291 Wonderful lily park (1)

Is that a camera?

"Quinn, since when do you have a camera? And is that a professional model?"

Melody has also noticed Quinn pulling a camera that probably costs a lot out of her backpack and immediately asks her about it.

"I got it from a friend who also took Latin with me. Everyone wants to see pictures from inside wonderful lily park so they gave me this camera to get some great shots."

Of course, an entire group of Rome fans and one of them gets to go to their holy land. Figures that they would want pictures.

We get through the check in by taking the VIP passage. This VIP passage is thankfully placed in a separate location so there is no more jeering crowds and Valeria has no opportunity to ruin the day for more people.

We enter the park and the attendant at the check in directs us towards the hotel we'll be staying in so we can drop off our luggage. Looking up the skyscraper-like hotels, I see that, as Navi said, the highest floor of each hotel is connected to the others through multiple bridges. Those bridges are made out of glass and some metal and are arranged to form a flower motif in the sky. The glass parts are colored and give the illusion that the bridges sparkle whenever you look up.

Quinn is already busy snapping pictures of everything.

We enter the hotel and after showing the VIP badges we got at the park's check in, we are shown to a special elevator leading up to the penthouse suite. We don't want to waste time looking at the suite so we just drop our luggage by the entrance and go back down.

"Where do the two of you want to go first?"

Since my girls were the ones who chose the park they naturally get to decide where we go first. The thing is, I doubt they will be able to decide.

"Dinosaurs!"

"Legionaries!"

Of course, both girls want to go to their favorite part of the park. Now what will I do?

Quinn and Cassidy harumpf at each other and have a staring contest. Then, Cassidy breaks the staring contest, grabs Melody's arm and starts dragging her off.

"Humpf, I'm taking mom to see the dinosaurs!"

"You! Then I'm taking das to see the legionaries!"

Quinn responds in kind by grabbing my arm and dragging me off into another direction. Was I really just demoted to second choice?

I lock eyes with Melody and she gives me a helpless smile. I guess she wants to just go along with the arrangement the girls made themselves. A look at Valeria tells me that she has decided to follow Melody and Cassidy.

Thus, I go look at the section dedicated to Ancient Rome with my daughter who also acts as my tour guide.

The Roman petal is divided in one inner and two outer reaches. From the lily's core, we first enter the inner reach. A Roman castellum which is apparently the word for smaller Roman forts or camps. Larger ones were referred to as a castrum.

But really, calling this thing a smaller fort makes me dread seeing a larger one. Though Quinn does admit that this fort is almost large enough to be considered a castrum. Castella can be as small as just being a tower. This one however is hexagonal and spans about ten meters along every side.

It's located on a small hill with the stone walls reaching nearly twelve meters from the outside but only about three from the inside. At first I assume that inside will be actors. But my instructor's assessment quickly proves me wrong. These people all have the class of neo legionaries. My skill tells me that the neo prefix stems from the fact that the class was lost and while rediscovered wasn't exactly the same.

The purpose of this castellum is for visitors to change into the attire of roman legionaries and experience a very close replica of Roman times. Quinn is beside herself with joy but her enthusiasm gets a bit dampened when one of the neo legionaries informs her that she'll have her hands to full to carry the camera. Thankfully there is a number of small lockers we she can leave her camera and we are informed that there is a photographer for VIP visitors.

I enter the men's changing room where another neo legionary waits to help with getting changed. The experience isn't perfectly accurate. I get to keep my modern underwear and the red undergarment is made of cloth that doesn't chafe the skin of anyone. The sandals are… probably way too accurate. The leader is stiff and the sole is inlaid with iron nails. Apparently, the nailheads make for a good grip on the ground. Yes, the nail heads. The sharp part of the nail is inside the leather sole pointing up.

"You'll get accustomed to the sandals, they are surprisingly comfortable once you wear them for a while. Now, do you want to try the lorica hamata or the lorica segmentata?"

"Sorry, but without my daughter to translate, I have no idea what those are."

"No problem, we often get people who don't know the difference. Lorica hamata is chain mail while the lorica segmentata is plate armor. Technically there was also the lorica squamata which was scale armor but that was too rare for us to have it here. Chain mail was the standard Roman issue but it is a lot heavier and offers less protection. It was only favored because it was cheaper to make. Plate mail is what the cliche Romans are usually imagined wearing. For the real Roman experience we suggest the chain mail so long as you can bear the weight."

"What strength stat is required to bear the weight of chain mail?"

"Anyone can do it but we suggest having at least a strength stat of 25 to wear it without feeling weighed down."