After my morning lecture that Monday, we met up and walked down to the bay, giving her a quick tour of Cardiff city centre on the way. We had lunch and enjoyed the water and (windy/chilly) weather before heading back for my Welsh class. My instructor was happy to welcome Wog to the class. We were learning ‘that’ clauses, so now she can say “I know…” (Dw i’n gwybod…).

That night my flatmates and I took Wog out to experience the Cardiff nightlife, which was a complete success.. and that’s all I’ll say on the subject. We took it easy the next day, got a little shopping in after another Welsh class but mostly packed because we were leaving town at 4 am the next morning! 4 am is actually perfect timing because all the chip shops are still open for the drunk students. So I took her to my favorite chip shop in Cardiff (Family Fish Bar, for those interested), and we bought some chips to eat on the bus.

We got to London fairly early and our train to Paris didn’t leave for a few hours so we decided to head to Covent Garden. We got off the tube at Covent Garden station and, upon seeing the giant horde of people queuing for the lifts, we decided to follow some guy up the stairs. There were giant signs saying that the stairs had 195 steps, but I guess that’s just my own bad judgment; we were halfway through the torturous never-ending staircase when an announcer came on the speakers telling us that 195 steps is the equivalent of a 15 story building. It probably would’ve been bearable if we could see the end, but as they were circular, I kept hoping it would be over at every turn, very disappointing. Finally we made it to street level and, after catching our breath, we headed to a fish and chip shop I had heard was good. They made the fish to order, and it was absolutely delicious! Apparently, (according to their signage), they were the 3rd fish and chip shop in London, and the oldest one still surviving today. After that and cupcakes (I had to take her to Ella’s Bakehouse, which Amanda and I had stumbled across back in January), we walked to Trafalgar Square for some pictures. Then we caught a bus to Camden, and shuffled around in the stalls there for a bit before walking back to St. Pancreas for the train to Paris!

We got into Paris pretty late and we had arranged to meet our couchsurfing hosts as soon as we arrived, so after figuring out the metro, we found their apartment and introduced ourselves to our wonderful hosts. This was our first time couchsurfing and we were both really excited to try it. Our hosts were really nice; we had some food and went straight to bed.

The next morning, we got up early and headed to Montmarte to see Sacre Coeur. We were there early enough to receive the undivided attention of a horde of scammers armed with ribbon. Luckily I had heard of this particular scam before (where the person ties a ribbon around your finger while talking to you and won’t let you go until you pay him) so we kept our fingers firmly in our pockets as we marched up the steps to the sounds of their mildly offensive, obscene, cat calls. We had a good laugh about it, after escaping the group and seeing the steps littered with discarded ribbons. Those were the only scammers we noticed, thankfully. I was a bit worried about getting hit by the “throw a live baby at you” scam.

We hung out at the top of Montmarte for a while enjoying the view, before walking down to Moulin Rouge. From there we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe and headed down the Champs-Elysees towards the Louvre (with one detour into the Louis Vuitton store). We didn’t make it all the way to the Louvre as hunger drove us to find a cheaper neighborhood. We ended up crossing the river and decided to walk towards the Eiffel Tower. On the way, we found a creperie and ordered filled crepes for lunch. They were amazing! It was hands down the best lunch of the entire trip, in my opinion.

After lunch, we shopped for a bit and bought some cheese and a baguette, which we ended up eating on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower. We decided to walk up to the 2nd floor, as it was cheaper and the line was shorter than the elevator to the top. The climb was really fun and the views were spectacular! After the Eiffel Tower, we meandered in the direction of the flat; we wandered into Le Bon Marche, got some food at a random restaurant, and headed back to the flat for the evening.

The next day, we headed straight for Notre Dame. We were able to walk straight into the cathedral, which was pretty cool on the inside, but what was more impressive was the tour of the bell towers. We had to wait in line a bit for that, which was great because it gave us an opportunity for a morning crepe! The top of the cathedral was really cool; we got to get up close to all of the gargoyles (or chimeras, they explained the difference, but I can’t remember it anymore). The views of Paris from there were pretty impressive as well.

After Notre Dame, we walked along the Seine for a bit before going to the Catacombs. This place was so cool/creepy! Basically, the city of Paris disinterred a whole bunch of cemeteries and just stuck the bones underground. It floored me how many bones there were – and how many people that must’ve been! We walked for ages along damp corridors surrounded by human bones stacked in random geometric/religious shapes – it was really surreal.

Once we escaped back into the sunlight, we made our way to the Louvre. I had read somewhere that it was free for under-26s on Fridays after 6. Apparently that was wrong, it’s occasionally free for under-26s but only EU residents. However, we had stumbled onto some special night, because it was free for everyone randomly at 6 pm that day! Neither of us are huge museum people, so we took our maps and decided to see the highlights: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Hammurabi’s Code, etc. We saw everything we wanted to, but we were totally exhausted by the end and called it a night.

The next day we were due to leave Paris midday, so we headed into town for a bit of shopping and just wandered for a bit before picking up our things and going back to the station. We got into London just in time to get last-minute tickets to a show that night. It took a while to find a show selling student rush on a Saturday night, but finally we ended up at Avenue Q. I had seen it on Broadway the year before, but was curious to see what they would change for a British audience. Wog had never seen a musical in her life, but loved the idea of an adult Sesame Street. The show was really good (not much was different from the Broadway version – for those interested. Gary Coleman was played by a man, the occasional joke was different, but it was mostly identical).

After the show, we headed to our hostel to check in and crash for the night. That Sunday was originally to be Wog’s flight home, but due to the BA strike, she would be coming back to Cardiff with me. We spent the day shopping in London before catching a coach to Wales. The next day was spend on schoolwork, packing, and figuring out my upcoming Easter holiday. We both caught another early bus into London the next day and I saw her off at Heathrow before heading to Gatwick for my own flight to Prague.

I suspect my Easter holiday will take more than a few blog posts, as I seem to be terrible at leaving out insignificant details of my trip. I’m still in the process of posting pictures on Facebook and I’ll try to get them on picasa as well.

Well then, I suppose I should get on with the updating.

February

Two weeks after the Bath trip, I went to London with the other study abroad people for the spring semester London Weekend (if you may recall, the last London Weekend consisted of the party on Tower Bridge on Halloween). The spring weekend was pretty much the same, but except for the Tower Bridge, we had dinner and a party on a Thames boat cruise. It was really cool – delicious food, ridiculously overpriced drinks, karaoke, and way too many renditions of “I’m on a Boat”. It was a costume party and the theme was to dress as a tv character so my friend Jayson and I decided to go the easy route (after failing to procure power rangers and smurfette costumes, respectively) and dressed up as contestants on the price is right. Easiest costume ever! Just print out a price tag, write your name and you’re good to go! I went the extra mile and stuck the theme song on my phone, so we ran down the gangplank to “Come on Down!”.

While in London, we were also able to get student tickets to see Blood Brothers. I love being a student here – our seats were £20 and we had amazing seats near the front of the balcony. Blood Brothers was fantastic. Mel C (aka Sporty Spice) was the lead and she was absolutely amazing! I didn’t know anything about the musical, which was a pretty cool experience. Almost every other show I’ve seen, I’ve known the lyrics or at least the basic plot, but with Blood Brothers, it was all new. It was such a good show too! It’s now firmly in my top 5 musicals. Just a fantastic story.

So that was the end of February. I’ll try to get pictures up from London (I don’t know if I’ve even posted them on facebook yet), but it may take a while. On to March!

March

The first weekend in March was another archaeology field trip. This one was to Cirencester, in the Cotswolds. We were there mainly to see how terrible a job they did with preserving and displaying archaeological ruins, so it didn’t come off with the best impression. We did see what is apparently  the tallest hedge in England (though there is a bigger one in Scotland, as my Scottish instructor was careful to point out) and the world’s tallest yew hedge (my life is now complete). It was pretty impressive, I think 40 ft high… That was definitely the highlight of the trip.

The weekend after that I took a 4 am bus into London with my study-abroad friend Marissa to meet up at the IFSA-Butler offices for an excursion to Faversham, Kent and Dover. In Faversham, we took a tour of “Britain’s Oldest Brewery”, Shepherd Neame Brewery. The tour was pretty interesting, but the best part was at the end, when we had a free beer tasting. I learned all about the 3 C’s of beer – Color, Clarity, and Carbonation. Marissa and I ended up ducking out after trying the beers to get some fresh fish and chips at the local chip shop. Delicious, as always.

After Faversham, we loaded back on the coaches to head to Dover Castle. Once there, we ended up walking down to practically sea level and then back up to the entrance to the castle, perched on the top of the White Cliffs. Dover Castle was pretty cool though, in continuous use through WWII so it wasn’t nearly the ruin that most of the castles I’ve seen are. The old part was pretty unimpressive though. It had recently been renovated and the main keep was outfitted with furniture and wall hangings to mimic how it would’ve looked in Tudor times. It was kind of cool, but the castle itself was no more impressive than the other ones I’ve seen (look at me, the castle snob!). After an hour or two at the castle, we got back on the coaches and headed back to London. Marissa caught a coach back to Cardiff that night, but I headed to a hostel to sleep for the night. Why wasn’t I going back to Cardiff with Marissa? I had to be at Heathrow early the next morning to pick up my friend Wog! It was Wog’s spring break back in California so she came to visit me for a week. And this is a good place to stop for the moment, as Wog’s trip leads right into my 3 week Easter holiday. So I’ll write some more later.

A quick update on the present. Exam season is just getting underway. I’ve turned in all of my coursework and am now looking at four weeks of studying for four exams. So nothing too super exciting will be happening to me until June 4th, when my last exam is finished. I plan to be all caught up with recapping my life by then.

The second part of our Ireland trip was to see the Rock of Cashel, the ancient seat of Irish kings, and to tour Midleton distillery, home of Jameson Whiskey. We drove on north on some amazing roads, narrow (duh!) with branches reaching across the road forming arches that must make some fantastic green tunnels in the summer. Yeah, that got said to death, too. Our plan was to take the car ferry to Cobh (where most Irish immigrants departed for America and the Titanic’s last port), do a quick drive through and then head to Midleton.

View from ferry to Cobh

By the time we got to Midleton and found the old distillery we were behind schedule (we wanted to get to Cashel before the sun set so we could see the whole drive). Instead of touring Steve & Amanda decided what they really wanted was to do the whiskey tasting. Since he was driving the tasting guide let them split the 5 Whiskey tasting session. They tried 18 year old, 12 year old, the regular 6 year old and Johnnie Walker Black (to compare to Scotch) and Jack Daniels (to compare to American whiskey). She also brought them a shot of Midleton special reserve to try (we think that was just her being nice because the place was empty!) Meanwhile, I had the best Irish coffee ever.

Jameson Distillery in Midleton

Our drive took us through Lismore and over the River Blackwater where we backtracked a bit to get a view of Lismore Castle.

Lismore Castle

Keeping on the regional (narrow, twisty, beautiful) roads we headed north through small towns and villages towards Cahir, home of a castle we wanted to see, even briefly. The road took us up on over hills, through the Knockmealdown Mountains. We used our good manners and didn’t tell them they were really just hills covered with heather and scrubby shrubs because it was so beautiful.

Border between Waterford & Tipperary looking west

The border between Waterford and Tipperary counties runs right through them, marked by miles of stone walls. We stopped to look down the valley into Tipperary and could see footpaths (and signs) for St. Declan’s way walk. The road down had several hairpins as we descended into the evergreen forests and then into the farmlands in the valley and on to Cahir.

Cahir from Cahir Castle

Cahir Castle

Cahir Castle on the river Suir

Due to the freezing rain that fell at night the castle was closed, too dangerous on the stone walkways. If we’d had more time it would have been fun to wander about the town but we were on a mission, Cashel before sunset!

Cashel Main Street

Like so many Irish towns the road into Cashel was narrow and lined with houses; we rounded a curve and there we were, in the old part of town. It didn’t take too much help from Kate (GPS lady) to find the side road (John Road) that our B & B was on.

Our car on John Street, Cashel Town B & B is the orange house

It went by two names, Cashel Town B & B and Sister Fidelma B & B (new name, because of the popular medieval mysteries based in Munster & Cashel, and yes, I’ve read almost all of them) but that’s not why we stayed there. It wasn’t our first choice but, being December, all of the other “moderately priced, homey” places were either full or closed. As it turned out it was fine, clean and a large room with a huge bathroom (freezing but to be expected in Ireland in winter). Breakfast was good, nothing to rave about but no complaints.

Cashel Town B & B Family room

Since there was still some daylight we headed out to find dinner and walked about looking at the sights on Main Street. High above the street we could see the top of the Rock of Cashel starting a round of “we are walking in the town that has been at the foot of the Rock for centuries” (yeah, those never got old for me!).

Rock of Cashel

We finally settled on dinner at the Brian Boru Bar/Restaurant. The restaurant was booked for a private party but the bar was open and we settled in next to the coal fired fireplace. The food was fine, we ordered the soon to be traditional extra side of veg (roasted seasonal vegetables), our usual drinks and pub food (pizza, sausage & mash, fish & chips, burger). We lingered for a bit and then headed back to the B & B where Amanda crashed and the 3 of us headed back to walk up to see the Rock all lit up for the night. It was spectacular!  Along the way we stumbled upon the Lady’s well, which was a holy well that people made pilgrimages to for centuries (I read the sign).

Path of the Dead, not so scary in daylight

We also found a pathway just below the Rock with a gate and a sign telling it was the way people walked to the graveyard. Steve wanted to go in, Ella told him that’s always what the guys do in horror movies and no way were we doing that!

The next morning we packed up the car and headed up to the Rock. Amanda and I walked so I could find another cup of coffee (it was cold out!) and we met Steve & Ella at the Rock. It was blustery and looked like rain and practically no one was around, just the way we liked it! We (and about a half dozen people) saw a video about the history of the Rock and the restoration work, well worth the time.  We also toured the Hall of the Vicar’s Choral, from the 1400s, before we headed out to see the rest of the Rock.

Entrance to the Rock of Cashel

The Round Tower

Unfortunately, parts of Cormac’s Chapel were closed for restoration, which was a bummer but we got to see some of it, which was fantastic. There were tombs with carved scenes of saints; stone arches with decorative heads peering down and the remains of a painted wall behind glass that must have been spectacular when new.

Rock of Cashel Cathedral

In front of the remains of the 15th century castle part of the Rock of Cashel

The ruins of the Cathedral and the tower house were so interesting that we could have stayed much longer. The views from the Rock in all directions were spectacular. But, we were on a schedule; we wanted to be in Cork City before dark (sounding familiar?) so we had to head out.

The Bake House

First though, we needed to refuel, and the Bake House on Main Street had tempted Amanda & me earlier in the day. Up narrow stairs from the retail bakery was their tea room. We had coffee & tea and four different (and equally fantastic) desserts.

View of the Rock of Cashel from the edge of town

One last drive around the base of the Rock, a quick stop to look at the Hore Abbey ruins (a Cistercian abbey from the 1200s), and we headed south to Cork City.

Hore Abbey

Another beautiful drive on regional roads with farms, small villages and unexpected ruins which took us through Galbally where we stopped at Moor Abbey. From the heritage sign we learned it was the ruins of a Franciscan Abbey, founded in the 1200s, re-founded in 1471 and suppressed in 1540, and finally, the site of a massacre of the remaining friars in 1570. So much for the bucolic Irish countryside!

Moor Abbey

By the time we got to Cork City it was dark, and drizzling, and, since it was about 5 p.m. on the last Saturday before Christmas in Ireland’s second largest city, the traffic was practically at a stand still. The route to our B & B, Garnish House, took us right through the city center which is an island between two channels of the River Lee. Everything was lit up for Christmas, the streets were packed with people, and our GPS lady did a great job of getting us through the traffic.

Cork City Centre

Garnish House was amazing, more of a guesthouse than a B & B. We were shown to the parlor by Marcel, for tea which was tea, scones, cookies, small cakes and mulled wine. After a bit of chatting, we got out the map and he showed us where several traditional pubs were we’d be most likely to find some music. Then we trudged up several flights of stairs to our family room with the teeniest bathroom possible, got settled and then headed to city centre.

Watching the BBC weather about England's winter storms

It turned into one of those nights that could have ended badly. We wandered aimlessly through city centre, headed over the River Lee to Sin E, which was too crowded so we headed back to city centre and realized we were hungry. Pubs were no longer serving food, going to a restaurant didn’t appeal to us but we stumbled upon a street fair with food booths. Next stop, An Spailpin Fanac on Main Street, across from the Beamish Brewery, built in 1779.

An Spailpin Fanac, Cork City

We went through the bar, into the back and then into a small, low ceiled room where we found an alcove with just enough room for a small table & stool for Steve, while we three squished onto the cushions.  The table at the end of the room had a sign over it “Musicians only” so we figured we were in the right place.

What a hoot that night was! In the back we could hear a group of people singing Christmas carols, near us was a group of friends in their late 20s who’d quite obviously been celebrating for some time. The musicians didn’t set up until around 10, but at some point Ella and I decided we needed to sing and went through several rounds of the Alaska Flag song.

Cozy Alcove

Steve & the girls

We had a great time there, comparing Beamish and Murphy’s, listening to trad music but finally realized we’d better head out since we had a morning flight back to Cardiff. As we stood on the street, with a cold drizzly rain, getting our bearings for the walk back, we were stopped and asked “Americans?” His response to our “yes” was “God love ya for coming to this country this time of year.”

Next post: Garnish House’s amazing breakfast, back to Cardiff and on to Llanwrtyd Wells.

It’s dark in Ireland at 6 p.m. in December and the road to Kinsale is twisty, narrow, unlighted, and, did I say, twisty and narrow? As in, no shoulders, just a white line and then hedges. Steve was having a blast driving while we were white knuckle passengering.

Kinsale Street

We drove down hill into Kinsale, onto Market Street, following our directions to the San Antonio B & B, on Friar Street. Wow! The streets leading there were so narrow it made the drive into town seem like a highway! It was a good thing we’d gotten the smallest car that would fit us, the roads didn’t look like a car could pass through! Jimmie had us park in his front yard, another tricky bit of driving to back in and turn 90 degrees in a small area.

I’d picked the San Antonio the same way I chose all of our B & B’s; hours on the internet on TripAdvisor reading reviews, following intriguing links and reading tour books. I wanted the moderately priced, homey type of place, the ones with good reviews but not so popular that we’d miss a gem. Jimmie Conron’s San Antonio didn’t have a lot of press but what I read sold me: he played traditional music (“trad”) and everyone raved about his down to earth hospitality. I emailed to ask about rates and his immediate response was “I tried to call you”. Seriously!  A call to Alaska! Wow! We ended up emailing back and forth several times because at about that same time County Cork had record breaking floods. Jimmie sent me photos from Cork City and filled me in on what was going on.

San Antonio B & B with Desmond Castle in the background

The San Antonio was great. We had the Family room (which I presume is generally for families with “real” children, not that Amanda and Ella aren’t real), which was a savings. It was pretty large, with 2 twins and a double bed, a flat screen TV (for our BBC news and Dr. Who obsessions) and a small but very clean bathroom. Irish power showers really aren’t as powerful as American showers but we were enjoying every difference we found between the US and Ireland, so even plumbing was intriguing.

We headed out for dinner, wandered around the handful of streets in the center of Kinsale, reading menus and finally settled on Jim Edwards, eating in the pub side of the restaurant. That was another “tip” we’d heard about, always eat in the pub if given a choice. Sometimes it’s a cheaper menu, sometimes not, but it’s more casual and laid back (or noisy, depending). We all got seafood, after all when you’re in a fishing town known for being the gourmet dining center of Ireland, what else should you get? It was all really good but the highlight of dinner (and it’s not nearly as funny in the re-telling) was Ella’s request for more tartar sauce. The waiter brought a full soup bowl of tartar sauce as a joke! We were rolling with laughter. I wonder if any of it was due to the pints we’d drank with dinner?

Jim Edward Restaurant & Bar: waiting for dinner

On Jimmie’s advice we walked around the harbor and uphill to the Spaniard Inn where there’d be trad music. We were 4 of the 5 people in the lounge (the smaller of the 2 bars) sitting by the fireplace in a pub built about 1650. Yep, time for another round of “can you believe we are sitting where people have come for over 400 years?”

Beamish stout is brewed in Cork City, Jimmie recommended it, we liked it, we drank it whenever we could in Ireland. Amanda tried different Irish whiskeys and Ella drank cider. (Starting to be predictable, huh?). So, there we were at our very small table on small chairs and stools by the fireplace in the low beamed bar talking about our plans. Pretty soon the guy at the bar turned and said “Americans?” “Well, yes, from Alaska.” Which started a fun round of Sarah Palin bashing (He started it! What could we do? We had to be polite!)

So, it was true, the Irish people still like Americans (as a general rule), especially Americans crazy enough to visit Ireland in the middle of winter. We talked about all kinds of things and finally found out Patrick was a secondary math and science teacher in Bandon, a town not far away. And in the small world category, I had just met someone in Eagle River, from Ireland, with nieces in school in Bandon.

On the road to Innishannon. The River Bandon is still high from the floods.

Steve’s great-grandfather was from County Cork, we aren’t sure where but we knew it was in the Bandon area. We figured we’d just drive around, see the countryside and at least get a feel for where his family had lived.  Patrick told us to find Alice Taylor in Innishannon and ask her about his family. So, he did. Apparently she’s hugely popular in Ireland, writes memoirs and knows all about the area. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any leads for us.

Innishannon, the blue shop on the right is where Steve talked to Alice Taylor

We headed to Enniskean and then down to Clonakilty where we poked around the town looking at the old mill, wandering into shops, visiting with the tourist info lady, and finally coffee, tea and pastries in Hart’s Coffee shop.

Mill in Clonakilty

Clonakilty shops

Hart Cafe, Clonakilty

Keeping to the “R” (regional) roads we headed back to Kinsale via the coastline, stumbling upon the ruins of Timoleague Abbey, on Courtmacsherry Bay. The grounds of the old building are filled with graves, some rather recent, while the remains of the tower had so many pigeons that even Hitchcock would have freaked out. There was a steady, cold wind and grey-blue winter skies. It was easy to picture Franciscan monks huddled into their brown robes and hoods going about their daily chores in the church, infirmary and kitchen.

Timoleague Abbey

The drive back to Kinsale was beautiful; fields, hedges, sheep, ocean, stark outlines of trees standing alone, old houses and occasionally, in the distance, ruins of a castle or stone tower. We came into Kinsale from the south, along the waterfront and decided to head up to  Charles Fort. Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages to December travel is shorter hours places are open and as we walked up to the gate, they were closing. So, we headed back to the San Antonio to regroup.

Kinsale from Charles Fort

Steve & I headed to the Grey Hound, a pub from the 1600s (or earlier) where Jimmie said we’d get “an honest pint”. What luck, there was a soccer game on and only a couple of people watching. Eventually the girls joined us and we headed to dinner at the Blue Haven because by then all the pubs had stopped serving dinner. Jimmie and Michael Ahern were singing there that night so we figured we’d just spend the evening. They were really good and, much to our delight, dedicated a Dylan song to his “Alaskan friends”.

Breakfast at the San Antonio

Breakfasts at the San Antonio were traditional full-Irish: eggs, toast, white & black pudding, sausage, bacon, tomato, oatmeal and pots of coffee and tea. We got into some great philosophical discussions with Jimmie about “what’s wrong with the world today” and why aren’t the “young people rising in the streets and protesting”.  Definitely a kindred spirit! We’d stay there again for sure if we make it back to Kinsale.

Next: Midleton Distillery & the drive to Cashel

Tuesday was our car day to go to Caerphilly Castle and Tintern Abbey. Steve & I took a cab to the car rental place and picked up a cute little Ford Focus. We agreed that my job was to help him remember to drive on the other side of the road and that any yelling was not to be taken personally! Yikes! It was nerve wracking for us both but it helped that we knew how to get to Ella’s place. Our first stop after we got them was at “Ella’s” Tesco, to pick up some lunch and snacks. Lots of “left, left, left!” shouts at Steve to help him remember to drive “British” and all kinds of excitement at roundabouts, too.

We had our big book of maps and Ella navigated along with “Kate” our British GPS lady on Steve’s iTouch. There were only a couple of missed turns and back tracks before we made it to Caerphilly Castle. It was rainy and cold and practically no one was there. As we walked along the path towards the gate we looked up at one of the tower to see….The TARDIS!!! Apparently the BBC had it up there for part of their promotional campaign. We (ok, not Amanda) were thrilled and took all sorts of pictures of us posing with it above our heads.

The Tardis at Caerphilly (it's teeny on top of the tower in the back)

Entrance to the castle

Laura & Ella and the Tardis

The castle was more amazing than we’d expected. Ella had been there in the fall. We’d have missed all kinds of interesting details if she hadn’t been such an excellent tour guide. Since she already blogged about it I’ll just say that my saying: this place is “soaked in awesomeness” was met with gales of laughter by the girls. But, seriously, how amazing was it to think that we were in the castle that was besieged in 1326 by Queen Isabella when she was at war with her husband Edward II? Soaked in awesomeness!!!

Caerphilly Castle

It was so hard to go fast through the ruins but since we wanted to see Tintern Abbey we had to hurry. The drive through the Wye Valley was a bit unnerving, even for experienced bad weather Alaskan drivers. The road was narrow and twisty and very foggy with a misty rain, exactly like I’d pictured Wales in winter. When it opened up in the valley at the ruins of the Abbey we were awestruck. The mist and grey skies and the ruined Abbey walls rising from the still green grass was mystical. I could see why Wordsworth and Alfred, Lord Tennyson were inspired to write poems. The ruins were pretty well signed and you could imagine the monks walking to prayers late at night or working in the kitchen or the infirmary. The outlines of the Abbot’s house were pretty well-defined, bringing about another “I’m standing where King Edward II probably stood” moment.

Tintern Abbey

Tintern was the 1^st Cistercian Abbey in Wales and the 2^nd in Britain and was founded in 1131. The River Wye is the border between Wales and England, so we could look across the valley at England. The church was built in the latter half of the 1200s and must have been spectacular. It is a Gothic style church with arches, buttresses, and vaulted ceilings.  We stood and tried to picture what it must have been like with the sun streaming through the stained glass windows. Tintern was one of the many abbeys destroyed by Henry VIII.

Tintern Abbey

We ended the day with dinner at Mimosa at Cardiff Bay. It was an upscale restaurant featuring Welsh meats and produce. It was pricey but really good and was on our “list of places to try”. Welsh beef definitely tastes different, as does Welsh lamb, both of which are delicious; we know because we tried in quite a few other places on the trip.

The next morning we returned the car and headed back to city centre to catch a train to Bristol.

Duke Street Arcade, near Cardiff Castle

We had just enough time for a fast (45 minutes) visit to Cardiff Castle and we were glad we did. The old Norman keep was really interesting, we also saw part of the wall that dates from Roman times and the restored parts of the castle that were built on the old medieval hall. It wasn’t until we got home that I really read up on the history and now I wish we’d spent more time there. Oh well, I guess Steve & I will have to return some day!

The Norman Keep at Cardiff Castle

View from the keep of the Great Hall

The rest of the day was spent traveling. We took to the train to Bristol’s train station, Temple Meads and then the bus to the airport to catch our Aer Arann flight to Cork, Ireland. It was about an hour or so, arriving around 6 where we picked up our car and headed south about 20 minutes to Kinsale.

On the train to Bristol

Bristol Temple Meads Train Station

Next post: County Cork and Cashel.

Finally, the long promised blog entry about the 4 of us in Wales, Ireland and England.

Ella & Laura in Cardiff

Amanda & Steve at the oldest record store still in business

Amanda headed over a couple of days before we did, spending a night with Nancy, Barry, Corey & Emily and getting to Cardiff on Saturday, Dec. 12. Steve & I took the red-eye Friday night, ran into Ella’s friend since kindergarten, Carrie, at the gate, had her change seats to sit with us and flew to Seattle together. We had lunch with Nancy during our layover and then flew all night to get into Bristol, UK Sunday the 13^th, in the morning.

Unfortunately, my luggage took a detour to Houston, proving the one time you forget to put your toothbrush & a change of clothes in your carryon is the one time your bag disappears. It took them until Tuesday afternoon to get it delivered to our B & B.

Steve & I took the bus from the airport into Bristol, straight to the bus station where we had a couple of hours to wait until our bus to Cardiff. We were able to get seats in the front and had great views. I’m sure we totally looked like tourists but who cares? The ride to the bus station took us past an amazing church, St. Mary Redcliffe, which was the first of many times that I said “I can’t believe it, Queen Elizabeth I (fill in name of famous person from British/Welsh/Irish history) was here, right here, in this spot, and it was today for her”. Yeah, for a history fanatic I was in heaven.

Despite regulations saying no, the bus depot guy let us stash our bags in his back room. He was the first of many really friendly people we met. So we wandered around Bristol, found the “old area” and a Christmas craft fair and a café were we had bacon sandwiches. I’d read they were typically British so there was no doubt about our first British meal!

We stumbled upon St. Stephen’s church and since the door was open, went in. Amazing! It was larger and smaller inside than I’d expected. Built on the site of an 11^th century church in the 1300s, it started another round of “can you believe this??? We are standing where people have been for over 500 years”.

St. Stephen's, Bristol

Having cut the time just a little bit close we hustled back to the bus station and while Steve got our bags I found our coach to Cardiff. This time we didn’t get fantastic seats but still were able to see well. When we drove over the Severn into Wales and saw the Welcome to Wales sign in English and Welsh we were so psyched. And the driving on the other side of the road was pretty fun, too, as was seeing the remains of a castle on the side of the road in Newport and signs in Welsh and English and, really, everything.

Our bus got us to Cardiff before Amanda & Ella showed up, with lattes! Our girls sure know what we need after a long trip.  Next we headed to City Centre; Queen Street and St. Mary’s street area to find something to eat at the Christmas market stalls.

Shopping in Cardiff

The pedestrian mall was packed with shoppers. After some wandering around looking at stores and buildings we headed to our B & B, The Avenue, on Cathedral Road, going past Cardiff Castle and over the River Taff.

It was about a mile from Cardiff Castle and a bit over 2 miles to Ella’s dorm. We had a small but nice room, bathroom down the hall, in a quintessential Cardiff townhouse from the late 1890s. Paul and Colette were friendly; Colette was really chatty, in a good way. Breakfast was continental, which was fine, since every other B & B on our trip would have full breakfasts.

We walked through Bute Park and over the river to Colum Road, saw Ella’s place and headed into downtown Cardiff to find somewhere to eat.

Bute Park

Sunday night isn’t the best night to find food in Cardiff; we ended up eating at La Tasca, a UK chain of Spanish tapas/bars. We drank several pitchers of Sangria, really liking that Ella could drink with us. It was fine, but nothing we’d want to go to again. But, what we really had wanted was a proper pub, and since none of them were open for food, we decided more drinks were needed.

The Goat Major Pub, Cardiff

The Goat Major, on High Street, was just what we were thinking of, an old style pub, dark leather seats, old building from about 1813, restored in the 90s. The was the first of almost nightly pub visits, in which Steve & I would drink local beers, usually bitters, Ella would have a cider (or two, usually Bulmer’s) and Amanda would drink Irish whiskey. And to add to the fun, a group of friends in their late 20s or so also in the pub drank too much and their arguments escalated into a full on fist fight in the street, complete with police! That was about when we decided a couple of pints each was enough and we walked the girls back to Ella’s place and then turned back for the 2 miles to our B & B.

Monday we met the girls and went to Cardiff Central Market, an enclosed, 2 level market with all kinds of stalls; ranging from meat, fish, and vegetables to stalls selling touristy stuff. It was built in 1891 but there were markets in that spot since the 1700s. The girls had a full Welsh breakfast in the café that had a bunch of local workmen eating there.

Cardiff Central Market; looking down from the 2nd floor

We wandered about and then headed back to the shops in the Queen Street area, eventually walking through St. David’s, the brand new mall. Our plan was to walk down to the Bay, so Steve & Ella & I could see the Dr. Who exhibit and all the Torchwood sites. Amanda was just along for the scenery, and amused herself scoffing at our dorkiness.

City Centre was fun though, and we were side tracked by shoe stores on what turned out to be the great boot hunt of December, in which Laura and Amanda try on boots almost everywhere and manage to not buy any.

Across from Cardiff Central Market

Finally we came to our senses and headed down to the bay, about 1.5 miles which took us through a residential area, Butetown, also known as Tiger Bay. The waterfront is totally regenerated (how appropriate for us Dr. Who fans) , with the amazing Millennium Centre, shops on Mermaid Quay, and the Roald Dahl Plass (open plaza with the waterfall sculpture behind the secret entrance to Torchwood, and yes, Steve did have his picture taken there!).

Cardiff Bay, the Pierhead Building

Amanda went to Craft in the Bay while the three of us went to the dorky, but fun, Dr. Who exhibit in the Red Dragon Centre. Then we wandered to the waterfront and saw the shrine of photos and letters dedicated to Ianto Jones, a character in Torchwood. Yep, even we have limits to our fandom of all things Dr. Who and Torchwood; this was too silly for us. So, instead, we did what any self-respecting Alaskans do in December, we had ice-cream at Cadwalader’s, a family owned Welsh ice cream chain.

That night was our cultural event, Robin Hood, a pantomime at the New Theatre, which was built in 1907. The star was John Barrowman, of Torchwood (dorkiness again) and the show was a riot.

Panto at the New Theatre

Pantos are a tradition in the UK at Christmas time. It’s hard to describe so the best way to put it is they take a traditional story, add audience participation, crude jokes, and make sure true love overcomes all. It was fantastic! Apparently there are certain “stock features” of pantomimes, including the bad guy being “behind” the good guy, at which point the whole audience yells “behind you!” Everyone knew what to do but us but we had a blast!

Before the show we had dinner at a nearby pub, The Pen and Wig, a place Ella recommended as popular with students, good food at decent prices, and a place she wanted to try. We sat by the fireplace and had drinks and dinner and then headed to the theatre.

Pen & Wig Pub

After the pub we went back to Ella’s place, stopped in at a small Tesco food store to pick up a couple of things and point all the differences between food in the UK and the USA, and then got chips at her favorite chip shop. They were cold and greasy by the time we got back to her room and still we ate them all!

Next: We rent a car and see Caerphilly Castle and Tintern Abbey.

The Royal Crescent (click to make it massive – apologies for the blurriness, I think it’s from stitching the pictures together)

There was a cold wind on the hill there so we hurried back to the bus which took us back to our starting point. We then went to the Roman Baths on foot. The Baths were kind of cool, but after seeing the baths in Caerleon and studying Roman archaeology all last semester, I was feeling a bit burned out. I stuck through the audio tour for the beginning and made my way through the museum with the rest of the crowd (it was packed in places – I can only imagine how insanely busy it must be during tourist season!), it was interesting and very well done, I just wasn’t feeling the magic that I used to when seeing ‘old’ stuff (I guess that’s the consequences of studying archaeology in Britain).

The Entrance to the Baths

Bath Abbey, in the same square as the Baths

Once out of the museum, I wandered Bath with the three Cardiff students I came with, Elysse, Marissa, and Garrett. We explored sweet shops and ate delicious cookies and fudge. Everything in Bath has to be built with Bath Stone, which is a soft buttery gold stone (when clean). It makes the whole town look really uniform and pretty. It was fun just to walk along the streets and see the different shops. Unlike what I’ve seen in a lot of the rest of Britain, Bath still seems to have a lot of independent shops which made for great exploring. Later, we made our way towards Putney Bridge (the bridge we saw on the tour). It’s one of the few bridges in Europe with shops all along it. Apparently it’s really similar to the Ponte di Rialto in Venice – I guess I’ll just have to go there and see that for myself. At the end of the bridge we happened across a pub that was showing the Wales-Scotland rugby game. We stepped in for the last few minutes of the game and saw Wales come from behind and win! The pub had mostly Wales supporters so we all celebrated the win together. Wales is in the middle of the Six Nations tournament and I keep missing out on the games so it was fun to see at least the end of this one.

Pulteney Bridge

After leaving the pub, we soon stumbled across a small market where we found another sweet shop along with a few other assorted stalls. I bought some cheese and cider as well as a bag full of sweets, all of which I’ve been enjoying for the past week. We then wandered around the town some more before deciding to get a drink in the pub (where we watched France beat Ireland in rugby) before heading back to the train station to catch the next train back to Cardiff.

We got back to Cardiff around 7:30 but it felt more like midnight. The streets were packed with drunken rugby fans in kilts and team scarfs. We wanted to stop in a chip shop before heading to our respective homes but the lines made that impossible. So we separated and I went home to my slightly less delicious pasta.

Tomorrow, I head to Avebury for an Archaeology field trip. There’s a huge neolithic monument there, so it should be pretty cool. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I’ll get some good pictures out of it.

The rest of the pictures from the day are here

Amanda and I hung around London on New Years Day, getting back to Cardiff late that night. Her flight wasn’t until the 5th so we had a few days to ourselves. I’ll get her to write those up, to get a new perspective on Cardiff.

After everyone left, I was faced with an essay to write, 4 exams to study for and 2 1/2 weeks in to accomplish everything. I was hit with a 24-hour bug followed by a nasty cold that lasted for a week after exams. Those weeks were a pretty miserable blur, in which I basically lived in my bed studying and sleeping around the clock. Not fun at all.

I got better soon after exams were over (though unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well enough to have a proper end-of-exams celebration the night of my last test) and the semester has rapidly improved from there. The only new classes I’m taking this semester is British Prehistory and Post-Roman and Medieval Britain; the other three classes are year-long. So far I’m enjoying my lectures, though I’m really starting to miss psychology. I’m glad that I’m taking a new subject if only to discover how much I enjoy studying psychology.

On the social side of things, I completely adore my flatmates. I haven’t talked about them much on this blog, but we all get along really well. We have a great mix of personalities, spend all our time with each other and haven’t had a single conflict. Our goal this semester is to get out and explore Cardiff more, a goal I completely support. The other day, a few of us went down to the bay to see Avatar on IMAX 3D (so good!), we’ve been shopping in the less High Street areas of Cardiff, and yesterday I made my way down to the farmer’s market on the River Taff. They were starting to shut down as I got there, but I bought some cupcakes (my weakness!), a sausage burger, and had the best Apple Juice I’ve ever tasted (it was basically liquid apple – so refreshing). I also want to eat out more this semester, hard on a student budget, but there’s ethnic food that just can’t be found in Anchorage so I consider it worth the splurge.

I’ll definitely be traveling a lot more this semester too. I already have the next four weekends booked: I’ll be in Bath this Saturday, Avebury the following Saturday for Archaeology, after that I’ll be in London for a few days, followed by another archaeology field trip the Saturday after that. My friend, Wog, is coming to visit in March and we’ll be taking the Eurostar into Paris(!!!) that week as well as spending a few days in London. Then I’ll have three weeks of Easter holiday, which I need to start planning. I want to just fly somewhere on the continent and travel around, probably meeting up with friends scattered around. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I’m half-way through with my year abroad now and I just have so much left to do! The past five months have just flown by and I’m sure the next five will be just as fast.

I’ll try to get a post (with pictures) of Bath next Saturday or Sunday.

Hwyl am y tro! (Goodbye for now!)

I almost didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving here. I had an essay due the next day and knew I wouldn’t be done in time to participate. Luckily, the deadline was pushed back, so I was able to get in on the fun. One of my American friends, Sparkie, was hosting a dinner at the campus Chaplaincy so I went over there after watching the parade (it was a trial to find a site that streamed it live, but I finally succeeded – it’s a requirement). I’ve never been one for Thanksgiving food, I usually pig out on deviled eggs and cheese and crackers before and pick at the Turkey during dinner, but I had some of the turkey, mash, stuffing, and croissants and completely pigged out. I also convinced quite a few of the British attendees to try deviled eggs and got them addicted, so I consider the dinner a success.

After dinner, I headed back to my flat, where my flatmates had been preparing mulled wine and mince pies. The wine was very interesting, I couldn’t really decide whether I liked it or not and I accidentally waited too long for the mince pie to cool off, so I ended up eating it cold. I’ll have to try them both again to really form a proper opinion. My Thanksgiving ended with Christmas, which made for a great way to get in the festive mood. Of course, with the amount of work we all have now that the semester is winding down, none of us have the time to really do anything very Christmas-y. We’ve saved it all for this week actually. We plan to go to a carol service tomorrow and go to the Carvery for a roast dinner on Thursday, before everyone takes off for Christmas holiday. We still haven’t gone ice skating, but I’m optimistic about this week. The rain is due to let off sometime soon (although my hopes aren’t high), which has been the biggest thing keeping us from skating so far.

Once Christmas holiday starts up, I’ll be without my computer for three weeks traveling with the family followed by two weeks of exams, so I don’t foresee another blog post until at least February. Until then, Happy Holidays!

Off the bus, we headed to Mestizo, the restaurant that the IFSA-Butler people had reserved for us, for some delicious Mexican food. While there, I also caught up with a few of the people I had met at orientation. Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we made the trek to the Clink hostel, our home for the next few nights. It was massive! They had prebooked all of our rooms together, so there was only IFSA-Butler kids in our six person room, which was really nice because we didn’t have to worry about theft or anything. When we dropped off our bags and claimed our beds, a few of us headed out for a nighttime stroll along the Thames.

We took the Tube to Westminster, exiting to the streets with the Houses of Parliament looming over us and the London Eye twinkling across the river.

After a few minutes of picture taking and a slight detour to Westminster Cathedral, we headed along the river path. One of the guys with us wanted to see the HMS Belfast and the other military ships in that section, but we ended up deciding to go back before we got far enough. The next day, we got up early, intent on buying student tickets to Wicked at 10 am. At 8 am, with two hours to kill, we set off for Camden Market, with a stop at King’s Cross on the way:

Actually, platforms 9 and 10 were being worked on, so it was really the entrance to platform 8 1/4.

Knowing our general direction, we (I) decided to eschew major roads and just try to aim ourselves towards Camden. It was quite successful and we ended up cutting through a quiet residential part of London.

The was a bunch of gym equipment right next to a playground. Kids play on the left, grownups work out on the right.

Once in Camden, it quickly became clear who of our group was interested in shopping and who would rather go sightseeing so we split up with Jayson, Sparkie, and I staying in Camden. Our game plan was simple, we’d cover one side of the street heading up and come back down on the other, ending up at the Tube station. After ducking into the first stalls, it became clear how wrong we were. Camden Market is massive! We ended up finding some really neat stuff, and I reluctantly decided not to buy a ton of clothes. I did get a new wallet (which I had been looking for for the past few months) and a small evening purse as well as a cute toothbrush holder in the shape of a frog and a headband. I also had the most delicious cupcake I had ever eaten in my life! (I swear, sometimes I feel like this blog has become some sort of an eater’s guide to Britain.) It was rosehip flavored with a raspberry frosting – so good! I’ll be on the lookout for that booth the next time I go.

It was past noon by the time we got to the Tube station, we had to skip entire sections of the market but we wanted to get Wicked tickets. We took the Tube to Victoria station and walked across the street where we met up with Jonathan (from the sightseeing group). £25 tickets in hand, we had a quick bite to eat at the pasty shop in the station (totally hit the spot, I’ve discovered a love for pasties since coming here) before taking our seats.

Incidentally, this was the same theater that I saw “Saturday Night Fever” when I was 15. This was a much better experience.

The performance was fantastic! I had read the book, memorized the soundtrack, and watched crappy bootleg videos on youtube, but I was still blown away. I’ve had half the songs stuck in my head for the past two weeks, but it was totally worth it. Wicked has been on my must-see list of musicals for so long but it’s always sold out on Broadway whenever I’ve been to New York. I’m still so happy that I was finally able to see it.

After the show, we hurried back to the hostel where we changed for the party. I didn’t have a costume (couldn’t come up with any good ideas/too cheap to buy anything anyway), but everyone else got into theirs and we rushed back to King’s Cross tube station. We ended up taking the Underground to London Bridge, instead of Tower because we were afraid of station closures. Luckily, I knew the area from my first time in London so I was able to get us back to the river. As we scampered along the river, fireworks started going off from the opposite side of Tower Bridge which immediately set the mood for the night. We got to the top of the bridge a bit late, missing appetizers but just in time for a delicious dinner. I have no idea what I ate because it was so dark, but it was definitely tasty. After dinner, we danced, drank, and played some karaoke before being kicked out at 10. Not wanting the night to end so early, a few of us stopped at a bar on the way to the hostel. The DJ there was great, dancing along to his music with a giant skull for a head. I wish I had taken some pictures of him. A guitarist and bassist took over after the DJ, playing some great covers. We danced a bit, and headed back for an early night in.

The location of the party!

The next day, we had brunch and went to the British Library followed by the British Museum. The library was a last minute decision because the museum wasn’t open yet. It turned out to be really cool. They had a lot of really interesting stuff there, like the oldest copy of Beowulf, some early Jane Austen writings, a Gutenberg bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, two original copies of the Magna Carta… the list goes on, I’m sure I’ve forgotten some big ones.

The British Library

After the library, we walked to the British Museum, which was completely packed with people because they were having a Dia de los Muertos celebration. The exhibits weren’t too crowded, though. After taking in the entire second floor and the best parts of the first (the Rosetta stone and the Elgin Marbles) we were all completely wiped out. We headed back to Victoria, had a meal at a pub near the station (expensive but tasty burger), and got on the bus home.

Sorry about the length… click here to see some more pictures.