If dressing up as a wench, pirate or a medieval peasant is your thing, then you might just love the Michigan Renaissance Festival which we visited at the weekend. Think vintage - but centuries old vintage. It's part festivities with jousting, fire eating and performances, part eating and drinking, a big part shopping and lots of fun. Not only could you buy yourself a brand new sword, but leather armour, chain mail, corsets, natural soaps, teas to glass wear and jewellery. Staff and visitors both dress up which creates a really fun atmosphere, plus Joe ended up going in jail for $3 and having to sing "I'm a little teapot" just to be released which was great fun. Watching jousting was my favourite part of the day, while it's nothing like proper jousting and involves a lot of play acting it was certainly a laugh. We came away with the latest tend for drinking - a drinking horn [pictured], handmade soap to a glass penguin and crazy little mushroom men to stick into planters. Our feet were tired and we were getting a little too sun burnt to get around everything but we're certainly off back next year.
