God Save the Queen!
Since June 1st is a Bank Holiday in Ireland (translation: random day off), Nick and I decided to take a jaunt over to Wales for the three-day weekend. We took the ferry from Dublin, which crosses the Irish Sea and takes port in Holyhead, Anglesey in North Wales. The weather was spectacular, to say the least. For the first time since we've been here, Nick and I traipsed outside sans jackets... a monumental occurrence. Dr. Jones gave us some great tips on places to visit and we ended up touring Caernarfon Castle, soaked in some much-needed sun on the beaches of the Menai Strait, watched the FA Cup final of Chelsea vs. Everton "football" match in a pub, and partook in the general aimless wanderings that tourists so favor.
The Welsh are wonderful people with great hospitality: when checking in to our hotel, the manager told us that our reservation was cancelled due to random technological error and that she had no other rooms available. She said she felt responsible for us and personally drove us to another hotel where she found us a room. The hotel was small and would only accept cash (quite common) but was very cute and included breakfast. Oh, breakfast... that was interesting. When entering the dining room in the morning, we were asked if we wanted a full breakfast. We answered in the positive, and though confused by the lack of choices, who were we to complain? Free breakfast, baby! When the waitress served us our meals, Nick and I immediately and uncontrollably leaned back in our chairs--an unavoidable reaction to the revulsion before us. We had plates of runny baked beans (random British/Irish breakfast favorite) some sort of stewed tomato, "sausage" (grease with some meat mixed in) and Black Pudding. If you don't know what Black Pudding is, I won't go into great detail; let's just say that blood is the main ingredient. That's right. Nick, the gustatory warrior, dives in to try it at the very least. I whisper to him to eat something off my plate so the staff won't think I hate their food (even though we both do). While shifting as imperceptibly as possible in my chair trying to avoid the wafting aroma of cooked blood, I notice the man next to me eating a lovely bowl of oatmeal. Oatmeal! Nobody told us they had oatmeal!! Oh well. We ended drinking a lot of orange juice, hoping it would fill us up for at least a little while. Horrid cuisine aside, Wales and its people are both wonderful, and we give both the highest praise.
Our high-speed ferry, the Jonathan Swift.
What are 58-letter-long words and excessive use of the letter "L"? Answer: things the Welsh like.
Caernarfon Castle. Gorgeous!
A view from one of the castle's towers.
Another view from a castle tower. Notice--no clouds!
Apparently car diving is allowed.
