Friday instead of seeing more castles we slept in and spent the latter part of the day in Chester w/ Marie�s mom and Melanie. Chester is a gorgeous city with amazing Roman walls all around it. Lots of shopping there, which isn�t too fun for me, but the buildings were wonderful, so that was nice. After some coffee we went into Ye Olde Boot Inn, which was built in 1640-something and even had bits of the exposed wall from early 1700�s. Awesome pub! Low ceilings, exposed beams, dark, exactly the idea of a �pub� I had in my head before coming.
Saturday was another sleep-in day before getting picked up by Mel for a day in Wrexham. Went to a few music stores, nothing special, so then we went to the Nag�s Head pub to watch Wales play New Zealand in rugby. NZ destroyed them 41-3. Ah well. It was a relatively early night (10:30) so we could get some sleep for the early rise today. We�re taxiing so I�ll close here.
11/6/05
Just took off from Manchester and are flying over some beautiful green countryside. There�s a reason why Wales (and the U.K. & Ireland) are so green � it rains every day! Seriously. We bought an umbrella in Dublin because we quickly figured out that during the winter, it rains at some point during every day. The cool thing is that people don�t freak out while driving or walking around in the rain, it�s just a part of everyday life. I�m not sure I could manage if it was like that all the time. :) Another crazy thing is that for a country w/ so much rain and cold weather, most of our showers were lukewarm & had very little water pressure. I think conservation is good (and important), but I do like a hot shower every morning and to be able to wash all of the shampoo out of my hair. That said, we have truly had a wonderful time. We had the greatest day in Chester w/ Marie, her mom & her sister, even thought I wasn�t feeling so hot. Wow � I just found out that U.S. Airways charges $5.00 for headphones if you want to watch a movie or TV. What a load. Anyway, we went to the Alyn, a very nice pub. Nice views, lots of polished wood, actually nicer than I think I was dressed for (jeans & tennis shoes). I had (along w/ Marie, her mom & Mel) a baked potato w/ Welsh cheddar and ham, and it came w/ some salad and coleslaw w/ nice creamy mayo-type stuff on it. We then went into Chester and walked on the medieval city walls surrounding the city. We also went to the cathedral � beautiful � but didn�t end up forking over the �4.00/each to go inside. Apparently the cathedral doesn�t receive any gov�t funding for upkeep, and their brochure said it costs like �6.00/hour to maintain! Nothing is free in the U.K., not cathedrals, castles or parking. We�ve had to pay for a lot of sites that are free in other parts of Europe, like Portugal, Spain & Germany. At least the National Trust & CADW maintain the historical sites very well and the money for entries doesn�t just go into a corporation or individual�s pockets. That would suck.
So we concluded our great (and cold) day in Chester by ultimately having hot chocolates and then beer (well, everyone except me had a beer). We then went back to Marie & Scot�s (even her mom and Mel) and watched some TV. Marie�s mom came to hem some pants and Marie tried on an outfit she bought in Chester for a friend�s wedding on Saturday in Swansea (South Wales). James and I had cheese and a small pizza for dinner, and the rest had Chinese take away like we did the night before. For future remembrance, �special� at a Chinese restaurant in the U. K. means it has chicken, beef, pork and some sort of seafood all thrown in together. Strange. Anyway, we all turned into bed, since we were getting up early.
Saturday we got up to see Marie and Scot off to Swansea, as they were trying to leave between 8-9am. They made it off and we said our goodbyes. James and I then farted around, doing things like starting to pack, balancing our check book and doing the dishes. We also wrote them a thank you note and left some money for groceries and gas. They were really fantastic hosts and we had to do something to help offset the cost that they fronted to put up w/ us for so long. Melanie graciously offered to take us to the airport this morning and came and picked us up at 8:00am. We loaded up, locked up, took a few last minute pictures and headed off for the 45 minute ride to the airport. On the way, Wales/England started to say �goodbye� by pouring down rain. Fortunately we were dropped off in an area that was covered and walked at least a half mile (I swear) through the airport in Manchester to get through Terminal One to Terminal Two. We had to wait in an enormous line to check in at U.S. Airways, then got the 3rd degree. Literally. W/ all these stupid ass security questions. The dude was asking me why we flew into Manchester on American Airlines and out on U.S. Airways. I told him it was the cheapest fare and even quoted the ticket price and website! After that, we headed into another long, annoying line to go through security, then to a duty free shop and a quick bite to eat. Then another wait, another line and passport showing and more questions, then onto the airplane at very long last. We have almost an 8 hour flight ahead of us, then a 4 hour lay over in Philly, then home. This has been the easiest, most comfortable flight to Europe thus far and I hope we can make it to Marie and Scot�s wedding next year on July 29th.
And I say AMEN to that! |
