Notorburg 2011

This year’s Notorburg was neither too rainy, nor too hot – so as to the weater it was really cosy. But no matter how much hotter Notorburg 2010 was, it was also better. I forgot lots od details since last year, of course, and the absence of my friends didn’t work as a benefit for this year’s battle as well.

The local moderator once again earned first place on the imaginary scale as the worst speaker of the year. It was the same man as last year, but this year he made me wish to stuff something in my ears or just leave.

Unfortunately, the date of this event collided with several other interesting events, so many merchants and participants weren’t here. Therefore there weren’t enough kiosks with refreshments, and queue for Trdelník (sweet Czech pastry) was at least for an hour. There also weren’t any sellers of cloths but there were so many stands with trinkets that you could satisfy an average city with it.

It was obvious that the program of this event was set up mostly for the locals – the kids’ program just after noon and the late evening concert support this theory. You couldn’t have had any idea that the battle was not to begin until four thirty before you had come there, all you could find on internet was that the program begins one hour after noon, but all the time between the official beginning and the actual battle was filled with babbling of that crappy moderator.

And now finally to the battle itself. Compared to last year there was only one battle – well, the organisators claim that last year there was only one battle too , and the second one was just a theater, but from the visitor’s point of view, there were two battles. Once again everything was set around the fort of Notorburg, from which its ruler Denaturix banished his three sons. Each of them was seduced by Denaturix’s young wife, their stepmother. These banished sons came back, each with his an army of his own, and attacked their home fort. The sons even set part of the fort on fire. One of them attacked it with a fireball, but an effective counterspell turned it to a fire rug and it didn’t hurt the fort.

There are already some negative notes to this year’s Notorburg in this article, but I really must praise a lot of this year’s pyrotechnic effects now. As to the effects, this was the best event I’ve seen in years. I wasn’t able to capture any of these explosions but I have some other photographs from Notorburg 2011.