Today, I had 2 tickets to the annual
King Richard's Faire in Carver, which I brought my friend to. This is an annual fair where people dress up like knights and kings from the Renaissance era. The kids were especially cute in their getups. The place is situated amongst the trees, with many quaint houses, one with a dragon on top, and another a toadstool.
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| The entrance to the fair |
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| Cute kids |
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| People in costume |
At the first performance, where a human chessboard was being set up, I was nominteered to be one of the pieces, namely a mere pawn.
How this game was played was that pieces were used to attack the other party, the pieces involved then having to fight it out in a challenge, be it a tongue twister, a yodelling contest, or a mind twisting arguing match which I took part in, shouting "Zip", Zap" and "Zup" in turn with my opponent, which I stupidly lost after just a few turns
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| Tongue Twister Challenge |
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| Yodelling contest |
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| Doing the Chicken Dance |
The next place we went to was the Tourney grounds, where the Jousting Tournament was just starting. It was really good to watch people wearing armor, jousting and even hooking rings with their lances.
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| Awaiting the entry of the knights |
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| The king's platform |
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| Hitting a jousting board |
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| Hooking a ring with a lance |
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| Catching a ring thrown in the air |
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| Knights getting ready to joust |
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| Knights jousting |
After the jousting was over, we headed next door for the next performance by a professional whipper, called Jacques le Whippeur. This guy was really good with his whip, being able to cut spaghetti strips piece by piece, even from the outstretched hand of a participant. He even set it on fire at the end, and managed to whip it around himself without setting himself on fire.
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| Jacques le Whippeur |
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| Whip on fire |
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| Whipping the spaghetti strip from participant |
The next performance we went to was of two jugglers. They were just finishing their show, asking a participant on stage, then juggling knives in front and behind him like a jump rope.
Their final acts involved getting onto unicycles and throwing flaming sticks at each other. Thankfully the volunteer only needed to pass them the torches before running off stage.
After this, we walked around to see some of the contests and activities that people could participate in, like pony riding, axe throws, crossbow shooting, and using a hammer to try to hit a bell, the high striker.
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| Pony riding |
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| Crossbow shooting |
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| The dungeon |
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| Axe Throwing |
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| The high striker |
We wanted to watch the torture show next, but the kid's one was still ongoing at the same place. The kids were really cute play acting though.
The torture show was the most awesome performance of the day behind the jousting, with the man doing fire-eating, fire breathing, nailing a nail into his nose, and even hooking his eyes, something apparently only 7 people in the world can do.
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| Fire Eating |
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| Drinking the kerosene |
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| Fire breathing |
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| Showing the nail |
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| Going to nail it in |
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| Nail in the nose |
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| Nailing it in |
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| Pulling it out |
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| Sticking hooks into the eyes |
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| They're In!! |
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| Pulling on the chains |
After that last performance, we decided we were done with the fair, which was actually an excellent experience. I decided to bring my friend to see some of the nicest places I have been to on the way home. First it was the
Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Norfolk, where the vegetation was more lush than in fall
the last time I was here.
We also noticed that there was a Butterfly Garden here, and there were monarch butterflies fluttering around the remaining flowers here.
Next, we headed to
Whitehall State Park in Hopkinton, where the reservoir was
as beautiful as before. We originally wanted to do some hiking here by going around the entire reservoir, but realized it would take too long and we gave up.
In Upton, we passed by what I thought initially was a church, but it turned out to be the Spaightwood Galleries instead.
In Northbridge, we headed to Lookout Rock at the
Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park, where the view of the Blackstone River below was amazing.
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| View from Lookout Rock |
Not knowing where to go for dinner, we decided to try
Divine Thai in Northbridge. The decor wasn't much to speak of, and the food we ordered was just okay I guess. We got the Winter Shrimp appetizer, made of shrimp stuffed with chicken and wrapped in wonton skin, although there did not seem to be any sign of chicken in the tiny shrimp served to us.
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| Winter Shrimp |
My friend got the Divine Fried Rice, which she wanted to be really spicy, while I got the Chilli Duck, which I hoped would not be too spicy.
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| Divine Fried Rice |
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| Chilli Duck |
In the end, the fried rice was stilly not spicy enough, even for me, while the Chilli Duck was a little too spicy for me to handle.
Taking pity on me, the waiter decided to give me a glass of Thai Iced Tea on the house.
Overall, I actually liked my Duck dish, although it was way too spicy. Not coming back to this place though.
With that, a day of experiencing the King Richard's Faire came to an end.
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