First of all, our love to Violeta (our friend in Bundanoon) and Jeanette, Jeremy's mum, both of whom have just had their gall bladders removed - we hope you're both feeling much, much better now!
Today we went into Leeds, to the Royal Armouries Museum. Dave and Kate had recommended a visit and so off we went. The amount of traffic on the road was dreadful (one of the things that has surprised us is the amount of traffic on the roads, at any time of day).
We finally reached Leeds, parked the car, and went into the Armouries which, surprisingly, had free entry. It is a very impressive building, housing a huge number of weaponry, suits of armour etc. All of the armour is authentic and the displays are fantastic. Outside are Bungee Trampolines and Face Painting for the children. There is also an Arts and Crafts exhibition, story telling and a soft play area for under 5s.
We first of all went into the Tournament Room, where we saw a display of sword fighting. It was then time for lunch, we ate in the bistro and then had a look around the large shop.
After lunch, went into the Tiltyard, for a demonstration of Tudor Riding Skills (this did have to be paid for, although for a very small fee) - we were accompanied by hordes of Dutch scouts (both male and female). It seems wherever we go there are huge numbers of young people - scouts, schoolchildren, etc. although, to be fair, it is the summer holidays here! The tilting was really good to watch. There were three people on horseback - two men and a woman, and they did various things with their lances, such as riding full tilt and hooking rings on the end of the lance, or picking up gloves from the ground. They also had to hit the quintain, a pole with a horizontal bar that swings around when hit, with a heavy ball on one end and a flat, round thing on the other end. The winner is the one who hits this hard enough to make it swing around the most number of times.
When the tilting had finished, we went back into the Armoury for a more detailed look around - there are a tremendous number of arms from all through the ages and the displays are really well thought out. At the moment there is a special exhibition relating to the movies. At 3pm we went back to the Tournament Gallery for "French, English, Good Friends?" This consisted of two men, acting as Henry VIII and Francis I baiting each other in words - all good fun.
After we left the Armouries, we walked into the city centre before heading home. As Dave ad Kate had said, it really was worth the visit.
By the way, to access any of the photos we have attached to the journal (a mere handful of those we've taken!), just double-click on any of the files on the right-hand side then, when the photos appear, double click on one, which will then enlarge, and you can just click on "next" in the top right-hand corner. Today's are entitled Royal Armouries Leeds.
