It’s Royal Wedding week! Everyone excited? Yeah … I know how you feel. Not only have I been failing in my goal to become obsessed with the Royal Wedding, but lately I’ve been failing at becoming obsessed with my own wedding. It’s not that I’m not excited. I’ve just had way too much other stuff going on lately. In a few weeks, I’ll be heading to Europe for a music tour, and my life has been spent on the details of that trip. But seeing as my first stop on the tour is Manchester, England, I figure I should try to get back into the Royal Wedding, and intensely.
A few friends and I had been planning on getting together for a Pajama/Tea Party at 5am on Friday, April 29, so we could watch the Royal Wedding properly. Why those silly Royals like to have their big events on a weekday morning is beyond me, but I wonder why they didn’t think about me when they planned it. I mean, last call at the bars in Louisville is 4am, so that only gives me an hour of sleep before the arrivals begin. What were they thinking?
Anyway, I’ve since made other plans besides the Pajama/Tea-Party for the big event on Friday. Rather than just watching it with a few friends, I’m heading down to the Frazier International History Museum here in Louisville and watching it with lots of other History-in-the-Making-Obsessed Folks.
I think “History-in-the-Making-Obsessed” is a much more accurate description than “Royal-Wedding-Obsessed.” I’ve never been one of those people who buys magazines about celebrity weddings, but for some reason I think the Royal Wedding will be really exciting. Maybe it’s because history classes all through my life were all about memorizing the Kings and Queens of England, and it seems absurd that we still have Kings and Queens. Watching this wedding is almost like time traveling. Will our great-grandchildren have to memorize William and Kate’s names? Will some poor girl confuse Catherine Middleton with Catherine of Aragon on her AP exam? And is Kate Middleton FREAKING OUT at the notion that someday she will be a question on a test?!
But back to the History Museum…
The Frazier International History Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, is the only official Royal Armouries outside of Great Britain. What does that mean, you might ask? Well, your faithful “reporter” (bunny-ears for sure on that one) made a pilgrimage to the Museum last week to find out more for you.
I like history and I like museums, so it was a no-brainer that I’d enjoy the place. But truthfully, I think you’d enjoy it even if those aren’t usually what excites you. The have a rifle that belonged to George Washington, the original papers that had Mary Todd Lincoln committed to an insane asylum, Geronimo’s bow, and tons of interactive displays. They also have a series of live performances throughout the day, put on by professional actors who entertain and subtly teach you about folks like Annie Oakley, Joan of Arc, and Catherine the Great.
Opening originally with a focus on weapons, the Frazier has made a shift. It’s sad that a huge part of our history has been weapons and wars, but the museum understands that there is a bigger story to tell. They are doing a commendable job to share countless other artifacts and images spanning thousands of years. I love most museums, but the Frazier is working to be one of the nation’s top ones. We are lucky to have it here in Louisville
Anyway, back to the Royal Wedding. Why watch it at the Frazier? Well, the Frazier is the only official home of the Royal Armouries that’s not actually in Great Britain. They have tons of artifacts that I once thought I could only see at the Tower of London, like the shining armor of knights (who must have been wee because even I couldn’t fit in some of those outfits).
The Frazier Museum will open its doors at 4:30am on Friday, April 29, offering a complete English Breakfast, champagne, and wedding cake to those brave enough to venture out so early. Plus, you are allowed access to the galleries, so you’ll be able to browse some of the amazing artifacts and exhibits the museum offers. They’ll be showing the Royal Wedding coverages on a giant TV, and we’ll all have a dandy ol’ time.
David and I will be there bright and early, once we figure out what a “morning coat” is. If you’d like to join us and some other Brit-o-philes (“Anglophiles” is just too specific), then get your tickets now. Call (502) 753-5663 or go online here. Tickets must be purchased by April 27, 2011, I imagine so they can have an accurate head count for the caterer (hmmmmmm … English fry-up!). It’s $25 for museum members, and $30 for non-members. I know that seems hefty, but really it’s only, like, £15.
I’m also going to go ahead and declare that we should all try to pass each other on the left when going up the stairs and walking down the halls of the museum. It’s a difficult instinct to overcome, especially at 5am, but I think we can do it. It will only add to that jetlagged feeling you get whenever you actually land in the UK. Also, we shall eat in the European style (which makes way more sense anyway than the American style), and we shall speak in terrible British accents (only “terrible” because we are so bad at attempting them).
Anyway, I’ve been to many a wedding at the Frazier (they host about 80 weddings a year!), and it’s always a good time. I can’t imagine this one will be any different. I only hope the Royal Wedding coverage will include Pop-Up-Video-Style interesting facts, like the Charles & Di re-runs on TLC this week have had.
See you on Friday!
