Germany - Irsee and Kaufbeuren Part I

So after we got back from Ottawa we set off bright and early on Friday to Munich. There we were met by the two awesome friends that had invited us to come to the oldest Renaissance Festival in Germany (link in German).

Irsee was the town we were staying in, and we drove through the idyllic Bavarian countryside for about an hour to get to it. My friend Chrome64 was right, the whole place looked straight out of a fairy tale.

At the house we met our other partners in crime, a pair from London. We hauled our bags up to our room and then had a traditional Bavarian lunch. For those of you wondering: ham loaf, mustard, soft pretzel bread, and of course beer. It was tasty, and I can see myself getting addicted to that type of food.  Luckily I live in the German neighborhood of Madrid and so I live right by both a German bar / restaurant and a German Market. So this is one type of international food that I can readily get.

Then we were off to a local Friday Market in Irsee.

The building across from this was filled with stalls and it was the here that I first remembered that I have very small Germany vocabulary. The thing that I regret about this trip is that my mind actually seem to reject learning new German words. I mean, I understand why, I need to really only learn Spanish right now, that is a priority for potential work and ease of living. But I wish I could have learned more German. In fact it is really only after coming home that I realized I knew more then I thought.

(Good day, woman, sir, goodbye, thank you, naturally, beer, pretzel, please - Guten Tag, Frau, Herr, auf Wiedersehen, danke, natürlich, Bier, Brezel, bitte - I did learn that last word there).

At this little stall below we bought edible flowers and I made everyone in the group eat Nasturtium flowers for the first time. If you have never eaten one, and you like spicy foods like radishes, go forth directly and try one. To me they are an addictive treat.

Can you see the local village May pole in front of the Monastery? Click to enlarge, I found that most of them had little figures on branches like this one does.

This was a stable that looked like a house. Do you see the cow? In the other window there was a sewing machine. Very random, but cute and picturesque. Then the old woman that own the cow came up smiling and tried to talk to us and we fled smiling and nodding. (Please see note above concerning my limited German vocab.)

I mean look at the views of this village. Sigh, it most reminds me of when I lived in upstate NY, wildflowers all summer, a fresh breeze playing with your hair, and abundant sunshine.

We arrived shortly before the Renaissance festival started because we needed to go to the local wool shop. Which happens to be the one local wool shop that I remembered to take a photograph of. You can see that the woman is closing up after the day. This wool shop is part of a chain and Chrome64 told me that it wasn't very big, so I was not expecting much. Wow, the yarn was so cheap in price but good in quality! There were great brands like Regia and Opal, the colors were amazing, and I had a hard time getting out of there without buying more. In the clearance section I got an generous sweaters (1600m) worth of sock yarn for 16€!

We went on to celebrate in the festival. It s a very local festival and I do not have a doubt that we were the only internationals. Our host told us that there is a law in Germany that the houses cannot be built higher then a certain level, so that the church steeple can be seen well as it towers above the rooftops. It is a beautiful village.

Then after this it started to get dark and the beer started flowing. It did finally rain for quite a while as well.

 I think I shall do a post a day for Germany.

Tomorrow, we visit the Llama farm.