Sunday, November 2nd
I woke up this morning to a beautiful view out of my window, to the low flowing tide, mountains, and the white washed buildings along the coast. We ate a great English breakfast, and then walked down to the end of the dock by the water. I collected a few interesting shells, and a coconut. It confuses me how palm trees could grow in this climate, and it had a feather on it, so we determined it was delivered by the African Swallows, as their mass could allow for such matters (Monty Python anyone?).
Shortly after that, we got on the tour bus again, and went up some of the hills to see a great view of the coastline once again. After the quick photo stop, we drove for a while to Bangor, at the Isle of Anglesey. Bangor is a city of about 20,000 people. We learned that in order to be named a city here, the town must have a cathedral or be given the title from the monarchy. There were welsh castles everywhere on the drive, because Edward I defended against lots of revolts. According the English, the Welsh are ‘still revolting today.’ Haha.
We crossed the Menai Bridge into another small town. We stopped at a small restaurant/gift shop that is known for the longest name in Britain, which I will not even try to spell out- it had 58 letters. We left the shop with the ridiculously huge sign for the title, and walked into the countryside into some small little villages. We stopped to pet the ponies on the side of the road, where Cody immediately started freaking out, so that took a little while, ha. We continued down the road to some more vast, green fields filled with sheep. The wool industry is huge in Wales so there is much sheep farming, with hills and fields full of them.
After exploring this area for about an hour, we left once again for our final stop, Portsmadog. Here, we stopped at the train station and had time to explore the town and the coastline before heading on a stream locomotive train ride into the mountains. This region is known predominantly for its forestry and slate industry. The shoreline was filled not with sand and shells, but with shards of slate and rocks. We walked down there for a while, and stopped to eat something in the station before heading out on our ride. We saw a stone circle, similar to that of Stonehenge, and the guide, Rob, told us that in the 1960’s, many of these were constructed in remembrance of the druids. I’m still really excited to go see Stonehenge.
We boarded the train and got to ride on an hour and a half venture through the mountains. The view was beautiful, and the woods and steam from the train really added to the atmosphere as well. The coach was rather comfortable, and reminded me of an old western train. The mountains were gorgeous, and the ride was very relaxing.
We left from here to take a 5 ½ hour bus ride back to London. Every ride so far has gone by really fast, and has been relaxing and enjoyable, but this ride back to London seemed to take forever. Luckily, my mp3 player stayed charged just long enough to get the job done. :)
I woke up this morning to a beautiful view out of my window, to the low flowing tide, mountains, and the white washed buildings along the coast. We ate a great English breakfast, and then walked down to the end of the dock by the water. I collected a few interesting shells, and a coconut. It confuses me how palm trees could grow in this climate, and it had a feather on it, so we determined it was delivered by the African Swallows, as their mass could allow for such matters (Monty Python anyone?).
Shortly after that, we got on the tour bus again, and went up some of the hills to see a great view of the coastline once again. After the quick photo stop, we drove for a while to Bangor, at the Isle of Anglesey. Bangor is a city of about 20,000 people. We learned that in order to be named a city here, the town must have a cathedral or be given the title from the monarchy. There were welsh castles everywhere on the drive, because Edward I defended against lots of revolts. According the English, the Welsh are ‘still revolting today.’ Haha.
We crossed the Menai Bridge into another small town. We stopped at a small restaurant/gift shop that is known for the longest name in Britain, which I will not even try to spell out- it had 58 letters. We left the shop with the ridiculously huge sign for the title, and walked into the countryside into some small little villages. We stopped to pet the ponies on the side of the road, where Cody immediately started freaking out, so that took a little while, ha. We continued down the road to some more vast, green fields filled with sheep. The wool industry is huge in Wales so there is much sheep farming, with hills and fields full of them.
After exploring this area for about an hour, we left once again for our final stop, Portsmadog. Here, we stopped at the train station and had time to explore the town and the coastline before heading on a stream locomotive train ride into the mountains. This region is known predominantly for its forestry and slate industry. The shoreline was filled not with sand and shells, but with shards of slate and rocks. We walked down there for a while, and stopped to eat something in the station before heading out on our ride. We saw a stone circle, similar to that of Stonehenge, and the guide, Rob, told us that in the 1960’s, many of these were constructed in remembrance of the druids. I’m still really excited to go see Stonehenge.
We boarded the train and got to ride on an hour and a half venture through the mountains. The view was beautiful, and the woods and steam from the train really added to the atmosphere as well. The coach was rather comfortable, and reminded me of an old western train. The mountains were gorgeous, and the ride was very relaxing.
We left from here to take a 5 ½ hour bus ride back to London. Every ride so far has gone by really fast, and has been relaxing and enjoyable, but this ride back to London seemed to take forever. Luckily, my mp3 player stayed charged just long enough to get the job done. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment