A Quick Little Welsh Adventure

So Thursday morning we woke up bright and early at 5:30 and drove to Wales, because in Europe it IS possible to drive just a few hours and enter a whole new playground with a new language, new customs, and new history. First we went to Tinturn Abbey, which William Wordsworth wrote his famous poem about. Our assignment was to create a copycat, and it was actually really enjoyable to come up with our subject matter. Once we've written our poems/stories, maybe we'll post them for critiquing.

The abbey was of course in ruins, with lovely King Henry VIII to thank for that.

Next we went to a coal mine named the "Big Pit". You may wonder why a coal mine would be important enough to go to, as we all did, and the answer Dr. MacFarlane gave us was "Well, none of your ancestors were royalty like all of the other places we have been visiting, so we thought we'd give you a taste of how their lives ACTUALLY were". Hahaha. I thought that was hilarious.

The mine was horrifying. It was really REALLY hard to ignore the fact that we were 90 meters underground, with no light except the ones on our heads, walking in areas where even I had to bend over (though I failed at least five times and bumped my head... luckily I had the handy dandy notebook, I mean helmet). While we were down there we experienced "total obscurity", where there is absolutely no light whatsoever. Our tour guide told us that we would never experience this again, which is a complete lie. Let me tell you a little story to prove that he was, in fact, lying:

Thursday night we stayed in a hotel in Cardiff, with random room mates from the group. Mine was a cute girl named Mary. In order to have electricity in your hotel room you must put your key in a slot in the wall and keep it there until you leave. After going out on the town I came back and got in the shower, while Mary wrote in her journal on the bed. Mary decided to leave. She took the key with her. I was in total obscurity alone, in the middle of my shower, in an unfamiliar hotel room, completely naked and wet (as implied by the shower part). I had no idea what to do. I waited at least ten minutes for her to come back and she never did. Finally I summoned my courage and turned the shower off, somehow got out of the shower, grabbed a towel, got out of the actual bathroom, and had to fumble around the room trying to remember where I left my wallet with the key in it. It was, perhaps, the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. I can't even imagine what would have gone down if Kira had been in my situation.

SO the man is a liar and a theif, and I'm going to be bold enough to change the term "total obscurity" to "total OBLITERATION", because it is much more fitting.

After the mine we went to the Outdoor Museum of Welsh life, which had these beautiful gardens on one side, and actual old Welsh buildings on the other side. This side was my favorite for obvious reasons (though one of the houses had something quite nice to offer as well, the hottest Welsh boy in all the land. We may or may not have lingered and talked to him for most of the time. It's all up in the air at this point. We have to get Kira a kiss somehow!)

The first tulips of the season! I can't wait to find more!!

On Friday we started by going to Caerphilly castle, which has the best defensive qualities any castle could want (including a real moat!). Boys, eat your hearts out.

The civil ladies of the court...

...who sometimes tend to drink too much... diet coke of course...

Either it was a really windy day or Kira is the wicked witch of the west.

I found you Miss New Booty!!

Next we went on a mini church history tour, showing us many of the prominent places of the second mission of the church in the UK. We hiked up this lovely hill, which Brigham Young had done before us, and had the most amazing view of the whole land surrounding us. It was, however, the most windy place I have ever been, we could actually lay on the wind and it held us up. So fun.

Bus ride fun! Yes mom... my cheeks are back... no I don't have anything hiding in them...

The sunset outside the first church meeting house ending out perfect little trip.

I miss you all!! Our London extravaganza is already half-way over.... I'm so sad... I want to stay forever. I love this place. But I guess maybe I love my home more... it's all up in the air at this point. --Britt