A family outing
In accordance with the prophecy and year-long planning, we attended the big Lower Rhenian trade fair last weekend. There, although I may be one of the biggest Luddites of my generation, I was finally convinced of the usefulness of tablets. I know I know, everyone uses them but I just didn't see the point so far. But now I finally acquired one.
... well I did tell you that I'm a big Luddite. I guess I should also have told you that the fair took place in the Archaeological Park in Xanten, on the site that used to be Colonia Ulpia Traiana back in the day. (It's the final stop of the Via Agrippa I line, all the way up in Germania.) OK I'm sorry, but that map is SO up my alley. I'll try to behave now. [Incidentally, would anyone know whether there's already a literary universe in which the Roman Empire never actually ended (or only ended by turning back into a New Republic or something) and the rest of history and technological development is just sort of based on that premise? IRONPVNK or what would you call it? Yes? No? Because that sounds like something that should exist.]
But for now, back to Xanten/CUT! For my part, I enjoyed it. We've been meaning to visit the APX for years, so the fact alone that we finally made the time makes me happy. The "Roman trade fair" as such wasn't actually more than a glorified RenFaire - RomeFaire? - but as I like that kind of thing, that's perfectly fine. Jörg observed how the dedication and accuracy varied from stall to stall and some groups were better than others. Well, why should living ancient history be any different from living medieval history, I guess. Meanwhile, I admired the patience with which (most of) the living history folks answered the questions posed by some of the less smart visitors. I wouldn't have been able to hold back the snark. I mean, I know I'm a privileged intellectual snob, but some questions... "Oh, did the Romans actually know iron?" (No, of course not, we just call it the Iron Age for kicks and giggles.) - "But that brightly coloured wool, surely that's not authentic, they didn't have colourful dyes back in the day!" (That's correct, actually all of history was black-and-white or sepia only.) - "But the Romans weren't really here, were they!" (No, we stole all that ancient stuff from Italy, dumped it here and put grass on it, just so we could dig it up again for your delectation. OR MAYBE THE SPACE ALIENS DID.)
And these questions didn't come from the little kiddies, in which case I wouldn't object!
Oh well. Let's hope these people left a bit smarter and won't express their surprise that medieval folks, too, already knew iron (or fire!) at the next RenFaire. (You get the same questions there.)
Like with any trade fair, the main purpose was Networking, networking, networking. OK I'LL STOP I PROMISE.
There were a lot of Try-it-out workshops for kiddies and grown-ups. Unfortunately, ours couldn't be excited in most of them, although Felix did at least hammer out a lil' copper pendant with my help. But they didn't want to try out any of the other crafts on offer, no basket-weaving, no pottery, no nothing. So for them, it was more like an extended stroll w/ some ancient Roman stuff thrown in.
I have many happy memories of that amphitheatre. When I was a teen, we went there each summer for one of the theatrical performances. (Yes, that's how old I am! :P Haha. Actually they've just rebuilt enough of it to use it as a working theatre again, and up until 2012 each summer saw a series of opera, musicals and pop concerts in the arena. You get to enter the park after closing hours and sit on the reconstructed tiers on a pleasant summer evening and GOOSEBUMPS. These were always very special occasions which I vividly remember and treasure, especially Nabucco and Aïda, which maybe explains my love for traditionalist performances of epic bombast opera, IDK.)
Something I also remembered from these teenage adventures - and something that was way more important to my own kids than any of the boring historical stuff! ;) - was that the APX had an awesome adventure play-fort. I was slightly worried that it would turn out to be a lot smaller (or long since removed), but it was still as glorious as I remembered, and is as much fun for parents as it is for kids.
Unfortunately, the playground also ruined the mood a bit, especially for Jörg (who bravely spent an hour with the kids there while I went to take a closer look at the fair presentations). Or rather, not the playground in itself but the park staff posted there to keep an eye on things. Like, I completely understand that with so many people and so many kids, the organisers need to cover their back and put some sort of overseer there. And to some extent, I understand that the APX staff are more used to standing watch over ancient sculptures and vases and stuff than they are to manning a playground. They're no kindergarten teachers, they're museum attendants. Or even proper archaeologists. I GET IT. But since they happened to be posted on the playground that day, would it have been too much to ask that they be a bit less snappy when enforcing arbitrary playground rules that aren't even put up anywhere so people genuinely can't know them?
For instance, apparently it was forbidden for the kids to actually get into the wooden ducts of the water playground on the ground that "it's too dangerous, they are slippery". [Which I personally find silly - they do not actually get that slippery, and there are far more dangerous features on that playground, like unbarred walls that running kids could fall off of, or, for that matter, the giant bounce - but OK, maybe insurances are especially testy about wet surfaces, IDK, whatever. BUT since there was nowhere a sign with playground rules like "Don't climb into or walk through the ducts, it's slippery & dangerous" or the like, parents naturally happily helped their kids get in there and held their hands if they were too small to go by themselves. Repeatedly. And each time, the overseer dragon came running TAKE YOUR CHILD OUT OF THERE AT ONCE! IT'S DANGEROUS AND VERBOTEN! Look, it's not the parents' fault that they didn't know that. I get that you get annoyed when you have to say the same thing repeatedly (if you do have to in the first place! It did seem a bit arbitrary!), but it's not each individual parent's fault! Put up a goddamn sign if it's that important. (Amusingly enough, the park's own website features pics of kids walking through these ducts. So what do they expect.)
Or, a family put up a big parasol so their toddler could play in the sand in the shade. Overseer dragon: "REMOVE THAT PARASOL! WE'RE NOT ON THE BEACH HERE!" Dude, chill your base!
I only witnessed a few instances of this so I mostly just roll my eyes and laugh at it, but Jörg (who has bigger issues with arbitrary rules and people with a RESPECT MAH AUTHORITEH attitude than I do, anyway) was really pissed off, and when I relieved him on child-watching duty and it was his chance to do as the Romans do, he didn't have any energy left and instead collapsed in the shadow of the trees by the roadside in order to regain his equilibrium. (They've recreated the shape of the ancient settlement in trees and lawn.
Spot the difference.)
And there he stayed until the kids were tired enough to go home. Meanwhile, I had the most immature gigglefit on the play-fort. There was a pre-teen running around in (only) his underpants, which was reasonable enough, considering that it was a hot and sunny day, except that they were Star Wars underpants and the waistband proudly declared THE FORCE AWAKENS. Which, all things considered, is either really oblivious or one of the more genius cases of getting shit past the radar in the history of marketing. I'm not sure which, but it amused me either way.
Having thus proven that even snobby intellectuals have terrible underpants humour, I shall spare you further rambling and return to my Drachenfest preparations. If I don't end up getting sidetracked by other people's terrible sense of humour on Tumblr first. *shifty eyes*
Cheers!
- - -
Crossposted via Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment here or there.
... well I did tell you that I'm a big Luddite. I guess I should also have told you that the fair took place in the Archaeological Park in Xanten, on the site that used to be Colonia Ulpia Traiana back in the day. (It's the final stop of the Via Agrippa I line, all the way up in Germania.) OK I'm sorry, but that map is SO up my alley. I'll try to behave now. [Incidentally, would anyone know whether there's already a literary universe in which the Roman Empire never actually ended (or only ended by turning back into a New Republic or something) and the rest of history and technological development is just sort of based on that premise? IRONPVNK or what would you call it? Yes? No? Because that sounds like something that should exist.]
But for now, back to Xanten/CUT! For my part, I enjoyed it. We've been meaning to visit the APX for years, so the fact alone that we finally made the time makes me happy. The "Roman trade fair" as such wasn't actually more than a glorified RenFaire - RomeFaire? - but as I like that kind of thing, that's perfectly fine. Jörg observed how the dedication and accuracy varied from stall to stall and some groups were better than others. Well, why should living ancient history be any different from living medieval history, I guess. Meanwhile, I admired the patience with which (most of) the living history folks answered the questions posed by some of the less smart visitors. I wouldn't have been able to hold back the snark. I mean, I know I'm a privileged intellectual snob, but some questions... "Oh, did the Romans actually know iron?" (No, of course not, we just call it the Iron Age for kicks and giggles.) - "But that brightly coloured wool, surely that's not authentic, they didn't have colourful dyes back in the day!" (That's correct, actually all of history was black-and-white or sepia only.) - "But the Romans weren't really here, were they!" (No, we stole all that ancient stuff from Italy, dumped it here and put grass on it, just so we could dig it up again for your delectation. OR MAYBE THE SPACE ALIENS DID.)
And these questions didn't come from the little kiddies, in which case I wouldn't object!
Oh well. Let's hope these people left a bit smarter and won't express their surprise that medieval folks, too, already knew iron (or fire!) at the next RenFaire. (You get the same questions there.)
Like with any trade fair, the main purpose was Networking, networking, networking. OK I'LL STOP I PROMISE.
There were a lot of Try-it-out workshops for kiddies and grown-ups. Unfortunately, ours couldn't be excited in most of them, although Felix did at least hammer out a lil' copper pendant with my help. But they didn't want to try out any of the other crafts on offer, no basket-weaving, no pottery, no nothing. So for them, it was more like an extended stroll w/ some ancient Roman stuff thrown in.
I have many happy memories of that amphitheatre. When I was a teen, we went there each summer for one of the theatrical performances. (Yes, that's how old I am! :P Haha. Actually they've just rebuilt enough of it to use it as a working theatre again, and up until 2012 each summer saw a series of opera, musicals and pop concerts in the arena. You get to enter the park after closing hours and sit on the reconstructed tiers on a pleasant summer evening and GOOSEBUMPS. These were always very special occasions which I vividly remember and treasure, especially Nabucco and Aïda, which maybe explains my love for traditionalist performances of epic bombast opera, IDK.)
Something I also remembered from these teenage adventures - and something that was way more important to my own kids than any of the boring historical stuff! ;) - was that the APX had an awesome adventure play-fort. I was slightly worried that it would turn out to be a lot smaller (or long since removed), but it was still as glorious as I remembered, and is as much fun for parents as it is for kids.
Unfortunately, the playground also ruined the mood a bit, especially for Jörg (who bravely spent an hour with the kids there while I went to take a closer look at the fair presentations). Or rather, not the playground in itself but the park staff posted there to keep an eye on things. Like, I completely understand that with so many people and so many kids, the organisers need to cover their back and put some sort of overseer there. And to some extent, I understand that the APX staff are more used to standing watch over ancient sculptures and vases and stuff than they are to manning a playground. They're no kindergarten teachers, they're museum attendants. Or even proper archaeologists. I GET IT. But since they happened to be posted on the playground that day, would it have been too much to ask that they be a bit less snappy when enforcing arbitrary playground rules that aren't even put up anywhere so people genuinely can't know them?
For instance, apparently it was forbidden for the kids to actually get into the wooden ducts of the water playground on the ground that "it's too dangerous, they are slippery". [Which I personally find silly - they do not actually get that slippery, and there are far more dangerous features on that playground, like unbarred walls that running kids could fall off of, or, for that matter, the giant bounce - but OK, maybe insurances are especially testy about wet surfaces, IDK, whatever. BUT since there was nowhere a sign with playground rules like "Don't climb into or walk through the ducts, it's slippery & dangerous" or the like, parents naturally happily helped their kids get in there and held their hands if they were too small to go by themselves. Repeatedly. And each time, the overseer dragon came running TAKE YOUR CHILD OUT OF THERE AT ONCE! IT'S DANGEROUS AND VERBOTEN! Look, it's not the parents' fault that they didn't know that. I get that you get annoyed when you have to say the same thing repeatedly (if you do have to in the first place! It did seem a bit arbitrary!), but it's not each individual parent's fault! Put up a goddamn sign if it's that important. (Amusingly enough, the park's own website features pics of kids walking through these ducts. So what do they expect.)
Or, a family put up a big parasol so their toddler could play in the sand in the shade. Overseer dragon: "REMOVE THAT PARASOL! WE'RE NOT ON THE BEACH HERE!" Dude, chill your base!
I only witnessed a few instances of this so I mostly just roll my eyes and laugh at it, but Jörg (who has bigger issues with arbitrary rules and people with a RESPECT MAH AUTHORITEH attitude than I do, anyway) was really pissed off, and when I relieved him on child-watching duty and it was his chance to do as the Romans do, he didn't have any energy left and instead collapsed in the shadow of the trees by the roadside in order to regain his equilibrium. (They've recreated the shape of the ancient settlement in trees and lawn.
Spot the difference.)
And there he stayed until the kids were tired enough to go home. Meanwhile, I had the most immature gigglefit on the play-fort. There was a pre-teen running around in (only) his underpants, which was reasonable enough, considering that it was a hot and sunny day, except that they were Star Wars underpants and the waistband proudly declared THE FORCE AWAKENS. Which, all things considered, is either really oblivious or one of the more genius cases of getting shit past the radar in the history of marketing. I'm not sure which, but it amused me either way.
Having thus proven that even snobby intellectuals have terrible underpants humour, I shall spare you further rambling and return to my Drachenfest preparations. If I don't end up getting sidetracked by other people's terrible sense of humour on Tumblr first. *shifty eyes*
Cheers!
- - -
Crossposted via Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment here or there.