Winterval in Waterford!

Finally, finals week is finished and I have time to update y'all on all the shenanigans had in the past few weeks! Here we go!

First up: The trip Aliette and I took to Waterford for the Winterval.

On the bus making our way to Waterford.

Makes me happy

It reads: DOORWAY AND WESTERN WALL OF VERY ANCIENT DANISH CHURCH DEDICATED TO SAINT OLAF.

As we were walking around, we realized that not many things were open yet, so when we saw this we excitedly went inside!

3D wall sculpture with wooden bows/arrows etc. and a crossbow for visitors to pick up. it was interesting to feel the weight of--a nice interactive museum for the most part.

I had to take a picture of this fellow if only for the fabulous shoes!

Hey all my peeps back home who remember singing Carmina Burana... This reminded me of all the fun we had!

There were a number of these on the wall of various kings and such. Aliette are still wondering why they all have swords and daggers placed between their legs. They could have been a bit more subtle...

True words right there ;)

On our way to the living history viking village... For those back home who don't know, Fadó essentially means 'long ago'. A story might begin with "Fadó, Fadó...". A different version of "once upon a time" if ye like.

Aliette and I met up with some fold we met at med/ren's Swords Taining Weekend at Swords Castle, Dublin. I hope to see them all again in April when we go to Clontarf! http://www.flhs.ie/clontarf2014/#

owl :)

Hanging on one of the buildings... it said: Valgard, guardian of Winterval.     I'll just leave this here.

Reginald's tower...there was storytelling here later that night which was fun, even though you could tell it was for the little kids.

Harbor, so pretty :)

This little train drove around all day--looked like fun! Reminded me of Blackberry Farm back home a bit...

In the center of town-- nice landmark if ye ever get lost/split-up.

Saw this and thought of my badminton friends back home--also, a shout-out to Grandma Mertz!

A singing Christmas tree... This made me happy. I just stood there grinning like a fool for a good three minutes--wish I could have joined in!

minion hat in the polish Christmas craft shop....

minion hat on booth outside too...

Minions, minions everywhere...

These poor horses, I don't know if they ever got a rest, they were giving carriage rides ALL Day and sweating heavily every time we saw them :( I hope they got brakes eventually. They were such pretty creatures--the bow was adorable to boot!

It was pretty expensive to get inside... maybe some other time?

Toy museum: need I say more?

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This would be a nice place to rent out for parties...

While waiting for Aliette's order of funnel cake, I got to watch a man paint the windows... always wondered how those things got done...

Aliette had never before had funnel cake. This was exceptionally good funnel cake :) a huge highlight in our day. MMmmm, spiced cooked apples on top and fresh cream too...

random bookstore we stopped in. nice balcony and reading section with coffee and hot cocoa.

In America they changed the title from this original, anybody know why?

'nuff said. I recently have noticed how cranky I get when I don't have tea/biscuits in a day...

flask: poor quality, but cute ;)

To all my redhead friends back home. this is for you...

Old man winter was walking around. Scared some kids, but was really sweet. reminded me of the Ogre back home at the ren. faire!

Making the climb to the top of Reginald's tower for storytelling!

little train giving rides around the fair as seen from the top of the tower

view from top of tower

cool sword. Tower was partly a museum!

There apparently was a contest to name the snowman. This is how creative folks got...

As the sky darkened, we started taking pictures of the lights as they were being turned on

Back at the village--blacksmithing! How fun! We traded some tips and stories and all was cool to learn. I now have some new things to try.

On of the highlights of the Winterval thing was this light's show... Video posted below (hopefully)

little viking elves... Santa's sleigh was a viking long-ship complete with dragons pulling it through the sky!

Overall, it was a really fun trip--lights, books, music, ice-cream, you name it!