Continuing my backwards trajectory, this post is about Wales and the borderlands, the Bing trip of my first weekend here.
I gotta say that although the trip was arranged at such a time to encourage friendship formation and group cohesion (which I suppose it did to some extent), it might have been better to let us have another week to get used to Oxford. Taking off so suddenly, we had hardly had any chance to see Oxford...and in fact, Oxford felt quite foreign to me on my return.
First stop on our trip was Kenilworth castle, once owned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (yay for early tutorial research!)
The castle was pretty neat despite being ruins, as a result of the English Civil War.
After that, we traveled into Chester, where we were to stay for the night. Chester was a cute little city that has a history going back to the Roman times when it was a military encampment. Has great medieval walls that you can walk around a large portion of the city on.
On Chester's walls
Went on a pub tour that evening, hitting up 3 joints and I ended up spending £12 on beer. *blush* Surprisingly, I like Guinness in this country...but I most certainly do not like warm ale. Heard a lot of American music, which apparently is quite a staple here in Europe. Was mightily disappointed to hear both Gwen Stefani and jlo, I thought I had left those bitches behind.
The next day took us to Conwy castle. I'm not entirely sure what it is famous for, I think perhaps border skirmishes when one of the English kings wanted to conquer wales. Had some pretty neat views.
Although you can't see it well, I found it odd that the local townspeople seem content to let boats rot away along the coast near the castle.
We saw a few other things as we trekked into Wales, a ruined abbey for one, that I don't have pictures of as they weren't that awe inspiring. After seeing lots and lots of sheep (yea the stereotypes of Wales seem pretty true), we came back to the English side of the border and spent the night in Shrewsbury. Had some not so great but cheap Indian food. Shrewsbury also had a Grope Lane that looked exactly what you would think such a street should look like.
Travel weary, the next morning we set off in search of Offa's Dyke which is apparently just a large mound of dirt that was built up in the reign of King Offa (of Mercia?) to prevent easy crossings out of the Welsh border. Was rainy and muddy and we ended up getting lost, never seeing the actual dyke (just the visitor center). After a few more stops, we drove on home and made it home to Oxford on Sunday night with just enough time to sleep before classes the next morning.
At interesting trip for sure, although one that would have been better had we not gotten lost on several ocassions / had not travelled with some of the whiniest bitches in the world. It was all I could do from wanting to tumble with some lame asses who whined all the time about being on the bus.
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