greetings from across the pond...
sorry to use such a horrible cliche. i just had to.
i am writing this from an internet cafe in london, and i feel as if i can sit back, breathe, think and attempt to write a cohesive blog--- without feeling paranoid that i'm taking advantage of someone else's computer. so here i go, attempting to capture the beauty of the last couple of weeks in one solitary blog. wish me luck.
our last stop was hawarden, wales (pronounced 'harden'). there we stayed at a residential library called st. deiniol's. on one end there was a beautiful, hogwarts-worthy library; on the other, very comfortable bedrooms, as well as study lounges and delicious 3 meals/day. it was any literature student's dream. although we were stuck in a library all week (writing papers. ugh.), we did get out twice to do very fun things. the first, we climbed the highest peak in wales: mt. snowdon. mt. snowdon was made famous by william wordsworth (book XIV of 'The Prelude.'), and it made for a wonderful hike. the first hour of the ascent was quite easy, but the second and third hours grew increasingly difficult. i felt downright idiotic because i started the hike running up hills, bouncing around, amped and cheering everyone on; however, by the third hour, i was making my climbing buddies (dr. ritchie and katy) stop with me every five minutes so i could rest. part of the reason for my exhaustion was that i was insufficiently dressed for the occasion, wearing mediocre shoes, lounging pants, a t-shirt and a light rain jacket while we were climbing in blasting wind, iced rain, and low temperatures. i like to think that i really wasn't that tired, it was just the hypochondriac in me freaking out that i couldn't feel (or really move) any part of my numbed body. in any case, we made it to the top! although i was hoping to see a beautiful 'blue chasm' and the surrounding mountains, valleys, rivers, seas.... all i saw was white. we were stuck in a cloud. nonetheless, it was an adventure that i would repeat at the drop of a hat.
our second escape from the haunted st. deiniol's (yes, haunted) was to bodnant gardens. bodnant gardens was hands-down the most beautiful garden i have ever seen (except for jean wilson's, of course.) it was 90 acres of lush plants, ponds, an old beautiful home, waterfalls, arches, red flowers, white flowers, pink flowers, blue flowers, yellow flowers, mulit colored flowers, so many beautiful flowers i can't name, trees, vines, fountains, secret passages, fawns, fairies, sprites.... ok, you get the picture. it was gorgeous. and worthy of a praise-giving paragraph. so there it was.
after st. deiniols we left for york. on the way we stopped at the bronte home... which was a nice diversion. if you like the bronte sisters at all, write me and i can tell you more. it was fascinating.
when we got to york, we quickly ran to the york shire cathedral for a tour. it was an extremely nice cathedral... very beautiful. unfortunately our (probably very kind) tour guide, howard, was extremely boring. but afterwards we were free to roam in york. it was a nice city, here are two highlights. 1) it was founded by vikings a long time ago. there is a museum there about vikings that, fortunately for all of its eager visitors, also smells a lot like vikings. intentionally, at that. 2) york is the most haunted city in the world (or so i read in 'national geographic.') i couldn't sleep because of howling winds, creaking door noises, meaningless fire alarms, and the constant threat of seeing a ghost. my heart raced the whole night.
and that brings us to my current location: london. i am quickly falling in love with this city. it is busy, exciting, pleasant, edgy, thriving, fashionable and FUN. today we did a very tourist tour of london on an open-topped, two tiered bus. it was cheezy, but it was exciting to experience the essence of london that we see so often in films, tv, etc.
alright. i think that is good for now. as always, miss you- love you- and wish you were here.
anna x
