Waking up in Wales

Thursday, March 10, 2011:

Today was an interesting day. First off, we rode the bus for way too many hours, and second, we had no idea where we were the entire time. We stopped randomly and picked up the guy who took us on the church history tour in Preston. He showed us around certain parts of southwest England and how the church expanded there. It was interesting at first and then, after 5 stops, we kind of got sick of it. It was just a long day of riding the bus and getting off and on too much. It was exhausting even though we didn't really do anything. We finished the church history stuff and finally got to our hostel to drop our stuff off and grab some dinner. We honestly had no idea where we were. We thought we were in Wales, but then we figured out we were in the Cotswalds. Our hostel was....great. It was pretty gross actually, but we had a few good laughs about it. We went to a pub and got dinner that didn't sit so well with our little tummies...So Carly gave Annie and I some Pepto. She said it tasted like candy...She lied. We slept like little angles on sweaty cement slabs. What a joyous night we had in the Cotswalds. Oh the mysteries of good ole' England!

The pond at the Benbow Farm where Wilford Woodruff baptized the Benbow's and three of their friends after 2 days of meeting with and teaching them.

Elise took this...she liked that it

was me overlooking the view. I think I look scary.

Hilltop where Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, and

Brigham Young met weekly while serving here in England.

Disgusted by the Pepto pill.
Nasty gum on the "wall" between Elise and I.
My mattress cover with hairs all over it - not mine.

Friday, March 11, 2011:

Today I woke up and took a shower in the nasty shower. (I don't know why I did that, now that I think about it.) We ate breakfast and then drove a few miles to Tinturn Abbey - an old abbey that was abandoned. This abbey reminded us a lot of Fountains Abbey and I think we enjoyed it a lot, but not quite as much as we did Fountains. It wasn't as big and as sunny as the day we went, but it was still fun to take pics and wander around the old cathedral.

A few of us with Sister Crowe...We love her!
Kung Fu...Look at Dursteler in the back right! haha.

Next we went to Big Pit coal mine. It's the last coal mine to be open in Wales and the coal from this mine powered the Titanic. Cool, huh?! We got lunch at the canteen and then got ready to go down into the mines. We put on our helmets and headlamps and dumped all of our stuff that runs with batteries because sometimes the battery could react with the methane and cause an explosion. Our tour guide, Robert, was awesome and honestly the best tour guide I've had since being here because he was actually entertaining to listen to! :) He told us about how the mines work and how life in a coal mine works and how dangerous it can be. It was very interesting. He then made sure to tell us 3 times about how David and Victoria Beckham went to Big Pit a few months ago and how there is now a burger at the canteen named the "Victorian Burger" after her. He laughed and said, "It's funny because there's more meet on that burger than the poor girl has on her entire body!" Haha he was a big crack up. On the way up the shaft, he made us sing the National Anthem. It was fun.

After exploring around the Big Pit museum and going into the gift shop we got back on the bus and drove to Cardiff. We put our bags down in our rooms and wandered down to Cardiff Bay. It was beautiful! There was a carousel on the pier so we paid to ride it..It was a blast! Then we got dinner a the Japanese restaurant called Wagamama. I don't even know what I ate, but it was good! After that we went to Tesco, got some treats, and went back to the hotel to hang out. It was a great day. I'm having a better attitude towards Wales now!

Me and Mr. Schuester. (aka Mike)

Saturday, March 12, 2011:

We stayed in a hotel last night so it was a lot better than Thursday night. We spent 3 hours exploring Cardiff - I bought myself a famous Welsh lovespoon! The carved, wooden lovespoons are associated as a mark of affection for those you love. Depending on what is carved on them, they each represent something different. For example, a spoon with the Celtic knot carved into it represents everlasting love. It's a really romantic and fun way of expressing love so I, of course, had to get one. I love mine! It's perfect. After shopping and getting lunch we went to the St. Figgin's Living Museum. It reminds me a lot of This is the Place Heritage Park. It was an outside museum that made you feel like you were wandering through a small Welsh town back in the day. It was fun and probably one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Found another 'Ben' thing in Wales! I have no idea

what the book was about..It was in Welsh. ;)

Me with the 'pigsty'... Just for you Mom.

**My room is NOT a pigsty! ;)

Sad about our little lamb friends.......

I miss dogs...Mine especially.

That was my weekend in Wales! It was different than I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it. (Once I figured out when I was actually IN Wales!)

Tuesday at 3 am we leave for IRELAND!!! I am so excited! Partying it up in Dublin for St. Patty's Day! Have a very "lucky" week!

Xoxo,

Liz