Renaissance Faire - Escondido, CA - November 6, 2011

It was cold and gray when we got to the Renaissance Faire on Sunday morning. Many of the participants were quick to point out that the weather was pretty much what one would expect in Olde England, and thus made it quite authentic. I have to say, the shivering did look real.

It's always fun to start out with a visit to the pirates. They're generally the most boistrous group, and since most of the others were still just waking up, even more so. Someone asked this guy if he was the captain. He said no, he had a better job - he's the Keeper Of The Rum. It's always nice to meet someone who enjoys their work.

It rained more than it didn't, and there weren't really all that many people there, so I didn't get a lot of pictures this time. One of the good things about the lack of crowds was that we were able to spend some time talking with the various guild members. The Swiss pike men gave us a great demonstration and history lesson on the use of the pike as a weapon, and on the history of the Swiss as mercenaries.


Along the way I stopped to visit with the Vikings. They were all sitting at a table in their camp playing a game of dice.

They explained to me that they craft much of their own clothing and furniture, since you can't just go down to the local store and pick up authentic looking Viking clothing. At least, I think that's what they were saying - I'm not sure I understand old Norse all that well. They could just as easily have been telling me that they planned to plunder my home and cart off my women and sheep. Maybe giving them my card wasn't such a good idea after all.

I think this was one of the Spanish soldiers. He was showing us the suit of armor that he had crafted.

The Germans are always a fun group to check out.

Here are a couple more random shots from the morning. We only stayed until about 1PM, by then it was raining pretty hard. The parade and battle were both cancelled. Check out the links at the bottom of this post to see pictures from the Faire in April of 2011. The sun was shining, and there were a lot more people.

I think one of the most entertaing people of all was the Town Crier. It's worth going to the Faire just to listen to him, especially early in the morning.

Even with the cold, wet (and, as they said, authentic) weather, it was still a lot of fun. The participants are what make these things, and they weren't going to let a little rain (and a lot of mud) ruin their day or ours.

Click here to see more images from the Renaissance Fair in Escondido, CA on Sunday, November 6, 2011.
   
If you want to see some images from the Renaissance Faire held in the same location in April of 2011, I have 2 blog posts here and here. There are links at the end of each to the galleries as well.