played blue and red, while he played yellow and green. While this is a variant on chess, the moves are determined by rolling the dice, which adds a random component to the game that I, who am terrible at planning long-term strategy for chess, really appreciated. Just as we had finished the game, and set the board back up for the next player, our friend Daniel arrived. He'd just finished sitting an exam, and had the rest of the day available, so he decided to meet up with us. I was very surprised, as Keldor hadn't mentioned the plans to me, but it was super fun to see him. Of course, we asked him if he'd seen the game before, and we hadn't, so we sat back down and the three of us played (I took blue, of course, and Daniel red, and Keldor, who had won the first game, got to play both yellow and green). Due to the dice-rolling nature of the game, it is actually easier to play fair and have the two colours played by a single player attack one another, as it makes sense to capture a piece if the dice permit (since, in the variation of the game rules posted on the wall of the museum, the winner is the first to have captured 15 points worth of pieces, though the above linked wiki page says that you just keep going for the maximum number of points, and if you are lucky enough to get everyone else's king without losing your own you get bonus points). Daniel won that game, and then we went exploring through other parts of the museum, where I climbed onto and into things designed to be climbed into or onto like the small child I am. It was fun.
While much of the museum content is modern, or last century, there were things of interest hidden here and there for we who enjoy best things from the Stone Age through to the Middle Ages, including swords, musical instruments, shoes, and even a fish-skin parka that Keldor wants to make a copy of.
After playing and looking at stuff for quite a while we went to the cafe, where I had some salted caramel cheesecake (which Keldor helped me eat), and they had some coffee. Then I worked on my sewing project and chatted with Keldor and Daniel till it was time to go get our bags and head to the stop for the airport bus.
The bus trip went pretty quickly, and soon we were through security and at our gate, where we had plenty of time to do a quest for something I would like for dinner and make more progress on my sewing. (Gothenburg airport is not a good place to be hungry for vegetables if you don't tolerate things that are pickled--after checking all the options and determining that 100% of the veg available has been contaminated with vinegar; I finally settled for a plain scone, which turned out to be too sweet. There is a reason I normally bring food with me when I travel!)
More sewing was accomplished on the flight to Munich. However, our final "flight" of the day was a bus from Munich airport to Nuremberg airport. If I had known that when I was booking, I would have booked only as far as Munich, and then gotten a rental car for the rest of the trip, but I didn't notice till after the purchase was complete. It took us a while to find the right bus stop, but when we did there was a young man waiting for the bus who lives in Nuremberg and could confirm that we were at the right place. It was -5 C as we waited, so I was very glad that I had brought my fur-lined hood and muff (which I expected to need while watching the tournament, but which turned out to be perfect for waiting for public transit). We chatted with the guy, who had just returned from a two week vacation in Majorca, where he very much enjoyed the warm weather and the ocean. The subject of where we live, and where all I have lived came up, which led to discussion of spur of the moment moves to new countries, which, of course, lead to telling the story of how my mother decided to marry my step dad before they had even met. He was quite surprised to hear the story, and even more surprised when I told him there is a documentary about it that my step sister had produced, so I called up the link and he took a photo of it. I will never know if he saw it or not, but he sounded genuinely interested in seeing it.
I continued sewing on the bus ride to Nuremberg, but the next day I looked at it, and took out the stitches from the last half hour of the trip--I was getting really tired by then. We arrived a little before Midnight, and were picked up by Maggie, who had fetched Kytte from her flight a short time before, and we all went back to Maggie's cute little apartment, in a German village about a half an hour drive from the airport. Her kids weren't with her this weekend, so Keldor and I took the bottom bunk of their bunk beds, and Kytte opted for the couch.
After breakfast the next morning Maggie took us first to a grocery store, to buy snacks for the day and for the event (including soft pretzels from the sore bakery, and skyr! I love skyr, and one can no longer buy it at grocery stores in my area. Well, they have the kinds with sicky sweet fruit sauce blended in, but I don't like that, only the "natural" sort, which they quit carrying years ago), then she dropped us off at the National Museum in Nuremberg and went to meet Orianne to do the grocery shopping for the event. I had sewing to do, so I took a table in the caffe, and some tea and a raspberry tart, and happily made sewing progress while Keldor borrowed my phone (his camera battery was nearly flat, as his charging cable wasn't working anymore) and he and Kytte went off to look at the exhibits. I asked the cafe people if the gift shop sells chargers, and they said no, but they could loan me one, what size do I need? So when Keldor and Kytte decided to take a museum break and get some coffee I was able to give him a phone that works again, and get mine back. We had a nice visit, they showed me highlight photos, and then they resumed museum looking, and I sewed a bit more. Then I took a break for some lunch. I asked the kitchen what was safe for me to eat (the waitress didn't have enough English to understand the part about wanting to avoid vinegar and wine). Sadly, the barley soup, which sounded good, had white wine in it. He asked me if I eat meat, and I replied that I mostly eat vegetarian, but occasional meat is ok. He said that in that case I must have the sausage, which is a signature dish of the area. It normally has a side of potato salad, so I asked if that has vinegar. It does, but he offered instead mashed potatoes. Perfect! Served it with a garnish of some pretty, tiny, green leafy vegetable, and freshly grated horseradish, and I enjoyed that meal. The meal was finished and I had resumed sewing before Keldor and Kytte returned to say that Maggie was on the way back for us.
We arrived on site just as the previous group was finishing loading up their sound equipment etc into cars, so we helped unload the food and then set up tables and chairs in the main hall before finding our cabins and changing into tunics for the event.
Since this is a four-person game I played blue and red, while he played yellow and green. While this is a variant on chess, the moves are determined by rolling the dice, which adds a random component to the game that I, who am terrible at planning long-term strategy for chess, really appreciated. Just as we had finished the game, and set the board back up for the next player, our friend Daniel arrived. He'd just finished sitting an exam, and had the rest of the day available, so he decided to meet up with us. I was very surprised, as Keldor hadn't mentioned the plans to me, but it was super fun to see him. Of course, we asked him if he'd seen the game before, and we hadn't, so we sat back down and the three of us played (I took blue, of course, and Daniel red, and Keldor, who had won the first game, got to play both yellow and green). Due to the dice-rolling nature of the game, it is actually easier to play fair and have the two colours played by a single player attack one another, as it makes sense to capture a piece if the dice permit (since, in the variation of the game rules posted on the wall of the museum, the winner is the first to have captured 15 points worth of pieces, though the above linked wiki page says that you just keep going for the maximum number of points, and if you are lucky enough to get everyone else's king without losing your own you get bonus points). Daniel won that game, and then we went exploring through other parts of the museum, where I climbed onto and into things designed to be climbed into or onto like the small child I am. It was fun.
While much of the museum content is modern, or last century, there were things of interest hidden here and there for we who enjoy best things from the Stone Age through to the Middle Ages, including swords, musical instruments, shoes, and even a fish-skin parka that Keldor wants to make a copy of.
After playing and looking at stuff for quite a while we went to the cafe, where I had some salted caramel cheesecake (which Keldor helped me eat), and they had some coffee. Then I worked on my sewing project and chatted with Keldor and Daniel till it was time to go get our bags and head to the stop for the airport bus.
The bus trip went pretty quickly, and soon we were through security and at our gate, where we had plenty of time to do a quest for something I would like for dinner and make more progress on my sewing. (Gothenburg airport is not a good place to be hungry for vegetables if you don't tolerate things that are pickled--after checking all the options and determining that 100% of the veg available has been contaminated with vinegar; I finally settled for a plain scone, which turned out to be too sweet. There is a reason I normally bring food with me when I travel!)
More sewing was accomplished on the flight to Munich. However, our final "flight" of the day was a bus from Munich airport to Nuremberg airport. If I had known that when I was booking, I would have booked only as far as Munich, and then gotten a rental car for the rest of the trip, but I didn't notice till after the purchase was complete. It took us a while to find the right bus stop, but when we did there was a young man waiting for the bus who lives in Nuremberg and could confirm that we were at the right place. It was -5 C as we waited, so I was very glad that I had brought my fur-lined hood and muff (which I expected to need while watching the tournament, but which turned out to be perfect for waiting for public transit). We chatted with the guy, who had just returned from a two week vacation in Majorca, where he very much enjoyed the warm weather and the ocean. The subject of where we live, and where all I have lived came up, which led to discussion of spur of the moment moves to new countries, which, of course, lead to telling the story of how my mother decided to marry my step dad before they had even met. He was quite surprised to hear the story, and even more surprised when I told him there is a documentary about it that my step sister had produced, so I called up the link and he took a photo of it. I will never know if he saw it or not, but he sounded genuinely interested in seeing it.
I continued sewing on the bus ride to Nuremberg, but the next day I looked at it, and took out the stitches from the last half hour of the trip--I was getting really tired by then. We arrived a little before Midnight, and were picked up by Maggie, who had fetched Kytte from her flight a short time before, and we all went back to Maggie's cute little apartment, in a German village about a half an hour drive from the airport. Her kids weren't with her this weekend, so Keldor and I took the bottom bunk of their bunk beds, and Kytte opted for the couch.
After breakfast the next morning Maggie took us first to a grocery store, to buy snacks for the day and for the event (including soft pretzels from the sore bakery, and skyr! I love skyr, and one can no longer buy it at grocery stores in my area. Well, they have the kinds with sicky sweet fruit sauce blended in, but I don't like that, only the "natural" sort, which they quit carrying years ago), then she dropped us off at the National Museum in Nuremberg and went to meet Orianne to do the grocery shopping for the event. I had sewing to do, so I took a table in the caffe, and some tea and a raspberry tart, and happily made sewing progress while Keldor borrowed my phone (his camera battery was nearly flat, as his charging cable wasn't working anymore) and he and Kytte went off to look at the exhibits. I asked the cafe people if the gift shop sells chargers, and they said no, but they could loan me one, what size do I need? So when Keldor and Kytte decided to take a museum break and get some coffee I was able to give him a phone that works again, and get mine back. We had a nice visit, they showed me highlight photos, and then they resumed museum looking, and I sewed a bit more. Then I took a break for some lunch. I asked the kitchen what was safe for me to eat (the waitress didn't have enough English to understand the part about wanting to avoid vinegar and wine). Sadly, the barley soup, which sounded good, had white wine in it. He asked me if I eat meat, and I replied that I mostly eat vegetarian, but occasional meat is ok. He said that in that case I must have the sausage, which is a signature dish of the area. It normally has a side of potato salad, so I asked if that has vinegar. It does, but he offered instead mashed potatoes. Perfect! Served it with a garnish of some pretty, tiny, green leafy vegetable, and freshly grated horseradish, and I enjoyed that meal. The meal was finished and I had resumed sewing before Keldor and Kytte returned to say that Maggie was on the way back for us.
We arrived on site just as the previous group was finishing loading up their sound equipment etc into cars, so we helped unload the food and then set up tables and chairs in the main hall before finding our cabins and changing into tunics for the event.
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