The Land of Long Names
The tower was dark and cold. Hundreds of years ago, it was called the Queen's Tower by the people of the land. No royalty would want to set a foot on that stone floor any more. Three brave adventurers, however, dared to venture forth into the darkness.
"I don't think we can go any further. It is dark ahead--the way may be blocked," said the man in the lead. The tower's stone stairs spiraled away into shadow. With one hand on the stone wall for balance, he made one slow ascending step after another, feeling his way up into the darkness.
"Wait, there's light up ahead," he exclaimed with relief. His steps became more sure as his path brightened. Finally, he was off the stairs, and stood at the top of the tower, the entire countryside visible.
And that's what Fred, Tiffany, and I did at the Welsh Castle Caernarfon. We left the group to do a little exploring, and found we could go up the Queen's Tower. And up. Beyond the top of the main tower was a smaller turret that we climbed as well.
We were high--how high I don't know. The book on the castle we bought said that we were probably about 100 feet high from the courtyard of the castle. But the castle itself is raised, perhaps another twenty feet or so, from street level. It felt as if we could see for miles. Tiffany and could have spent many hours exploring the castle--very little of it seemed restricted in any way.
But how did we get to such a fanciful place? Sadly, it started early in the morning--about five. With the strange Irish antics of the sun, there was plenty of sunlight. It made waking up a little more bearable, as did the cup of strong coffee. But after two days of a hearty (fattening and cholesterol-laden) Irish breakfast, I was disappointed to have only cold cereal and Irish soda bread.
Kevin loaded the coach with our luggage as he took us for one last ride. We were going to the Dublic port, and from there we would have a three hour journey by ferry to Wales. As we approached the docks, Tiffany and I noticed what looked like cruise ships and we wondered where they toured. Then we discovered that those were our ferries--complete with two levels of car decks big enough for coaches and lorries.
I didn't feel like I was on the open water at all. There was very little perceptible movement of the ship, and I spent most of the time sprawled out in a soft and comfortable lounge chair re-reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (I have to get caught up before the new back comes out, of course).
We docked, waited for our luggage, and after much waiting, finally got it, and then we met our new driver for the day, Stuart. Our coach was much larger, and had some more leg room, which was nice.
Our first visit once we got to Wales was Llanfairpwllgwyngyll which has the distinction of having the longest place name in the world. The full name of the town is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. And don't ask me to pronounce it past the first two syllables. (As a Welshman has said, it's impossible to even write out Welsh phonetically.) The old train station there serves as the central tourist stop... probably because of all the shopping available inside. I was surprised by the amount of people speaking Welsh. I wasn't expecting it, but apparently there is an attempt to revive the language, much like Gaelic in Ireland. There were even bilingual signs.
We had fish and chips for lunch. I knew we had to have some once we were in Britain, especially since Tiffany has never had fish and chips before. I was delicious, a giant piece of cod with some crispy chips (which means fries, of course. Chips, on the other hand, are known as crisps) with nothing but salt and malt vinegar. We followed it with some black currant ice cream (black currant has become Tiffany's new favorite jam) but it wasn't as good as the honey comb ice cream.
After Llanfairpwllgwyngyll we went to Caernarfon Castle. It's definitely a site Tiffany and I would love to return to. It's really nothing more than an old castle, but the fact that you can explore anywhere on your own really made it enjoyable. And the book we bought about the castle I wished we had while exploring, because it tells you about the different rooms and towers.
After Caernarfon Castle, we made a brief stop at Betws-Y-Coed, a little Welsh village. Once again, the tricky Welsh spelling gets in the way of writing things out phonetically. We found some black currant jam that we bought there, so hopefully we won't need to snitch any more little packets at breakfast. We also found an ATM to get some more British pounds. We were thrown off by the cost of things in Britain. We knew that the American dollar is about half of a British pound, but we also assumed that costs would still be comparable. Unfortunately, that's not the case. If, say, a typical lunch costs $7 in America, it's going to cost £7 in Britain, which is roughly $14.
That night we stayed at the Hand Hotel. Supposedly, all the rooms were on one floor, but because the hotel is several different adjoining buildings, some of the floors were about half a storey apart. There was a lovely garden just across the street from the hotel, but it was closed for some renovation.
There were even ruins not far from the hotel that we saw out the window of the hotel dining room. If there had been more time, I would have loved to find a way to go out there and get a closer view.
Although it wasn't the same as walking through the dark towers of an old castle, we did walk around the village after dinner at least. Everything was closed except for the pubs, but there was plenty of window shopping that was done at the various antique shops. Thee was one humorous sign we saw, and had to get a picture of.
"I don't think we can go any further. It is dark ahead--the way may be blocked," said the man in the lead. The tower's stone stairs spiraled away into shadow. With one hand on the stone wall for balance, he made one slow ascending step after another, feeling his way up into the darkness.
"Wait, there's light up ahead," he exclaimed with relief. His steps became more sure as his path brightened. Finally, he was off the stairs, and stood at the top of the tower, the entire countryside visible.
And that's what Fred, Tiffany, and I did at the Welsh Castle Caernarfon. We left the group to do a little exploring, and found we could go up the Queen's Tower. And up. Beyond the top of the main tower was a smaller turret that we climbed as well.
We were high--how high I don't know. The book on the castle we bought said that we were probably about 100 feet high from the courtyard of the castle. But the castle itself is raised, perhaps another twenty feet or so, from street level. It felt as if we could see for miles. Tiffany and could have spent many hours exploring the castle--very little of it seemed restricted in any way.
But how did we get to such a fanciful place? Sadly, it started early in the morning--about five. With the strange Irish antics of the sun, there was plenty of sunlight. It made waking up a little more bearable, as did the cup of strong coffee. But after two days of a hearty (fattening and cholesterol-laden) Irish breakfast, I was disappointed to have only cold cereal and Irish soda bread.
Kevin loaded the coach with our luggage as he took us for one last ride. We were going to the Dublic port, and from there we would have a three hour journey by ferry to Wales. As we approached the docks, Tiffany and I noticed what looked like cruise ships and we wondered where they toured. Then we discovered that those were our ferries--complete with two levels of car decks big enough for coaches and lorries.
I didn't feel like I was on the open water at all. There was very little perceptible movement of the ship, and I spent most of the time sprawled out in a soft and comfortable lounge chair re-reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (I have to get caught up before the new back comes out, of course).
We docked, waited for our luggage, and after much waiting, finally got it, and then we met our new driver for the day, Stuart. Our coach was much larger, and had some more leg room, which was nice.
Our first visit once we got to Wales was Llanfairpwllgwyngyll which has the distinction of having the longest place name in the world. The full name of the town is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. And don't ask me to pronounce it past the first two syllables. (As a Welshman has said, it's impossible to even write out Welsh phonetically.) The old train station there serves as the central tourist stop... probably because of all the shopping available inside. I was surprised by the amount of people speaking Welsh. I wasn't expecting it, but apparently there is an attempt to revive the language, much like Gaelic in Ireland. There were even bilingual signs.
We had fish and chips for lunch. I knew we had to have some once we were in Britain, especially since Tiffany has never had fish and chips before. I was delicious, a giant piece of cod with some crispy chips (which means fries, of course. Chips, on the other hand, are known as crisps) with nothing but salt and malt vinegar. We followed it with some black currant ice cream (black currant has become Tiffany's new favorite jam) but it wasn't as good as the honey comb ice cream.
After Llanfairpwllgwyngyll we went to Caernarfon Castle. It's definitely a site Tiffany and I would love to return to. It's really nothing more than an old castle, but the fact that you can explore anywhere on your own really made it enjoyable. And the book we bought about the castle I wished we had while exploring, because it tells you about the different rooms and towers.
After Caernarfon Castle, we made a brief stop at Betws-Y-Coed, a little Welsh village. Once again, the tricky Welsh spelling gets in the way of writing things out phonetically. We found some black currant jam that we bought there, so hopefully we won't need to snitch any more little packets at breakfast. We also found an ATM to get some more British pounds. We were thrown off by the cost of things in Britain. We knew that the American dollar is about half of a British pound, but we also assumed that costs would still be comparable. Unfortunately, that's not the case. If, say, a typical lunch costs $7 in America, it's going to cost £7 in Britain, which is roughly $14.
That night we stayed at the Hand Hotel. Supposedly, all the rooms were on one floor, but because the hotel is several different adjoining buildings, some of the floors were about half a storey apart. There was a lovely garden just across the street from the hotel, but it was closed for some renovation.
There were even ruins not far from the hotel that we saw out the window of the hotel dining room. If there had been more time, I would have loved to find a way to go out there and get a closer view.
Although it wasn't the same as walking through the dark towers of an old castle, we did walk around the village after dinner at least. Everything was closed except for the pubs, but there was plenty of window shopping that was done at the various antique shops. Thee was one humorous sign we saw, and had to get a picture of.
Labels: 2007 Vacation
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