Wales

On Thursday morning, I took a day trip to Wales. Stratford-upon-Avon is in western England, so I'm actually pretty close to Wales. I thought about going to Cardiff, the capital, but I've heard it's really not a pretty city, even though it's big and there is a lot to do there. So I decided to visit the town of Denbigh (pronounced Den-bee), which is famous for it's beautiful scenery and castle. Denbigh is in the Valley of Clwyd, on the border of the Snowdonia mountains. To get there, I had to take a train to Birmingham, then get on a train to Crewe, then get on a train to Chester, then take a train to Rhyl, and then take a thirty minute bus ride. On the bus ride, I passed FIVE castles...pretty awesome! :) Wales, just like Ireland and Scotland, is trying to revive it's native language, Welsh. Many schools in Wales are being taught only in Welsh, and the same goes for Scotland (Galic) and Ireland (Gaelic), because these languages were nearly becoming extinct. So as soon as I got off the train in Wales, I heard people speaking Welsh, and all of the signs were in both English and Welsh. Welsh is a pretty language, and sounds a lot like Gaelic and Galic. The Welsh word for "Wales" is Cymru, but I think Wales sounds much prettier. The weather was absolutely gorgeous during my journey, but as soon as I got to Denbigh, it started raining...sad! It cleared up after an hour or so, and stayed beautiful for the rest of the day. I explored the town, which is actually pretty small. The ruins of Denbigh Castle, which was built in the 12th century, are on a hill on the edge of the town. You can climb onto the ruins and see a gorgeous view of the surrounding valley. The lush green grass in Great Britain just never ceases to amaze me...it's beautiful! After exploring the castle, I walked around the town a little more, then decided to head back to Stratford. In Birmingham, I stopped and got take-out at my favorite restaurant, Wagamama's. Yum! I also stopped in Selfridge's, a big department store in the Bullring (the huge mall in Birmingham). Selfridge's has an "American imports" section, where they sell American products that you can't normally find in England, such as Aunt Jemima products, Lucky Charms, Oreos (isn't it a shame they don't sell Oreos in England?), Jiff peanut butter, Hershey's products, and canned pumpkin. Nice, right? Except the prices are RIDICULOUS. A pack of Oreos costs $10. A box of Lucky Charms cereal costs $12. It's almost funny. Tonight, Marfo and I went to The Golden Bee for dinner, and in a little bit, Cat and I are going to watch American Idol. Mary Brook and Jennings will be here on Tuesday, and we'll be back in Stratford on Thursday night. Hooray! They are going to have a blog for their European journey - www.jenningsandmarybrook.blogspot.com. They're going on a Contiki tour across Europe, and will be visiting about 12 different countries!

A sign in both Welsh and English

The ruins of Denbigh Castle



Gorgeous scenery!