So instead of spending a good deal of time wandering the streets of Cambridge, we only had a few hours. We found our hostel and then started walking towards the center of town and thereby colleges. We found an open gate and started walking around one of the college grounds. Later, we found out it was Peterhouse. We walked the garden paths all over, at first exploring, then trying to find our way back out.
Before it was too dark, we wanted to get to King's College, because we had heard it was best. However, when we got there, it was closed. There was a sign for attending the Evensong service. So we looked around a bit more, watching it get darker and darker and waiting for the doors to open.
Just before it started, we went through the courtyard and into the acclaimed chapel. We decided to stay for the whole thing, so we got to go in and we sat right behind the choir. It was beautiful. The ceiling was intricately carved, and reverberated the sounds of the choir epically. I really enjoyed listening to the men singing. There were some very talented singers.
After it was over, we peeked around the grounds, but then headed back to the hostel. We stopped at the grocery store first and picked up things to make a stir fry and chocolate cake. The stir fry was great, and we made enough cake to share with a number of other people staying there, including the man at the desk who was very helpful. We also got to do some laundry, which was great. And we had some left over cake to take on the train with us the next day.
[Thursday] The night before, we had looked up train times to get to Caernarfon, a small Welsh town. We got up early after a fabulous breakfast served by the hostel and got to the train station, but found that it had snowed again and the route we had planned wasn't going to work because of cancelations. So once again we had to get creative and find different paths to where we were going. Instead of three and a half hours, the train trip took over seven hours. We had packed snacks though, so we were okay. (Yay for hummus and carrots!)
We went to Birmingham, Flint, and the town of Shrewsbury, which is right on the border of Wales. I knew it from a mystery series my mom loves about a murder solving monk. So that was kind of a neat stop, though we didn't leave the train station. Caernarfon is a small down on the coast, rather near Holyhead. We had to take a bus from the train station and were a goodly number of hours later than we had told the hostel, but we got there safe and sound.
The town is small but very pretty. Many buildings are made of stone and as well as having a castle, there is a stone wall that runs through much of it. The hostel is one of my favorites, with a very homey feel. We got to watch a movie, Notting Hill, something we haven't done on the entire trip. We've been able to have bunches of cups of tea. Overall, a good day, though I lifted my big backpack more than I care to even think about.
[Friday] We started the morning pretty early, walking down the the water before going to the castle, which was the big thing for the day. We planned to come back to the water to watch the sunset. I was really excited about that.
The castle was built by Edward I, the same guy who built the Tower of London. (See London blog.) He built it to defeat the Welsh rebellions and was quite the conqueror. The castle at Caernarfon is the most complete and maintained of the series of castles he built. He built six (we think) castles all a day's ride apart around the natural defensive area called Snowdonia to suppress the Welsh rebellions. It was very effective.
The castle was quite impressive. I loved it. I think Caernarfon is my favorite place we've been. From the top of the castle towers, of which we climbed many, you could see the snowy mountains, the surrounding town, sheep pastures, the stone city walls, and the sea. It was beautiful.
We had a great time ducking into doorways, climbing staircases, and traipsing across walkways. It would have been an incredible place to play hide and seek or sardines. Amanda and I weren't even trying, but there were a number of times we couldn't find each other, and other times we couldn't get to where we were trying, because of the halls and stairs and doors. I loved it. There were lots of hidden rooms and windows that looked out either onto the rest of the castle, the town, the hills or the sea.
The day started off bright and sunny, but later it started raining/snowing, so we went to the museum section. We learned all about the building of the castle as well as the Welsh regiment. All the signs are written in both English and Welsh, and most of the people we hear walking around are speaking Welsh, though they all speak English as well. It's rather strange, because I had mentally moved on from not being able to understand the language. So it's strange to be thrust back into to being identified as a foreigner just by opening my mouth. (Yeah, I know, my accent does that anyways, but just not understanding what people say is strange.)
We finally left the castle in search of food. We were going to try to find a fish and chips restaurant, but instead found a very cheap supermarket, and purchased all that we needed for today and tomorrow on the train. After lunch/dinner, we went in search of wifi, and found it at a bar. We got to get online for a bit, which was good. However, we wanted to catch the sunset, we didn't get to stay on for too long.
We went down to the water. We looked out across the water where the sun was setting, but we couldn't see it! It was cloudy all across the horizon, though the sky was clear otherwise. So we stayed and watched the sun setting behind a wall of grey clouds. In the background, we could just make out bits of orange sky and pink clouds. It was very disappointing.
More clouds moved in, sweeping across the sky. It was a rather lovely night, listening to the gulls call, watching the moon when it wasn't obscured by clouds. We walked around the town for a while, with no real aim. The streets are lit with orange-colored lights, giving the whole scene a warm glow.
Eventually we went back inside and watched another movie while we blogged and downloaded pictures. I took a ton today. We're cooking pizza for dinner! Tomorrow we will get up early and catch a train to Newcastle to meet up Jayne for a few days. I'm excited and loving this trip a lot. I hope the trains aren't too much of a mess tomorrow. I know the snow has caused all kinds of problems today in the South, but we're headed East and North, so I'm hoping we'll be okay.
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