Northern Wales

NOTICE- NEW PHOTOS HAVE BEEN POSTED ON THE PHOTOBUCKET SITE. CLICK ON "AARON'S PHOTOS" TO THE RIGHT, THEN CLICK ON "NORTHERN WALES" TO SEE PHOTOS FROM THE RECENT WEEKEND TRIP

Hey all, back from a weekend excursion to northern Wales, with a quick stop in Chester, which is right on the English side of the border. For those not too familiar with the make up of the United Kingdom, check this out. The UK is made up of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The island which contains England, Wales, and Scotland is known as Great Britain. It's kind of like 4 states, but each "country" (because England, Scotland, and Wales, were historically at some point independent kingdoms) has a distinct heritage and sense of nationalism. Recently, the main UK government in London has devoluted Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland a bit. There is now a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, which has somewhat more authority than the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, plus a Northern Irish Assembly in Belfast. Anyways, whatever. On to the trip.

We shipped out Friday morning, and drove to Chester. It was a Roman fort, had city walls that basically stood on the same site as the old Roman walls, and was the headquarters for the English military conquest of north Wales. It was cool, but all these English cities sort of blur together. In such a small country, everything and I mean everything is intertwined. It's pretty much the same history everywhere. We're so used to the US, which is a huge country. Everyone we meet comments on how huge it is. And because of that hugeness, we have so many regional variations and different experiences. History in Virginia is different from Minnesota, which is different from Texas, etc, etc, etc. So needless to say, it's getting difficult to really appreciate the history here in England, because it's always a different angle of the same event. Anyways, Chester was also sort of lame because it was filled with the same cacophany of chain shops and restaurants which cloud almost every town of any size. So, we left, and went to Wales.

Wales is officially bi-lingual, so everything is labeled in both Welsh and English. Welsh is closely related to Irish, but although a Gaelic language, is of a different strain from the Gaelic sometimes spoken in Scotland. It sounded cool. We stayed in Conwy, which is a medieval castle town on a bay, with an intense castle dominating the town. Check out the pics. Edward I wanted to keep the Welsh in line, so he built this "Ring of Steel" of intense castles to deter any rebellion. On Friday then, we just scoped out the town, and ate dinner at this Italian restaurant. I had this intense pizza that involved spicy pepperoni, chiles, and some other hot substance. The medieval city walls are in excellent condition, so we decided it would be a good idea to climb the uneven walls in pitch blackness. We went to the top of the tallest turret on the wall, then proceeded to go to the end that juts out over the bay, and hung out for a while. Got some intense photos. Saturday, we got up, and had a lecture by this Welshman who is a sort of tour guide at the castle. He talked about Welsh history, rebellions, economics, all sorts of stuff. We then walked down to the castle and had a tour. The castle was really cool, it was the first really defensive castle we've visited. You could go to the top of the turrets as well, so that was cool. We had some sort of bacon/mustard sandwich known as a Welsh rabbit for lunch, then took the bus to Lladudno, which was across the bay. Lladudno is pretty much a resort town, so it had the whole shop spiel as well. There is this hardcore plateau/highland/hill called the Great Orme which juts out as a penninsula above the town. It's a big national park, so we took a cable car to the top. No joke, there was probably a steady 50 MPH wind at the top. Windiest condition I've ever been in, but we took some epic photos. The Welsh landscape is absolutely stunning, no question. Ryan and I got seperated from the group, took some more epic photographs, then walked back to town via a scenic roadway. We then met up with the group for an absolutely disgusting meal at The Cambridge restaurant. People ordered chicken, roast beef, and lamb, and when it came out, every single dish looked EXACTLY THE SAME, absolutely covered in this nasty brown gravy. If anyone every goes to Lladudno, don't go there. You'd rather eat raw sewage. After that, we went back to Conwy, where Brandon, Kevin, and I went to a pub and played a couple games of pool. We talked with a retired English couple who just recently retired and moved to Wales about how no one quite knows what the hell is going on with American football. Meaning, how to play it, the rules, etc, etc, etc. We then met the rest of the group on the same part of the city walls as the night before. A bunch of us had bought Cuban cigars the day before, because, well, because we could. So, we smoked them on the walls. I am not a smoker at all, but I guess it was alright. Don't worry parents, I'm not going to get addicted or anything.

The next day we got up, ate breakfast at the hostel, and hit the village. We just sort of shopped around and had some tea. Then the group, plus Mark and Carol (the professors) hiked up into the mountains/hills that surround the town, and had a picnic. We had about 2 hours to do as we wished, so I, along with about 4 others, elected to stay up in the hills and hike around. I ended up going to the top of the tallest peak within easy reach, and crap, it was intense. I put on some Lord of the Rings music and proceeded to run along the hills for a while, just because I could. Not quite New Zealand, but pretty damn close in terms of epic landscape. Check out the photos, you'll see what I mean. It wasn't quite as windy, which was nice. Probably the highlight of the trip. I love epic landscapes, and epic photography. It was cool, there were a bunch of horses grazing up there, so we sort of had to dodge them as we walked. Anyways, then we came back down, got in the bus, waited through ridiculous traffic, and finally got back to Nottingham. All in all, a good trip. I don't have class tomorrow, but I'll probably keep busy with Paideia stuff and maybe going to baseball practice? Still trying to figure out whether I am eligible to join the baseball team, which I really hope to do. Haven't heard back from the guy yet.

Speaking of baseball, I have to address the issue of the Twins. First of all, they played terribly for 3 games. Good pitching the first two games, horrendous offense throughout. I put much blame on the fact that I wasn't in the country. I tried my best to will the Twins to victory, from wearing my "This is Twins Territory" t-shirt, to wearing my lucky hat, to using my Twins credit card, to listening to "Win Twins" on my iPod, and to waiting up Friday night to recieve Scott's text message of the final score. But I wasn't in the country, which probably negated all of that. To be fair, they did suck at a time when they could not afford to suck. Bottom line though, it was an amazing season, even if it didn't end how they wanted it too. An even lower bottom line is the fact that next year the Twins will boast the AL batting champion, the possible MVP, the Cy Young winner, and a (hopefully) healthy Liriano. Along with Mike Redmond, the Piranhas, and myself, in the country with season tickets. So this was depressing, but it's only the start. We can all also take solace in the fact that the Yankees, who boasted one of the most powerful lineups ever, are also out of the playoffs. We'll get them all next year, no doubt.