Wales: Day 31 The Iron(woman) Ring

Well. This was almost two months ago. Tuesday, August 3, 2010. I'm lame. Sorry.

We enjoyed another awesome English breakfast, then returned to our room for some eavesdropping. When the girls next to us chat and gossip while both windows are open, the acoustics are FANTASTIC. We could literally hear everything. Our moths swam in the gossip pouring through the windows, as we sat hunched over on our beds, trying desperately not to laugh out loud (LOL) and give ourselves away.

After massaging our aching ribs, we headed down to Conwy Castle, the main feature of the town.

It's one of the biggest of Edward Longshanks castles, and the huge city wall is largely intact.

I loved this one because it was right on the coast, therefore reminding me of Prince Eric's castle in "The Little Mermaid."

After the misty castle, we walked down to Plas Mawr, a Tudor Age manor home. It's huge and crazy expensive. Really cool for us to see the type of living situation that existed then.

Coming back to the vans, we were dismayed to find that some Nazi had ticketed us! Apparently Anders did not park "responsibly." Does he ever?

Caernarvon is one of the most popular and busiest castles in the UK. It's really big, and beautiful. It was Longshank's main Welsh castle. It probably ranks #3 behind Harlech and Raglan as my favorite castle.



Prince Charles was crowned Prince of Wales here by the Queen in 1958. He and Princess Diana received a lot of publicity and attention because they were more warm and friendly, and the Welsh people accepted them as their own. And really, who didn't love Princess Diana?
The courtyard is really cool. The big slate circle is where the coronation took place. The view from the towers is awesome, and I'd say if I were to play Kings and Queens, or Knights and what-have-you, I'd choose Caernarfon. Tons of towers, spiral staircases, long stone corridors, hidden dark tunnels, and a huge open courtyard for fencing, jousting, fun things.




There was an awesome British Military History Museum in the south end of the castle. No one wanted to check it so I went through it alone, and it was incredible. I usually don't love military history stuff, but they had some of the nicest exhibits I've ever seen. Alas, no flash photography. Trust me that it was cool. We hung out in the courtyard and got some ice cream (Yeah they were selling ice cream in a castle. Can you say best of both worlds?) and purchased beautiful postcards. Good castle experience.

Off to Beaumaris, "Beautiful Marsh," allegedly the Longshank's favorite castle.


This castle is pretty small, but has an awesome central courtyard. It's basically a huge, well-groomed soccer field. Naturally we did all kinds of fun, athletic activities for an hour or so.

Unfortunately, I'm an IDIOT, and decided to do a front handspring. I had successfully executed some cartwheels, roundoffs, backbends, etc., and I was certain that my background as a gymnast would allow me to continue this trend with a front handspring, even if I hadn't done one in quite a while.

Wrong.

I landed fine, but I hadn't thrown my momentum forward enough on the plant, so my hamstrings kicked in to stabilize me. Had I stretched prior to these antics? No. Did this pull my hamstring and send an intense burn through the back of my leg that didn't go away for 2 days? Yes. Yes it did.

Whatever. Anyways. Anders and I had been playing this game where we stuck this yellow sticker on people's backs, hoods and bags to see how long they'd stay before they found it. Wanting to take it to the next level, I enlisted Zoe's sneakiness and sisterly status (alliteration much?) to beat Anders at his own game. Victory.


Then we were off to the isle of Anglesey and the little town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Yep. It's the longest name of a place anywhere in the UK and one of the longest in the world. 58 letters. I couldn't even get them all in the photo and still be able to read it. Yikes. We got our passports and journals stamped there, and hung out taking pictures at the train station for a bit. Very touristy.


Bryn Celli Ddu is a a barrow/burial tomb very close to LLanfairpwll (short name for the crazy long name), so we detoured there quickly.

Umbeth graced us with sheep impressions/communications (sheep are EVERYWHERE), and we had a great time singing songs and sliding down the hill.


Of course we did a Tesco run. Tonight it was blueberries, pita bread and hummus, and chocolate cheesecake cups. These Welsh folk know their desserts. We all eat our meals down in the cafeteria and always get weird looks from the other residents. Me, Jessica, Gillian and Sam then did the Coke/Pepsi Challenge.

I nailed it 3/3. No big deal. Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. Not with all the diet soda I drink. Danica's addiction to Diet Coke is an ongoing joke, so everyone was LOVING this.

After dinner we went up into the Observatory to write in our journals and study. This weird college kid in short shorts came up and started talking to us and the minute he sat down we were punched in the face by his BO. It was soooooooo groooooooooosssssss. Soon after, Mr. Clown arrived. Mr. Clown was a smiley, gap-toothed man in a plum corduroy blazer and a plaid bowtie. He had what I like to call "Mad Scientist Hair," and a video camera. He looked like he wanted to talk to us, but was too timid. He went out on the balcony and proceeded to videotape the countryside while reading poetry aloud.

This is the Wales 2010 Study Abroad. This is a fairly representative day. Tons of castles, a Tesco run, pyramid-building, Danica doing something stupid and hurting herself, and interactions with some of the weirdest people on earth. I love it.

Wales: Day 6 The Heartiff of Cardiff

Friday morning was quite strange, because I woke up and got ready in my usual routine, but then when I checked my calendar I realized it had been a week since I'd left home! It was such a bizarre fact for me to grasp. With all the ground we'd covered and how little sleep we'd gotten, it had felt like a month already, but also had been so busy that it had felt much like two long continuous days. As I write this the following Tuesday, the same affect on my concept of time prevails.

We began the day by meeting up with the BYU English Language study abroad students that are based in London. It was fun to see new but friendly faces and talk about the places we'd all been. Their program sounded pretty cool, but ours is definitely the best. :) I was absolutely thrilled to notice that one of the girls was an HBLL employee! It made me feel right at home. We jumped right in talking about her bosses and department, and you guys know I LOVE my library. I probably freaked the H out of her, what with my exuberant and obnoxious ways, but it was worth the great picture. Good times.

At Tinkinswood, we saw a great dolmen - or a huge rock used as a burial site. There we sang a few rounds of "Blae my Daniel" with the ELang students and then went on our way.

St. Fagan's is a unique museum, and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go there. There are life-sized representations of houses and other buildings from several different time periods. One building in particular has 10 small apartments along its ground floor, each one decorated according to a successive time period. So every few steps you could poke your head in and see how things had changed. It was absolutely fascinating. They also had buildings like the corn (wheat) mill, which was taken apart from the coast and rebuilt piece by piece on musuem property. And is still a functioning mill! Incredible.

As we were preparing to meet the rest of the group to go home, we ran into 2 girls from our group that asked us if we'd seen the castle and gardens. We were tired and didn't really care to, but she insisted that we check it out. "You'll feel like you're in Beauty and the Beast." Ok. That got me. I'll bite.

Turning the corner, I saw that beautiful scene beyond the hedge. The force of the image hit me. I would say I swooned, but that's retarded. I was certainly affected in the sinus area by allergies quite quickly, but it was completely worth the emotional experience of this gorgeous little castle. We traipsed along the pond and fountain, singing "Something There That Wasn't There Before" from Beauty and the Beast, and then we ran up the short steps to face this -

The covered archway was the most singularly beautiful and romantic thing I've seen since we've been here. I have always loved the twinkling arches that you ride under in "Storybook Land" at Disneyland. They've been my secret romantic guilty pleasure, even more so than the Disney castle. These blew them away. The delicate flowers took our breath away and seemed to cushion us from the cacophony of the playing children without the walls. We couldn't help but imagine scenes and scenarios that would appropriately take place in such an amazing setting. Following the frenzy and speed of Oxford and Winchester, the peace and beauty was calming and welcome. Truly it was one of the best moments of my summer.

Had our day ended there, it would have been a success. But of course we still had an entire afternoon to take advantage of. We walked into downtown Cardiff to enjoy the pleasures of festival season. In Europe, towns and counties have festivals to promote local goods, music and culture. It can be compared to our fairs and carnivals back home to some extent.

Viva la Cardiff Food Festival! Weirdly cool European music was being played at one end of the square, while tents and booths filled the remaining space.

I enjoyed roaming the festival by myself, perusing the strange crafts and foods that were available in each tent. I was able to buy some cool souvenirs for some of you guys back home, and I tried some famed double chocolate Cow Pots (a prominent Welsh ice cream brand). Thank goodness the Welsh like their ice cream. It's like a little piece of home for me. Other strange finds included lamb burgers, licorice ice cream, free samples of whiskey and cider (!) and these themed beers.


We ran into some street performers that particularly liked teasing Americans and their blonde hair. Yeah, me. One man in a suit and skintight black leggings seemed bent on embarrassing me with his immodesty. Needless to say, it worked. haha. They were absolutely ridiculous. I was pleased to find that the person who took the pictures for me captured two photos. In the first, you can clearly see me and Zoe's reaction to the pelvic thrust of said gentleman. The second photo is the intended cute group one. :)

Above the square is the pier. Cardiff Bay Pier is SO COOL. I loved it. We sat and ate our lunches and strange food samples while overlooking the ocean and listening to the interesting Jew-rock coming from the square below us. I found a 1.5 liter Diet Coke for cheaper than a normal-sized bottle, so I was a happy camper for the remainder of the afternoon.

Midafternoon, we took a tour of the Welsh National Assembly. This building was really cool and symbolic. The Welsh people are trying very hard to preserve some individuality and to assert that the language of Welsh is not inferior to English or any other language. They conduct their proceedings in both languages, simultaneously translated and projected on screens around their conference rooms. It's pretty cool. Almost the entire building is made of glass, which our guide said was symbolic of transparency. I think that's a great concept and I wish them well.