Wales

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We're back from Wales now. When we got on the bus we had to do one of those "introduce yourselves" things. I said we've been in London for nearly a week and now it's time for a holiday. Well, that's the way it feels. Rush, rush, rush. Everything here seems to be busy and hot. It's 9pm as I write this and apparantly the temperature is still in the high 20's. Anyway, about the tour: we left London on Friday and drove for about half a day and spent the other half looking at various castles and towns. That night we stayed in a hostel which shall hence forth be known as "the worst I have ever stayed in". Still, it wasn't all bad. There was a quiz that night. The quizmaster was wearing an "interesting" shirt. The back was leopard skin print, the front was porn. He picked it up somewhere in Asia... To say the questions he asked were obscure, wouldn't be a strong enough use of the word. Example: how many brains does a leech have? What is a manometer? Anywho, day two. We saw another couple of castles and heard some stories about the Welsh. Interesting point: none of the welsh stories or legends have a happy ending. They all have the same pattern though, it goes something like this: Good king Llewellyn (there were a lot of them - and they were all Llewellyn) did something, then he did something really, really stupid, it ends badly. We spent the night in Caernarfon. It has a huge and very impressive castle built by Edward the first (longshanks from Braveheart). It is also where the Prince of Wales is crowned. Day three we went to the place with the long name (Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch) and had a wee laugh trying to pronounce it. Then we went home, stopping by Stratford upon Avon on the way. The birthplace and final resting place of Shakespeare, it is supposedly the 2nd largest tourist drawcard in the UK after London, although honestly once you've seen the birthplace, church where he's buried and whichever museum you wish to visit - there is nothing else.

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