HOME FROM WALES

HOME FROM WALES

I got home Sunday night from my whirlwind tour of Wales with Liz and Michael. Here is what we did.
Liz and I had a little time to kill between when we flew into Heathrow on the morning of September 6th, and when our train left for Wales, so we did a little sightseeing in London. We walked past Parliament and Westminster Abbey and on over to Buckingham Palace. It was a gorgeous warm day and the walk through St. James Park was beautiful. We saw pelicans there which reminded me of Megan feeding them at Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake a few weeks ago.





Our first morning in Bangor, we took the bus out to Penrhyn Castle, with the help of some friendly natives who helped us navigate the bus system. Penrhyn Castle was beautiful, but not a true castle - more of a Newport summer- cottage- castle. It has built only in the mid 1800s by a sugar and slate magnate who wanted to build himself a showy castle-like estate to live in a few weeks a year. Unfortunately, we could only take pictures outside but the grounds were marvelou -especially the hidden door into the walled garden which reminded us both of The Secret Garden.





Can you find Liz in the picture down near the door? They had plants there with leaves 6 feet across and weird spiky growths and pink fuzzy stuff. Someone told us what they were but I don't remember other than it started with a "g".



Here are some more pictures of the view from the castle grounds.
We liked how the ivy had turned red.

















We would have liked to have spent more time there, but Liz needed to get back to Bangor to register for her conference. I decided while she was doing that, I would be brave and take the bus to Inigo Jones. This was something I had a brochure for that was going to explain the slate industry in Wales for me. Unfortunately, the bus driver forgot to tell me when to get off, so some nice Welsh woman who knew where I was trying to go, came and told me I had missed the stop. So I rang the bell for the next stop and got off there and tried to make my way back. Eventually I got there and this is what I paid 4.50 GBP to see:

If it looks like an old workshop someone forgot to clean up, I think that's exactly what it was. Not exactly sure why it is billed as a tourist attraction.






The great thing about it was that it was in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't find my way back to Bangor. I found a bus stop but the bus that came flew by without even slowing down which I found distressing since I was just standing by a roadside with nothing around except the now closed-for-the day, Inigo Jones and it would be getting dark before long. I wasn't really sure what my next move would be if another bus never came. Finally, I saw another bus approaching and waved frantically. I figured even if it wasn't going where I wanted to go it could at least take me to some semblance of civilization and I could figure it out from there. I later learned that buses only stop if you signal to them. I had mistakenly thought that the fact that I was standing on a piece of asphalt labeled "Safle bws" in the middle of nowhere would indicate I was waiting for a bus (or bws, in Welsh) but apparently not. Anyway, I eventually made it back to Bangor and our hotel where I expected to find Liz waiting but she wasn't. She was having her own adventure with being sick in a foreign city where everything closes up at 5:00. Thank heavens for KFC which was open and had a public bathroom where Liz could throw up. It didn't seem our stay in Wales was off to an auspicious beginning.

The next day was Liz's presentation so I went to the campus with her and listened to some of the speakers. Her presentation went fine and she was very relieved to get it over with. She celebrated by taking the afternoon off and we went to:
(see below)
Just try telling the bus driver the name of this town!


















This place's claim to fame is having the longest name. Other than to see that, there seemed to be no reason to go there. There was a gift shop next door but it sold things like Willow Tree and Yankee Candles which I didn't feel the need to bring home from Wales.

This was our only day of foul weather, but since Liz was leaving in the morning, we walked out on the pier in Bangor.


I guess the weather was bad even for Wales because we had the pier to ourselves.











In the morning, (Wednesday) we were heading back to London so Liz could fly out on Thursday morning. Michael was supposed to meet us at the train station, but since I had no way to contact him, I was nervous about things working out. I was very relieved when the train from Holyhead arrived and Michael got off and had the right tickets to travel with us.
And here they are on the train.
















Michael had not reserved a room in London so I didn't know how that was going to work out but the stars favored us and we discovered that since the fine hotel we reserved didn't have a "twin" room available we had been given a "triple" for the same price. Apparently, the twin and triple etc. refer to the number of people that could actually stand in the room. It was not exactly spacious or well maintained but it did have its own bathroom which I was worried about when I saw the door marked "toilets" on the landing on the way to our room. The pictures don't really do it justice but you can see for yourself.




















Anyway, it was a place to get off the street for the night. I can't imagine staying there for very long. I saw people coming out of this place with kids and I just couldn't fathom taking my family there for vacation and we've stayed some pretty crappy places. They offered a full hot breakfast but somehow I didn't want to eat anything that had been prepared there.

That evening we had tickets to Oliver. When we emerged from the underground at Covent Gardens, we were approached by a woman who wanted to give us a ride in the bicycle cab thing and since we had no idea where we were going we took her up on it. We had a map so we could have figured it out eventually but we figured "why not?"





The picture of the theater is a little blurry because I took it quickly in case I wasn't supposed to be taking pictures. Even though I bought the cheapest seats available, we ended up front row balcony which were wonderful seats and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I like the music and the sets were amazing. (Have no idea why I'm suddenly typing in blue and with underlines)

Liz had to get up and get to the airport the next morning, so then Michael and I were on our own. Our train back to Wales wasn't until 1:00 so I had booked tickets for the first tour of the day of Buckingham Palace. It is only open to the public during the time the Queen is on vacation which happened to be when we were there so I decided we should take advantage of that. Here are pictures of the back of Buckingham Palace along with preparations for the changing of the guards which we couldn't stay for or we would have missed our train to Wales.



Will you just look at that sky! I think London has gotten a bad rap for its weather. It's been beautiful when I've been there!

This is a picture of Michael at the King's Cross tube station. I hear it figures prominently in Harry Potter. I wouldn't know.

Then it was back to Wales. By the time we got back it was too late to do much besides walk out on the same pier Liz and I had walked out on. This time the weather was better. I thought I had pictures but I don't see any.

The next morning (Friday, Sept 11) we took the bus to Llaberis where there was lots to do. On our way to the Welsh Slate Museum we found an intriguing little bridge and path that led to the ruins of a castle.
They take their sheep seriously in Wales.
The Slate Museum was lots better than Inigo Jones and it was free. Wales supplied the slate for all the roofs in England during the Victorian age and continued to produce it until the 1960s when falling demand and rising costs forced the closing of the quarries and mines.


This is the giant water wheel that powered the operations.
Here you can see a gouge in the mountainside where the slate has been removed.

From there we took a tour of Electric Mountain where they generate electricity during periods of peak usage. They do this by releasing water from a large lake which powers turbines as it falls down into a lower lake. At night when power demand is lower, they pump the water back up to the upper lake so it can be used again the next day. So, they actually use more electricity than they generate, but they provide additional power during the day when other sources are inadequate. It was interesting but they didn't allow photography.

On to the Snowdon Mountain Railway. This was a cog-type railroad, not unlike the one we took up Mt. Washington years ago, that took us to the top of Mt Snowdon which is the highest point in the UK (or maybe just Wales -not sure)
Here are some more pictures taken from the train.A Welsh schoolgirl who switched easily between Welsh and English as circumstances demanded, helped us find the right bus to get us back home. It was a long, fun-filled day!

Saturday was the final day of our adventure. We were heading for Conwy to see the castle there and Plas Mawr which is probably the best-preserved home in the country from Elizabethan times.

The castle was very interesting but it made me nervous just thinking of taking small children there.As you can see in this photo, the city on Conwy is surrounded by a stone wall.
The picture above is of the chapel in the castle.
Once again, look at the weather we were enjoying!
On to Plas Mawr.

We ate lunch upstairs in a fish and chips shop.And we saw the smallest house in Britain down by the ocean

Then it was back on the bus to Bangor.
Here is the bus stop in Bangor where we spent considerable time.And here is the house that we looked for to know when to get off the bus for our hotel.
And here is Michael in the hotel relaxing until it was time to catch his train (which was actually a bus) back to Holyhead so he could catch the ferry to Ireland and then his plane back home.
He left just after midnight and I took a cab to the train station the next morning for the four hour train ride back to London where I had to take the tube from Euston to Paddington and then another train to Heathrow. Luckily the plane wasn't full and I had two seats to myself and was able to sleep a little on the flight back.

I was very happy to find Allan waiting for me at JFK. I had thought I would have to take a bus to Grand Central and then the train to New Haven where he would pick me up. The traffic was terrible but it was wonderful to be out of public transportation and no longer need to drag my suitcase and other belongings around with me amid the constant jostling of strangers.

And that, dear readers, sums up my trip to Wales.