Sullivan's Lost Adventure in Bourtange - part 1

 

When Gilbert visited Bourtange in June, Sullivan told him he had been there as well. But when we checked the blog, we couldn't find Sullivan's trip! He never blogged about it!

When we saw that friends visited Bourtange this weekend we were reminded of this lost adventure once again, so here is:

Sullivan's Lost Adventure in Bourtange

In June 2018 my owner took me on a trip to Bourtange. It was a special occasion as there were reenactments of Napoleonic battles that took place at Bourtange. As soon as we arrived I spotted the tents of the soldiers.

There were lots of them and I was immediately in a historic mood.

People were dressed up in Napoleonic era costumes and were cooking outside even though the weather was a bit grey.

I think this guy was a Napoleonic marine. He showed us how to load a gun.

What a fun event. And we hadn't even reached the actual settlement yet.

Once on the earthen wall surrounding Bourtange we saw a crowd and decided to see what was going on.

There were soldiers playing around with cannons.

I found a spot where I had a good view of them lighting a cannon.

There's a lot of smoke when you fire a cannon.

It was cool to see all the people in costume.

After we watched them shoot cannons for a while we went into the settlement in search of lunch.

I spotted this cool painting.

French fries!

After lunch there was an event taking place in the moat surrounding Bourtange. We had to see that of course.

Nothing happening just yet...

There soldiers doing stuff at the other side, but I couldn't make it out.

Then we saw boats rowing across the moat.

The soldiers in it reached our side! Isn't a moat meant to protect from invaders?

I wonder what will be next.

Gilbert: A Grand Day Out - part 2

 

I loved seeing all the displays of the different Aardman movies. This one is from The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Polly!

She plays a really big part in The Pirates! Band of Misfits and she is amazing!

Concept art for the Pirates movie.

Polly concept art.

This cool armored mammoth is from a movie I haven't seen (yet).

Another Wallace and Gromit display.

These were so fun to see, I could almost imagine myself walking in and joining them.

The pirate ship from The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

So cool!

After we saw the expo we decided to go to the roof of the huilding the expo was in.

The weather was lovely, so we had an amazing view.

Next we went to the Gold Office for drinks

and food!

We had French fries and onion rings.

I got a souvenir from our visit to the expo: a kit to make my own Shaun the Sheep!

In the evening we ate Wensleydale and watched Wallace and Gromit movies, including A Grand Day Out of course!

It was a really fun day!

Gilbert - A Grand Day Out - part 1

 

Last Monday we went on an outing!

We went to Storyworld, where they had an Aardman expo!

It was called Shaun the Sheep and Friends, but it was about all the wonderful stop motion pictures of Aardman.

They had buildings that were used in Wallace and Gromit, one of my favorite shows!

A Close Shave!

That's the name of the Wallace and Gromit episode that introduced Shaun.

I think this was a display from one of the Shaun the Sheep movies.

A figurine from  a disability awareness campaign Aardman did.

This disguised penguin is from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers.

There were lots of story boards and concept art as well. This is the rocket from Wallace and Gromit's first adventure: A Grand Day Out.

And the real rocket!

It was so cool to see the actual size of things.

This is concept art for The Pirates! Band of Misfits. It's the Captain and Polly. I love Polly!

Two dogs in a dumpster.

They also had booths where you could try to make your own stop motion movie, but we didn't try them out. But it was so cool to see how stop motion is done. It is a lot of work.

I must say that those sets were perfectly McPig-sized.

There was so much detail in all those sets.

Amazing.

A Were-Rabbit

Coming Next: more cool Aardman things.