I was determined to make it to this year's Maryland Renaissance Festival. It's the only place I know that I can buy leather gauntlets. What would a person need leather gauntlets for you ask. For riding my Yamaha TMAX motorbike I reply. The gauntlets give good hand protection while riding and thanks to their length, they go over the cuffs of various coats I wear during the winter time preventing cold wind from going up my sleeves thereby helping me keep warmer while riding. They're actually quite practical in that way though they don't come cheap. My new leather gauntlets cost me $63 this time. Any way, back to my tale of my visit to the festival.
I decided to depart around 11 a.m. this morning for the festival which was a BIG mistake. Traffic to get to the festival was backed up all the way to Maryland 97. It would take me over an hour to go 5 miles approximately to the parking fields of the festival. Traffic was still backed up when I left at 2:30 though not as bad. It was backed up to the Generals Parkway then.
The festival got a great turn out its last day. I had to park in the far back fields and walk about a block or more to the ticket booths and gate. Cost was $22 for 1 adult. I don't remember what the prices were for kids or seniors.
Once I got in, I made a straight line for where I thought the Potomac Leather shop would be. Thankfully, things don't change much shop wise at the festival. It was where I thought it would be. I told a saleslady there what I wanted and, she directed to the lady behind the register who helped me find a pair of gauntlets that would fit. I might've been able to buy the gauntlets over the web but, with my long fingers, I wanted to make sure they would fit right i.e. try a couple different sizes to see the difference. I did find a pair to my delight that fit well and subsequently bought them.
Then, I went in search of a belt and strap for my wooden Samurai sword. There's a shop that sells them at the festival. It's really nice. For years, you could bring your wooden sword into the festival and wear it. Sadly, a new security guy took over this year and, he banned anyone from carrying such swords. So, I decided to pass on the belt. I hope this rule gets changed next year.
Turkey legs were calling me. They are a tradition for me at the festival. They're very good though the price seems to keep going up on the dang things. This year, my delicious turkey leg cost me $6. Ouch!
While munching on my scrumptious turkey leg, I walked around the festival eventually finding my way to the jousting field where the Fight School folks were doing a show called Big Toys for Big Boys. It should various siege and missile weapons for the Medieval period to Civil War times. One of the neat things about the Fight School folks is they put on a good show while teaching you something too. In that show, I learned why we aren't using bows and arrows in warfare vice guns. You would think the answer would be obvious but, it wasn't in the Middle Ages. During the show, their professional archer competed against a man firing a crossbow and match arquebus, a gun of that period. During a 1 minute period, the archer was able to fire 14 arrows to the 5 crossbow bolts and 4 lead bullets. You would think based on that, that the longbow would've won the contest war wise. It didn't due to as Hamish from the show pointed out - economics. It takes a lifetime to produce a really good archer. You can fire an arquebus some what proficiently in a DAY. It's only gotten worse as guns have improved since. That's why guns ultimately won out over the longbow.
After the Fight School show, I made my way to the Art of Fire booth. The Art of Fire booth is a shop that produces beautiful hand blown glassware. The man who made the piece as I watched is a master glassblower. It was something to watch him produce a stunning piece of glassware that any one would've been proud to have in their home. I don't own one of their pieces YET. BUT, I will in time. Due to an April Panama Canal cruise, today was not the day to be buying a piece of expensive glassware.
Lastly, I decided to treat myself to an ear of sweet corn ($3) and a raspberry smoothie ($3.50). The corn was good and, the smoothie sucked. It was too icy. I had to wait till it melted a good bit so, I could drink the whole thing.
Overall, the festival was very nice. One particularly nice thing about going at this time of year was it was cooler. I don't like going to the festival when it opens in late August because it is still so hot then. It can be 80 degrees plus then. I don't envy the knights with all their heavy armor trying to joust then. I would definitely recommend the festival though you'll have to wait till late August 2014 for the next one. Cheers all!
No comments:
Post a Comment