Nott What You'd Expected...

Wales in Black and White. Mostly.

Today after a "Shaken Baby Syndrome-inducing" bus ride, we arrived back at the flat from a three-day whirlwind tour of Wales- namely, the cities of Chester (ok, it's actually still in England), Conwy (pronounced ConWAY), and Llundno (or something like that, the double-L in Welsh is pronounced as a Cl-ish glottal attack)...

The trip was beautiful. That's about the only way to describe it. Something about the constant rain in the UK makes everything stay green so much later... The trees are all still leaved (that's not a word), and the grass-which is trimmed nicely by nomad sheep- is picturesque.

The relatively low-key atmosphere of our Wales vacation lead to more bonding and inter-group hang-outage. Nothing to complain about. We've yet to move away from our 'wandering group of 9' mentality, but in due time, we will learn to, as it's been said many times 'CUT THE UMBILICAL CORD' so to speak.

DAY ONE: Chester
Chester is the last stop between England and Wales- they are two very different 'countries' within the UK- Wales even having its own language, spoken by 30% of the people, and included on most public signs as a part of the Welsh Language Act that followed the 2nd World War....

Cute SMARTcar (made by Swatch and Mercedes, stands for Swatch+Mercedes=ART...)
Chester is located pretty close to Liverpool and right on the Welsh border. It has a castle, extensive roman/midieval city walls, and a hell of a downtown. This town is literally the cleanest, most well kept towns i have ever seen. The downtown is immaculate- the buildings and shops are stacked two-high, and each is about four stories in height total. The paint is new, the shops are new, and everything costs about 3 times what it should...
We ate lunch in the Refectory of the Cathedral, which seems to be a running theme of the trip, and wandered around the city walls taking pictures like the foreigners we are. Carol seemed a little peeved (as opposed to miffed or slightly perturbed) that we keep 'living our life through a lens'... but good pics are good pics, and when are we going to come back to Wales?

Chester soon gave way to another trip on the coach, where I not only discovered the BW setting on my camera (which would haunt the rest of the group for the rest of the trip), but we also saw an awe-inspiring double rainbow.....
"Buddies"
Double Bow....
Conwy is a village situated on the estuary that in some geographical way creates a huge high/low tide differential, and amazing views. The castle sits across the bay from Lludadno, within view of a huge body of water (I suck, and cannot for the life of me remember what body of water.... I'll guess the Irish Sea). The views were Postcard-worthy, and luckily, I also found the Postcard Setting on my camera....

We were on our own in the city for dinner, and managed to find our way to an Itialian restuarant were a kid was celebrating his 16th b-day....(we thought it could have been a 61st bday judging by the balloons, but who celebrates turning 61?)... Anyway, the kids were decked out... pinstripes, ties, suits, girls in black dresses.... what is up with Europe? The US sucks....

We explored the town a bit, and came across this priceless shop:
The rest of the night was on our own, and we loaded our gear into the hostel (an old 1950's hotel), and wandered the city walls until late. It was windy as all hell, but picture-worthy.....
The Girls, the first of my BW endeavors.....
Can't leave the guys out.....sorry Aaron.....
Now the black and white has gone too far.... although the picture (taken from the dock) is amazing.....Lucas, you'll think this is the same picture, being colorblind and all, but for the rest ..... a color version.....Back at the hostel, the gang played 500 while i told the story about how i don't know the game but my 7 and 8 year old cousins do, and play with my aunts and uncles at family functions while I sit around like an idiot..... only this time, i took 'wannabe artistic' black and white shots....Day TWO: Castle, Lludandndoondoo....

The castle in Conwy lies in the most prominent part of the city, right on the bay, in view of everything... so it figured to be a great place to visit....
We were lectured in the morning by a local Welshman who- as the video shows- has an awesome accent and a great old-person sense of humor. He described the relationship between Wales and England, and the awkward developments in recent times of the newly formed Welsh Assembly, the movement of younger Welsh to the English cities, the popularity of tourism in Wales, and the resurgance of national pride....

The castle was -as many are- filled with local history- in this case dealing again with the relationship of the English and Welsh peoples....

ABSOLUT CASTLE
The gang, just outside the castle walls....
View of the estuary from one of the 8 towers....

No idea if this was taken from the castle, but the view of Conwy and the walls is pretty solid...We then made our way to the city of Lludadno, a more tourist-catered and metropolitan area just across the water. We rode a tram to top of the Great Orme (spelled how?) and walked down. It's one of the tallest places in Britian, the tallest being a mountain just south of Conwy, called Snowdn. Interestingly enough, it's less than 5,000ft in elevation.

The ride to the top was Freezing. This is another foray into the BW picture business... Clearly i'm not impressed. However, the light off of my developing MUSTACHETOBER FACIAL HAIR ADVENTURE is pretty manly....
Winds gusted at around 60 mph, according to Ryan, and I enjoyed being able to spit 100 ft....

This is the most car-commercial view that you'll ever get. Pacific Coast Highway meets Welsh Highlands....
Yes, before you ask, those are living breathing mountain goats. I had a staring contest and lost.
Can't get enough....This is a strange couple that I don't know, but damnit if they weren't greeting-card quality....
"thinking of you...."
Hilary has no control of her bodily functions. She has no respect. Spits where she wants, whatever the consequences. Ironically, there were no consequences. Unless you count the worst restuarant in the UK as a cruel trick of fate. (NEVER EAT AT CAMBRIDGE RESTUARANT IN LLUDANNONONO, WALES..... unless you enjoy paying 15 US dollars for packaged turkey covered in cold gravy and uncooked vegetables...)

The view of the harbor, tide-less, in Lludadno... they had a creepy carnival and a Grand Hotel, which when lit looked like the Tower of Terror....

After eating, we found Carol and Mark at the bus stop in time to hear Carol remark "The way these girls dress these days, I can't tell the difference between people heading to clubs and prostitutes" The girl who was walking across the street in stilettos and tight white hotpants was not impressed....

We bought Cuban Cigars and headed to the Albion Pub back in Conwy and played pool before meeting up on the same dock as Friday night, and took yet more BnW pics....
Aaron doing his best 'Belt Guy' impression.... still missing the bowler's cap though.... and the greasy hair, unfortunately....
DAY Three: Hike and Home
Day three was low key- we visited a home built in the 1570s by a Welshman who wanted to prove his worth by building the most elaborate home in Conwy (It was right after the English abandoned the town and finally let the Welsh into the city walls after unifying with the Welsh...)
Later we hiked to the top of yet another big hill, and "Lived through a Lens" before hitting up some more shops and heading home....
Brandon and Ryan trailblazing....
It looked almost like a tiny Mediterranean city-- red roofs, nice golf course (do they play golf on the Mediterranean?), plenty of water....
This castle was born to be photographed....
A photo from the lookout tower of the Robert Wynn house, (can't remember the name now...Pawn Mawr? Pyn Mawr?...), a good view....
Another view from the hike......
Finally a pic of the schoolyard/cemetary/small town that I ran through before breakfast this morning....
Wales was a great trip- very low key, low stress, and not 6 days long.... Classes offically begin for me this week- starting with a 2-hr lecture on the Geology of Britian tomorrow that should rule me. The lecture is followed by a possible trip to the city centre (unrelated to the class), and running with the Team at 5.00. - the last time we ran on a monday, it was a grueling 5 miles at about 630 pace. Are they serious? I guess we'll find out....

posted by Kevin @ 9:31 PM