Wales: Day 33 The Time of York Life

Thursday, August 5 I woke up especially thrashed. I mean, we were tired ALL the time, but the Thursday, August 5 I woke up more thrashed than usual. I think the extra traveling and the length of the trip was starting to get to me. Plus I tend to value time joking around with the girls, returning emails and chatting with everyone back home over my sleep. Anyway, I was tired and running late, but I was able to run down and grab some yogurt just as breakfast was closing and hopped into the van for the 5(ish) hour drive to The North!

We arrived in York in the afternoon, moved into the York Youth Hostel, or as I affectionately referred to it, The Labyrinth. Seriously finding your way in and out of this place was insane. There were multiple levels, wings, and hallways. We had to climb up and down several flights of stairs just to get to our room. But it didn't smell like a bathroom, so that was good. We met in our small groups to get information from our tour leaders and then walked into the city.

The hostel is about a half mile away from the city center, and there is this lovely path alongside the river that we take. It was fantastic. Rowers paddled along, kids played in the grass and trees, and then you come around a bend and get the most breathtaking view of York.

I LOVE York. It was one of my favorite cities. This was more of what I expected England to be like. Its probably the cleanest city we've visited, and the buildings are awesome. Our first order of business was Jorvik. Jorvik is the Viking name for York, a Viking settlement in the 10th Century. Jorvik is this museum/attraction/ride, and Tom had talked it up, so we all agreed to go despite the admission fee. Thank goodness we did. I don't know where we would have gotten material to make fun of for the rest of the trip. We dressed as Vikings, looked at ancient excrement (No. Really.), and rode the dangerous, exhilarating ride through the Viking Village. Seriously the ride went 3 mph, IF THAT, and was full of creepy puppets and mannequins. There were even village-appropriate smells. You know. To get the full effect. We just laughed and laughed at how ridiculous it was. Then after the ride I typed in an official complaint on the Customer Comment computer. "The museum was cool. The ride was a little fast, though. It made me a little motion sick." Ever the flippant smart alec.

After Jorvik, we got to explore the city. York is seriously awesome. We got some ice cream (clearly), and then checked out "The Shambles." This part of town is preserved to look exactly like the Medieval street it once was. A little creepy, but fun. I even saw a cool reference to a movie I love, V for Vendetta!

We met up at Yorkminster for Evensaid. Evensaid is weird, not as good as Evensong, but Yorkminster is my favorite Cathedral. It is incredible. It's huge, the biggest in the North. Fantastic.



After Evensaid, everyone dispersed to attend various Ghost Tours around York. London had Jack the Ripper tours, but no other city had anything to compare to this. There were upwards of 10 different Ghost Tours across the city, ranging from 2-10 pounds. Not really sure why. This prompted me to utter a phrase which henceforth became a sort of inside joke for our group.

"What, does York have a rich ghost heritage?"

We didn't want to pay, but we were ALMOST sneaky enough to tag along with a random tour. Too risky. Instead Jessica, Sam, Megan and I went to Pizza Hut. It was the best idea we had all day. It was just as good as American Pizza Hut, and exactly what we needed. Our ginger waiter entertained us with some flirting and sharing his opinions and perceptions of the United States. We had a much needed girl talk, plenty of sharing and bonding. Then we walked up to Clifford's Tower. This was scarier than a ghost tour, I thought. In 1190, over 100 Jews piled into the tower and burned themselves alive rather than concede their beliefs or be killed and mutilated by the surrounding mob. Yikes.

We walked back along the river and went to bed, preparing for an early morning (6:30 am) to catch the train to Edinburgh!

Wales: Day 29 & 30 Hostel Takeover

(I'm writing this like 2 1/2 weeks after it actually happened, so bear with me.)

Sunday (Aug. 1) was fairly normal and uneventful. Church, nap, hung out with my friends, and then a program meeting to prepare for the coming WHIRLWIND of a week.

Monday (Aug. 2) we hit the road. Tom being gone we left around 9 am, instead of our usual 7 or 8, so that was quite welcome. The entire week was to be spent traveling the north, beginning with the "real" Wales - Aberystwyth. Cardiff may be the capital, but that is only because of the historical importance of the port, and the southern location. If there were a "Welsh" capital of Wales, it would probably be Aberystwyth or somewhere near there in North Wales. Aberystwyth is a pretty cool coastal town, but we spent very little time there.

First me and my friends went into the National Library of Wales (of course I went to a library), which is like the mecca of all things Welsh. It made me miss my office and my LAO peeps like crazy. This library, while not as cool as the HBLL, was legit. They have a manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, an original copy of a letter from Owain Glyn Dwr, and a fantastic art gallery featuring a Picasso and some Durer engravings. I loved it.

We didn't have time to check out the castle, but we did walk through downtown and along the pier for lunch, which was really pretty.

Climbing back into the van, everyone was in great spirits, I was DJ Danica in the front seat while running the GPS, and we partied on the long van rides all day long. (This is my teddy bear, Tegwyn. Never really had a teddy bear before, but I got this little guy, and yes, I've been sleeping with him.)

UPDATE. I have a new favorite castle. And it's this one.

Harlech Castle. Loved it. Built as part of the Iron Ring of Edward Longshanks (I), its position on the coast was once strategic, and now is picturesque. This is one of my most favorite views I've encountered. It was just stunning. And the fact that I had to hike up a steep and winding road and STILL enjoyed my experience at the castle is huge. The experience was enhanced by a couple scoops of Belgian chocolate ice cream as we headed back down the hill to the vans.





After plenty of directional crises and tight squeezes on the narrow north country roads, we made it to our final destination for the day - Conwy. This coastal town is structured around the castle, which is also really, REALLY cool, and the huge city wall still stands and runs throughout. More will be said about this in the next post, because we visited Conwy on Tuesday. Our hostel was pretty cool. We had a great view, and the common dining area had the best view. We hung out in there a lot. Our room (Me, Jessica, Gillian and Sam) had a bathroom and shower, which was convenient, but also made it kind of smell. And it was MOTH CENTRAL. We seriously killed over 20 moths in our 3 days there. And my duvet situation was less than desirable.


Tesco run for baguettes and hummus (yesssssss). Dinner with everyone in the awesome mess hall. Finally, we decided to watch Jurassic Park, which I have on my laptop, because we'd been quoting it like crazy and several people hadn't seen it. We commandeered the entertainment room, clustered together in front of my laptop, and laughed like crazy.


My hair is super straight so I haven't been blow-drying it at all, and I can sleep on it wet, no problem, so I volunteered to shower before bed so that it wouldn't be such a traffic jam in the morning. The shower was really narrow, probably about 3x3', and weird to get into. I turned it on and WHAMMMM! I was being blasted with the craziest water pressure I've ever felt, EVER. It was like a fire hose. And COLD. My whole system froze up (ha) and I was freaking out for a second before I could turn it off. I stood there, almost collapsing to the floor of the shower, laughing so hard and panting like crazy. My roommates were laughing and knocking on the door asking what was going on and if I was ok. I explained the oddity of the crazy instant water pressure, and my inability to move out of the direct stream due to the small volume of the shower and the freezing cold.

You have to understand - water pressure we'd experienced there had generally been really weak, and often the showerhead would cut out or reduce to a drip. This was completely unprecedented. Soon I learned that you have to instantly turn the dial all the way to 6 or it's cold, and it doesn't drain fast enough, so you are repeatedly turning it on and off during the shower. Violent, yes. But efficient and quick? Absolutely.

Wales: Day 20 The Dawn Patrollers

First of all, I wanted to thank anyone who has emailed, facebooked or commented here about my blog! I am glad people are enjoying it. Continued questions and comments are appreciated. Also, I usually respond to every comment here on my blog, but for whatever reason it won't let me leave comments while I'm here. So thanks to everyone who has commented! I read and appreciate those. They do not go unnoticed. :)

So, Cornwall Day 2. We stayed at the Penzance Youth Hostel, which was super nice and clean. Thank goodness. I decided to go on the optional "Dawn Patrol" trip, which was meeting at the vans at 7 am. I know. I'm always tired and burnt out, but I am here! I want to live out every second I can and see all the cool stuff physically possible. We climbed into the vans, blinking in the gray sky morning, and headed down a winding road to see some Neolithic sites.

First was Men an Tol. This "stone doughnut" formation was said to increase fertility and cure rickets if you passed through the center hole. I didn't do it. Sorry, future kids. I just want to see how bad you really want me to be your mom.

We had to climb through fields and hedges to get there, and then went in pursuit of another stone formation nearby but couldn't find it. Delirious and sleepy, we ran back to the vans and drove another quarter of a mile or so to our next site, Lanyon Quoit. This is a fairly typical quoit, or Neolithic burial site.

We rushed back to our hostel, hoping to get back in time for breakfast. We stumbled in, covered in leaves, grass and mud, just in time to smell the aroma of a hot English breakfast beckoning our hungry bodies through the door. If any of you don't know what the "full English breakfast" is, it's basically pure cholesterol deliciousness.

Eggs, bacon (uh no. This was a huge slab of salty ham. Yum), sausage, potatoes and/or hashbrowns, tomatoes, baked beans (was a little weirded out by this, but SERIOUSLY. My favorite. So so good for breakfast. I'm craving it now.), toast, croissants with jam and butter, yogurt, cereal, fruit, milk and juice.

It completely knocked my socks off. I loved it. I kept thinking "Man. My dad and Grandpa Stan would really appreciate this." Most mornings here I will have an English muffin, if that, and lately I've been pounding Diet Cokes as I run out the door. This was absolutely fantastic. Since I didn't post these with the previous post about the hostel, here they are now. Pretty nice room, me and the Irish had a good night.

Despite how much we ate, I think we worked it all off at our first stop - St. Michael's Mount. This was one of the coolest places we've been. Yeah. It's on top of that mini-mountain. Luckily the tide was low so we could walk all the way across. And then all the way up. :)

First noted for it's military strategic location, it's use has always been coveted by political and economic leaders. The legend is that St. Michael appeared there in the 5th Century, so a chapel was built on the hill. Now owned by the St. Aubyn family, the chapel is now surrounded by a majestic castle and manor house. Incredible. Once again, my breath was stolen by the heavenly gardens.


Next, we drove out to the Lanhydrock House. First an abbey in the 13th Century, this manor house was built in the 1700s and was owned by the Robartes family. They were the richest family in the southwest quadrant of the island, and the decor certainly testifies of that. Did I see multiple tiger rugs? Like the ones in the movies with the mouths open and roaring with their coats spread out behind them? Yes. One can be seen here on the left hand side of the ENORMOUS billiard table. (Yeah, this house reminded me increasingly of Clue as we were walking through it.)

The craziest thing about this house is that the kitchen, for all intents and purposes, included 7+ rooms. They have rooms for breads, desserts, meats, fresh produce, cleaning, preparing for service, and tons more.

It was out of control. It made me want to have a ridiculously huge dinner party. With drinks and music in THIS garden afterwards. I want it.
Our final stop for the day was the Cotehele House. A Tudor-style manor house, it reflected the shift from military and basic living necessities to more decorative and extravagant details, especially gardens. Unfortunately, the house was closed so we just walked around the grounds. At this point everyone was pretty tired and ready to be home and shower (we'd been wading in the ocean twice, climbed quite a bit and not showered because we stayed in hostels), so we were quite goofy and bored here. We hung out in the gardens, took home a black currant seedling which we affectionately named "Dongle," and then finally headed home. I wish I had taken more pictures, but since I didn't take my laptop to dump my memory card to at the end of the day, I quickly filled up with 2 days worth of photos. At least I got some good ones. Showering was so nice when we got home. I don't think my feet have ever been dirtier.

Wales: Day 19 Cornwalling

We left at 6 am for a 2 day trip to Cornwall, which proved to be one of the best couple days of our entire stay here. All in all, the drive was about 3 hours, but went by very quickly, as we were all studying like crazy. Yeah, we've actually been "studying abroad."

Our first stop was the famed Tintagel Castle, the place of conception and, some say, birth and childhood of King Arthur. While there is some fact and some fiction regarding a certain "King" Arthur, it's hard NOT to believe in the legend when you stand on these cliffs.

On these cliffs there was a 5th Century Abbey which is theoretically contemporary with Arthur, although the castle was not built until the 16th Century. Still, the entire site is absolutely stunning. We climbed down the slick, steep steps to Merlin's Cave (which is actually more of a tunnel). The tide was low enough that we could go all the way through, which was pretty awesome. We also enjoyed hanging out on the coast, which included a beautiful waterfall.

We hiked back up the towering stairs and even further still until we reached the top of the cliffs and the castle ruins. It was so majestic and just awesome. The coastline is gorgeous, and we were up so high we could see for miles. A light breeze was blowing, and the sun was shining, clear and bright. It could not have been more perfect. Plenty of photo ops, and even some time for yoga.

We enjoyed some delicious, DELICIOUS pasties at the local Cornish pasty shop (umm we were in CORNWALL. How could we NOT get some legit pasties?), and then hit the road again. We drove further down the coast to St. Ives. This little coastal town is just so quaint and picturesque. I loved it. The beach is clean, the lighthouses worthy of paintings and postcards, and rows and rows of winding streets filled with cute boutiques kept us busy all afternoon.

During free time, after perusing some shops, I chilled on the beach while my friends took a nap. I finally started writing a letter that I've been meaning to write for months, and it was just the perfect setting. I loved it. Unfortunately, after writing the letter, the girls and I were brutally attacked by SEAGULLS. The seagulls of St. Ives are particularly vicious. They will stop at nothing to seize your savory treats - in my case, a croissant. Somehow, at the end of the day after accounting for all the girls who were attacked on the shores of St. Ives, we found that all the girls were residents of Penny Lane - my house. What are the odds? Us and only us were affected. Effing seagulls. They actually cut Sam's lip! They drew blood! This is why I hate nature/animals.
The best part of the day came after St. Ives, when we drove further yet down the coast to Sennen's Cove. From there, we hiked all the way up to the clifftops and down to Land's End. This is the furthest westward point in Britain. It was fantastic. It was slightly cloudy, with a fresh breeze tossing my hair about my face. The waves crashed into the rocks and cliffs, and the grasses and wildflowers of the clifftop meadows swam in the salty air.

If you listen to touching love ballads and epic songs while sitting on a huge rock, on the edge of cliff, looking out over a neverending ocean, as the sun drifts toward the horizon,

Your life will change.

This will go down in my top 5 favorite things we've done, guaranteed. Absolutely amazing. You feel so small and insignificant, and suddenly every Mae song you've ever heard makes sense. It was an introspective, quiet sort of evening, and I really really love those. Thanks to the Irish girls for all of the "creeper" pics of me! :)

Our day was supposed to end there, but we added another stop so as to have less to conquer on the following day. Carn Euny is a site marking the remains of the longest occupied settlement in early British history. Built in the 5th Century BC and occupied until the retreat of the Romans in the 4th Century AD, this town is remarkably preserved, and pretty cool. We didn't spend too long there because it was cold and we were exhausted from climbing and walking all day long, but it was neat.
The funniest part of our day was when we were barreling down this narrow, hedged road in the countryside (as per our normal procedures), and all of a sudden we round a bend and find our self bumper-to-nose with 5 horses and their riders. So funny! Maybe it was because it was getting late and we were just so tired, but I could not stop laughing. So great. We scooted to the side as far as we could and tried to let them pass, and eventually both parties were free.

Finally we went "home." Home for the night was my first hostel - Penzance. I've heard horror stories about hostels, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Luckily, Tom got us a SWEET hostel. It was great. The bed there was 100000x better than my bed here in Penny Lane. The rooms were spacious and clean, and I didn't feel grossed out at all (which is saying something. Most of the time I've been here I've been at least 30% grossed out, often times more). I was in a room with the "Irish" and we had a lovely evening. A great end to another great day! :)