Wales

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Swallow Falls

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle


Llandudno the town we stayed in
Chester; the clock

Chester
Llandudno; the view from my hotel Window
Chester



Llandudno

Llandudno

Llandudno

Swallow Falls

Swallow Falls




Portmeirion Village

Carmen and Beccah at Llechwedd Slate Caverns with the cool hard hats!
Llechwedd Slate Caverns

Llandudno





Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle view of the city

Portmeirion Village

Portmeirion Village

Portmeirion Village

Wales is a beautiful country. Some say, although don't say this to a "British" person that the Walsh are the true British people. This is because when the Anglo-Saxons invaded they pushed all Roman-British into Wales. But like I said don't say this to a "British" person.
We went to Chester on Friday; it is right before you enter Wales. It was raining the whole time we were there so we were kind of miserable, but despite the rain it was a cute city. It still has its medieval walls surrounding almost the entire city. It also has the second most photographed clock, after Big Ben. While we were there we also saw the Chester Cathedral. We stayed in Llandudno which is a seaside market town that has kept its Victorian elegance. There is a pier and a board walk along the sea. On Saturday we went to Caernarfon Castle that was built in the late 13th century and early 14th century by Edward I. It was really fun to explore because you got to walk around inside the castle and go up the spiral staircases to the towers. There was also winding halls that led to know where!! We also went to Portmeirion Village that was built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in 1925. He wanted to own a private village in the style of an Italian villa. It was really creepy!! I felt like I was at a disserted Disney land, it was just really weird. But it was really beautiful. Last stop of the day was the Llechwedd Slate Caverns. We went down 305 meters, which is 16 floors, down into the caverns where workers used to live and work. It was so dark I would not have wanted to work down there with only candles as light. On Sunday we went to Swallow Falls which is a beautiful waterfall. It is just outside Betws y Coed which is a little village. It had great craft shops and outdoor shops.
Over all the weekend was really relaxing and fun.
The Walsh have their own language, here are a few phrases:
Bora da Goodmorning
Nos da Goodnight
Helo Hello
Sut mae? How are you?
Da iawn Diolch Very Well, thank you
Hwyl Bye

Ireland is a beautiful place, everything is so green, but that is because it is always raining!! We took the ferry over to Ireland at 3 in the morning. When we got on the ferry all of us took our pillows and blankets and found a couch and crashed. The Blarney Castle was the first stop we made. Yes I kissed the Blarney stone!! I didn’t realize that you had to lie on your back and bend backwards and kind of hang over a wall to kiss the Blarney stone. We spent two nights at Killarney a market town in the southwestern region of Ireland. We didn’t really get to see much of the town because we were gone both days we stayed there. We went on the Ring of Kerry which is a 112 mile circuit of the Iveragh Peninsula and offers superb views of stunning cliffs, misted mountains and lakes. On this tour we saw Dingle Bay, Killorglin, Kerry Bog Village where they have the best Irish coffee, Waterville where I touched the Atlantic Ocean, and Killarney National Park. Then on Saturday we spent most of the day driving to Dublin. We went to the Guinness Brewery which was cool and then we got a horse drawn carriage ride to Temple Bar district. Then on Sunday we drove back to Harlaxton and on the way stopped at Llanfaipwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the longest named city in the world, and yes that is actually how you spell it. It is Welsh so I don’t know how to say it!! In Dublin there was a Rugbe match so there were a lot of people out at night at Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a district where there is a lot of cafes, bars and good shopping, it is all pedestrian so no cars to run you over!