Grandes Medievales d'Andilly: Weekende the Firste

 First of all, I'd like to take a moment to consider the colorful colloquial phrase from American English  " I'ma get medieval on your ass".
Apparently first used in the popular 1994 Tarantino film 'Pulp Fiction, it means "to use violence or extreme measures on, to become aggressive."

This seems very unfair.  It is highly unlikely that all the European people  who lived between the 5th to 15th centuries spent all of (or even most of) their time inflicting violence on each other.


In all fairness, "getting medieval" could just as easily refer to playing the lute and eating marzipan...which, frankly, sounds like lots more fun.
 (The irony of writing this and then posting it next to a photo of Severin wearing armour and holding a pike is not lost upon me, btw.) 

But still.... our first weekend of medieval-type activities at the huge Andilly event was NOT a never-ending bloodbath of horror.
Which is nice.

 

 As you can see, Tya and I were  in the daily parades (that's me in dark blue and Tya in green beside me) and  the twins even brought along a pal (who also dressed up and got into the spirit of things).


I also kept busy helping out with things  at the soldiers' camp...like guiding small children through the "Become an Awesome Knight" obstacle course.
And then there was answering all of the questions of the many, many, many tourists.


Did I mention there were a LOT of tourists?
On Saturday alone they sold 16,000 tickets to this event!  And that number translates into lots of lost small children weeping along the charming forested paths.  The ones with smart parents had their folks' cell phone numbers written on their arms (Well...semi-smart parents.  I guess the really bright ones managed not to lose their offspring...)  At any rate, I did manage a few child-rescue operations, which was a feel-good kind of thing.  I do love a happy ending...


As for my medieval faire "stardom" consisting of (if you will recall) being featured in the program photo this year-  I actually had a woman recognise me! She was sitting near me at the falconry show and asked "That's you, right?"...Which was astonishing, as the photo isn't very large and I was wearing totally different clothing.  I'm still completely  mystified by her apparent super-power....