My great-grandfather’s name is Gus Warwick. He had always wanted to visit England. He believed that he was the direct ancestor of the king of Warwick, England, so he had always wanted to go visit the castle where his relatives used to reign. According to my Grandpa Gus, the daughter of the king of Warwick, the princess, fell in love with a poor farm boy which was, of course, forbidden. In order for the two to live in peace she snuck out one night to meet him, and the two lovers ran away to catch a boat to America. This was how his family ended up in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Years after the two lovers had had left England, my great-grandpa returned to what he believed, or at least tried to convince us, was his relatives’ home. When I was ten years old, my seven year old brother, my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandpa and I all went to England. Of course, one of the first things we did was visit Warwick, England. I remember my first glimpse of the castle through the thick coverage of green leaves on the trees surrounding the castle. One of the tallest towers was sticking out above all the trees around the castle. We entered into the castle and were greeted by a large courtyard filled with green grass and all kinds of people enjoying the bright spring day inside the castle. The castle itself was made of small tan bricks that were stained and worn away in various places from weather and war thousands of years ago. It had thick walls all around the courtyard with towers around the corners. The towers were round with long skinny windows facing outside the castle to watch and defend it’s perimeters from enemies.
We were then let inside the castle to view its many bedrooms, dining rooms and hallways. We weren’t allowed inside many of the rooms in the castle but we were allowed to look in through the doorways to see beautifully painted ceilings, tapestries on the walls, rugs on the floor, and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. In the main dining room there was a long wooden table with probably 30 beautiful chairs carved in dark wood with deep red padding on the seats. There was fine china set up all along the table and above the table was a huge glass chandelier. All throughout the castle there were windows where you could look out and see the green courtyard and the fields and trees outside the castle.
We finally left the castle, stopping at the old graveyard on our way out. The writing on most of the gravestones was so worn and old that it was impossible to read and many of the stones were growing moss. There were some tombs that were not buried, but set in the graveyard above the ground, made out of thick gray stone so they would be impossible to open without help. The cemetery had many trees and long green grass all around the stones. I was only ten at the time, but I know that as long as I live I won’t forget the trip my family took to our castle in Warwick.
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