Colchester Castle

Today I visited Colchester Castle with some staff and volunteers from Ancient House and the children in the Museum Club and the History Club. These clubs both meet regularly at Ancient House where they work on projects, listen to guest speakers, and participate in various other activities. Sometimes they go on trips, like they did today.

There was one adult assigned to every three children. My children were Georgia, Hadyn, and Connor. Georgia wants me to move to England permanently, Hadyn looks like a Weasley (but isn't too mischievous), and Connor prefers the Greeks to the Romans.

We walked down to the parking lot to get on the coach. I wasn't sure how much room there would be so I sat in the seat next to Georgia. After I saw all the empty seats I was sure my kids thought I was lame for sticking so close to them. But I had a nice conversation with Georgia and she asked me to sit with her on the ride back so I guess I wasn't too uncool.

The castle has been converted into a museum, so we started out by exploring the first floor in our groups. My favorite thing was Boudicea's chariot. It is actually the chariot that was used in a movie about Boudicea.

After that we ate lunch, then we went underground where a woman from the museum talked to us about the Romans. Under Claudius the Romans took over the land of the Trinovantes, including the capital city of Camulodunum (which is now Colchester). They made the local people build a temple to Claudius after he died. The underground chambers we were sitting in were filled with sand to support the weight of the temple. When Boudicea led the Britons against the Romans they burned the temple to the ground and took Camulodunum. Later on the Normans moved in and built a castle on top of the temple ruins. They used Roman debris, making Colchester the only red castle.

The woman from the museum led us upstairs where the kids got to handle some Roman artifacts and try their hand at building a round house and a Roman villa. When they were finished we looked around at the rest of the museum. Then we came home!

Bath Day Two

We explored the city of Bath on Friday.

Here are some slightly frightening sculptures, the minotaur and she-rabbit.














This is from the Roman Baths. There were statues of several prominent Romans, including my buddy JC. But I have chosen to share with you the statue of Suetonius Paulinus, because he was the governor of Britain during the Boudicean revolt.



















This is water flowing into the Roman Baths.















We also saw a street performer who was pretty entertaining, and ate lunch at the Pump House, the restaurant attached to the Roman Baths. And we tried the water. Warm and sulfurous. Before moving on to the next city we visited the William Herschel Museum. William and his sister Caroline were astronomers. He built much stronger telescopes than previously existed and discovered the planet Uranus. Caroline discovered several comets.

Norwich Castle

When I was at Ancient House on Thursday I learned that the Norwich Castle has a Boudicea display so I asked John if we could visit the castle this weekend. We rode our bikes into the city where we had lunch before walking to the castle. In addition to the multiple collections that make up their museum they have battlements and dungeon tours. I wanted to see the dungeon and John wanted to see the battlements, so we did both.

From the roof of the castle keep we looked out over Norwich. We learned that what is now the roof of the Castle Mall was a field where people stood to watch hangings, and the weathervane cock on the top of the cathedral is the size of a cow.

On the dungeon tour we learned that nagging was once considered a crime (in America too!), and apparently one only women could commit. They were punished with a device that went around the head and held a piece of metal over the tongue.

There we so many displays in the museum that we couldn't see them all today, but we did look in on Boudicea. I love the torcs. I will have to get one if I end up putting together a Boudicea costume.

What do Boudicea, Thomas Paine, and Duleep Singh Have in Common?

Thetford.




















Today I traveled to another city. By myself. Using only public transportation.















I had an interview with Ancient House.



















I have been terrified of this interview. It involved travel and I wasn't really sure what to expect. But it turns out that Ancient House uses storytelling and other people-interactive-type-stuff with their exhibits frequently. And they think what I do is pretty neat. And they are focusing on their Roman collection this year. Really things turned out exactly as I wanted them to. I'll get to do classical storytelling at events that are already planned and it won't be so frequently that the distance will be prohibitive.

*Sigh of relief*

Boudicea Tells Rome "Up Yours!"

I did a little research today about British hand gestures because I have noticed on TV that a particular gesture that is entirely friendly in the U.S. is not so in England. The V. Yes, what means "victory," "peace," or "two" to Americans, can mean "something rude" to the Brits, you know, depending on which way your hand is facing. Going on context I thought it was their version of The Finger, but it turns out they've got that as well. I also learned that you shouldn't give Greeks an air five or put horns on an Italian.

In other news, in the hopes of doing some Romano-British storytelling while I am here I have created a story about Boudicea. Turning the work of a historian (Tacitus) into compelling storytelling is not at all easy. I usually prefer to tell in third person, but after weeks of struggle I decided Boudicea had better do the talking herself. I also took great liberties with Caesar's Gallic Wars. What fun!