Wales Weekend

Wale, Wale, Wales...what a great weekend we had!  This weekend, as you have probably already gathered, my program and I toured Wales!  It was lots of fun having everyone on this trip this time and being able to see many cities in two days.  Wales was a hidden gem, as I thought it was just fields among fields of sheep, but oh no there is much more!  Yes, there are sheep, but there are also castles and roman history!  This made the trip even more exciting because I didn't know what to expect!  

On Saturday morning, we all piled into a coach bus and headed on our way to Wales.  It took about two hours to get to our first destination called Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths.  Caerleon was a Roman settlement that dates back to around 75 AD.  At the site, we were able to see the foundation of Roman soldiers' houses and an amphitheater.  What was neat about this particular site was that these remains are some of the best preserved Roman ruins that remain in the United Kingdom.  

Believe it or not, but six soldiers would sleep per square!

Kelly and the amphitheater 

Rob taking in the view

The blondes abroad 

Kelly and Judi

Countryside

After exploring the Caerlon Fortress and Baths, we got back on the road and headed into town to grab some lunch and walk around the streets.  Kelly, Judi, and I discovered my new favorite restaurant called "Revolution".  The atmosphere was busy and exciting.  I didn't know what to look at because all of it was so interesting and you could tell the restaurant really valued and spent time on their appearance.  The food was just as spectacular.  They had everything but the kitchen sink on the menu and it was really hard to choose.  I stuck to a classic and got fish and chips.  It was delicious!  To top it off, the service was amazing and we even got signed up for their rewards program and got a discount!  What a great lunch!

Yes, that is a line of underwear hanging from the ceiling.

It says, " In these stones, horizons sing."

What's a blog post without Colby photobombing one of my pictures?

 Our last destination before heading to the hotel was St. Fagans National History Museum.  This was my favorite destination of our trip.  St. Fagans is a open-air museum that displays the lifestyle of Welsh people.  There was beautiful gardens, huge trees, sheep, and lots of little historical buildings.  This place was basically heaven for me.  I wished I could have stayed there all day.  The girls and I didn't really go into many buildings because we enjoyed walking through the all the paths in the gardens instead.

Baaaaa

Looks like Kentucky to me!

This is why we are friends

After St. Fagans, we headed to our hotel and then went out on the town.  The girls and I stumbled across another Revolution restaurant and we couldn't get in there fast enough! We spent most of our night there and eventually met of with the guys until it was time to head back.

Sunday morning we had a great breakfast at the hotel and then we piled back onto the bus to head to the Big Pit Mining Museum.  At the Big Pit Mining Museum, we got to put on a helmet and utility belt (or in Allyssa's opinion...a fashion belt) and headed down into the mine.  It was really interesting to see how everything operated and hear about all the life-threatening risks that the miners took everyday.  My favorite part of the tour was that all the tour guides actually used to work in the mine when it was still being used.  Our tour guide told us lots of crazy, funny stories from when he was working in the mines which made our tour unique.

Our last stop before heading back to London was at Caerphilly castle.  When we got off the bus we walked around to look for a place to eat for lunch.  The area was swarmed with so many birds such as geese, ducks, swans, and so many other birds.  It was insane!  I thought at any moment I was going to be pooped on!  Luckily, the birds spared me.

After Kelly, Judi, Libby, Rob and I ate at a European chain pub called "Wetherspoons", we headed back to meet up with the rest of the group to explore the castle.  You would think that I would get tired of walking through castles, and in some sense I have, but every castle has a unique aspect that is so intriguing to explore.  In this case, Caerphilly castle is the most storybook castle I have yet to see.  I think this is the first castle I have seen in person to have crenellation and a castle that was originally painted white.  Unlike the other castles I have seen, this castle was not in use anymore and some of it was even collapsed.  I liked this castle better because you could really use your imagination to picture what it was like in the castle.

Locals like to fish in the moat

Colby and I

The beautiful Judi

Making up after Colby broke Kelly's phone.

Oh, look!  Kelly being a jerk!  What a surprise?!

Kelly so proud of herself for photobombing my picture and Antonio joining in!

FINALLY!

Aren't we all a cute group of Americans?

After our last stop, we got back on the bus for a long drive back to London.  I never thought that we would make it back!  It was bittersweet to be back though.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Wales and going on a trip with everyone, even if it was short.  That's why it's so important to take everything all in, the good and the bad, and make most out of every moment you have.  These moments we have are fleeting and I would hate to waste them.

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We travel not to escape life,

but for life not to escape us.

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