Every once in a while, a good student needs to cast the books aside and take a train to Wales... hey, it worked for me!
I awoke Saturday morning at 4:53. I actually didn't hear my alarm go off, my poor roommate had to turn it off and then wake me up. Anyway, a half hour later, I found eight groggy people and the nine of us walked to the train station. It was freezing on all our trains and buses, however, we made it safely to Cardiff, Wales by 9:30 that morning. While still tired and cold, we walked a few blocks through the town. The first thing we noticed was that many people were wearing kilts and the color red. We learned that there was a rugby match that day, Wales vs. Scotland and so the whole town and country was in Cardiff for the match. These colorful folks were terribly friendly, and that's when I knew I would love Wales.
(To the left: Cardiff Castle)
The first thing we did was tour the Cardiff Castle. The castle is beautiful and has an array of many different types of rooms, ranging from medieval to Victorian to Georgian. The castle was built on a Roman fort and housed many of British royalty.. In fact, it was lived in until about the 1930's! After our tour, we wandered about the grounds and got to climb the keep and view the city; it was beautiful. We saw owls and falcons that were kept tethered during the day; it turns out these birds are released into the castle, and other historic buildings, every few days to catch rodents and insects that would destroy these historic sites. (Below: the keep)
After our castle experience, we decided it was time to eat. The streets were crowded with Welsh and Scots, who were also trying to eat before the match. We wanted to eat at a nice, Welsh restaurant, unfortunately, there was a long wait and we were starving and needed cheap food. The best thing we found was a Pizza Hut; now do not judge.. Pizza Huts are very different in the UK. Besides delicious pizza, we ate amazing appetizers and deserts.. for really cheap too! We were more than full and had leftovers for the rest of the afternoon!
When we walked outside, we saw four police horses escorting a car. The woman in the car waved to us. Now I had no idea who she was, but immediately after she passed, my good friend (who is a Historian and very wise when it comes to British culture), Sean, started to freak out: "Oh my gosh, that was Princess Anne! And the Duke of Essex was behind her!" It was really exciting to see such noble people, and even more that she waved at us American tourists. After we got over the fact that we had seen royalty, we walked around the downtown area and shopped. Stuff is cheaper in Wales and we all gave into the temptation to buy.
(Below: The City Hall of Cardiff and the Museum of Wales)
We then walked to the Museum of Wales. It was not a bad museum, but was the low point of our trip. I loved the exhibits, but they were not unique to Wales. Plus, tiredness set in as our feet ache and our bodies yearned for caffeine.
Once we satisfied our cravings, we decided to go to the Bay, which was two miles away. We attempted to find a bus, but one of us was impatient and just started to walk towards another stop. We didn't get a chance to look at the map long enough; although we were going in the right direction, we couldn't find another stop. She asked another driver how to get to the Bay and where a stop was, but this driver was not a local driver and only knew how to get to the Bay. He had an hour before he had to bring his group back, so he generously brought us to the bay for free. We tried to offer him money, but he would not take it.
(Above: The bay at sunset; Below: Lighted columns that changed colors and the tall fountain)
The bay was beautiful, and we reached there right after sunset. There were beautiful fountains, and I enjoyed the look of salt water and the lights reflecting on the shimmering surface. It was time to eat dinner, but our group was indecisive. Nobody wanted to eat at the Bay; either nothing was "Welsh" enough or they didn't want to spend money. They looked at the tour books for ideas, and decided to go back to the Centre of the City (aka downtown). Now, I knew it would be crowded because of the rugby game, which Wales won, but they wanted to see the crowds.
We caught a regular city bus back up and when we arrived, the streets were packed. There were lines down the street for every restaurant and pub. Almost everyone was wasted, and there was alcohol and garbage all over the streets. Half of our group freaked because they were worried about catching our train. The lines to get into the station were very long and we didn't know how long it would take to get in. Nobody could decide on a restaurant, and so a few people went to McDonalds; I did not. Then we went back to the station to stand in line. I hadn't eaten and wanted to and we still had two hours before the last train left. Five of us left the other four at te station; we planned to just meet them there a little later for the ride home. I just ate at a local fish and chips place, which was delicious and cheap.
(To the right: Our crazy train ride!)
We got back to the station and could not find our friends. We somewhat worried, but figured they left us. We attempted to get on a train, but it was really crowded and we wanted to sit together because the ride was over an hour. Although the workers wanted us to board, we waited only a few seconds for another train and got on. We sat next to Welsh, English, and Scottish people, most of which were drunk. They loved that we were from America and the Scotsmen really loved my name, probably because in old English, it is a boy's name. I ended up sitting next to a 24-year old from Bristol. His name was Tom and his parents sat in front of us.
Everyone was, if you remember from before, very friendly. They talked to us for a long time and then started to tell jokes. They started to chant my name, telling me to say a joke. I couldn't really think of a good joke, so I told the "muffin" joke. If you don't know it, just ask me; it is pretty lame. But they loved it because it was American and kept asking for more. I said some dumb blonde ones, and they recorded it on their cell phones and took pictures. We then took pictures as well. Then they sang a Welsh rugby song, which was very cool. They wanted us to sing, and so they started to sing our national anthem and we joined in. It was so much fun! Tom's parents then invited the five of us to a pub in Bristol. We had to catch a connecting train an hour after our arrival, and so they then invited us to stay at their house. We could not do that and so we could not go to the pub because they went in a taxi. We still had fun though. (To the left: A true Scotsman)
We walked around Bristol singing and laughing because of our fun train ride. Then a man walked up to us and asked me if I had a light. None of my friends smoke, so after we said no, we just kept on walking. He yelled "Wait, Wait!" And asked if he could take a picture with us. We let him, and then three of his friends came and we took pictures with them. We talked about soccer, which they called soccer and I decided is my favorite word to say with a British accent.
We then looked at St. Mary's Cathedral (to the right) and headed back to the station. We got on the train about 20 minutes before its departure. We talked for a long time, and then realized it was 5 minutes past the departure time. There was an announcement that the train was delayed because it needed a driver. About ten minutes later, there was another announcement and we couldn't hear it. Then a man from the company stepped in our car and told us the train had been canceled. This was not good for us, because we were supposed to take this train to another station where we would take a bus to another station where we would catch another bus to Oxford. He told us to go to another Platform and when we arrived at the one he suggested, we found out the train was going to Cardiff. We loved Wales, but needed to go to Oxford. Luckily, there were workers working at an information booth. We told them where we were going, and we knew it was quite a long way (74 miles). After about five minutes, one of the workers took our tickets and gave us a sheet of paper. He told us to bring it to the front of the station and find a large enough taxi for five people. We got a free ride from Bristol to Oxford in a nice, big taxi! We listened to reggae and hip/hop and danced as we flew down the wrong side of the street. We finally reached the Oxford station, which was difficult since our driver didn't know where it was and we had to stop so he could put it in the GPS system. We walked back home, still very excited from our amazing journey.
Although I was wound up, I was still tired. I crashed about an hour later and got a nice eight hours of sleep. Today, I must do homework... which is not the ideal thing to be doing after one has spent an amazing day in Wales :)
Things I have learned (or that just refreshed my memory):
I can post pictures!
Welsh (and Scottish and southern England) people are very friendly and fun and just so wonderful!
Although they love the metric system, the UK measures distance in miles
I want to, and will go to, a rugby match
I LOVE WALES!!!
Oh well... I did pay money to get this education and I don't think I have to prepare an essay.. so it shouldn't be that bad. All this work is stressful and it feels like it will never end. Last night, while trying to complete my essay, I found myself staring at the goldfish box I had brought from home. I read about goal setting and felt encouraged by my fishy friends. Then I laughed at the point of the maze: Help Finn... so he can play with his friends! I am totally Finn right now! See the books at the bottom of the maze? Those are just a few of the books I need to read and sort through before the end of term. And I need to focus on that and not my friends... which will be hard since most of my friends are done with their research papers. Oh well. I am sure that I will make it through the maze! And when I'm done... I can be with my friends and my two guests from America!! Wooo!
