a knight to remember

with the con over for the day and nothing else to do, jon and i decided to head over to schaumburg for the evening and see what was shakin.  one of the attractions around there is medieval times.  I had never been there before but jon had and was totally up for going again.  he even offered to spring for my ticket as a belated birthday gift.  well, ok, twist my arm!
i kind of knew what i was in for, but the reality of it is so much cooler than i expected.  about the only experience i've ever had with it is what they featured in that jim carrey movie 'cable guy'.  they mocked it pretty mercilessly, so i didn't really take it very seriously.  we got in there and wandered around in the lobby for a while, it was pretty cool, the whole place was decorated like a castle and you could go look at the horses or wander through the 'dungeon' and see different torture devices from the era.  as the showtime got closer, the king and princess came out, heralded by the trumpets, and proceeded to announce different birthday parties- even knighting the birthday boys and girls!  finally, they called in the different groups for their seating areas, and the magic began.  like i said, i knew it would be kind of neat to see the horses and their riders, and i knew it would be kind of fun to see the whole presentation play out, but i was surprised at just how awesome it was!  at the beginning we were instructed to clap for the knight from our seating area, so i did, politely.  but by the time the jousting and hand to hand combat was underway i was swept up in it and cheering and screaming for our guy!  it really draws you in!  the food was good and we had so much fun watching and cheering along to the two hour show!  i am definitely going to have to come back with ledger and diana sometime soon!
(more pics: 1, 2)