Revisiting the Renaissance

One of our favorite activities every summer is our annual trip to the Renaissance Festival. The was “Pirate Invasion” weekend, so Marina decided to wear her Elizabeth Swann costume. She added a fancy crown to be “her own princess.”

We arrived at the festival just as it opened. After wandering around for a little while, we sat down and listened to the music of Celtic Legacy – a band made up of drummers, a guitar and bagpipes. Marina enjoyed the pieces she recognized, especially the themes from Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean.

During the concert, the royal court settled in at the Pavilion, right next to the stage where the concert was. So we stopped by to see Princess Elizabeth. We gave her photos from last year to add to the album we gave her last year. We also had photo albums for King Henry and Queen Anne. They were both very pleased with them. For the rest of the day, both called Marina by name. It made her feel so special.

We did a little shopping on our way to the first joust of the day. We were disappointed to learn that Sir William was not jousting. He was acting as master of ceremonies. We were in Sir Bromm’s section, so we cheered loudly for him. After the joust, the knights allowed the audience to we got a chance to talk to Sir William. We gave him pictures as well.

We were hungry for lunch after the joust. So we went to the food court for our annual turkey leg. Marina and I finished it off fairly quickly. We spent a while shopping after that. Marina especially liked the jewelry sellers. We also stopped by the booth of our favorite face painter. Marina decided to get a yellow and orange design to go with her gold dress.
 
Before we went to the next joust we stopped by the booth of Twig the Fairy. We found she was not at the festival this year. We were sad to hear that. And as we spoke to the women at the booth it became clear that Twig would not be back at all. Marina was very sad. However, her sister Juniper would be there later in the afternoon.

We went to watch the second joust where Marina got a favor for Sir Bromm. She was the first to give it to him before the competition. After it was over, Marina had her photo taken with him. Marina went through the dragon maze and then we went to meet Juniper. She was a bubble fairy and Marina was happy to meet her. She showed her a photo album we made for Twig. As she did, Marina got a bit emotional and Juniper hugged her and spent some special time with her. Before we left, she gave Marina a special “bubble rock.”

Our next stop was the chapel for the knighting ceremony. She was knighted by the queen and then we got photos with both of the king and queen after the ceremony was over. Marina wanted to see Juniper again, but the line was long, so we shopped for a while until it was time for Princess
Elizabeth’s tea party.

Marina was a bit concerned that she would be the oldest girl at the party, but once it started, she didn’t seem to mind at all. Princess Elizabeth introduced her to the other girls as her special friend. After the party, she gave each of us a purple rose. Then she suggested that Marina audition for the cast in three years. That idea thrilled her!

We got snacks and settled in for the final joust of the day. It was pretty intense combat and Sir Bromm ended up as the sole survivor. After we watched the joust, we waited for Sir William and took pictures.

On the way out, Marina rode on the pirate boat and we met up with Captain Jack Sparrow. Marina said goodbye to Juniper and Sir William. Outside the gates we watched the cast sing and dance. Before we left, we waved to the King, Queen and Princess Elizabeth on the parapet. Then we went to the car. We were both very tired, but we’d had an amazing day!