From place, to place.....to place.

Mom and dad went on a three-day trip, which is to date the longest this group has been away from the center. They made many stops and mom touched a bit on each one-

Wales

We drove through Newport and the hotel we stayed in. St. Fagin's is kind of a Williamsberg kind of place. There are a bunch of Welsh cottages, houses, shops that have been gathered an put into a kind of "village" form. It turned into a beautiful day and quite warm. There were people in period costume working in the homes and fields. There was smoke coming out of the chimneys on the thatched roofs and it was very picturesque. They had also built this Celtic huts that were supposed to be similar to what the Celts lived in 1000 years ago. Little kids from a school class were there building mud fences and houses. The students had a great time because it was warm and they got to get out and move around.

After that we went to Castle Coch just outside of Cardiff. It was way up on a mountain and looks like a fairy tale castle. The same guy that financed the refurbished Cardiff Castle and the same architect were responsible for building Castle Coch on top of existing ruins. The decor and style of the interior was very much like Cardiff Castle. It was fun and the girls loved it.

The next morning we headed north and traveled the entire length of Wales. It was cloudy, but still beautiful to see the landscape. There were mountains, sheep, coal mines, and it started to snow. We went around Snowdonia and stopped in a little town called Porthmadog for lunch. Fortunately we made it to Beaumaris a couple of hours before dark. We went to Beaumaris Castle which was built by Edward I. It was never finished but is considered one of the best preserved and it was more secure that other castles because there were various walls that had to be penetrated by the enemy. It may become one of my favorite castles. The primitive little chapel is still intact and Dad had the girls that were there when we were sing a few hymns to check the accoustics. Pretty soon everybody (the students) all over the castle grounds started drifting in because they could here us. The singing went on for about a half hour and we had to drag them out of there.

The hotel was a bit worn down, but in England that counts as charming. They gave us a great deal and that's why we were able to afford it. It was very Victorian. Dad and I stayed in the Regent Room. I guess they give the director the best accommodations. We had a view of the water and it was really fun. The girls were in heaven. In places like that all the rooms are different and so they were running around looking at each others rooms. It was first bathtub they'd seen since they'd left home.

The next day we traveled to Chester, one of the oldest cities in England. It was adorable. What they call the Rows are shops with two stories. Kind of the very first mall. On the upper level you don't have even have to go outside. We walked through those for awhile, went to the Cathedral, and went to look at the Roman amphitheatre ruins. From there we went to Shrewsbury to see the Abbey there. It is the locale of the Cadfael mysteries, and is associated with Wilfred Owen, the WWI poet. After that we still had time to go to Coventry and see the cathedral there.

I took the picture of the little girl because she was there with her dad and she said, "Daddy- let me show you my favorite thing here. It's the dancing stage." The dad said, "honey that's not a dancing stage." It was kind of poignant considering the she was dancing among the ruins...