Escapades in England: Weekend in Wales

I'm back in my dorm after a wonderful weekend in Wales! I had never really given Wales much thought before this trip, but I'm now convinced it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. If you want to vacation in Europe and are looking for relaxation, beautiful scenery, and friendly people, I'd highly suggest Wales.

We left London bright and early on Saturday morning, and on the drive down we passed Windsor Palace where the queen lives. I couldn't get any pictures from the bus, but that's OK. I pretty much used up most of my camera's memory with the pictures I took in Wales.
The first thing we did was stop at the site of some ancient Roman ruins. It was a bit unreal to walk around the foundations of buildings soldiers and gladiators used to roam around.

Soldier's barracks (above) and the amphitheatre (below)

After the Roman ruins, we went to tour the ruins of Caerphilly Castle. Apparently Wales has more castles per square mile than any other European nation. I had no idea you can actually walk around the castle ruins, though. It was so beautiful!

View of the town from the tower (above) and main entrance (below).

After touring the castle, we went to the Museum of Welsh Life, but we ended up only having half an hour there because some guys on our tour forgot what time we were supposed to be back on the bus and played a game of soccer with some Welsh boys for 45 extra minutes. After that, we went to our hotel, which was fabulous! I have never appreciated how soft hotel beds are until I was able to compare them to our dorm beds!

This morning we went on a tour of an old mine shaft which was a lot cooler than I expected. Wales produced about 1/3 of the world's coal until the 1970s when a lot of the mines were shut down. The didn't let us take cameras into the mine, but I'm sure there will be a picture of me in mining gear circulating around at some point.

After the mine tour, we stopped for lunch at Monmouth, where we saw this 13th century bridge. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that people in town can look out their windows and be so close to history!

Funny story about Monmouth and Caerphilly Castle: I'm taking a Shakespeare class while I'm here, and so far we've studied Shakespeare's Henry V and Marlow's Edward II. In the play and in reality, Edward II had an affair with a man called Hugh Jr. who fled to Caerphilly Castle when Edward's enemies came after the two men. Hugh Jr. took the lavish gifts Edward bestowed upon him and decorated the great hall of Caerphilly Castle before he was found and executed. And the town of Monmouth, with the really old bridge is where Henry V was actually born. It's funny how I go on a weekend excursion and find my studies relating to my real life.

After Monmouth we went to see the ruins of Tintern Abbey, which was built by Savignac monks in the 12th century. Honestly, I think these were the prettiest of the ruins we saw. The sun even came out while we visited!