Festival Mediaval 2013 - Nordic Special

This last weekend we've been to Selb to the Mediaval Festival..This year they had a "Nordic" special, so many great bands played those days.

Omnia

First we saw Omnia. It was our first concert of them. They often played at placed nearby, but we always thought, "we'll see them again this year" but then we didn't go there. And last year we had to drive home just before their concert. So this was our first concert. It was really great. They played some songs that we didn't know (we don't have all cds). But it was a great atmosphere. :D




 

Faun

The second band was Faun. As you might have heard I wasn't happy about their new cd (which sounds like german folk-pop). But I always wanted to give them a chance. The acoustic concert in April was already great, but I haven't heard a normal concert since they published their cd. So it was afraid they could play many new songs on their concert. But the total opposite happened. They only played one song of the new cd and the others were so great, many of my fave songs "Rhiannon", "Iyansa" and the great "Wind & Geige" which I haven't heard for a while in their concerts. And not to forget "Iduna" which I've never heard on a concert before. For me it was the best concert ever. Was it because of my expactations? I don't know..

Kauna

The next day we saw Oliver Satyr with the new project "Kauna". Sadly there was no cd existing otherwise I would have bought it. They played swedish/nordic folk. :D

Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Wine

Then we saw Dandelion Wine, a band from Australia. Hm, the music is hard to decribe. It was kind of medieval with electro. It was a bit strange, but at the end I liked it and was a bit sad that I didn't buy a cd. The funny was the female member, before the show you could vote for some weeks, which hair colour she should have at the concert. You can see the result.

Euzen

The singer of Euzen and Omnia

After that show we saw Euzen. Well, this year we liked many bands. Euzen are from Denmark and they also made a great concert. It sounds a bit like Björk in my ears. ;) Normally I don't like that kind of music, but this band I can recommand. We've also bought the cd, but the concert was much better, esp. the beats and atmosphere (sadly they didn't play in the night, the concert would have been even more better).

Poeta Magica with Saga

In the evening the first band we saw was "Poeta Magica". They have changed so much since we last saw them (in 2003). They made music to the islandic saga "Edda". The ensemble exist of 9 people (including a narrator). First I thought it was a bit for a concert with chairs. But after this thought it completely changed and we saw a mix of a medieval/rock-legend. :D I wish there would be a dvd on this concert.

Garmarna

Emma Härdelin

The best concert of the whole weekend was in front of us. -GARMARNA- I guess I've never been that curious before of a concert. The soundcheck was already great (they played one complete song) and yeah, the concert. I cannot tell it. The band haven't played a concert for around 12 years in Germany and it was the only one for past and future. They played songs like "Herr Mannelig", "Vänner och frände", "Herr Holger" and many more great songs. They also played a "new" song. Well, it wasn't new as it was written many years ago for a new cd, but it was new to the fans. And I was surprised that the other band members (I only knew Emma Härdelin from a Triakel concert before) were so much "rocking". ;) It was a big fun to see them perform on the stage. I really hope they'll make a new cd and more concerts in the future. I will never forget this concert. :D

Strömkarlen

The last day we saw some more bands like Cara, little of BerlinskiBeat (didn't know that those are the members of Corvus Corax),..
And we saw "Strömkarlen", who also played folk music from the North. They were calmer than the other bands that played that weekend, but still very nice.

Valravn

Valravn

And in the evening our last band of the festival were "Valravn". It was their last concert and they play pagan folk with electronic beats. It was something else than I had expected here, too. But some music was nice, so I bought one of their cds as well. ;)




I can say that I liked this festival even more than the one last year (which is because of the wonderful concerts of Faun and Garmarna). I saw many interesting bands and so many different people. This year it wasn't so authentic like the last year. It was a mix of hippies, medieval, normal and fantasy people. ;) The food smelled nice, unfortunately I couldn't eat a lot of it because of my gall bladder. But this bad topic will be hopefully over as I'll get a surgery next week. :D 

The first time Volker told me to buy something.. wooden rubberstamps.. :D

Board games #1

Finally I decided to post some opinions on board games that we have played. Well, the ones in this post we've played this last weekend with Helena and Benni. Those were mostly new ones which played for the first time (and due to lack of time some we haven't finished).

The first one is "Seasons". It is a game of a challenge between wizards. After a long explanation, which isn't so hard at the end, we finally started to play it. First we had to chooses cards that we wanted to play within the game. The game was split into years and seasons. And you had to decide for 3 cards in each of the 3 years. That part was the longest part. The rest was a faster game. Someone rolled the dices and everyone had to take one of the dices (which had energy and other things you needed for the cards). In every season there were other dices and other chances to get other energy. At the end the winner won with the best cards he played in the years and crystals that he got within the game.
Well, my opinion on this game. After I understood the rules, it was very easy to play and much fun to play. But there could be different cards for the first round. But I guess that is solved with the "professional" cards or the add ons you can already buy for the game. I can totally recommand the game. Seasons is for 2-4 players. They say it is for age 14+, but I think also kids around the 11/12 can play it.

Another game that we played this weekend was "Hanabi". This game was a teamwork game, so no winner at the end. The players try to make a firework together. The game is a card game and everyone gets 4 cards. The difference between other card games and this one: You have to hold the cards in your hands that the other players can see them and "not" you. ;) You can give hints to the other player by saying which cards are the same colour or number, but not both at the same time. And the hints are limited. Normally there should be no other conversation around. ;) But when the hints are getting less and less, you start to give hidden hints.. ;) The plan of the game is to make a row of cards from 1-5 in 5 different colours.
I liked this game a lot. It is short, easy to understand (the biggest problem is it to put the cards in your hand, so you cannot see them ;) ) and much fun. It is for age 8+ and 2-5 players. We played it with 4 and 5 players, so I don't know how it'll be with 2 players. But this game is not for players who don't like teamwork.

And the last game I'd like to introduce to you: "Mystery Rummy - Jack the Ripper".. This one was laying in our game shelf for 2 years I guess. The rules were so complicated that we never played it before. But this weekend we finally made it and the rules were harder explained than it was to play. The game is a mix of crime and rummy game. You play cards of crime victims (here Jack the Ripper victims) and after one of those are played, you can play hints and alibis to the murderers. It is a bit like rummy in that way as you can only play hints when you have 3 same hints. The game ends when someone has no more card (like in Rummy) or if Jack the Ripper wasn't found (which can happen after all 5 victims are played).
This game was much fun to play (maybe because I was very good after the first two rounds). It is for 2-4 players, too and age 8+. But here I would put the age higher because of the "Jack the Ripper" theme. After someone understood the rules and can explain it easier, it could be fun to play, esp. if you like rummy and card games. The winner is hidden until the end as the point results can change from round to round.

Please tell me if you want other reviews or short explanation of the games we have at home. You can see a list here on the blog. And I'll do my best to write a review as soon as possible.

And I cannot tell you if the games are available in English. You need to have a look in your country.

Holidays in the South

Feldkirch

Oh my, I just saw that I forgot to make a post about our holidays in Austria /Switzerland and at the Lake Constance. But now it'll finally follow.

Schattenburg in Feldkirch

We've been there from the end of June for 10 days. On the first days we've been to Petra (my pal) and her family. We stayed in front of their house in our camper. It was really nice to see Petra and her family again. We've done some trips every day. Sadly we couldn't make any hiking tours in the Alps as the weather was too bad. On our first day we visited Feldkirch (Austria) and made a geocaching tour with them in the town. It is their hometown and it was a good way to make a sightseeing tour out of it. :)

Village around castle Werdenburg

The next day it rained so much that we drove to a museum which was very interesting for the kids. There was a lot with nature and technic.
The next day we've been to Switzerland. We visited the castle Werdenburg which had a really nice medieval village around. And we drove to a really nice viewpoint to see the Alps around. :) Well, the journey on the "little" mountain was already a little adventure. I'm afraid of heights so it was hard for me to drive that high. ;)

Konstanz

The next day we left Petra and her family to drive to Lake Constance. We stayed on a camping site near Constance. I always wanted to see Constance because of the medieval history and I have to say, I really liked the city. We also explored with some geocaches which let us go to places which we would have never visited without geocaching. An old abbey, the oldest quarter of the city with the small streets,... And we crossed the border to Switzerland again. ;)

Konzil in Konstanz

On another day we drove to Meersburg, which is also a nice medieval town. But I liked more the stone age museum in Unteruhldingen. It was so interesting and I've never seen or visited houses like those before.

Unteruhldingen

And we've also made a day trip to the island Mainau. Well, there are a lot of tourists, but at least it is a nice island and it was cooler than at the camping site. ;) But in my opinion I don't need to pay the entrance again as I can have something like that in Hannover, too (also if it isn't an island).

Schaffhausen

And on our last day (we decided to drive back home earlier because of the heat and the mosquitos) we drove again to Switzerland to see the Rheinfall at Schaffhausen. That's really a nice waterfall, but again full of tourists.

I really loved our holiday in the South (we usually don't make trips to the South in summer). And thanks again for Petra that we have stayed at their place. :D

Slam swappers meeting in Amsterdam

Like last year there was a slam swapper meeting this year again. :)




This time it was in Amsterdam. The meeting was just "great". We arrived there on Friday midday, where we met everyone at the hostel. Well, due to some transport problems we were the last again, but hey, that always happen when Volker drives somewhere with me. ;) Volker and I stayed on a camping site out of the central city. The first day we walked around the canals and saw the red light district. And in the evening we went to a sushi bar (sadly I couldn't eat there because of my histamin intolerance). And after the dinner we made a little geocaching tour with the teams Gyldenale and i-t. :D And after around 2 hours we finally found a cache. I couldn't believe that there aren't many caches in Amsterdam.

The other day we met at the boat tour. We drove with a boat through the canals which was really interesting (well, before the meeting I didn't know any famous buildings or sightseeing of Amsterdam except the coffee shops). After that we made some pics at the "I amsterdam" sign which is harder to make when you are a group. ;) And the rest of the afternoon we spent in the park sunbathing and signing slams. The guys got little mad so they went geocaching again. ;) And the dinner we took at the Hard Rock Cafe (which isn't very friendly to big groups, also if they reserved the table). And as it is hard to find a good place for 25 people in Amsterdam we let the day end in the hostels bar. :D


I can say I totally liked this weekend, also if I didn't like Amsterdam a lot (it's now at the end of big cities and replaced Paris). But maybe I should visit the city in autumn when there are not that many people around. Too much traffic, too many people.. But it was great to see the girls again (thank you for the weekend!!!) and I'm still sorry for my BAD English.. :( Writing is much more easier then talking. Next time in Vienna I'll do my best. ;)

Weekend in the North

This last weekend we spent a weekend in the North, exactly in East Frisia. We visited some friends which we also introduced into geocaching. Before we arrived there we already found our first mystery in their hometown. ;) The next day we drove to an interesting Earth cache "Salt marsh" and we tried to find some caches in Norddeich. Some were easier to find as we already had such caches here in the region.

 

We also visited a Viking market. Sadly it was too windy to wear our medieval clothes. The market was close to the sea, so it was a really nice atmosphere. :D We had some really nice mead there. Well, the owner of stall gave us more and more. ;) We only wanted to taste the honey whisky, but at the end we had tried many other honey drinks, too. Normal mead, lavendel mead, cherry mead ;)



The next day we drove back home. But before we made a last stop at the most leaning tower of the world. Yes, it is in East Frisia. :D And between Emden and Delmenhorst we looked for a TB Hotel. Sadly there was no inhabitant in it, but this TB Hotel was just great. I guess the owner had put a lot of work in it.





Today I forgot to make pictures, but I finally found my first FTFs. I can say I found three FTFs. They were published by a friend of me and it was here in the forest. When I found my first one, our neighbor arrived there, too. She gave me her GPS yesterday as ours is broken again. :( She wanted to make her first FTF, too. But I was little bit faster.

31 days of geocaching #4

Today we went geocaching again. It is the 4th day in a row, not our longest row, but it'll one day. There is this 31 days of geocaching. You can get a souvenir on every day in August that you go geocaching. Today we wanted to look for a mystery that I already solved a few months ago. It is part of 5 other caches. So we drove there today during this hot weather (today it already felt cold as it was under 30°C). But then we stood in a little forest and were looking around. The hint said "above" and terrain 1,5, so it wouldn't be too hard. We were just before to drive back home, when Volker said, look is it this. We've never thought of anything like this. So this was a surprise and we solved it (as there was so much wood lying around). 

Close to the cache, was another one. Well, it was a nice idea, if the logbook wouldn't have fell directly in our hands. Normally you had look in all those little boxes to look for the logbook. But when we opened it, the logbook fell into our hands as the little box wasn't put together. :( But it was still fun to see it. :D

ATC part 2

Yesterday during the heat I managed to make some more ATCs, but guess the heat didn't make me very creative. What do you think? If you want to have any of the ATCs feel free to join my group and the swaps there. :) Hopefully I can try out some other techniques these days.
But we don't want to forget our geocaching challenge. I'm trying the 31 days of geocaching and already found 2/31. Today number 3 will follow but haven't decided for a cache yet.

Creative saturday during this heat

This heat makes me crazy. :( How could it get so hot in Germany, I want the 25°C!!! You couldn't go outside and go geocaching. This month we only found only some few caches, so I hope the August will be better. There you can get a souvenir everyday. :D I hope we can make it!

But I used this day for being a bit creative again and using my new rubberstamps. This time I didn't make any ATCs, but I made some envelopes and stationary again. So here are the results: