Our first stop was at Chester in Northwest England. Chester is a roman city (so what else is new in England). But here in Chester they have Roman soldiers giving school kids tours of the city.
The city has a wall on which we walked and a clock which was erected to celebrate something to do with Queen Victoria. It is said to be the second most photographed clock in the world (or maybe it was England). Whatever, I was not going to be left out, so here is a picture.
We spent most of our 2 ½ hour stop visiting the cathedral. They had an audio guide and that was very interesting. One of the interesting historic events in this cathedral was that Handel had his first ever rehearsal of the Messiah in Chester Cathedral. The debut was to be in Ireland and that was where the rehearsal was to be as well. But when the winds were not favorable for the crossing from Chester to Ireland, Handel got stuck in Chester and he asked if there were people who could sightread the music. (Evidently he was still working on the music and wanted to hear it performed). One fellow was evidently not doing well at his sightreading. Handel said: “I thought you said you could sightread.” The man replied, “I can sightread, but not on first sight!” Evidently it worked out fine for Handel.
In the choir stalls there were some very beautiful yet strange wood carvings on the seats. This is evidently what happens when you describe an elephant to a wood carver who has never seen a real elephant. Note the horse-like legs including hoofs.
We then drove on to the Ambassador Hotel in Llandudno, North Wales. Llandudno is a very beautiful town on the northwest sea coast of Wales. There is a large crescent shaped bay where the town is located. The promenade wraps around the shore and a line of resort hotels front the promenade.
We felt absolutely like children as we strolled around the shore. The average age of the people out walking/shuffling/toddling/wheel-chairing around the promenade was at least 75.
We walked out on the pier and watched some fishermen as they snagged each other’s lines and the bottom of the ocean. One man did manage to catch a fish about 14 inches long. He took it off the hook and I thought he was going to throw it back as he reached toward the iron pipe railing. Then suddenly he smacked the fish’s head on the pipe to kill it and proceeded to clean it, so much for catch and release.
Just before smacking the fish.
It was then time for dinner about 6:00. We walked past the promenade to some business streets. We soon discovered that Llandudno is the proverbial town that rolls up the sidewalks at 6:00. They were really closing down everything. This includes the restaurants. There were just a few restaurants in the area that we found and most of those were only opened for lunch. We did find one place opened and ate there but at 7:00 they closed. The last couple that tried to come in was turned away. I bet the students are going to be bored silly. It is 8:14 and we have been back in the room (small but fine) for 45 minutes or so. Maybe there is something on TV.
Day 2.
Today was a fabulously sunny day in North Wales. We headed out at 9:00 for a bus tour to see the beauty of this land. Our first stop was at Caernarfon Castle.
It turns out not be a castle at all but rather a royal palace. Evidently you can tell by the small statues that decorated the top of the walls and the towers that are polygon shaped rather than round or square. We took a guided tour and our guide was very informative. He was very Welch and took every opportunity to talk about the English with an ever so slight disdain in his tone. He said the English never could get along with their neighbors. They tried and failed to conquer France, Scotland and Ireland. They did manage, under Edward I to conquer Wales. Edward I being the king of two countries and began to fancy himself an emperor and decided to build a palace in Wales. That was Caernarfon. It was a very defensive fortress with the highest technology of the time. The arrow slits have a single narrow slit from the outside but on the inside there were three openings that all shared the same slit. Picture a ↑ with the 3 arms on the inside all leading to the same point opening on the outside. This made it look like you would only have 5 archers shooting at you if you were trying to attack the wall but in fact you could have between 15 and 30 (high and low shooters from each hole on the inside).
Other tidbits we learned from our guide: The moats also served as the septic tank for the castle which made them very uninviting for invaders to plunge in and swim across. Most castles have small spiral staircases. We had heard at other castles that this was built in a counter clockwise direction so that the defender on top could use a sword in his right hand and the invader would not have room to use his right hand for the sword. Our guide here at Caenarfon said this was not true. He said soldiers (at least those attacking castles) at the time would likely have been in armor. The swords used were not the small swords of the movies but rather large heavy rather dull swords used to bash in the head of a man in a suit of armor. This armor was why they built spiral staircases. If you have been in a spiral staircase you know that the steps are very narrow on one side and slightly wider on the outside. Now image a soldier in a suit of armor with armor shoes with pointed toes used for kicking your enemy. They would not be able to climb those stairs.
We also saw that in the kitchen that they had hot and cold running water. One trough ran through the fireplace so that you would have hot water.
The cooking spots had places for very large pots where they kept a fire burning all the time (because it was easier to keep it burning than to light a new fire – no matches). He said that thus the big brass pot was always there and always hot. So they did not wash it. They would just add new stuff to the pot when it got low. Thus there was a lot of really old food that was probably at the bottom. If you arrived to eat when the pot was low you would have to scrape the bottom of the pot and no telling what you would dredge up. Thus we have the phrase “pot luck.”
Outside the castle was a small market and a group of folks in traditional Welch clothing were dancing in a small park.
We then drove through Snowdonia National Park. This is where the second highest mountain in Britain is located. I use the term mountain rather loosely. These are not very big compared to most mountains but they are still very beautiful. Take a look.
We had to pass this truck (lori) on this very narrow stone wall lined road. The driver of the truck had taken a wrong turn. He had to back up and squeeze to one side while cars and our bus snuck by. There was not much room to spare.
We then stopped at Seaside Resort called Portmerion. It was built between 1925 and 1972 by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis who designed it after an Italian village. It is quite lovely but really is kind of like a Disney World town. All the houses are hotel rooms, restaurants or souvenir shops. It is not really my kind of place.
Portmerion is located on the shore of the Irish sea. The sea had gone on holiday for the afternoon. Evidently the tide was out and I mean way out.
Our final stop for the day was Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It is a now defunct mine that they take you down into and have a history of the slate miners life. They made us wear hard hats and it was a very good thing. The passages are very low (4 feet in spots) and you would hear the thud of a hard hat hitting the rock and people would laugh because you knew no one was hurt but would have been if not for the hat. The mountains around are full of slate. They still mine it a lot but most mines are now surface mines. We saw lots of half mountains where the face had been gouged out.
The evening was spent at the cinema. We took a taxi and had a popcorn and coke dinner while we watched a movie. It was fun listening to the teens come out of the theatre as we waited for the taxi. They were talking in the same manner and tone as do all teens but they were speaking Welch. Welch is a language that is full of consonants. The words sound like they are talking English but the words just do not make sense to us. It seems very different than listening to any other foreign language. Most other languages have a recognizable accent (French, Spanish, Swedish) plus the words are different. But welsh people have an English accent but speak Welch.
Sunday we left Llandudno at “half ten” (as the Brits are want to say). A short ride brought us to Bets y coed. It is a lovely part of Wales that is forested and watered. Lakes and streams are in abundance in a land that is nestled in the foothills. Streams and foothills frequently result in waterfalls and one of the prettiest is called Swallow Falls. It is just a mile or so outside of Bets y coed and that is where we stopped first. We spent a half hour or so ooohing and aaahhhing at the beauty of God’s creation.
Another couple of hours were spent in Bets y coed. The range of activities here in this tiny village are limited to watching tourists (there were plenty to choose from), looking at the cute buildings, playing in the park, waiting in line to eat, or shopping in the tourist stores. We ate and shopped mostly but I did get in some people watching. The British equivalent of the Hell’s Angels was in town. This consisted of 100 to 125 motorcycles. These were ridden by what appeared to be middle class businessmen and women who spent a lot of money on their transportation and perhaps even more on their clothing. Almost all of them were wearing full leather suits right down to the motorcycle boots and gloves, often very colorful. You could tell by looking at their faces, hands, and hair that they were not original members of the “Wild Ones.” This, I believe, was a large group who woke up on Sunday morning to some of the most beautiful weather Wales has ever seen and decided to take a ride. When they arrived in Bets y coed they determined that “My, my Bernard, this looks like a lovely place for a spot of tea!” and so they did. The ones that drove in their cars brought their dogs. The British do love their dogs.
Ray
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