From what I've heard, Wales is supposedly the armpit of the United Kingdom. Honestly, I don't understand why people think this, because from my experience, Wales is gorgeous. It must be the castles and the waterfalls.

After Stratford-upon-Avon, we drove over to Cardiff and spent the next two days in the city and the surrounding area. Our first day there we went to Cardiff Castle, which has way more history than I expected. Apparently it was converted into a bunker during World War II, and has been used in several movies and tv shows, including Dr. Who. Including Dr. Who! I have walked in the footsteps of the Doctor.

 

Does this great hall remind anybody else of Merlin? I definitely felt like Colin Morgan or Bradley James were going to walk in any minute. Sadly, I was disappointed and saw no such thing.

We also made it over the Caerphilly Castle before heading back to Cardiff. We got there a little too late to go inside the castle, but we walked around the grounds and met these adorable older gentleman who were all set up with their easels, painting the castle.

We talked to them for a really long time and they told us that they have been friends for a long time and they decide to meet in different places all around Wales, just to paint the scenery. I want a friend like this!

Cardiff Bay

On our second day in Wales we went to the St. Fagan's National History Museum, which shows how the more rural people in Wales have lived for the past several hundred years. They have taken homes, barns, and community centers, dismantled them and rebuilt them on the museum grounds so that people who live in the cities can see how the rural populations live.

After St. Fagan's we went to my favorite part of Wales: Bro'r Sgydau, Waterfall Country. I am definitely glad I wore boots that day, because we were in mud up to our ankles by the time we made it up to the bigger waterfalls. I think I may be the only one who felt this way by the end of it, but it was totally worth it. Anything for the photo, haha. And about those photos... I definitely took way too many, and since this is my blog, I'm going to share them all! Enjoy!

As I mentioned in my last post, my dad's cousin Trina, her friend Lori, and Lori's daughter Brie came to visit at the beginning of October. The second week they were there, my sister Megan also came into town on a business trip and took an extra few days to be with us before flying home. So while we were all together, we decided to take a trip down to Wales and Southern England. Our first stop was Stratford-upon-Avon, which as many of you know, is the birthplace of Shakespeare. We started out at Mary Arden's farm, which was Shakespeare's grandmother's farm. As a child Shakespeare spent much of his time there. All of the Shakespeare sights in the town have volunteer staff who dress according to the time period and talk to you about Shakespeare and the people's life at the time, so it was very interesting.

We've named these pigs "shigs". Sheep + Pigs = Shigs. My mom has decided that when they move back to Arkansas they are going to have a farm and its going to have shigs on it. I'm thinking it would be great to be their next door neighbor....

Above is Anne Hathaway's childhood home. Before Shakespeare and Anne were married, Shakespeare would walk through the fields from his house to her to "woo" her. Adorable.

And this is Shakespeare's childhood home. His father was a tanner and made expensive leather gloves in a workshop attached to the home. They were considered a wealthy family back then.

The back of Shakespeare's childhood home.

And the front of his home.

As we were walking around we saw this old fashioned candy shop. Being the foodies we are, of course we made a quick stop to get some photos and even more candy.

And finally, this is the church in which Shakespeare is buried. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there, so we didn't get to see his actual burial site, but at least I got some pictures of the church, which was really quite beautiful.

After Stratford-upon-Avon we drove over the Cardiff to spend the next few days there. Everyone in England says Wales is the armpit of the UK, (I guess its the Southern United States of the United Kingdom), but I guess I must have a soft spot for the least favored parts of countries, because I loved Wales, just as I love the South. I'll post that next.