Daytrippin'

Apologies for the extended delay in posting everyone-- remember when I said I don't much care for trade shows? Well, I don't. On top of comically bad show accommodations (really? an RV in a gravel parking lot in 90 degree heat??), I missed my train connection to Friedrichshafen (thereby making the journey 5.5 hours in length), and I managed to injure myself at the show itself. A week of popping muscle relaxers like Tic Tacs and slumping on the couch followed by some mop-up work brings us here.

We've been trying to hit Bavarian cities of interest every few weekends or so, and the result has been a mixed bag. Regensburg was quite pleasant, and we very well may return. Wurzburg has an intriguing history, a palace downtown and a large fortress on a hill. But last weekend we chose to go to Ingolstadt, a city that lies almost exactly in between Nuremberg and Munich. Car geeks will know of this city because it is the HQ of Audi, and Gothic horror fans may recall it as being the setting for the book Frankenstein. But we went there with no particular plans other than to wander around the old city and soak in the atmosphere. The verdict? Meh. It's a very pleasant place, but... not a whole lot going on there (we chose not to go to the Audi Museum or view the assembly line). Ingolstadt's saving grace turned out to be the Herzogfest going on that weekend. No, we had no idea either, but it was a Renaissance Fair kicked into high gear-- a whole lot of Larpers who really get into this are the backbone-- though I had no idea you could get a falafel sandwich in olden times. We were warned as we entered to "eat first, then drink the mead, or you will have trouble!" What ye olde ticket lady meant had to do with the insanely lethal Mead Beer whose alcohol content was at least 10% if not higher (by comparison, Ireland's Guinness beer has 4.3% alcohol). So naturally we had a pint of the stuff. Wheeee! In the end, it was a day spent in a nice German town. But next time, I'll head for the car museum instead.