Such a history geek
Aug. 21st, 2005 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayJust to make a change, I had another big, busy Saturday. I am *so* taking the weekend off next weekend.
Generally once a year Mother and I have a girls' day out doing something we both enjoy. The only thing we really agree on is historical monuments, so our days out tend to be spend exploring old castles or abbeys or stately homes. This year we had a leaflet through about a trebuchet being built at Warwick Castle and giving us a buy-one-get-one-free offer on the tickets. It turned into a girls' day out with a boy when my father asked whether he was invited :-)
So yesterday we all piled into the car and set off for Warwick.
The weather defied the BBC and was absolutely beautiful. Warwick has slightly expensive tickets, but you come away feeling that you got a lot for your money. We got to see the trebuchet being fired, watched a joust, saw birds of prey flying, watched a medieval bowman...
And, of course, there was also a castle to explore. We managed to fit all of the eventy stuff in before lunch. The joust was huge fun - they had some very talented horses and riders. The trebuchet was very cool and incredibly powerful - I can well believe that it would reduce a castle's walls to rubble in fairly short order. The birds was absolutely beautiful. The white tailed sea eagle was spectucular. The spectacled owl was very, very cute and incredibly stupid - I guess at four months old they haven't really much sense or how to respond to commands. Although he probably should have figured out quicker that the food was in the keeper's hand and the best way to get it was to fly over...
The white-backed vulture wasn't as ugly as I'd thought he would be, although I can't say that I'd want one as a pet. Seeing him fly was amazing, if a little scary.
The highlight of the birds was the bald eagle, who was just beautiful. No other word to describe him. There was a sense of majesty when he flew, soaring slowly as though he owned the sky. Wonderful.
There was a display of fighting knights and they were really very good - they looked ferocious but they were obviously well trained because they managed not to hurt each other, even though they made it look like they were really going for it. They also walked you through the armour, how it was put on and what everything was and did. The medieval bowman was, obviously, one of my favourites. He had a beautiful hunting bow and a longbow that I would have been very temped to nick, if it hadn't been rather to large to easily conceal ;-) He gave us lots of interesting info on the bow, bowmen and their function in a medieval army. There were even a few points that I didn't know before, making it doubly cool.
I wonder whether all of those kids watching these displays realised that they were being very subtly educated?
Lunch was a quick stop for a baked potato before setting out to explore as much of the castle as we could before closing time. Cue three hours of wandering through halls and richly decorated rooms, me eagerly examining any weaponry found and taking in lots of stuff about the history of the castle as well. They have some really good displays - Madam Tussauds provides displays showing various elements of the castle life through the years to give you a good feel for what it would have been like. There's a display of a late nineteenth century party, complete with guests (such as the future Edward VII and a young man called Winston Churchill) and servants, spread across various rooms to show all the different elements of society and protocol. Another multi-room set-up shows the preperations for battle before the Earl of Warwick rode out in defense of Henry IV at the Battle of Barnet, during the Wars of the Roses. Sounds, smells, sights and a few living extras to provide some extra information.
The last time that Mom and I went to Warwick, we didn't manage to see everything and vowed to return. This time, despite our best efforts, we still didn't see everything and have vowed to return. It helps that we have vouchers for £5 off the ticket price :-) We didn't make it to the dungeons, the armoury or for a walk along the ramparts and up through some of the towers. And there were all of the gardens left unexplored, too.
Fantastic, exhausting day, though, and hopefully we'll be back to finish our exploration fairly soon. Seven hours and we only managed about half the castle. Give us another couple of visits and we might possibly have seen everything. Maybe.
Yes, I'm a castle and history geek :-)
Today I have mostly been sleeping. And filling in tax forms :-( Now I am typing up my notes and trying to formulate a proposal for this website I'm hopefully going to be doing. Ah, the joys of being a grown-up.
Generally once a year Mother and I have a girls' day out doing something we both enjoy. The only thing we really agree on is historical monuments, so our days out tend to be spend exploring old castles or abbeys or stately homes. This year we had a leaflet through about a trebuchet being built at Warwick Castle and giving us a buy-one-get-one-free offer on the tickets. It turned into a girls' day out with a boy when my father asked whether he was invited :-)
So yesterday we all piled into the car and set off for Warwick.
The weather defied the BBC and was absolutely beautiful. Warwick has slightly expensive tickets, but you come away feeling that you got a lot for your money. We got to see the trebuchet being fired, watched a joust, saw birds of prey flying, watched a medieval bowman...
And, of course, there was also a castle to explore. We managed to fit all of the eventy stuff in before lunch. The joust was huge fun - they had some very talented horses and riders. The trebuchet was very cool and incredibly powerful - I can well believe that it would reduce a castle's walls to rubble in fairly short order. The birds was absolutely beautiful. The white tailed sea eagle was spectucular. The spectacled owl was very, very cute and incredibly stupid - I guess at four months old they haven't really much sense or how to respond to commands. Although he probably should have figured out quicker that the food was in the keeper's hand and the best way to get it was to fly over...
The white-backed vulture wasn't as ugly as I'd thought he would be, although I can't say that I'd want one as a pet. Seeing him fly was amazing, if a little scary.
The highlight of the birds was the bald eagle, who was just beautiful. No other word to describe him. There was a sense of majesty when he flew, soaring slowly as though he owned the sky. Wonderful.
There was a display of fighting knights and they were really very good - they looked ferocious but they were obviously well trained because they managed not to hurt each other, even though they made it look like they were really going for it. They also walked you through the armour, how it was put on and what everything was and did. The medieval bowman was, obviously, one of my favourites. He had a beautiful hunting bow and a longbow that I would have been very temped to nick, if it hadn't been rather to large to easily conceal ;-) He gave us lots of interesting info on the bow, bowmen and their function in a medieval army. There were even a few points that I didn't know before, making it doubly cool.
I wonder whether all of those kids watching these displays realised that they were being very subtly educated?
Lunch was a quick stop for a baked potato before setting out to explore as much of the castle as we could before closing time. Cue three hours of wandering through halls and richly decorated rooms, me eagerly examining any weaponry found and taking in lots of stuff about the history of the castle as well. They have some really good displays - Madam Tussauds provides displays showing various elements of the castle life through the years to give you a good feel for what it would have been like. There's a display of a late nineteenth century party, complete with guests (such as the future Edward VII and a young man called Winston Churchill) and servants, spread across various rooms to show all the different elements of society and protocol. Another multi-room set-up shows the preperations for battle before the Earl of Warwick rode out in defense of Henry IV at the Battle of Barnet, during the Wars of the Roses. Sounds, smells, sights and a few living extras to provide some extra information.
The last time that Mom and I went to Warwick, we didn't manage to see everything and vowed to return. This time, despite our best efforts, we still didn't see everything and have vowed to return. It helps that we have vouchers for £5 off the ticket price :-) We didn't make it to the dungeons, the armoury or for a walk along the ramparts and up through some of the towers. And there were all of the gardens left unexplored, too.
Fantastic, exhausting day, though, and hopefully we'll be back to finish our exploration fairly soon. Seven hours and we only managed about half the castle. Give us another couple of visits and we might possibly have seen everything. Maybe.
Yes, I'm a castle and history geek :-)
Today I have mostly been sleeping. And filling in tax forms :-( Now I am typing up my notes and trying to formulate a proposal for this website I'm hopefully going to be doing. Ah, the joys of being a grown-up.
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-21 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-21 03:12 pm (UTC)Thanks again, though, hon.
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Date: 2005-08-21 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-21 03:43 pm (UTC)I will definitely enjoy the bits that I see - shame the TV broadcasts for it are so patchy *sigh*