Renaissance

Thursday morning, bright and early, we drove to Charlotte for the student days of the Renaissance Festival. We were there from 9-2:30 and we still didn't see it all! We went on the day that was designated for high schools which turns out was a lot better than going on the days for elementary kids since the high schoolers weren't really interested in the same stuff we were. Anyway, we began the morning at the Joust. Julian would have loved this!!! The actors were great and there were other actors all in the audience helping the crowd cheer. We were going for the good prince and thankfully at the end he came back and killed the evil knight.
Next we saw the storyteller. He was a traveler and told stories from all over the world. I think that they could have sat there all day listening to him play his instruments and tell stories.
As we were walking through the very crowded crowd we would pass people in costume dressed as peasants, lords and ladies, craftsmen, clowns, crazies, fairies (another of the girls' favorite), trees, musicians (who would stop and play us a song), etc. We also sat and watched several shows including jugglers, glass blowing demonstration, belly dancers, skits, and magicians.


We rode man-powered rides. The riders pulled the ropes and a man would stand on one end and push the boat up and down. There was also a giant rocking horse to ride on, and a few other rides where the guy would run around as the boats or butterflies circled around him. There was a maze to find our way through, spooky dungeons to discover and all kinds of things. We didn't even go into any of the hundreds of shops lining the walkway that were selling trinkets, clothing, and food.
I was so impressed at the level of involvement of the people in costume. They were great actors. They seemed to really love what they were doing. They would stop and just talk to the children. We were all totally exhausted by the end. I would love to go back again next year as a family since I know that Daniel would have loved it too.