Chester, England and Warwick Castle on July 24

Chester... this was the first town we came to when we re-entered England from North Wales. We were scheduled to have a tour of the old Roman parts of the town by an authentic Roman soldier - yeah, right, but he played the part well...but seeing as we arrived 1 1/2 hours early, we had some free time on our hands. We all took off in different directions to explore this - another quaint town!

Chester, I found out, is called England's Walled City. My first stop was to walk back to a portion of the wall - well, a bridge - we had driven under. As all the little old towns, I loved the architecture. Chester has a beautiful cathedral.As the time came near to meet, everyone slowly made their way back to the square. Some were hanging out in the little sidewalk cafes - some comparing their purchases (some new kind of earbuds was a hit... I listened to some and they definitely sounded good) and others were just hanging out on the benches watching the people and talking.

We had our count off, boarded the bus, drove to where we were to meet our very own Roman soldier. This guy was a RIOT! I'll show it to you all in pictures:BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

After leaving Chester, we headed to Warwick Castle. Now, I have to admit I was NOT looking forward to this. I think all the delegates were, but the leaders had heard horror stories, mostly having to do with the cold and wet conditions. Well, in keeping with the nature of this delegation, meaning everything going so well, we had absolutely beautiful weather! It did get a little cold during the night, and it was compounded when you woke up and had to go to the bathroom. Remember we're camping, in tents, on castle grounds... you didn't just hop up and run to the bathroom and hop back in your warm bed. No, you slowly and painstakingly forced yourself out of bed, tried to find your shoes and jacket...then unhooked the tent ties, crawled out of the tent, tried to remember where in the world the bathrooms even were, and then trudged through the paths to the bathroom. Then the return journey, and crawling back into a flimsy sleeping back. Well, all that is true, but it really wasn't bad, not even for a 53 year old!

Prior to this sleeping time, we had a medieval dinner when we arrived. After that, our delegation, which was one of three at the castle, was led through three different sessions. Our first was SWORDS - real swords - and taught to us by a guy who did swordfighting in the movie Braveheart. (I think that was the right movie!) We were in pairs, being careful not to cut off anyone's head or limbs. :)

After the sword fighting, came archery. Now we really didn't get the opportunity to shoot the bow and arrow, but this medieval man showed us all the protection and supplies needed. Jess was our model. He looked great in all the armor. The only problem with Jess was- well, he SAYS he wants to be an actor - however, I think he has a ways to go. When his head was about to get chopped off, he laughed....he smiled. The guy kept telling Jess to make a scowl, a frown, but no, Jess the future actor, just kept smiling....a big smile I might add.

From archery we moved to - well, I can't remember the name, but basically these huge sticks. You'll see them on the photos:BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare