During the last weekend of September, Hannah, Mom and I went to the Santa Fe Renaissance Fair in the open air museum El Rancho de las Golondrinas. As we knew that many visitors would come dressed as people from the Middle Ages, we also “disguised” :-)!
Stands were scattered all over the grounds, but I will only mention a few. For example at one of them we had home-brewed and (of course) alcohol-free sodas. For lunch we ate fine Mediterranean food. On a wooden stage dancers from our Irish dance school performed. That was wonderful!
To get to a somewhat secluded part of the Rancho, you had to cross a bridge over a little creek. But to get over the bridge, you had to either tell a joke or pay one dollar to a man in medieval outfit and his young helper. So on our first visit we did not go on the other side
, because I could not remember a single joke (where are all these jokes when you need them?). On the second day, we knew better and boldly crossed with the rest of the waiting crowd.
So on the other side of the creek, “Celtic games” were being played on a large meadow were, for example archery or “tree trunk throwing”. In the “Fairy Village”, we saw an angel riding a unicorn.
Oh and by the way, during the Irish dance performance, Queen Isabella was sitting a few rows behind us. During the Renaissance, she was Queen of Spain, and financed Christopher Columbus’ expedition in 1492.
Marie
