Itchy Feet: 10/09/13

This past weekend a group of us went on a tour of Wales through International Friends, an organization advertised by CCCU. It was an exhausting two days filled with driving, but honestly, the breathtaking view was so worth it. I went on this trip not knowing what to expect. All I knew about Wales was… well, nothing except that it’s next to England.

Several of our British friends laughed when they heard we were going to Wales. “What’re you gonna do there?! Count sheep?” So. For those who were dying to know, YES, Wales has lots of sheep. I can definitely confirm that. There are more sheep than people in Wales. But the landscape there is so beautiful that I didn’t mind seeing those woolly little guys everywhere (literally everywhere).

The driver and tour guide in charge of our trip, Tony, was fantastic. Picture an Irish Billy Ray Cyrus with an extra-large nose. He kept us entertained on the long drive with fun facts about the cities we stopped at, and the occasional joke about the Princess of Wales (“Cruella – I mean, Camilla. Ah, yes. She fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down”). The second tour guide, who was driving the second minibus, had a bit too much to drink at the pub on our night in Wales and was definitely hung over for the drive on Sunday. He was wearing sunglasses in the shade. Wow. I am soooo glad we had Tony as our driver, haha!

Tony with our awesome group!

Anyway, Wales is supposed to be just another part of England, theoretically. However, they fly the Welsh flag everywhere and all of the signs are in Welsh, so I felt like I was in a completely different country. If you’ve never seen something written in Welsh, it goes something like this: llkghyalegtyuh. I’m 80% kidding. Here’s an actual sign:

Tony says that the language has only twenty letters. The double L sound and the double D sound are very common and make a guttural sort of noise that kept us very entertained as we tried to pronounce some Welsh words…

Here’s a summary of the trip in pictures!

Enjoy!

I'm all packed... 90% food and 10% clothes

Here's the city of Chester. We stopped here to get lunch on Saturday.

This is technically still England, but it's quite close to Wales.

Stalking the constable in Chester

I may have used this bathroom... Hey, it was urgent

Chester clock, the second most-photographed clock in G.B.

(Big Ben is number one)

Remains of a Roman garden in Chester

Remains of a Roman amphitheater in Chester

A altar to Nemesis... whoever that is

Spotted this in Chester! I guess this is what they did before bumper stickers.

Still in Chester, by the riverside

Chester riverside with the cathedral in the distance

Remains of the Chester fort and castle

Conwy Castle from the street

Wales coast line

Wales selfie! You knew that was coming...

Flying the Welsh flag

Croesoi = Welcome

Conwy Castle

part of the Conwy Castle wall

our minibuses

Look at this beautiful sight!!

Visitor Centre... classic

"Built by Edward I between 1283 - 1292"

Conwy Castle

On the road agaaaaaain...

I spy with my little eye the coast of North Wales

Too much driving...

BEAUTY

A cute shop we found

YES

More Conwy Castle

Lunch break with the girls!

Hair

In love with these hills

This is Wales, everyone.

Almost a good jumping picture...

This is how I feel about Wales

Hurray for pub food!

The bed and breakfast where we stayed! So presh

Our cute rooms!

The Craig-ard is where we stayed

AH-MAZ-ING breakfast ;)

Sunrise in Wales

The town of
Lllanfairpwllgyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

A.k.a. The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave.

No, this is not a joke. It's a real town.