Tall Ships
Jun. 29th, 2015 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwThe good first! I was very pleased with my outfit, and I'm always happy to see my friends, whether in costume or not. And lunch at City Tavern was delish, as always. Why do I not go there more often? Their lunch prices are very reasonable. (I loved my raspberry shrub and my turkey pot pie!)
You'll be very displeased to hear that I got ONE picture of my outfit. And the way the wind's blowing my skirt in between my legs, it feels...indecent. That's me, always indecent! But since I only got the one, you'll have to make do.
And there's a shot of my bonnet, which I'm being very brave in posting, as I look deranged. I like my bonnet though!
And I had a grand old time on my day sail! The original ship I booked on didn't make it to the festival, so I got a replacement from New York, the When and If. Built in 1939 for General Patton, he was going to sail her around the world, "when and if" he made it back from the war. And I realized I didn't take a picture of my ship! Fail.
I'm sure I looked like an absolute nutter, going for a sail in that getup by myself, especially as none of the other passengers were interested in talking to me, and I'm not the type to initiate a chat by myself. The crew did, though, so they get points for that, especially one cute young sailor who spent some time chatting with me. Who gets ALL the points for telling me he liked my bonnet. Sir, you win everything. The way to a gir's heart is through her bonnet. This girl, anyway.
Stole a couple of Robin's pictures, in which I look mildly less deranged, so I'll post those too... This one was on l'Hermione, before![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
16thc_kataryn and her mom had joined us:
And at City Tavern, where I unwisely took off my bonnet and Robin tried to filch it:
Dat ruff. I guess it doesn't matter so much that I ran out of trim for the collar, when I wear it with that!
So I guess I like my bonnet now, partly because I managed to hide most of the horrible satin wrinkles under the striped bias strips, and partly because Robin kept telling me all day how great it was, so I guess she talked me into it! And I love my spencer; let me pat myself on the back for having the idea of a linen spencer! Between that and the ruff and the bonnet I didn't get sunburnt at all. Particularly while waiting in line to get into the festival, while the sun wasn't behind clouds yet, I appreciated having it! And layers to absorb the sweat (although there's nothing like sweat running down from your upper back allll the way down into your stocking! You're welcome for that). This has been your PSA for linen and long sleeves in the summer, thank you for listening...Happily it got more overcast as the day went on.
That's the good, now let me tell you of the not-as-good: The festival was a ZOO. Granted, I expected crowds. It's a Big Thing, and most of Saturday had been rained out, so there were probably people who planned to go Saturday that ended up going Sunday. The only ship we actually got to tour was the Hermione, because of the absurdly long lines, which was disappointing, but, again, lots of people, you can only have so many people on a ship at once.
But I think things could have been helped by better organization of those lines! People were queuing everywhere, and you couldn't tell which line was for what, and nobody could get through, so people just milled about, getting in everyone else's way. And the line for the ferry! The plan after lunch was to go across and see the ships on the Camden side, and then I'd go on my sail at 5, as that was the side the When and If was on. But there was a two-and-a-half-hour wait for the ferry. Appalling. At that point, I didn't have two and a half hours, so I walked back to the train station for the NJ-Philly line withmisspeachum and her mom (the way we'd come over) and made far better time, despite a train only every half-hour!
And mind you, all this congestion was only on the Philly side. There weren't half as many people on the Camden waterfront! Still good lines to see the ships (and with my sail, I didn't have time), but at least you could breathe! I wish we'd met up on the NJ side of the river, forget the Hermione! (Who didn't really give us a tour anyway. Self-guided. "Yes, I see this is a ship. Uh-huh. *walks to other side* Hmm, yes, still a ship over here too. *walks down gangway* Yup, that was definitely a ship.") I didn't even get to see the War of 1812 repros that went with my dress, sad, boo hoo. But City Tavern's on the other side so that wouldn't have worked very well anyway.
So, to sum up, the festival itself was a bit of a letdown. To add insult to injury, that damn 62-foot duck was only inflated about 25% of the time it was there! Between perpetual leaks and bad weather and wind, it was a puddle of duck most of the time. This is what it looked like on Sunday.
Wow, I am so impressed. *blinks*
They finally started inflating it again when I got back from my sail at 6.40pm...and the festival gates closed at 7. Great timing, guys! I would have stayed, but it was taking forever to inflate, and I was by myself and got bored very quickly. Plus there was an influx of cowboy boots and hats going to the concert next-door, and I wasn't up to hearing about my hat from them. (Just jealous, 'cause mine's so much better.)
So, thanks, Tall Ships, for giving me an excuse to make a spencer and bonnet that I'm very fond of, and a lovely sail (with a chap who liked my hat), but maybe next time I'll forego the costume and just watch the Parade of Sail from the bridge!
You'll be very displeased to hear that I got ONE picture of my outfit. And the way the wind's blowing my skirt in between my legs, it feels...indecent. That's me, always indecent! But since I only got the one, you'll have to make do.
And there's a shot of my bonnet, which I'm being very brave in posting, as I look deranged. I like my bonnet though!
And I had a grand old time on my day sail! The original ship I booked on didn't make it to the festival, so I got a replacement from New York, the When and If. Built in 1939 for General Patton, he was going to sail her around the world, "when and if" he made it back from the war. And I realized I didn't take a picture of my ship! Fail.
I'm sure I looked like an absolute nutter, going for a sail in that getup by myself, especially as none of the other passengers were interested in talking to me, and I'm not the type to initiate a chat by myself. The crew did, though, so they get points for that, especially one cute young sailor who spent some time chatting with me. Who gets ALL the points for telling me he liked my bonnet. Sir, you win everything. The way to a gir's heart is through her bonnet. This girl, anyway.
Stole a couple of Robin's pictures, in which I look mildly less deranged, so I'll post those too... This one was on l'Hermione, before
16thc_kataryn and her mom had joined us:And at City Tavern, where I unwisely took off my bonnet and Robin tried to filch it:
Dat ruff. I guess it doesn't matter so much that I ran out of trim for the collar, when I wear it with that!
So I guess I like my bonnet now, partly because I managed to hide most of the horrible satin wrinkles under the striped bias strips, and partly because Robin kept telling me all day how great it was, so I guess she talked me into it! And I love my spencer; let me pat myself on the back for having the idea of a linen spencer! Between that and the ruff and the bonnet I didn't get sunburnt at all. Particularly while waiting in line to get into the festival, while the sun wasn't behind clouds yet, I appreciated having it! And layers to absorb the sweat (although there's nothing like sweat running down from your upper back allll the way down into your stocking! You're welcome for that). This has been your PSA for linen and long sleeves in the summer, thank you for listening...Happily it got more overcast as the day went on.
That's the good, now let me tell you of the not-as-good: The festival was a ZOO. Granted, I expected crowds. It's a Big Thing, and most of Saturday had been rained out, so there were probably people who planned to go Saturday that ended up going Sunday. The only ship we actually got to tour was the Hermione, because of the absurdly long lines, which was disappointing, but, again, lots of people, you can only have so many people on a ship at once.
But I think things could have been helped by better organization of those lines! People were queuing everywhere, and you couldn't tell which line was for what, and nobody could get through, so people just milled about, getting in everyone else's way. And the line for the ferry! The plan after lunch was to go across and see the ships on the Camden side, and then I'd go on my sail at 5, as that was the side the When and If was on. But there was a two-and-a-half-hour wait for the ferry. Appalling. At that point, I didn't have two and a half hours, so I walked back to the train station for the NJ-Philly line with
misspeachum and her mom (the way we'd come over) and made far better time, despite a train only every half-hour!And mind you, all this congestion was only on the Philly side. There weren't half as many people on the Camden waterfront! Still good lines to see the ships (and with my sail, I didn't have time), but at least you could breathe! I wish we'd met up on the NJ side of the river, forget the Hermione! (Who didn't really give us a tour anyway. Self-guided. "Yes, I see this is a ship. Uh-huh. *walks to other side* Hmm, yes, still a ship over here too. *walks down gangway* Yup, that was definitely a ship.") I didn't even get to see the War of 1812 repros that went with my dress, sad, boo hoo. But City Tavern's on the other side so that wouldn't have worked very well anyway.
So, to sum up, the festival itself was a bit of a letdown. To add insult to injury, that damn 62-foot duck was only inflated about 25% of the time it was there! Between perpetual leaks and bad weather and wind, it was a puddle of duck most of the time. This is what it looked like on Sunday.
Wow, I am so impressed. *blinks*
They finally started inflating it again when I got back from my sail at 6.40pm...and the festival gates closed at 7. Great timing, guys! I would have stayed, but it was taking forever to inflate, and I was by myself and got bored very quickly. Plus there was an influx of cowboy boots and hats going to the concert next-door, and I wasn't up to hearing about my hat from them. (Just jealous, 'cause mine's so much better.)
So, thanks, Tall Ships, for giving me an excuse to make a spencer and bonnet that I'm very fond of, and a lovely sail (with a chap who liked my hat), but maybe next time I'll forego the costume and just watch the Parade of Sail from the bridge!
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Date: 2015-06-30 05:15 am (UTC)You looked absolutely smashing! The red is gorgeous on you AND YOUR BONNET!! It's so amazing! If I had seen you I might have mugged you and absconded with it.
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Date: 2015-07-02 04:44 am (UTC)And thank you! Robin tried to steal it too so you two would've had to fight over it, hee hee.
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