Don’t mess with Texas – they take their Renaissance Festival seriously.
PHOTO DRISANA MISRAIf you’re ever in Houston during the months of October and November, I highly recommend attending their annual Renaissance fair. Admittedly, I did not have high expectations. I had my share of cheesy church, museum, and middle school fairs. However, don’t mess with Texas – they take their Renaissance Festival seriously.
The Texas Renaissance Festival takes place in an extremely well-constructed market town in the woods, replete with knightly parades, jester shows, crazy gnomes, blacksmiths, specialty shops of all kinds, and barbarian-sized turkey legs. However, I must warn against nitpicking for historical accuracy: there were thousands of people there dressed in full Renaissance (and medieval) get-up.
PHOTO DRISANA MISRAI was so deeply impressed with the expansive theatrical setting that I could hardly process any thought deeper than childlike wonder. There was a winding magical garden of secret alcoves where witches and warlocks beckoned, a coliseum where knights jousted, a globe theatre where jesters juggled fire and danced on stilts, an executioner’s block where heads rolled, and dozens of bars where mead overflowed indiscriminately. While mere people watching could do the trick in terms of street entertainment, there was even a performer who dislocated both his shoulders to escape layers and layers of chains. The place was a circus.
But for me, the best part was the six-dollar elephant rides.
PHOTO DRISANA MISRAI know. What do elephants have to do with the Renaissance? Apparently, the Moorish king gifted them to the French royal menagerie. Maybe that was an important event, maybe it was just an excuse to have elephants, but either way it was amazing, and riding elephants in wilds of Houston was something I never expected to do. The elephants were beautiful with luscious eyelashes, moving with an old grace reminiscent of my grandparents. They were peacefully tolerant of us, snatching up trunk-fuls of hay from their handlers as they plodded around the pen like spoiled three-year-olds. Rocking on their leathery shoulders, I felt honored by their acquiescence to give a ride.
In case elephants aren’t your cup of tea, they also peddled llama, camel, horse, and cow rides. After a whole day of immersing myself in Renaissance and medieval culture, I went home tired, with the feeling of a kid who just returned from Fantastica or Narnia.
