Ever since we visited the big renaissance fair near my home town back in 2015 we wanted to get dressed up as well for these events. The very same year we got ourselves some clothes and equipment which we tested out last autumn. This year we went once again to the big medieval market near my hometown but it was such a rainy day that we did not enjoy it entirely. However we had another very very big renaissance fair in sight this year in Hamburg Öjendorf.
What is so special about this renaissance fair? Well it is just huge. Last year I wrote how big the market was we visited near my hometown but it is just dwarfed by this one in Hamburg. Huge is not even enough to explain it. The whole festival area was 30 hectares big, over 100 military camps with over 1500 people within them, over 200 market stalls, 5 music stages, a knight’s tournament arena with 10.000 seats and and and. For this event we got ourselves tickets not only for one day but for the whole weekend in orderto be able to see everything and with the hope to have at least one dry day. Yes, we bought the weekend ticket mainly because of the terrible weather this summer as the renaissance fair this May was kind of ruined by the rainstorms.
Right from the beginning we were overwhelmed by the size of the whole area. In fact you could not never see half of the area due to the layout and the amount of people there. I think I don’t need to mention anymore how differently people are dressing up for these events as you have everything there from knights over normal peasants to even unicorns…Nathan himself went once again as a monk and gained a lot of attention. The festival area had also many little stations for children with stacked straw bales fo them to go crazy. Nathan just loved it but he was still too small to climb up, yet alone to jump down from them. Surprisingly there were each time some kids helping him up and down non-stop so he was able to enjoy it nearly as much as the bigger children.
I must say that even though we were two days there we did not see everything. Sure we managed to cover the whole area but there were different performances all over the area at different times so we missed rather many as it was a bit hard to go around and watch Nathan all the time. The biggest performances we missed once again this year which were the Pest Procession and the fire show during the night hours. One day we will manage to see those performances as the pictures I have seen about them are just stunning. We only need to figure out how to do it as we clearly can’t go with Nathan as it is just too late when they start. I am just glad that dear mother-in-law had just left us few days before this event. You can just imagine how crazy this weekend would have been with her there! Probably she would have been banned from the festival area in no time for trespassing the military camps or throwing her trash somewhere else than the trash bins.
As I have mention before we got ourselves the weekend ticket due to the unpredictable weather and it was a good decision as the first day we had sunshine and barely any wind with a following terrible rainstorm day. Even though the weather was so bad on the second day we still stayed for more than five hours there before starting our journey back home. Though it was a great experience I doubt we will go for another weekend like this again. It is just too exhausting in the end and my wife is not fond of doing her hairs and make-up on two days! I think it was a great end for us this season with the renaissance fairs. Next year we won’t be able to go to any but more about that at some later point this year.
Have you been “too long” at some event before?
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So the pest parade was really the “pet parade?” Those big hounds are gorgeous.
Haha, well they had also some pet parades there as many many people had those huge irish wolf dogs!
I’m not surprised Nathan was getting so much attention. He looks adorable dressed as the monk. Honestly I wish MIL had been there, because I would’ve loved to see her dressed in some sort of medieval costume. :p
Nah, she would never dress up as in this. Her usual outift however is already some kind of costume, reminds me most of the times about the dresses the circus people wear…she says it is to show that she is an artist (still wonder what artistic capabilities she might have)
Really a big fair when you say 5 music stages and 10,000 seats for the arena. Would be hard to cover so much ground in a day, but with two days perhaps so. Even if it was raining you could take shelter in the tents or use an umbrella 😀
Nathan really looks like he likes being around the hay stacks. Good for playing hide and seek and he looks so small. Sorry to hear about next year but hopefully better travel plans 😀
Sadly we won’t even be able to travel at all, at least not by plane but I will have something about it towards the end of the year 🙂
This year’s summer has been awfull again, just like last year. Sooo much rain and storms. Usually we only had “good” weather within the week when we were busy working..,
Okay. I will wait until you explain it. Maybe you are going to use this time to write a book. Or become famous…or plot to take over the world… 😛
Maybe there will be a few more better days before winter fully sets in. Here in Australia the days are getting longer but it is still cold and rainy.
Oh well lets see about that book. Haven’t touched the file and papers in a folder ever since we had to pack up for Germany in 2014…
So far the weather has been still stable here, not hot any longer but no dreaded rain yet. The past two years we had nearly everyday some rainy weather from September till May :p
It looks so fun , I need to find out if they have something similar near me. Nathan looks so adorable in his outfit. Glad whole family enjoy the event 🙂
I bet that there is a similar event somewhere near you. Perhaps not as huge as this one (this here proclaims to be the biggest travelling renaissance fair in the world) but still even the small ones are fun to watch 🙂
Looks like a lot of fun! The pics of Nathan are so cute!!
It was tons of fun (and work as well!! Had to pull Nathan in his little waggon around and the area was pretty “hilly”)
I have so many pics of Nathan as it is always so hard to get at least one decent looking, just wondering how many there are where he just makes dumb faces :p
This looks amazing. But I want to see how you and your wife dressed up!!
Okay okay, now in the picture gallery is also a pic of my wife in her summer dress (yes she got another one for “colder days” with a coat and stuff…)
Nice!!!
I always wanted to go to a Renaissance Fair!
Do you know if anyone does Game of Thrones fairs, but that may not be suitable for kids…
Mh, Games of Thrones as a fair sounds certainly interesting. At least here in Germany they don’t have that yet/ only have those as LARP events where I do not really participate :p
It is a good out if one doesn’t mind the rain, crowd and having to dress up.
Well the rain is pretty annoying but the dressing up is actually fun. Normally I dislike crowds as I feel very uncomfortable but in this case I somehow don’t mind, perhaps it is because everyone looks so interesting or funny with their clothes 🙂
It’s so interesting to see what different countries celebrate, the fairs, the festivals, the events. It’s like stepping into another world, within a world…but, overall, it sounds like you had a good time, exploring and getting out.
It would be nice to experience such a fair in Asia. However I doubt they have anything similar in China. So far I have seen there only theme parks recreating certain dynasties but never such events as here in Germany/ Europe and even the USA
Nathan looked very smiley dressed up for the event.
He has some kind of love hate relationship with his monk clothes. He loves how “loose” they are but at the same time hate that it is not neat enough for him…
It looks like people really enjoy traveling back in time. Both your wife and Nathan had great costumes. Too bad we didn’t get to see your costume. The roast pork looks delicious. Did you try it?
One of my daughters and her family are big fans of Renaissance fairs. I don’t think they’ve ever been to one as big as this one, though.
I think this time there are no pictures of me as I was the only one with cameras…
Well I would have loved to try the pork but I was just too full with all the other food I had tried there. The festival was just huge and this means also tons of food stalls.
It looks like lots of fun. The closest medieval fair I’ve passed through was in England.
Unfortunately we will miss Rothenburg au Tauber’s annual Imperial Festival which sort of same when we get there in a few wks. There’s nothing like this type of festival in North America.
My partner is currently in southern France right now.
Medieval fairs can be really much fun, especially when organized well. There was a medieval market in my hometown last year and it was…bad.
Southern France is really beautiful. Sadly I only had the chance to drive through the area few times on the way to Spain so I never really could enjoy my time there
I love those Wolf and skin costumes! It really looks like a blast from the past! Nathan is so cute in his costume!I really look forward that we see something like this in the future.
Great share..and as usual, great teasers for your photos.
This festival was actually just in Bavaria last weekend in Maxlrain! They have a few stops each year in South Germany so perhaps next year you have the chance. And even if you dont manage this particular Festival, there are dozens of smaller ones happening in Bavaria during each summer month