A Wale of an Adventure

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This week will just be pictures. Gretchen and I just got back from a couple of days in Wales, and I just don't have much time to write a blog entry. I have a final exam tomorrow for one of my classes, and we leave at some ridiculously early time in the morning on Friday for our trip to Austria and Italy. But I think there are something like 50+ pictures that I've decided to insert into this entry, so between the pictures and captions, there will be plenty.

Oh, and a special thanks to my brother, Mark, for suggesting that I remove the time/date stamps from the photos. As he says, it should prevent some serious photo editing later on if we want to display some of them, which we probably will.

In addition to photos, there is also a map that you can click on to see exactly where we went. I usually post maps with our blog entries following trips, but I don't know if you have noticed that because they are kind of tucked away in the top left corner.

I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures and stories to post over the next two weeks as we travel through Austria and Italy. We'll be stopping in Salzburg, riding a train through the Alps, going down to Milan, Italy, and then to Venice, Florence, the Cinque Terre, and Rome. If you have any suggestions of what you think we should see or do there, please post comments.

Cheers, Seth

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Photos

This really isn't a picture of Gretchen...
I was trying to get a picture of the guy in the background--Gretchen in the foreground is merely subterfuge. This guy walked up to the train platform wearing a red velvet coat--it was like a sports coat, but just a little longer. It was like a Santa Claus coat, minus the white fur and thick black belt. Maybe you had to be there...but it was a pretty interesting jacket. And without even realizing it, I found myself on the train subconsciously humming Alannah Myles' song Black Velvet. "Black [red] velvet and that little boy's smile; Black [red] velvet with that slow southern stlye; A new religion that'll bring you to your knees...Black [red] velvet if you please..."

The London Wall
This is another segment of the original London Wall, originally built by the Romans approximately 1,800 years ago. This section is in the financial district, near the Museum of London.

Chain Mail
This is the old chain mail that knights used to wear. It is made of thousands of interlocking little metal loops. Gretchen says that if they used sterling silver instead, and she could insert a few Swarovski crystals here and there and it would be beautiful.

Interesting Head Gear
You'll have to look at the next photo to see what this thing was used for. Let's just say that thankfully women have come a long way down this road toward equality...

Wow!
I won't comment on this.

On the subject of women...
As you probably already knew, apparently designer dresses were invented before makeup was. These were on display at the Museum of London. Honestly, the museum was a bit of a disappointment. With the rich history that London has, there was a lot of potential with this museum. However, it is in disrepair (although it doesn't look very old), and most of the exhibits just aren't very interesting. There are only so many broken vase artifacts from AD 100 or flint tools from 2,800 BC that you can look at before it gets boring.

One of the more interesting parts...
One of the more entertaining parts of the Museum of London was this little Indian boy who was walking around with his dad and older brother. The kid was about 5 years old. He walked up to this display while I was looking at it and asked, "Are these from Captain Jack Sparrow?"

Size what?!?
Gretchen's dad and I went to the Museum of London while she and her mom went shopping. Both Gretchen's dad and I walked right past this exhibit without really looking at it, but while I was looking at the old London taxi across from this dress, I overheard a middle-aged lady look at it and exclaim in disgust, "Oh my! Look at how disgustingly small that woman's waist was! That's just not normal!"

I was *relieved* to see this...
Of course, no good historical museum could be complete without an authentic Victorian urinal on display. Why this had an exhibit, I'm not sure, but it really was on display at the Museum of London. I didn't take the picture high enough, but there is a little clear glass bowl just at the top that apparently would have had goldfish swimming in it back in the day. Weird.

Old London Phone
I guess the Motorola RAZR has come quite a long way since that day...

Here, Joni...
Here, Joni, this one's for you! If you want me to go and recruit for you for your new theatre, just let me know. By the way, I'm hearing lots of good things about how your theatre project is coming along, so congrats and keep it up! I look forward to seeing a play there when we get back.

A Little Park
This little park is down near the London Wall district. If the picture were to extend a little farther to the right, that's where the Guildhall Drama School is. I took this picture from a little footbridge; on the other side of the bridge there is a little waterfall and places to sit down and relax.

London's New Campaign
I fear that this blog will be remembered as the one with both a urinal and a toilet in it. Oh well... I suppose that if I ever run for public office, certain environmental groups will dig up this picture and caption and taunt me with it, but I have to say that sometimes I think conservation efforts can go just a little too far! Aren't there better ways to save water? Like maybe turning off the faucet while brushing one's teeth--or maybe even not brushing one's teeth? At any rate, we passed this poster at one of the Tube Stations on our way to the Andrea Bocelli concert.

Vivo Per Lei...
Back in May, for our fourth anniversary, Gretchen and I bought each other tickets to the Andrea Bocelli concert here in London. Finally the day came. When we got to Wembley Arena for the concert, we were surprised to find that our seats were right in the middle of the first row...if you count from the back. Can you believe it?!? We were in the dead last row of the arena--the farthest people from the stage! At any rate, we were a bit disappointed by the concert. We expected him to sing songs from his hit CDs, but instead, he sang mostly Italian opera. Nothing against Italian opera, but that just isn't our thing...I mean, being from Nashville and Austin like we are, we're doing well to branch out beyond country music.

Keep Getting Worse...
So now we've gone from a Victorian urinal, to a "Don't Flush" ad, and now to this! This blog is going downhill fast. I'm not sure what exactly this sign is, but we saw it on the sidewalk and had to take a picture. I think it means that you have to watch out for dogs that poop campfires on this sidewalk. Does anybody else know what this might mean?

The Welsh Moor
I had heard about the moor and had read about it in books like Jane Eyre (wow, I'm so sorry that I remember that book!), but I'd never actually seen a moor. This is the moor, in west England, east Wales--somewhere in there. We saw it out our train window.

Holding Up a Castle
This is me standing out behind some castle ruins in Abergavenny, Wales. We were supposed to take a train to Abergavenny, and then get on a bus to Brecon, Wales, but we missed our bus. So we ended up spending an extra two hours in this little town. It was a quaint little place.

Abergavenny, Wales
I snapped this photo of Gretchen from a little walking trail that goes behind the castle. It's a pretty little trail with a great view of the mountains.

Abergavenny
Gretchen is standing in front of the castle ruins in Abergavenny. This place looks like a prime candidate for one of those home-makeover shows on HGTV.

Gretchen in Abergavenny again...
This is another picture taken from the castle grounds, but facing the other direction. Judging by her shadow, this picture is facing northeast-ish. That building in the background that looks like a church is actually the City Hall. It was amazing how green the hills were in this area.

More Ruins...
Just another photo of the castle ruins in Abergavenny, Wales.

Comments

[DMyer]

Is that BYU chainmail?
It looks like there is a BYU "Y" in the chest of the chainmail. Maybe it's really a shroud of the Y on the mountain.

[Killingbecks in London]

I agree
Dave, I thought the same thing when I saw the picture. Maybe I've stumbled on to some Da Vinci Code type thing. Let's write a book and make millions...you in?