When I usually wake up early my main feeling is that I want to go back to sleep. When in Compiegne, with the little sleep and lots of time outside, the main feeling is that someone is stabbing you with a tiny fork all over your body. It is painful!!!! Okay the real main feeling is excitement for we know we’re going to spend our day “with” Eoin… I mean the cast of Merlin but still, getting up is harder every day and putting on make-up takes a lot longer than usual. To be honest it takes about as long as it took the Titanic to cross the Atlantic (Major Spoiler Here: The Titanic never actually finished its crossing of the Atlantic and Leonardo could have fitted on the giant door with Kate but I digress).
Let’s come back to Eoin’s hair… No that’s not what we were talking about… I’m lost! Okay let’s go back to the hours needed to even dare going downstairs for breakfast. We are again the last to arrive, but since Alie and I started this “tweet your Pierrefonds adventures” thingy, we quickly learn that the whole gang is already in the castle, filming. Last ones downstairs, but first ones ready to leave.
We ask the hotel lady where we can buy food because there is no way we are going to wait for another hour and a half for lunch today. She indicates a supermarket not far from here and we all start our journey. Sandwiches, bottled water, eventually dessert and we’re ready to go. In the car no one is awake enough to speak.
Well I am since I’m driving but this is details. To wake us up, Alie decides to put the volume way up and to play Walking on Sunshine. The good thing about that tune is that after 3 seconds the four of us (Alie, Sarah, Jenny and I) are dancing and singing in the car. That bad thing is that the weather wasn’t too bad… until then…
We arrive at the castle at 10am therefore we have to queue to get our entrance tickets. Once we’re in, we learn from Yasmine and Zakia that since everyone was there since the break of dawn, they’ve all gone by now. WONDERFUL!!!! Oh look! Alex is here! This is funny how seeing that man makes me smile every time. It doesn’t matter if everyone has left, Alex is here. Just so you know, I think Alex Vlahos is the most adorable thing that has ever walked the earth. Yes Nemo, even if you are a baby clown fish with a lucky fin you cannot win against Vlavla! Anyway, Alex is apparently filming a scene where he escapes the castle without being noticed. In any other show I would tell you it’s not an easy task but in Camelot, where the guards are about as useful as Kate was to help Leo back on the Titanic (yes I’m holding a grudge against her), Mordred can make as much noise as he wants, no one is gonna stop him from going out. During the breaks, Alex is adorable talking to the crew drinking his tea when out of nowhere he takes his phone out and starts taking pictures…. of us…. Yes Alex likes us, he even loves us so he takes our picture and promises to put it on the internet later that day (which he will do because when Alex says something you can hold him to it… as far I as know obviously). Can you tell already this day is gonna be epic???
Alex is going to film a little outside so we can’t see him anymore but we know he’ll be back so we focus on the scaffold that is being constructed under our eyes. Big J (he works with the crew and is the nicest man you could ever dream to meet) is having a good time while fans are watching him being awesome. At one point Jacob (actually his name is Greg but he looks so much like that guy from Twilight) arrives, without his coat on so we get to admire his arms… sorry I’m not sorry I got lost here… The weather isn’t wonderful since it is pretty cold but it’s not raining so Yeah! Okay we are not 4 year olds but we are getting a little bored.
Luckily we are in for a treat as Tom, Bradley and an unknown woman (whom we’ll learn later is Bradley’s mother) enter the courtyard. They are wearing their “normal” clothes. Wait a minute! You reduced the filming in Pierrefonds to a sad 3 day length and they get to have a day off??? What is that job? I want to do just that when I grow up… okay I’m already a grown up but whatever. Anyway seeing Bradley not wearing his chain mail is already a miracle but wait until I tell you what was really unbelievable. Bradley was smiling. Yes you read it right, he was smiling and joking and even waving at fans. Alie and I who have already been to Pierrefonds are just amazed by this. Everybody else in our group is just really excited. Oh well let’s just enjoy this while it lasts and let’s take pictures of Bradley being adorable. At one point he has shown his mom everything that needs to be seen outside so he comes down the balcony and crosses the courtyard. I can hear the hearts of hundreds of girls exploding at the same time. I’m not gonna lie Bradley is gorgeous, Tom is nothing less than that either, we are one lucky fandom.
They go to the resting area where they will stay until everyone has left for lunch. Yes because with all that’s happened it is time to eat our wonderful supermarket sandwiches. Lucky us there is a ray of sun. We even might get a tan…. Or not….not. We meet with Laura and Camille (I’ll talk about them tomorrow since we'll spend the day with them). Once we’re done eating Sarah decides to take out her baby flag. (For those who do not know Sarah through twitter, she made a flag, the Merlin Flag for soccer6 back in May that the cast signed and when she’s known she was coming to Pierrefonds she made the Baby Flag for fans to sign). In Pierrefonds, Sarah is well known and so is Baby Flag so after 30 seconds everyone was surrounding us to get a chance to sign it. This Baby Flag is actually a good ice breaker so we get to meet a lot of fans. Always fun!
At 1:50pm we see a group of knights coming down the hill to enter the castle. Only extras don’t get too excited. But after a minute a car comes down too and Richard comes out of it. At least that what people will tell me later because all I saw was Eoin, eating a peach, getting out of the car, taking his stuff out of the trunk and walking right next to me. I obviously have melted and by the time I regain consciousness the castle has reopened and we’re ready to get in.
Sadly Eoin and Richard are filming inside (griffin stairs apparently) and only the extras are filming in the courtyard. (Spoiler Alert, there is a hanging scene being shot but that’s all you will know). The poor girl has to shoot and re shoot and shoot again her scene. It could have been boring if Eoin hadn’t decided to come on the balcony to see the scene being shot. Sorry lady but I’m gonna watch the balcony for a while…. Can I just say that if you (Eoin) do not stop staring at me (my camera) when I’m taking your picture people are gonna know you like me... Anyhow.... Eoin has to go so we decide to go check out the throne room.
Let's not waste time in the other rooms because we've seen them yesterday. We're here, we're about to see you, round table!!!!! Oh wait! It's not here anymore. Wait what??? Second day on a three day shoot and the round table is gone???? Do you want make me mad Merlin??? Oh well the thrones are still here so let's take a closer look. No matter if it's the first time or the second time, seeing the thrones is always a special emotion. Okay okay you got me... I’m actually watching out the window to see if I can see Eoin on the balcony. It's fine, judge me, I regret nothing. We recreate Gwen's coronation but Yasmine is the one being crowned. She is fierce she is gorgeous Long live the Queen!!!!
We go back downstairs and on our way we discover that thr round table is actually an Ikea table. Around 100 pieces to put together. FUN!!!
Since it's 4:50pm we decide to leave the castle to be able to sit not to far from the gates. 200 people are still inside but there's already a lot of people outside. I've never seen so many people in Pierrefonds. Anyway, we get to sit right by the gate and we pass the time mainly fangirling and laughing at ourselves. At 5:30 everybody (fans) gets out of the castle. This is just ridiculous to see how many people are here. There's about 250 people being friendly with each other and sharing the same love for this show. It is moving.
Around 6:30 Eoin gets out but this time the car is already here and he doesn't have time to stop. My heart cries (yes i'm a spoiled brat and I always want more). Anyway we wait for Angel and Richard to leave the castle and we head back to Compiegne taking Zakia and Yasmine for a dinner at the chinese place near our hotel. It is our last dinner with Sarah and Jenny who are leaving us tomorrow. Great friends, great food, great night. Tomorrow is goodbye day... not looking forward to it.