Knaresborough Bed Race

I've heard of some unusual races back in the States, but never before have I heard of a BED RACE!!

The local town of Knaresborough has held a Bed Race for the past 45 years! This year, the weather wasn't just nice for the race,... it was actually beautiful! And we were determined not to miss it.

For the bed race, teams decorate a wheeled metal frame (not really resembling a bed too much), which they first display and then parade through town. Then for the race, the teams drop the decor, and then run the race through the village pushing their beds. The race eventually ends up in the River Nidd. The teams have to push their beds upstream for a little bit, and then heave their beds out of the river towards the finish line. Prizes are awarded to the team that is best decorated and the team that completes the race in the quickest time.

When we arrived in Knaresborough, we found a spot on the sidewalk to watch the parade (and found some friends to watch it with us!) It was so much fun! The town crier led it all off, and the beds came one after the other. Each year, the Bed Race Committee chooses a theme for the decorations, and this year's theme was: occupations. The floats were very clever- there was one that looked like a restaurant table, one made to look like a house with chimneys for the chimney sweepers, a boat with fishermen, a surgeon's table, etc., etc.The parade finished up near the starting line for the race. At that point all of the teams dropped their decorations and got into line for the race. Because there were so many teams (90 in all!), the teams began the race in 10 second intervals and were timed.

The teams pushed their "beds" through the town and wound up in the river. We were sitting on the edge of the river, near the finish line, so we were able to see the teams push the beds up and out of the river. It was not an easy task!! And the more teams that went by, the slippier the slope got!

As I mentioned before, the Bed Race has been a tradition in Knaresborough for 45 years! According to the Bed Race brochure, the first bed race was held in 1966, and had only 4 beds competing. Regarding the first-ever bed race, the brochure reads:

Things have changed these days as the occupants of the beds were described as 'each graced by a gorgeous girl in an eye catching frilly negligee.' Three of the four were actually beauty queens including Miss Yorkshire and Miss Italy.

I can only imagine those beauty queens' surprise when they were raced right into that cold river!

All in all, the Knaresborough Bed race was a lot of fun! It's one of those small town traditions that I would love to bring back to the States with me.

Day 7- Pisa

On our last day in Italy, I have to admit, we were feeling a little burnt-out. We had planned on visiting a walled-town like Lucca in the morning and then Pisa in the afternoon. But the thought of driving anywhere in the car for more than a half-hour with the kids was enough to make me start getting tics. Thankfully, Pisa was less than a half-hour away, so we decided to go there in the morning.

What fun it was approaching the city and spotting the Leaning Tower! When we entered the city center, the Leaning Tower was there to greet us, and we were ready to have some fun with it! For those of you who don't know the history about why the Leaning Tower leans, well....

The Leaning Tower was built to be a free-standing bell tower for the nearby cathedral. Construction began in 1173, but before the year was out, the tower was already showing a slight tilt. This was due to a poorly laid foundation and a very loose substrate (aka- a mucky soil underneath). At one point, architects tried to compensate for the lean by making the rooms on one side of the tower taller than the other side. This obviously didn't solve the problem, but it did result in a visible curve to the tower. In any case, the tower was finally completed in the 1300s. Towards the end of the 20th century, a lot of effort (and $) was put into making the tower more structurally sound. They ended up pumping tons and tons of soil out from under the tower, which has stabilized it sufficiently...for now.

Anyway, moving on. Pisa's Cathedral Square, also known as the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), houses three important buildings: the cathedral (Duomo), the baptistry, and the afore-mentioned bell tower.

We headed to the Baptistry next. Construction of the Baptistry began in 1152 and it was completed in 1363. The exterior of the Baptistry was lovely and ornate, compared to the rather bleak interior. Inside, we saw the carved pulpit, and the font, which was designed for performing baptisms. The most notable thing about the Baptistry is it's amazing acoustics. The ceiling is shaped like a dome, and sounds just seem to hang in the air (or bouce around, I suppose). Every half-hour, an employee of the Baptistry sings to demonstrate the acoustics. We were fortunately able to witness this. She would sing a note and it would remain for several seconds. Then she would sing another note, and then another, so that you could hear a perfect chord! Sung by just one person!! It was very cool!

We left the Baptistry, and then headed over to the Duomo (the cathedral). We were stunned by how ornately decorated the interior of the Duomo was... just beautiful!By the time we left the Duomo, the sky had turned a scary gray color, and it looked like a thunderstorm was threatening. We decided to make a run for it back to the car. It turned out to be a good decision. As Maddie likes to say, "It was chucking it down!"

We left Pisa, and drove to a nearby US Base called Camp Darby. It was delightful to go to their Commissary and load up on some American snacks. But, it was even more delightful to make our way to the Post Office on the base. We were able to mail a box of dirty laundry to our post box back in the UK for free! That way, we wouldn't have to worry about the weight limit that we barely passed when we flew to Italy. Phew!

We spent or last afternoon in Italy back at the hotel. Collin took a nap while the kids enjoyed the pool and water slide. Although, I must admit, it was a little stressful as the pool had no shallow end for Maddie and we didn't have floaties. And, get this.... they don't allow you to swim in public pools in Italy without swim caps. We hadn't thought to bring swim caps (of which we must have 20 at home). So, we had to shell out 4 euro per cap to let them swim (I actually only bought one, and told them to take turns. I know, I'm such a cheap meanie, but it was a matter of principal at that point).

Our last meal in Italy was at a delightful restaurant not far from the hotel. Pizza, risotto, pasta... and of course, we finished it all off with gelato.

Ciao Italy! Thank you for so many incredible and delicious memories!