Day 7: Warwick Castle (finally)

What can I say... the past two weeks have been the busiest time at school. Plus Saara has had projects to finish, so I lost computer time :)

But here is our final full day of medieval action.
And for that we headed to Warwick Castle.
Right inside the gates we found Tom the Bowman.

He was a character alright.
I love it when guides are actors at heart.

He picked one of the boys to show what the medieval bowmen used as protection in battle.
Here he is trying to cut Joni's head off.


And when that didn't work, he went for another tactic.

It was hilarious.
He so picked the wrong kid as his guinea pig.
All cool and collected.
At one point Tom had to ask him to stop smiling...


Beautiful grounds.


And beautiful rooms inside the castle...


View of the mill.



Gallant knights on horses, waving their shining swords... whisking you off your feet...



And yet again some amazing ceilings.
Even with all the ornaments I liked this room.

Shall we look up?


That's Saara with Elizabeth II.
Well.. almost.
A wax doll.
Saara was freaking out as Her Royal Higness looked so real. The eyes could've been real... I thought I saw her blink..


Dapper Dandy.
In an blue Elmo shirt, heh.


Red velvet curtains around you bed.. how about it?



Or the pretty blue of the lady's salon?
With silk for wallpaper.



When we went to watch the trebuchet, we encountered some surprisingly fearless swans.
Looking for a free snack of crisp packets..


That's my knee you can just see.
There's about 25cm between us.
He pecked my purse and then my knee... hmmpphh.. I was sitting there first.
But then you don't want to cross a swan. Nasty birds when angry...

We put our food away, the swans lost their interest and we focused on the magnificent trebuchet.


..and in action...

Then we got to see a falconry show.

With a falcon...


..a vulture..



..and an eagle.

I took a stroll in the peacock garden.


And found this tree blooming in blue.
I want one.

I also want wisteria.


Sadly neither grow this far north.
I'll just have to dream.

In Stratford-Upon-Avon we naturally visited the great Shakespeare's birth house.


The kids were bored silly, but perked up after we gave out some shopping money and time :)
The girls were always ready for some shopping.



Isn't that the truth?

This was my favorite souvenir I bought.

Shakespeare's insults fridge magnets.
Click to enjoy full size.
That language just tickles me.

Once home it was time for one last football match at the field.
Plus pizza of course.

Then packing...

I hardly have any photos from Saturday.
We left in the morning towards London.
Hot day, + 27C.
The kids went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum.
Three of us teachers/supervisors who had been there on several occasions (and trust me, once you've seen a wax Brad Pitt, there's no need to see him again...) escaped to buy a present for our ever so patient bus driver Paul and stop at a nice café.

Then it was time to head to the airport, check everyone in on the flight, walk through security with our shoes off and fly back home.
Phew.
Great trip.

I'll be back tomorrow with one of those "this & that" posts. To tell you what all has been going on after we got home :)

And just two more days of school... yeeehaaaww!

Day 6: London, again

Here's a photo of the house we lived in.
That top floor window (the one that is open) was my room.
The window stayed open all the time...


It was another day in London.
Here's a cool building I spotted on our way:


Isn't that window wicked?

Here's Westminster Abbey:


Sometimes I think it would be great to live in a big city like London.
All that buzz and culture at your fingertips.
And then there are times you think it ridiculous that twice the population of Finland lives in one city.
That came to mind looking at this clock.

We should have been at the Globe theatre at 10.30...
But we were stuck in bad traffic.
If I get stuck in traffic in the morning it means I'll be 10 minutes late to work.
In London it means you'll be anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours late...

But we got to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre eventually.
With only one kid puking when we got there...
Number 5...sigh...


The Globe was rebuilt in 1997 to look just like the original.
The actors use no microphones.
You can get cheap standing space tickets... but if it rains.. you get wet.

We lucked out by being late.

(the above photo was sneaked with no permission.. bad bad me...)
They were rehearsing Midsummer Night's Dream, that opened two days later, and needed an audience for a technical rehearsal. Very cool.


I hope you are not sick of photos with airbrushed faces.
There are so many photos I can't show here that have some great expressions.
Naturally the kids are uploading photos left, right and center to their online galleries.. and here I am being the responsible adult. Hmmph.





The kids had a drama workshop which was great fun.


Then a little lunch again by the river Thames, the exact same spot as on day 1. Only this time it was low tide. We don't get tidal water in Finland, I always find the phenomena fascinating.

Then we walked to Covent Garden for just a little shopping.


The girls and I found Lush.
(google it, cool stuff)



After a few soap and moisturizing cream buys it was finally time to walk to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane for the day's main event:


Oh yes.
The musical.


And my banner photo is naturally from my second "illegal" photo of the day, heh.
Sneaky, I am.


The following photos aren't mine, but found online to give you some idea fo the fabulous three hour show.

The Black Riders were on stilts. Way cool.


The Ents had even taller stilts...


Gollum.
..myyyy preeeciiiiouuusssss....


Orcs.
Some had one these bouncy shoe thingies and were leaping around the stage.
At one fight scene the orcs came into the audience.

At this point I have to mention that I was sitting next to Saara's teacher Steve who is a HUGE LOTR fan. We had a good time whispering throughout the show.
And laughing.
Wickedly.

Because...
once those two orcs next to us saw all those teenage girls.. heard the screams.. well...
..they naturally headed for the biggest screamer. She was jumping from her friend's lap to her friend's mother's lap and SCREAMING. As the orc got really close, it made nasty noises and thumped the back of her seat.
Then it saw the two girls sitting together two rows behind us. Both girls had had their eyes fixed on the one tormenting their friend. And it started getting closer and closer... meanwhile Steve and I were laughing with tears coming out of our eyes and the orc that had sniffed us had moved behind the girls and they found themselves surrounded.
I wish I could have videotaped it.
It was hilarious!


I loved the stage.
It had three moving circles and lots of moving parts.
There were trapeze dancers also (the elves).
Amazing production.

So the story was missing about two and a half books from the three, but even so it was enjoyable. It is closing in London in July as the theatre is booked for an Andrew Lloyd Webber production, my bet is it'll be on Broadway soon enough.

The music is partly composed by a Finnish band called Värttinä and you could hear the Finnish influence and some instruments in the music.
And of course the hobbits sung an Irish tune.

...the road goes on... ever ever on....