Warwick Castle.

About two hours by train outside of London, there is a castle. There are other castles that are closer to London and just as impressive, but this one hails itself (as per its website) to be Britain's "Greatest Mediaeval (--their spelling) Experience!"

It didn't disappoint.






Built in 1088, and originally constructed out of sticks, my first stop was the dungeon (added in the late 1200s, when the castle was rebuilt out of stone).




Check out this noise:
"Prisoners destined for particularly harsh treatment were bundled into the small, damp, and lightless pit below the grille. In this claustrophobic and insanitary space, tellingly known as an oubliette, the wretched prisoner was, as the name implies, forgotten."



(Greatest Medieval Experience EVER!!!!)

The castle changed hands many times as history passed. Legend has it that a ghost still haunts one of the towers. *I tried to tune into the ghost. No dice. :(



Of course, the latter part of the 20th century brought us ZZ Top, mountains of cocaine, and Madame Tussaud's. Tussaud's bought the castle, fixed it up and turned it into Britain's GREATEST MEDIEVAL EXPERIENCE. Basically, they added awesome wax figurines. Doing Medieval stuff. So I could experience it. It was amazing...

Not real.


Not real.



Also not real.


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!


In addition to lifelike wax figures, Tussaud's also restored many of the rooms to their original glory and splendor. What follows is a brief retrospective showing some of the exquisite details. And apparently my love of chandeliers.







More wax figures and some taxidermy later...





I went to the castle's restaurant and ate like a king!