Wales Weekend, part deux

Waking up in the UK on vacation often means a "traditional" breakfast--English, Welsh, or Scottish depending on which country you happen to be in that day. Saturday morning in Wales, we didn't get a very early start on our sightseeing because we wallowed in the traditional breakfast.

We walked up the hill from the Osborne House to their parent hotel, the Empire, and I learned that American bacon is nothing like the bacon in the UK. What we call bacon, they'd probably call dried out scraps of fried pig fat. What they call bacon, we'd call ham--with lots of tasty fat around the edges. I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in that kind of bacon while we were travelling. The traditional breakfast includes bacon, eggs, hash browns, a grilled tomato and mushrooms, dried cereal, porridge (oatmeal, I think), fruit, croissants , muffins, or other breads, coffee, tea, or hot chocolate ... and don't forget the yoghurt. Always the yoghurt. EDIT: I forgot--baked beans, too.

For this feast, hotels often charge upwards of about 25 American dollars--sometimes more. Per person. Probably more like 15 in a more economical spot. But suffice it to say, it was not necessary to eat lunch on any day we ate the traditional breakfast, or for that matter, the continental breakfast--everything but the hot, cooked items.

We finally mustered up the energy to head out to Caernarfon Castle after we could get the seatbelts around our bellies again. And did I already mention what a great job Todd did driving on the left side of the road? Although, may I just say thank goodness for Gwyneth, our very cultured SatNav lady, who gave us this advice on many occasions--"If possible, make a U-turn." A nice way of saying, "Wrong way, idiot!"

The best and worst things about the roads in the UK are the roundabouts. They're great for keeping the traffic flowing--we rarely sat in backups or had to wait for a stoplight, because there just aren't many in the areas where we were. The worst thing is trying to count how many exits you've passed when you're driving in a crazy circle and Gwyneth says, "At the roundabout, go straight on, take the second exit," or "At the roundabout, turn right, take the third exit." I'm pretty sure we got it down really well the Thursday before we left.

It was pretty thrilling to realize as we headed southwest from Llandudno that we were only about 100 miles as the crow flies from Ireland. Also pretty frustrating because we'd cut a day trip on the ferry from itinerary when we realized how many places we wanted to go and how little time we really had. Ireland will have to wait for a much longer trip in the future.

Caernarfon Castle (which seems to be pronounced car-nav-run by the locals) was the first (OOPS! Second?) fortress built by King Edward I when he conquered Wales. It's where his son, Edward II, the first Prince of Wales, was born and where the investiture of Prince Charles, the current Prince of Wales, took place in 1969. Legend has it the Welsh were not crazy about being invaded, but asked Edward I for representation by one of their own who spoke their language. He responded by having his wife bear their son in the castle, proclaiming little Edward II was thus a Welshman, and his first language was Welsh by default.

It's pretty sobering wandering on and through the walls of an ancient castle, realizing it's been there nearly 800 years and you're walking where people walked 800 years earlier, where kings were born and much blood was shed in loyalty. In effect, where history was written. History was written everywhere, obviously, but most of the oldest structures we can physically visit in the U.S. are only a few hundred years old. I remember being amazed at the 400 year old structures in St. Augustine, Florida, and now they seem like kids, you know? It's also interesting to realize how soundly they were built, to last so long--when construction technology as we know it didn't even exist a hundred or so years ago.

And that's probably why I feel justified in presenting you with 120 photos of our afternoon at Caernarfon Castle and the surrounding area. It sounds like a good excuse anyway. :) Many of them look alike, but if you pay attention, I'm sure there are subtle nuances that cried out, "Pick me! Pick me!" as I loaded them up to flickr. A bluer sky? A fluffy cloud? A single, more delicate blade of grass? Is this working? Don't forget you can click on "show info" to see corny captions.

For my less patient readers, I've included some here, just for you. (Click to see them full size.)

We ended the day with a meal at a Mediterranean restaurant back in Llandudno, where we learned to order "tap water" if we didn't want to pay for a tasty but expensive bottle of water.