Chapter 9 our last country

Today was our last day in Wales. I can honestly say that I will miss Wales. The country is truly a beautiful place rich in history and culture. Maybe it was just the amazing tour guide we had, or maybe it is just a magical place. I will definitely want to return to the area and explore it some more.

We know we have many pictures of castles on our blog. I don’t think you can honestly appreciate the castles without being there. They are magical places where you can almost see the guards marching the parameter and the ladies of the court sitting in their chambers. These castles are so massive that just looking at them from a distance takes your breath away. We saw a few more on our train ride to London and wished we could explore those as well.

Today, we really didn’t explore the castles. We learned more about the real people of Wales. We started the day off with a tour of a slate mine. The slate from Wales was and still is considered the best in the world. This particular mine was where they slate came for the dais and the bench and chair used by the Queen Elizabeth when she crowned Charles the Prince of Wales. It was the last job the workers of the mine did. After that, the mine just closed down. The mine just didn’t have any more jobs to do and technology seemed to make the slate less needed. The workers just left everything and closed the mine down. Today it is a museum used to educate others about the mines. The mountain has a huge chunk out of it, the quarry has filled with water, and the buildings are now silent where their used to be the sound of workers performing all the tasks needed to run the mine. This mine was totally self sufficient. They made everything needed, from the buildings out of slate to the windows, the wheels for the railroad cars, and the tools to work on everything. It was all run by a huge water wheel and pulley system. There were mills to cut the trees to make the railroad ties and anything else made out of wood, there were blacksmiths to create any metal needed, there was even a hospital that had the capability to take X rays. This was one of the first in all of Europe to have this capability and it was all for the miners of the slate.

After the slate museum we drove through the Snowdonian Mountains on another path. On the way we stopped and had coffee at a little house known as the Ugly House. It was reputed to be made and had smoke coming out of the chimney in 24 hours. It was said that if you could do this task, the land would be yours, much like our homesteaders in America.

We then went and saw the Swallow waterfalls. They were beautiful, even though they weren’t at their fullest, due to the lack of rain recently.

After that we went to a working wool mill. We learned how they take the wool and turn it into beautiful creations. This particular mill still uses the Celtic patterns and you can only get this pattern from this mill. It was cool to see how the looms worked, and how the spindles created on ply and more. The entire mill also used water to operate, but used hydropower, not a water wheel. The colors used have changed throughout the times and they had a little garden to show what plants made the colors of yesteryear.

From there, we had to catch our train to London. Our guide took us to the train station and made sure we knew what terminal to use. My luggage was our biggest problem. Seems my closet sized suitcase is not easy to fit in the luggage carts! We had to switch trains on the way and that train had some sort of technical difficulties. It even stopped in the middle of nowhere for awhile. It managed to get us here after another stop at another station to repair whatever the problem was. We where about a half hour late getting here to London, but for us it was ok.

When we got here we had to figure out how to get to our hotel. I actually flagged sown my first taxi! Being from Montana, we really don’t have taxis just driving around. You have to call them, in Belgrade. I stuck up my arm and like magic, a taxi stops. He gave us a ride to our hotel and we checked in. I thing the universe wanted to punish me some more, so our room was on the top floor and the lift was broken, so I had to haul my suitcase up all the stairs. Well, I got it half way and Sam got it the other half.

After that we walked around a little bit, but it was dark, so we found a place to eat and came back here. This is Sam’s favorite place, so I will let him have the fun here. Good night all!