We continued our foray into Warwick Castle, fortified in 1068 by William the Conqueror. The castle itself overlooks the beautiful river Avon. Today we walked the ramparts and towers surrounding the entire castle in a group. Altogether, the wall has about 530 steps total. After our trek, we wandered down into the fortified castle and saw some medievally-dressed craftsman hard at work. A small group of us decided to go on the laughably scary “haunted dungeon tour.” I have to say there were people in our group who were too scared to go into the dungeon, and it made me chuckle.
After being greeted by a black-toothed and otherwise disheveled court jester, we were led windingly down into the castle’s underbelly. We stopped in different rooms showcasing different tortures, including a very sadomasochistic dungeon-keeper with matching black rubber boots, gloves, and apron. She showed us all sorts of devices, including the tongue-ripper, the hook, and the chopper. They are all unfortunately self-descriptive of their respective purposes. My favorite room would have to be he makeshift mortuary, where a very silly-looking surgeon of sorts was slopping around various goos and fake organs.
After the chambers, we visited a courtroom where those accused of witchcraft were sentenced, and unfortunate circumstance that happened all too often in the religion-crazed and superstitious times. After sentencing, guilty parties would be hung, guillotined, burnt at the stake, or put into the stocks. The actors were all very sweet and tried very hard to get into their roles and help everyone have a great time.
One random memory: One of the mornings we arrived before the castle opened for business. While some of the guys and more sporty girls played football, I decided to poke around the grounds out front. They had many signs advertising their production of various ABBA songs on the grounds one evening, as well as many other open-air concerts to come over the summer. I thought that was rather neat.
More about the castle: http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/
After the Dungeon, a few friends and myself went over to the Victorian House or recreation mansion, the part of the castle where Countess Daisy of Warwick actually lived. She hosted prestigious guests like the Prince of Wales at her mansion during her lifetime. At first we didn’t really know what was behind that particular set of doors, but we were intent on ducking out of the cold rain that had started. We were also avoiding the many peacocks the stalked around the grounds (there was, in all seriousness, a peacock garden). While they are majestic birds, they can also become very mean. But once we got inside, we were glad we chose this haven. The rooms were furnished in all originals or close replica. The rooms and hallways seemed to stretch on forever, providing an endless span of beautiful and ornate antique pictures, carvings, statues, and furniture to marvel at and photograph. Some of the rooms also had the addition of very life-like wax figurines; sometimes so realistic they gave us a start. Some of figures were men in their smoking room; another of a famous singer of the day. I was especially appreciative of the dress and jewelry of the royal ladies – it was exquisitely decorated.
We had a cold lunch out in the drizzle, then hopped on the coach for a bouncy ride to London. I can still remember driving through the English countryside; gradually coming into denser suburbia and finally encountering the huge traffic jams in London. There were myriad roadways, signs, and traffic configurations that defied my logic.
During the ride, our charismatic coach driver told us different interesting facts about the attractions we passed. He spoke about the reintroduction kites, a kind of bird that the toy was named after. We also passed the preserved Hoover vacuum factory, which now houses a Wal-mart (I didn’t know they had those in England). Most notably, we saw some of the Olympic games construction. In my travel journal, I wrote how I thought it would be cool to visit the site and see what they were constructing for what sport and how they would build it, and then tear it down.
Though I don’t remember if it was the ride into the city, I know that one ride around London, we saw a brand new Rolls-Royce Silver Phantom pull out of a snazzy hotel. It was one beautiful car, holding what I must imagine to be beautiful ladies or gentleman bedecked in beautiful things.
Once we finally managed to get off the coach, we walked over to the London Eye, the world’s tallest Ferris wheel, measuring in at a little less than 450 feet to the top. We waited for a while to get on the huge and busy attraction, allowing us some time to wander around the plaza outside. We saw various street performers, including one mysterious gentleman who especially caught my attention. In looks, I would say he was roughly equivalent to a seventies Bob Dylan with longer hair and sunglasses on. He was also painted blue, from her face and hair down to the stool he was sitting on, his guitar, and his case. I heard him play for a little bit and it was mesmerizing – I’m not sure if he really was that good or if I was just entranced by the moment. We also grabbed some Cadbury ice cream, which is very strange in texture, very unlike ice cream at all.
Back at the ride – the Eye can never stop, as it is too heavy to start again, so you walk alongside one of the giant cars and step in. They go very slowly – an entire rotation takes about half an hour. The cars themselves hold 28 people – just to give you an idea of how big they are. They are glass all around, down to the floor. There’s a rail all around the car, and a few seats in the middle. We spent most of the ride taking pictures of the beautiful London cityscape and each other on the huge ride. When we got off and were waiting for other people to finish their ride, I saw some of the photos of the Eye’s construction. They built the wheel and the posts separately, put the wheel out in the Thames on its side (the Eye in next to the Thames, necessarily), then pulled it up to the poles and attached it. It looked like quite an amazing feat – until I saw the Eiffel Tower. But we’ll get to that later.
A grand museum just across the way from the London Eye was having a Salvador Dali exhibit I hated to miss, but at least some of his statues were installed outside for the duration of the exhibit.
For more information about the London Eye, go to http://www.londoneye.com/
We had a chance to stop at Covent Garden, a huge shopping plaza sort of like an indoor swap meet in places, and upscale mall in others. I bought a London sweatshirt I’m actually wearing at this very minute in our cold Phoenix winters. After shopping (or maybe before, I didn’t write the order down), we had some absolutely delicious fish and chips at a very classy pub. I could eat that for about every day of my life from now on if given the chance. I also wrote a lament in my journal about returning to Arizona and its dearth of seafood.
And to think—That’s all just one day!
*While writing this post, I listened to:
Wildflowers – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
