The Rain in Spain...

 

Whew! Back from the Celsius 232 Fantasy Festival in Aviles, Spain - a truly wonderful gathering and unlike any other convention I've been to. Other than the fact that everyone around me was speaking Spanish most of the time - though the Festival's amazing organizers, Jorge, Diego, Lu, Tomas and many others provided me with translators, and a lot of people spoke English - THANK YOU, ALL! But, whereas most conventions in the US take place in hotels and convention centers, Celsius has panels, presentations, and workshops in a dozen venues all around the small area of the city's Renaissance-era center. 

That picture is of the hotel they put me up in, a 17th century nobleman's palace now doing business as the Palacio Hotel. (I felt like I was visiting Don Simon Ysidro at home). The window looked down on the town square, with a view of an old church and the sound of the town hall bells ringing the hours. Large events took place in the city cultural center's auditorium, or in a smaller auditorium in the same building. A large tent had been set up as a dealer's room, with the back end of the tent partitioned for a panel room. Little booths and kiosks had been set up in the streets between the hotel and the cultural center, mostly selling books. A WONDERFUL historical-fencing group, Order 66 Asturias (I'm not sure it's their official name), did not only an amazing Star Wars swordsmanship "lesson" for little kids (and their Vader especially was spot-on, including the breathing); but they also did historical fencing demonstrations AND LESSONS - both of those in a beautiful park next to the cultural center. (I did the long-sword and rapier sections - they partnered me with a very nice fellow named Sergio who knew enough English to explain what was going on). (Longswords are HEAVY). I did manage to acquit myself well enough with a rapier, thanks to a couple of years of foil-fencing when I was in High School.

Watching Darth Vader being hammered on by about 20 little kids was pretty entertaining - and the fellow who was cosplaying Vader really got into the role. I gather from their pamphlet Order 66 does a lot of community activities and events for children - other dealers at the Festival also are involved in community charity work.

And, wonderful memories of late-night dinners in the cafes that lined the old streets in between kiosks selling books. Meeting people, talking, going to panels (thank you, Lu, for translating!), staying up WAY too late and coming home with a crushing case of jet-lag. Since I am allergic to shellfish, probably going without a translator into the Casa des Pulpos cafe wasn't such a good idea, but I did find out what a pulpo is and managed to avoid any evil repercussions.

(And those of you who travel in the center seat of the center aisle of a 10-hr flight - PLEASE ask the person behind you if they mind if you put your seat back. Seating is so tight now that if you drop your seat all the way back, the person behind you can neither hold a book nor eat their airplane-dinner.) (Whoever you are, lady, please learn some manners before you fly again!)

Thank you again, to Jorge and Diego, Lu and Tomas and all the other organizers - and thank you, Kevin Anderson, for putting me in touch with Celsius and starting the whole process.

Darth Vader meets the lightsaber kids' class



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