Day 5 - Warwick Castle and Coventry

On day 5, we woke up after a wonderful night's sleep and headed to Warwick Castle with the Stovalls. 

This is the Stovalls cute little house (the right portion) in Kennilworth.

As we walked through the woods from the parking lot towards the castle, we ran into these beautiful peacocks.

And here we are at Warwick Castle! The castle has been turned into kind of a theme park and is full of people dressed in period costumes who explain different areas of the castle. The place is owned by the same people who own Madame Tussaud's wax museum so there are lots of life-like wax statues throughout. The castle is a 14th and 15th century fortified shell which holds an 18th and 19th century royal residence.

Walking up to the gate to enter the castle.

John and Don and the boys waiting outside the gate.

The wonderful Stovall family - L to R - Elizabeth, John, Dakin, Zach, and Luke.

Walking under the foreboding portcullis.

I loved the mossy walls!

Peeking through the arrow slots at the grounds below wondering what it would be like to use a longbow to defend against an invading army...

The hill to the right was where the original Norman fortress (built in 1068) stood.

Views from the tower. It was a steep 250 stair climb to get up here and Elizabeth held my hand and climbed by herself all the way to the top. I was impressed. 

Looking down into the town of Warwick, said Warrick. I don't know why the English decided to drop the "w" but you'll get laughed at if you say is Warwick.

A beautiful view down on the towers and river.

We hiked around the top of the castle and once again, marveled at the crazy short doors. I nearly killed myself on this one.

And Don got stuck in this tiny door.

Even the arrow slots were elegant.

We liked this view down on the ruined bridge that used to run across the river.

We went in to the "King Maker" exhibit inside the castle. It was full of wax statues and armor. The whole exhibit had a Disneyland kind of feel with a sound track and story line of preparation for a great battle being told in a haunted, dramatic voice. It was entertaining.

Trying on the shame masks

The wax statues preparing for war...

The king giving his loyal army a pep talk prior to battle.

After the "King Maker exhibit, we ate a picnic lunch outside in the courtyard.

The "Dragon Slayer" came to invite the kids to come here his story and feel some real dragon scales in the great hall.

We hiked up the hill where the old Norman fortress stood and got some more amazing views of the castle.

Then we hiked down to the outside of the castle so we could go look at the world's largest trebuchet. The trebuchet isn't original. At the height of tourist season, they fire it for entertainment purposes.

Here are some views of the castle and surrounding landscape I found particularly beautiful.

Here is the enormous trebuchet

After we'd hiked around by the river, we went back for a tour of the great hall. The woman pictured below had previously been down in the laundry room dressed as a servant telling us about what we would have most likely been doing had we been living in this time (washing clothes, making ale, making barrels, growing herbs for medicinal purposes, scrubbing chamber pots, etc.). My favorite facts she shared about the 13th and 14th century were about urine. She said that if you were a red-head, you were paid to drink as much ale as you could hold because your urine was prized as a preservative for tapestries and for washing clothing. They would use women's urine to bleach clothing and men's urine to paint over newly finished tapestries to keep the colors bright. 

When we came for the great hall tour, this woman dressed as a courtisan, gave a compelling conspiracy theory that Fulke Greville, Earl of Warwick who lived in this castle during William Shakespeare's lifetime (1554-1628), may in fact, have been the author we know as William Shakespeare. He was a famous sonneteer and writer during his lifetime, had an excellent education, and had a vocabulary of similar depth as is found in Shakespeare's works. He made a claim to be the "Master of Shakespeare" and went by "William" in his club. He had jurisdiction over Stratford Upon Avon and there are records that he came in contact with the William Shakespeare who lived there. Maybe he liked the name and took it up as a pseudonym? Also, in a sarcophagus built by Greville in St. Mary's church in Warwick, there are boxes that are thought to contain manuscripts that theorists believe may be plays written under the pseudonym of Shakespeare. If you are interested, here is an article I found about the sarcophagus conundrum. It is from a British newspaper and considering how accurate reporters are, it could be completely incorrect, but it was interesting nonetheless: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/5995083/Tomb-search-could-end-riddle-of-Shakespeares-true-identity.html 

The woman was comparing pictures of Shakespeare and Fulke Greville and they definitely bear an amazing resemblance. The armor displays in the great hall were pretty amazing, too. 

This picture of a court musician (real person, not a wax statue) was my favorite of the day. 

I loved the lighting on the checkerboard floors in the great hall. 

The sun came out for a few minutes and lit up the river and I had to take a picture. You can see the mill on the left side that helped power the electric lights which were installed in 1894. 

After looking around the great hall, we went on a tour of the sumptuous staterooms which are designed to be just as they were for a weekend party in 1898. The whole exhibit was somewhat shocking as it was all about who was having affairs with who. 

After our scandalous tour, we went downstairs and the kids listened to the amazing and dramatic stories told by the dragon slayer. He even had dragon scales and claws for the kids to touch. They loved it! I loved the kids who came to the castle dressed up as little knights and princesses. Do you see the knight in the picture below?

We bid farewell to the castle, took a couple more pictures, and then headed out to the town of Coventry for a quick look around. 

I love Dakin! Elizabeth was my special friend the whole time. We had a great time holding hands and walking around together. 

Our trip to the castle couldn't have been complete without some ridiculousness.

Me and my buddy Elizabeth.

And here we are in Coventry! Lady Godiva is a common ancestor for me and Don (I know, I know, kissing cousins...yuck. It was waaaaay back, though, so we are totally legal.) Lady Godiva rode naked through town in the 11th century to protest high taxes. It seemed to work. Why hasn't people riding their bikes naked through Boulder impacted high gas prices yet? Maybe because they like it too much?...

Anyway, Don and I wanted to pose with the statue of our ancestor. We chose her modest side...

But here she is in all her glory.

 Coventry was senselessly bombed to smithereens in 1940 by the Germans. From that point forward, the German phrase for really bombing a place to bits was to "coventrate" it. Despite having been completely destroyed, the people of Coventry decided to spread a message of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The beautiful cathedral that was completely destroyed has been left as a memorial to forgiveness and peace and after the war, the people of Coventry made crosses from burnt nails and sent them to other cities senselessly destroyed, like Dresden, to convey a message of reconciliation and hope. A modern cathedral has been built adjoining the ruins.

Inside the ruins...

The picture below shows the burnt altar cross and "Father Forgive" has been carved into the stone behind it. What a beautiful outlook on a horrific tragedy.

This is the new cathedral. It was very modern and interesting. All of the artwork and the whole feel of the place was very elongated and abstract. It feels like such a start contrast next to the old ruined gothic cathedral. There is definitely a big focus on peace and forgiveness inside this cathedral as well.

Here we are back at the ruins with the sun setting.

These two tombs were broken open by the bomb and subsequent fire. I found them fascinating.

After taking our time walking around the ruins, we walked around the town briefly. The guildhall was closed, but we saw some neat half-timbered houses like the one below and walked by the city war memorial.

Then, we headed over to IKEA for dinner. We had parked at IKEA and we needed to buy something to validate our parking, so we had some dinner. I love IKEA!

When we got home, Dakin made a delicious berry pie and we played Thurn and Taxis, which is another awesome German game. For those of you in love with Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, etc., Thurn and Taxis is for you!

We had such a great day exploring with the Stovalls. We are so lucky to have such great friends!

Much information about the castle and the town of Coventry taken from Rick Steves' England, 2007.