Give your account of your day at the festival "Weekend at the Asylum" and why you went to that festival.

Gabriel Gosselin

Last summer, I was hanging out with some friends, wondering what we could do for the Bank Holidays. Stefan suggested that we leave town and participate to a festival called “Weekend at the Asylum” which takes place in Lincoln and brings you back in the 19th century. I had heard lot of things about it and I thought why not going there, this should be a good experience. But we had to find fancy dresses and other outfit first: we bought old dresses and jackets, but also corsets, mittens, necklaces, goggles, suspenders and hats. We all traveled to the festival by bus: quite a long trip from London, a little more than 4, 5 hours.
When you arrive in this kind of festival, it is like living a dream, it's just awesome. In fact, it's like reliving the 19th century and the Victorian era! It's wonderful to see all these steampunks who share the same passion of history, though often with diverging opinions and sometimes strongly opposing views. I attended several lectures on various historical topics and even practiced old sports.
I really hope that this kind of events will spread: I would really want everyone to live the experience I lived. And next year, I can tell you that I will go back to this festival without the slightest hesitation!
eugeniefauvet

Last summer holidays, with a couple of friends, I chose to make something out of ordinary. After searching on the internet, we went to the “Welcome to the Asylum” festival, the biggest and longest steampunk gathering of the world. I was so curious, and once arrived there, I wasn’t disappointed. It was magic, and looked like straight out of a movie from the 19 century. To not seem weird, we bought some clothes which were the perfect imitation of those from the Victorian and pre-war era, such as long and brown dresses, corsets, hats, a pair of mittens, but also goggles and arm protections. Once dressed up like thousands of steampunks, we really enjoyed the festival. We met a lot of people, steampunks are really kind and fun, and that’s was unbelievable how they were so devoted to their passion of the Victorian history! We also attended art exhibitions, sat in music events, played old sports, and took part in debates (that was the most rewarding activity because we learnt a lot about the reason why the festival take place). In fact, this festival was a magical moment, really different of what I’m used to do, and now I only can advise you to live this experience once in your life by going there, in Lincoln, an experience full of memories, and full of first times.
Alix Aymard

At the end of this summer, my friends and I decided to go somewhere else and try new things. We used to go, during the summer, into some concerts. This time, we wanted to take part in a Festival out of the country. My friend told me about this special event called “Weekend at the Asylum” so we’ve decided to move in the city of Lincoln, England. We were excited to go in England, but we didn't knew at that time what was waiting for us. At first, we were looking for a modern musical festival, but we really got disappointed when we figured out that it was only for persons who stick with Steampunk movement. There were a lot of strange people. We were four friends in the middle of a thousand steampunk, all dressed up in a really special way. I have to admit that we stayed ten minutes and walked away after that. Finally, I don’t say that this concert is atrocious, but to four teenagers that were looking for a place where they can dance on modern music, it is not the good place to go. It is however good to see that birds of a feather, flock together!