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So I'm reading up on Wales today. I'm in love. You knew that didn't you? You know you're in love when you can't stop thinking about a place. When it infects your mind, in all your daily routine. When you watch the television and they show an aerial of the city and see The Atlantic Wharf and scream out "Shan that's where you pee'd!" Okay it doesn't sound to romantic when you put it that way, but you're just going to have believe me here.



So I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and learnings on the whole "Wales" thing.

Mari Lwyd. Oh wow does this sound cool. Forget Festivus. It's basically Christmas except you wear horse masks with marble eyes and you go door to door insulting people with poetry wrapped in a sheet. We are so adopting this tradition next year.



Welsh Rarebit. Basically the welsh invented cheesy bread. Who knew? Yepper, a nice pint, and some cheese bread what can be better? Take about 4 oz of cheese, 3 tablespoons of milk 2 teaspoons of mustard and mix, toss on a slice of bread, top with sliced tomatoes and bake.

I didn't know Catherine Zeta Jones and Anthony Hopkins are both Welsh.

There is a village called llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, but people just call it Llanfair PG.

The Welsh White cow of Dynevor, is ironically a endangered species that is the "must get" cow for religious sacrifice and use to be used as currency for the Druids.

The story of King Arthur originated from Wales.

The legend of Owen Glendower, the national hero of Wales was captured by the soon to be King of England back around 1400 after he made a "brave heart" attempt at preventing English rule in Wales. The legend goes that he will return to lead Wales to victory.

Apparently the #1 leisure activity in Wales is: .... drum roll please..... "Pubs", followed by sports, and gardening.... How can you not love a place where alcohol consumption can be listed first under hobbies on your resume?

Oh Welsh cakes. Boy are they good. Picked up a pack while in Cardiff. It's sort of a combination of cookie, biscuit and pancake all in one.



As I mentioned in the "give me a job in Cardiff" thread. We particularly fell in love with Cardiff which was at one time (historically) was one of the richest cities in the world. The first million pound deal was struck at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay.



How about this? Christopher Columbus was beaten to America by the Welsh. Madog ab Owain Gwynedd a 12th century Welsh prince sailed his boat Gwennan Gorn to what today is Mobile, Alabama. If that isn't enough there's speculation America is named after a Welsh man Richard Amerik. Apparently the welsh are also responsible for the modern Olympics, the New York Times, The location of the Holy Grail, the name of the highest mountain, and public enemy number one. Phew!



I'm honestly learning so much that I never knew about my family's culture. Even the language is really cool, like "Wales" in Welsh is Cymru but it's pronounced "kum-ree"... which wouldn't be my first guess.

While we were out there, we popped around a few apartment complexes (not sure if that would be "flat complexes".... wait, that sounds like a medical condition) around the Atlantic wharf and was certain they were out of our price range. They're gorgeous, very upscale and modern. We met a nice couple walking their dog in the area, who were also about our age, and it seemed like a really cool place to live. When we got home we looked it up and found several "furnished" 2 bedroom flats from 600-700£. I was shocked. Even in Greensboro, places like that would be easily $1000-$1200 dollars. Best part it's 10 minutes down to the bay, 20 minutes to centre city, and no car would be required, and I could eat out at Mermaid's Quay with some great food just feet away. (Here I come Strada) How I would love that!

Oddly some of the flats didn't have balconies, but had places for them... which made me wonder if Cardiff has a BYOB (Bring Your Own Balcony) policy in effect?

Okay, I'll stop for today. I've got to go check my lotto numbers and see if I struck it rich so I can move now.

Visited Tintern, Wales yesterday. Another great place in Wales, but my favourite has to be Portmeirion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmeirion

That is absolutely gorgeous, almost looks partially Spanish inspired.... I never knew such places existed in Britain. You're so luck to be so relatively close to all that beauty. I know the grass is always greener on the other side, but it's funny how our two countries treat culture and heritage different. We turn ours into museums and historical lunch counters. We love to footnote stuff, whereas so much architecture, or even in the case of the Welsh language... is being preserved before it's too late.

I guess part of it for me is learning my family has all this history. I always knew I was Welsh growing up but never knew how much and how close it is in my genealogical tree branch. I didn't even know "Jones" was a Welsh name until last year... I feel like I've found a part of me that I lost.

Liv wrote: We love to footnote stuff, whereas so much architecture, or even in the case of the Welsh language... is being preserved before it's too late.

Don't knock yourself too hard. There's a reason so many abbeys and castles are ruins
Tintern Abbey 1975
They didn't get that way by accident.

Government and religion don't coexist very well.

A Person wrote:

Liv wrote: We love to footnote stuff, whereas so much architecture, or even in the case of the Welsh language... is being preserved before it's too late.

Don't knock yourself too hard. There's a reason so many abbeys and castles are ruins

tintern.jpg

Tintern Abbey 1975
They didn't get that way by accident.

Government and religion don't coexist very well.

There's still more history in the fields surrounding a burnt down abbey then we tend to preserve here... Perhaps I'm missing something here.... but even though they've made mistakes... they seem to be correcting them.

I had to laugh reading the guidebook about Tintern Abbey. Apparently, it was re-discovered. Not sure how anyone could normally miss a 50 ft high Abbey- maybe just walking along one day and bumped into it!!!

Liv, don't miss York on your next visit to the UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York

Edinburgh is worth a visit and if you like the coast then Cornwall is the place to go
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornwall

All have great history

smiler125 wrote:I had to laugh reading the guidebook about Tintern Abbey. Apparently, it was re-discovered. Not sure how anyone could normally miss a 50 ft high Abbey- maybe just walking along one day and bumped into it!!!

It's in a secluded valley in Wales, a long way from towns and cities. While I'm sure the locals knew all about it, it was the advent of the railways that 'rediscovered' it as a tourist destination and place worthy of visiting.

Kinda like Columbus 'discovering' America. As if the people living there hadn't noticed it - or the Vikings, Icelanders, Irish and Welsh who used to visit.

I am in two minds about the Dissolution. It was an orgy of destruction of fine buildings, but in many ways they are more accessible and interesting as ruins than they might be as monasteries. There's something about seeing the sky through the roofs that adds to the character and drama. From an engineering perspective it glorifies the structure of the arch which is so stable they still stand after hundreds of years.

Definitely! We've decided we need to go and spend at least 6 months there travelling.... If we can just get the dollar stronger then the GBP perhaps I can do it!!!

The good news is my sister-in-law (or bad news depending on how you look at it) is trying to become a missionary, and another friend of ours is going to Berlin... We'd love to visit them both, though my sister-in-law doesn't know where she'll end up....

Hopefully somewhere within a TGV ride of Britain, so we can come back!!!

Just finished watching "Brotherhood of Wales" and thought of this thread.... one of the words in the movie was Cadw, meaning to Keep or preserve.... thought it fit nicely with my opinion before.

I've come across that one before... Love it!!!! Now that's what a bloody club & pub city looks like, not this nancy-pancy crap here in Greensboro!!!

They've actually just passed a law preventing the drinking in the streets. Apparently the pubs pour over on Saint Mary's street. Did you catch the CCTV footage of the cage fighters in drag who got attacked by a homophobe in Swansea? (Sounds like a bad joke doesn't it?)

Yeah, I love Saint Mary's street, gives the city a lot of character...