[mark12_30]

Thanks, Encaitare! Maybe someday I'll buy one... I always thought I wanted Sting, but... hmmmmmm.

Lady Snickerdoodle-- there were only a few items that you could hold. They had a couple of people in red shirts who were doing the hands-on stuff. You had to put on brown cloth gloves (they were pretty sweaty by the time I got to them, but whatever...) There was one lady at a table with the samples of armor: a child's mail shirt (incredibly heavy!), a helm, a gauntlet, and the -- well, really, it was more than a vambrace, because it included the elbow joint and the tricep-cover... I put it on. Made the lady a bit nervous. It was heavy! I would have been freaking out in about ten minutes, or less. I also started to try the helmet on but the lady nixed that right away. Guess she didn't want me getting stuck.

Glamdring: Again, there was a guy who stood there and held it, and lectured you for a bit. You had to put on another pair of the brown cloth gloves again. He helps you hold the sword... too bad. I wanted him to let go of it, but he wouldn't. (I used to fence, foil and sabre, but broadsword is quite different and I wanted to have some fun... uh uh. No such luck. Like I said, maybe I'll buy one... either the Ranger sword or Anduril. (What would you do with a SWORD?) (Oh, just get arrested for disturbing the peace, and assault with a deadly weapon, and things like that. No big deal.)

Oh! One more thing that was ultra-cool. They had a display that said 'please touch'. It was three rohirric swords side by side. (Next to that was another similar display of three elvish swords, side by side.) One was the original steel sword; then they do a cast of that, and make aluminum copies and plasticky copies for various purposes. They wanted you to try and feel the difference.

The steel was coldest.