Trier is nestled in the south-west corner of Germany, near Luxembourg. It prides itself as being "Germany's Oldest City", claiming to be founded by the Romans in or before 16 BC. That's pre-Jesus!! Every year they host Germany's largest Roman festival during the summer. We saw it mentioned in the local "what's going on" circular that the army puts out for the troops and decided to hit it up.
We arrived in the afternoon and headed toward the old "arena" that dates backs to the Romans. Here's an aerial shot from the Google:
View Larger Map
So we get our tickets and head into the arena. It's pretty cool looking and the only thing really negative about it is that it's filled with Germans. Seriously, they're starting to annoy me with their... German-ness? Even though I usually abhor anecdotal stories to make a judgment over something, I'll relay a little story to you from the Romanfest:
There's a little tent set up where they're selling concessions for the show. Nothing crazy; beers, sodas, fries, brats. The line is about 10 deep, but we're thirsty and I cue up to wait my turn. I get up to the front and I'm about 2 back from ordering. Suddenly, a couple of fat, old Germans (is there any other kind?) sidle up into the line in front of some kids that were in line in front of me. I voice my objection, but they kind of ignore me. Fortunately, who should come to my aid but some oddly-mustached German guy behind me. He had a long waxed mustached, a little like this guy:
So he hears me and reaches over and taps the rude German on the shoulder to get his attention. He yells something to him, I assume about how the line is behind us and who does he think he is to cut in front of us. Fatty acts flustered and pretends that he didn't know that he was supposed to be in line. This is a classic German move that they pull if you catch them doing something that they shouldn't. So finally the line moves forward and we get up to the front. As the girl at the counter is finishing up with the last order, I quickly jump the gun and yell my order at her before she has the chance to ask. It kind of throws the counter girl and the fatty off. She looks at fatty, as if to say "who's next?" Fatty insists that he's the next guy in line but I interrupt him and tell the counter girl that I am indeed next guy in line since fatty cut in. My good looks and confidence played out, and the girl serves me my drink. Better luck next time, fattius!
So once we get to our seats and settles, the show starts. Now, we had been hyping up this show to Aidan for a couple of days. We were telling him about gladiators and all the fighting that was going to be going on during this "Gladiatorial Spectacular" (That's what they billed it as on their website!). But when the show starts, there's a couple of things wrong. 1) There's no gladiators anywhere to be seen. Just some dudes in Roman robes. 2) They're speaking German. I totally understand that I'm in Germany, and that's to be expected. However, I wasn't expecting this to be a drama of some sort with lots of dialog to shift through. I just wanted to go in and see some gladiator fights. 3) Holy shit, it's 15 minutes into this thing and they've had a freaking musical number, but not one gladiator.
Aidan is starting to get antsy. "Where's the fighting?," he wants to know. "It's coming, just be patient," I try to assure him. But I'm getting a little worried myself. It's only a matter of time before he starts to hit me with the dreaded, "This is BORING!"
Fortunately, the fates smile on us and out come about 10 or 15 gladiators. I'll give it to them, they're costumes were pretty cool. So finally, they start with some fighting and Aidan is satisfied. They started with some practice bouts, with wooden swords, and then worked up to the full armor and swords. I managed to get some pretty decent video of the matches. Just so you know, the music wasn't my addition; that's what they were playing there.
No comments:
Post a Comment