Wales: Complete

It has been ages since I have posted--I apologize to my avid readers--but I intend to fill you all in with the many adventures I have had this past month--starting off with the family coming and heading off to Wales. On the day of family arrival, I got up at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning to make it to Victoria Station to catch the Gatwick express. When I head for down the Northern Line to the Victoria, a straight shot to Victoria, I realized that Victoria wasn't running on the weekends. Nice, it as a terrible start to the day. Instead of taking me 20 minutes, it took me an hour just to get to Victoria. Got on the Gatwick express with seconds to spare, and met my Father, Aunt Kathy, and Aunt Julie, right out of the terminal. Not bad I thought. We made our way to the rental cars at around 10 or so, and headed north on the M4 to hit Wales. The drive up was interesting...I was kinda nervous for the first hour or so from my family driving on the side of the road that is unfamiliar to us. But all turned out well--a think we only got a few honks. :)

Our arrival in Wales was warm and welcoming--I got an immediate hug from Gwilym, Maryam, and Gwen--I felt as if I immediately acquired new family members, and really, by the end of the trip, I had. But, first night was nice. We all enjoyed a well-deserved dinner after driving for so long. And the cabin, although, not quite what we had bargained for was quite cute and quaint.







The next morning after sleeping in until about 8, lol, we decided to head up to Snowden to catch the train up the mountain, but only after Gwilym took us up some old mountain path--some old NARROW mountain path. When we got to the top we had quite a nice view. I even became quite close with a lone sheep wandering about. Before long we made it up to the Mountain tourist center and headed up the mountain by steam train. Silly me forgot to bring a coat, despite the fact it was about 70 degrees in the valley. It was a big mistake when we made it 3/4 of the way up the Mountain. I remembered that I got off the train excited to see the awe-inspiring sights, and then wanted to get right back on, fearing the loss of my feet and hands, lol. It was sooo cold! I mean, we were all in so much pain after being outside for like 10 minutes. The sights were worth it though. An hour later we were back down to the store to meet up with Gwilym, and then we headed over to the Estate.






Here we got a chance to walk through the older house on the property--not the one where my ancestors worked--but where the owners originally were housed, I believe. This was truly incredible. The restoration work they went through to put this place in living condition was astounding. Not only had they had to completely renovate the place, they had to do so under strict guidelines. Despite this, the house really looked livable, not what you would expect from a medieval/castle restoration. Anyway, it was quite a treat.










From there we went to visit a friend of the family's and a Welsh government official! He had wonderful stories to tell about the estate and even about his cat, that took quite a liking to me.

I believe later this day, we went to meet Kevin and his family for dinner at a pub in Portsmahog which reminded me of a kinda resort-ish town in the Adirondack Mountains. Quiet and beautiful. I even got to play a bit of futbol with Daniel and Sian--oh how I miss it. But we had a lovely dinner and a lovely drink back at their place.

The following day we went to Caenarfon to shop. I could tell Gwilym was more excited about this day than any other...following the women into the shops looking for Welsh souvinors. Hahahaha. It was the first really rainy day of the entire vacation, so we figured it would be a good day to get the painful stuff overwith. When we were shopped out from Caenarfon we went to "llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"--I think this is spelled right---all from memory--to shop some more. Gwilym was kind enough to make a video of him pronouncing the name for all us Floridans that are Welsh pronunciation-inept, which I will post shortly.






The afternoon was still rainy so we decided to head back to T'yn Rhos and check out the old school house and train Nian used to take. There I had another wonderful encounter with an animal--a horse to be exact--that took to me immediately and to Julie's coat with fervor. We were covered in Horse snot after the ordeal, lol. Up the road we headed to the cemetery to see where some of my family and ancestors are buried. On the way back we were met by a few sheep, that assumed we were going to give them some food--not happening. Later that evening I met Iona, and Gwilym's sister's family for some Chinese food...in Wales, lol. The food was good, the company was better. We even got a chance to see a picture of Gwilym with long hair--hard to believe! hahaha!

The following day we made our long trek out to Aberdaron, to meet Morvid, a direct descendant from Harry Parry, the sea captain. It was a lovely experience to meet her and enjoy tea, sandwiches, scones, and fly cakes--which look as they sound. After playing with her dogs a bit, we said goodbye, and headed over to a small cottage where I believe, I may well be wrong, Nian lived for a short period of time. We only found out later that this cute little cottage was not what we thought. Nice, Gwilym. On the way back we hit Penbryn Bach, another location which has ties to the family.











Overall, Wales was an amazing experience I hope to enjoy again and again. I want to thank Maryam, Sian, Gwen, Iona, Kevin and his family, and all the others that shared time with me and my family. I especially want to thank Gwilym for taking so much time to cart us around Wales, which meant shopping and touristy sight seeing, and most of all, for sharing Alan with me. I have never been so touched by someone I have never met. I love him as I love all of you. Thank you for that. Now, I can proudly state on everyone's behalf, that Wales--the beautiful countryside, the great food, and the welcoming people that opened their lives to us--will forever be remembered.