Thursday, April 24, 2014

Chapter 7 – My Favorite Day of the Year

Allow me to explain the title for a moment. When I was a small child, I wanted to have a day that was just mine. Maybe it was because I had a lot of siblings, maybe it was because I hated presents (giving and receiving them), or maybe it was because I was just a little quirky, but I decided that I was going to have 1 day every year, one day that I could have to get away from everyone, shut off the phone and the internet, skip school and/or work, and cross something off of my bucket list. I chose, for some reason or another, April 23rd as that day. Now as an adult, I understand you can’t always shut the phone off, skip work, and ignore the rest of the world, but I can still cross off a thing from my bucket list. This trip is crossing off a BIG thing from my list. This may be the best favorite day I’ve ever had!

It started off with a home cooked breakfast from our hostess, Gill (pronounce Jill), who is the owner of this B&B. She made sausage, bacon, eggs (scrambled), mushrooms, oven roasted tomatoes, toast, fresh fruit and Greek yogurt, and fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee. It was all very good. After breakfast we got ready for Irene to come pick us up, and then went outside and walked along the beach (right across the street). Irene arrived and we headed off, towards the town of Walled town of Conwy. This town has a 12th century castle and wall that encompasses the entire town. Once again, we toured throughout the castle ruins and then walked along the wall, with a bird’s eye view of the town below. The view of the town with the Welsh countryside in the background is something everyone needs to see!

Also in the town we toured Plas Mawr, which is the best example of an Elizabethan Town House that was built in the 18th century. We went to the smallest house in Britain, which was located on the historic quay. We got lunch from this little meat market that made homemade meat pies (I had chicken and mushroom) and ate down on the pier. We left Conwy en route to Llandudno, another seaside town. Again don’t try and pronounce the names, it’ll drive you mad! It was in Llandudno that a gentleman (I can’t remember his name) met a young girl named Alice Little. He was a friend of the family and upon meeting her, he began to write stories of Alice and her adventures in Wonderland. I saw the hotel where the two of them met and that story we all know so well all began; which seems so surreal to think about. From here we went up to the summit of the Great Orme and had 360 degree views of the islands and surrounding area.  I know I keep saying it, but Wales truly has some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever seen!

After some time up here, we drove back to Beaumaris and toured the church that contains the sarcophagus of the wife of Prince… Llewdyn??? Ugh I’ve heard so many names, dates, places and everything is usually in a different language; they are all starting to get blurry in my brain. Anyway he was the last Prince of Wales that was a true Welsh, I believe, and her sarcophagus was found and used by farmers for many years as a drinking fountain for their sheep; her body was never found.


We were then dropped back off at the B&B and I… took a nap! That’s right, I’ve been sleeping so little, and seeing so much that I was too sleep deprived to even focus. So I slept for about 30 minutes, and then we went to dinner. We went to a nice little restaurant and I had fish and chips and a local Welsh beer. Afterwards we walked along the moat of the castle (Beaumaris Castle) and then back to the B&B. We talked with Gill and her husband Laurie for a while and then came upstairs. I watched the sunset over the mountains of Snowdonia and then wrote this. It was a great day, and tomorrow is going to be just as amazing. Irene has a lot planned for us, including a railway through the foothills of Snowdonia, the village of Beddgelert, the Llyn Peninsula and seaside town of Criccieth, and the Italianate village of Portmeirion (the location of the cult TV series The Prisoner, if I like the view as much as I have been I may have to watch the show). Until then…

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