Greetings and welcome back! I hope everyone is staying warm back home. With the end of last week, I'm a third of the way done with this semester. This means I have 8 weeks left to plan my 3 week trip across Europe. Stressful? You bet!
Saturday, I made 2 hour trip down to Conwy, Wales. I found out that there is a little bit of bitterness between the Welsh and the English. So much that the one has to pay tolls to leave Wales and enter England. Even I had to pay extra on my train ticket to account for the toll. Conwy reminds me of a small, New England town right off the coast of the ocean. I mean a very small town. It's about the size of my thumb. There are about 5-6 streets in the whole city itself. Outside of the city is country-living. You're probably wondering what a city that small would have to offer an adventurous explorer such as myself? Well there were exactly two things that I wanted to see in Conwy, the castle and the purple mountains.
First stop, Conwy Castle. As you drive, or in my case walk, across the bridge over the bay, the beautiful castle welcomes you into the city of Conwy. You will see in the pictures that Conwy Castle looks exactly like the castle you'd think of when thinking of Medieval castles. It has turrets, a drawbridge, and towers over everything. This castle was really neat to see because of the history and how well intact it was still. This was the castle of Edward the first back in the late 14th, early 15th century and played a major role in a battle between the English and the Welsh. On Good Friday 1401, which was April 1st that year, The Welsh stormed and captured the castle while King Edward and the English were attending mass. This began a battle between the two which lasted in a truce in July of that year.
The whole castle was open for visitors to walk around, explore and take in the history. I was able to climb to the top of 5 out of the 6 turrets and get some great views of the surrounding areas. Most of the rooms were just ruins of what they used to be. For example, the king's chamber was basically a room of four stone walls with a fireplace built into one side. The only room that was still intact over time was the Chapel. The Chapel had original pieces except for the stained glass which had to be replaced. The stairwells were very narrow and small, the hallways were dark; it would be a great place to play paintball ( not that I would want to play paintball in this place...) One thing that the castle had a plethora of, and I mean a plethora, was pigeons. My lord there were so many pigeons in this castle. These birds were singing so loud that they could be heard even outside of castle when I left. What made these pigeons more of a nuisance was how they'd fly in your face as you'd walk through the castle. I'd be walking in a dark, narrow hallway and pigeons would fly out of the walls and in my face. I felt like I was in Hitchcock's "The Birds" because of how they just flung themselves at you. If I ever come back, I'll be sure to wear a hard hat.
Saturday, I made 2 hour trip down to Conwy, Wales. I found out that there is a little bit of bitterness between the Welsh and the English. So much that the one has to pay tolls to leave Wales and enter England. Even I had to pay extra on my train ticket to account for the toll. Conwy reminds me of a small, New England town right off the coast of the ocean. I mean a very small town. It's about the size of my thumb. There are about 5-6 streets in the whole city itself. Outside of the city is country-living. You're probably wondering what a city that small would have to offer an adventurous explorer such as myself? Well there were exactly two things that I wanted to see in Conwy, the castle and the purple mountains.
First stop, Conwy Castle. As you drive, or in my case walk, across the bridge over the bay, the beautiful castle welcomes you into the city of Conwy. You will see in the pictures that Conwy Castle looks exactly like the castle you'd think of when thinking of Medieval castles. It has turrets, a drawbridge, and towers over everything. This castle was really neat to see because of the history and how well intact it was still. This was the castle of Edward the first back in the late 14th, early 15th century and played a major role in a battle between the English and the Welsh. On Good Friday 1401, which was April 1st that year, The Welsh stormed and captured the castle while King Edward and the English were attending mass. This began a battle between the two which lasted in a truce in July of that year.
The whole castle was open for visitors to walk around, explore and take in the history. I was able to climb to the top of 5 out of the 6 turrets and get some great views of the surrounding areas. Most of the rooms were just ruins of what they used to be. For example, the king's chamber was basically a room of four stone walls with a fireplace built into one side. The only room that was still intact over time was the Chapel. The Chapel had original pieces except for the stained glass which had to be replaced. The stairwells were very narrow and small, the hallways were dark; it would be a great place to play paintball ( not that I would want to play paintball in this place...) One thing that the castle had a plethora of, and I mean a plethora, was pigeons. My lord there were so many pigeons in this castle. These birds were singing so loud that they could be heard even outside of castle when I left. What made these pigeons more of a nuisance was how they'd fly in your face as you'd walk through the castle. I'd be walking in a dark, narrow hallway and pigeons would fly out of the walls and in my face. I felt like I was in Hitchcock's "The Birds" because of how they just flung themselves at you. If I ever come back, I'll be sure to wear a hard hat.
After exiting the castle, I decided to go 'parading' and walk around town. It didn't take long, but there were some cool things to be seen. I went into an art gallery put on the longest running Welsh art school. I really enjoyed most of the art in the gallery, they weren't just pictures of Mary and Jesus. Because they were up for sale, I was not allowed to take any pictures. Along with the art gallery, I visited the smallest house in the United Kingdom. I did not pay to go in it because it was smaller than my dorm room here and I don't think it would be worth the ticket price. Also, Conwy is home to Plas Mawr one of the oldest houses in the United Kingdom. The house has original decor and furniture from the 14th century. I was able to walk along the city's medieval wall that surrounds the city. Conwy definitely has a lot of character for being such a small town.
The afternoon was the highlight of my trip. Outside of Conwy begins Snowdonia, a national park that spans most of Wales. I know, Snowdonia sounds more like an epic ski resort than national park. The Conwy mountains, which begins the national park, include different hiking trails that one could take to climb to the peak of the mountains. So I headed out of town and began my climb up. Unlike Edinburgh's foothill, these mountains were much easier to climb. They were more gradual and didn't involve any ice, snow or steep rock climbs. I reached the first mountain peak and was in awe of the views. It was then that I noticed that I could continue to climb the rest of the mountain peaks on the range so I continued my hike. It was going over the second peak that I ran into something unexpected....
Yes, those are horses. There were wild horses and sheep all over the mountains. I was a bit taken back because I did not expect to see sheep let alone horses this so high up. I didn't want to disturb them so I slowly walked by them. Well one didn't appreciate my presence and began to gallop towards me. It looked angry so I began to pick up the pace and ran down the other side. Luckily, it stopped and went back to eating. I was certainly scared for a bit. Following the horse incident, a lone sheep began following up a trail. He walked behind me "baa-ing" for about half an hour. Eventually the sheep stopped. I will admit, he wasn't being sheepish following me....
I hiked for about 4-5 hours in the mountains. Near the end I saw a couple of guys hang glide off the mountain. I kid you not. They got their glider in the air and jumped off the cliff. I don't know if I would have the courage/confidence to take that leap of faith. I still get nervous crossing the streets because I still can't get the way of traffic here. It was cool to see how they were able to catch the wind and fly high above the mountains. It's as if they were were hovering in place. I ended up walking down one of the mountains on the other side of Conwy. I had to walk back which was a bit scary. There were no sidewalks so I had to walk on the side of the road. I had two instances where I was almost hit by a car who didn't see me coming around the corner. As you can see I lived to tell the tale.
After the walk back it was time for me to part Conwy and head home. I hiked/walked about 11-12 miles that day. I definitely felt that all day Sunday.
I hiked for about 4-5 hours in the mountains. Near the end I saw a couple of guys hang glide off the mountain. I kid you not. They got their glider in the air and jumped off the cliff. I don't know if I would have the courage/confidence to take that leap of faith. I still get nervous crossing the streets because I still can't get the way of traffic here. It was cool to see how they were able to catch the wind and fly high above the mountains. It's as if they were were hovering in place. I ended up walking down one of the mountains on the other side of Conwy. I had to walk back which was a bit scary. There were no sidewalks so I had to walk on the side of the road. I had two instances where I was almost hit by a car who didn't see me coming around the corner. As you can see I lived to tell the tale.
After the walk back it was time for me to part Conwy and head home. I hiked/walked about 11-12 miles that day. I definitely felt that all day Sunday.
That concludes my day trip to Wales. I know I'll be back as there is so much more of Wales to see. Maybe in March or May I'll take another trip. This week I'm going to be doing some more Liverpool exploring.
Mark's Musings:
National Dish: When it comes to food and England, everyone thinks of Fish & Chips and pies. From what I've read, the actual national dish of England is....Curry. Due to their history with India, and the amount of Indians who have migrated here, Curry is England's most popular dish. My teacher says the Curry dishes here are out of this world. So I'll have to give it a try.
Music: Maybe it's because I've never spend too much time in downtown Cleveland on a daily basis. But here, I have been and have noticed how much music is a part of Liverpool's identity. The streets are flooded with musicians all day, every day. Not because they are poor and need money, but because it's a free gig, a chance to earn a little bit of money, and a way to do what they love. My teacher jokes that the one item you'll find in any store will be mounds of guitars. That's because so many people try to make it in the Liverpool music scene but give up, sell their guitar and become a bartender.
Trivia! 3 people answered and 2 got it right. The youngest president to assume office was....Theodore Roosevelt. With Mckinley's assassination, Roosevelt stepped into office at age 42. Kennedy was the youngest President to be ELECTED into office at age 43.
This week's trivia is in honor of Valentine's Day:
Mark's Musings:
National Dish: When it comes to food and England, everyone thinks of Fish & Chips and pies. From what I've read, the actual national dish of England is....Curry. Due to their history with India, and the amount of Indians who have migrated here, Curry is England's most popular dish. My teacher says the Curry dishes here are out of this world. So I'll have to give it a try.
Music: Maybe it's because I've never spend too much time in downtown Cleveland on a daily basis. But here, I have been and have noticed how much music is a part of Liverpool's identity. The streets are flooded with musicians all day, every day. Not because they are poor and need money, but because it's a free gig, a chance to earn a little bit of money, and a way to do what they love. My teacher jokes that the one item you'll find in any store will be mounds of guitars. That's because so many people try to make it in the Liverpool music scene but give up, sell their guitar and become a bartender.
Trivia! 3 people answered and 2 got it right. The youngest president to assume office was....Theodore Roosevelt. With Mckinley's assassination, Roosevelt stepped into office at age 42. Kennedy was the youngest President to be ELECTED into office at age 43.
This week's trivia is in honor of Valentine's Day:
I'll close by wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day! I'd send each and every one of you those nice chalky Valentine heart candies but shipping is ridiculous... See you next week!
Peace & Love,
Mark
Peace & Love,
Mark