Wales!

Wales was beautiful. It was beyond beautiful. Northern Wales did not have that breath-taking knees-weakening effect that Catalunya had on me--instead, it felt kind of like coming home. That's probably because I originally hail from a land of mountains, tides, rain, and sea gulls--not much change there. Wales was also exactly the kind of relaxing weekend I had hoped for before finals and the travel-craziness that will happen afterwards.

I arrived in Llandudno Junction (the “ll” has a “th” sound at the beginning, my American friends) around noon on Friday. I wandered across the water to Conwy in some rain and no small amount of wind.

 If you ever check a weather site for Wales and it describes an entire day as "potentially windy,” they mean it. My hair looked like a molting werewolf before I even finished the twenty minute walk to Conwy.

I wandered around the small town for a while. I had been really excited for the Royal Cambrian Gallery, which was described as a collection of Welsh art, but it was much smaller than I had originally thought so that didn’t manage to take up my afternoon. Instead I walked the town’s medieval walls.

 This did not seem like the brightest idea given the winds, but I made it out alive anyways, and saw some fantastic views. Also, from the town walls it's more difficult to get hit by cars, which I had trouble with for the rest of this trip.

Later I came to my Bed and Breakfast, which was just outside of town and also adorable. My room came with an electric tea kettle and biscuits, so I had tea and then set off again (the Brits have gotten me addicted to tea with milk). I ended up back in Llandudno Junction to see a movie.

 It was a little disconcertingly like home to walk between a McDonald’s and a KFC to get to a Cineworld.

Also, I was the only one there.

After that, I hiked back to my room and started writing some papers. I tried to take a shower, only to discover that I was allotted only about a minute’s worth of hot water. The rest of my hair got washed by water heated in the electric kettle. Don’t try this at home, kids.

On day two in Conwy I awoke to a full Welsh breakfast. This is by far my favorite part of B&Bs, at least European ones (similar to trains, the US has not fully mastered the art of the B&B like the UK has).

After stuffing myself with delicious food I… went back upstairs and worked on my papers more. After that, things actually got exciting though.

 I went to the castle around opening time. Conwy Castle has been there since the Welsh were officially conquered by England with Llewelyn's defeat by Edward I in the thirteenth century. It’s really interesting to get to learn all of these things about British history, and then go see where it all happened.

Day two was once again, believe it or not, rather windy.


After I was done at Conwy Castle I walked along the harbor to the marine walk up the coast. The views were really pretty.

I chased this rainbow down the coast.

Smallest house in Great Britain--just for reference, I'm eye level with that sign.

 Every sign is printed in both English and Welsh.

Literally, every sign.

I saw this in Catalunya as well--everything there is printed in both Castilian Spanish and Catalan. However, I know enough Spanish and French to get along in Catalan--I don't know a single word in Welsh.

Then, I just wandered around Conwy some more.

It's the land of dragons.

 I meant to go back to my room, have a cup of tea, and set out again that afternoon. Instead, I got to my room and passed out for four hours. Then, I got up and wrote some papers. Can you tell it’s that time in the semester again?  

After not much sleep I had another (wonderful) breakfast and checked out. I was there with a Scottish couple, and English family, and two Frenchmen--doesn't that sound like a setup for a bad joke? I got to the train station three and a half hours before my train.

Thinking that was rather silly, I walked back to the McDonald’s by Cineworld and listened to everyone speaking Welsh for a while. In the meantime, I wrote about Jonathan Swift and William Blake (not in the same paper).

Finally, it came time to catch my trains. Two trains later, I am on my final leg home. I’m really glad I got to have this weekend to play catch-up and prepare mentally for the end of the semester. See you next time.