Too Much of a Good Thing: July 2010

July 26, 2010

Wales and Stonehenge! Pictures!

Cardiff

Cardiff Castle

Ashley, me, Hannah

Cardiff Castle

View from one of the towers

Cardiff

I've missed the water :)

Grandma, this is for the Archers!

Wales bay area

A little history...

I don't think these ones really needs titles!

Wales and Stonehenge!

Friday a group of us spent the day in Cardiff, Wales. I was a little nervous about what we would find in Wales... that morning I asked our cab driver on the way to the Cambridge train station if there was anything he could recommend seeing in Wales. He chuckled darkly and said, "The road out." Lovely. My first impression of the city was that he may have been right. It looked like we were in a ghetto London! Overall it just seemed dirty and everything was under construction. We found our way to Cardiff Castle, and my view of the city changed dramatically. The castle was gorgeous, and felt nothing like the overt tourist trap of Warwick. We climbed to the top of one of the towers and looked out of the country, which again improved my views (quite literally actually!) of the country. We stopped at an Italian-Polish restaurant for lunch, and by this point I was learning that the Welsh are a very kind and welcoming group!

After lunch we walked down to pier area. It seemed that we had started in a dingy area, but we were working our way towards nicer parts. As we walked along we got bored and started singing Disney songs (mind you, we were running on only a couple hours of sleep due to getting in late from Stratford and getting up early to catch the train!). A young across the street started yelling, and I was waiting for some depricating comment about Americans, which we had gotten before on the trip and may have earned due to our poor singing and odd choice of songs! Instead we were greeted with and excited, "Hey Americans! Hey, hey! America rocks!!!" We all cheered, and at that point I think I completely changed my opinion of Wales to being in love with the country!

We spent some time on the pier, where the girls rode the carousel, and then our group took a quick boat ride around the bay. It was so much fun and so refreshing to get out on the water! We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, where we're all fairly certain we were served by the Italian mafia residing in Wales! After that we all decided to turn in since it had been a long, yet fantastic couple of days.

The next morning we said goodbye to Wales and headed over to Salisbury to see Stonehenge! We were just driving along, and then all of a sudden I looked to my right and there it was! My first impression was that it was smaller than I was expecting (not quite sure why, but there it is). Then the awe that something I had heard about for so long was actually right in front of me hit! We crossed the street and walked over to the path that would lead us around the stones. It is a truly amazing sight to behold. People were stationed all around,taking pictures, having picnics, some using this as a place of worship. We even overheard a conversation between two boys talking about how they were convinced we were all looking at the work of aliens since there's no way cavemen could have accomplished anything like that! It seems that part of the majesty is the mystery surrounding this unique site.

Another Helping of Shakespeare, Pictures!

Warwick

Warwick Castle

Me and Ashley in the stocks

View from the Castle

Castle Grounds

Inside the Castle

The girls with Henry VIII

The Peacock Garden

Peacock Garden

Welcome to Stratford!

Birthplace of William Shakespeare

Birthplace of Shakespeare

"If music be the food of love, play on" -Twelfth Night

For Anne Hathaway, the wife of Shakespeare

Stage for As You Like It, similar to the Globe, but indoor and a little nicer

Another Helping of Shakespeare

Our class field trip last Thursday was to Warwick in the morning and Stratford-Upon-Avon in the afternoon and evening. We had a couple of hours in Warwick, which was mainly spent at Warwick Castle. This was a beautiful castle that showed an interesting glimpse into the past, but overall I felt they had turned it into a tourist trap. I did, however, enjoy the peacock garden, in spite of my fear of birds! It was interesting to watch the peacocks just wander around the gardens, and I was able to get some pretty pictures of them with their beautiful feathers on display!

Stratford is an adorable little town, and hometown of William Shakespeare. We were able to see his birthplace and the home that he died in. Also in the town are Anne Hathaway's cottage and Shakespeare's grave, but sadly we didn't make it in time to see those. It was so fun to wander around the town and see all the restaurants and pubs that were named after quotes from Shakespeare's plays! It was a truly brilliant example of the impact one person can have, and the legacy they leave behind. That night we saw As You Like It performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. This is probably my favorite play (at least top 3), so I was very excited to see it. My professor told us that the Royal Shakespeare Company is one of the best companies performing Shakespeare, and I have to agree with him! The performance was amazing! I will always cherish getting to see a Shakespeare performance at the Globe, but I think may be my favorite performance yet! It helps that I already loved the play so much :)