Wait, are we in Wales?

We left early Thursday morning for our trip to Wales, little did we know what we were in for:) it was church history sites day. We spent the day driving to and from various sites in southern england. We visited a really cute little town where Carly and I found some adorable shops, two little chapels, one extremely tiny pond and one very windy mountain. We hiked straight to the top of this mountain/hill where some of the apostles had meetings and prayed; it was the best part of the day. It was sooooo windy at the top! I don't think I have ever been in a windier place ever! It was quite the exhausting hike to the top, but it was really fun once we were up there and the views were beautiful.

The tiny little pond that we drove an hour to see:)

Hiking up the Mountian

So pretty and so windy!

It wasn't the most exciting day, we all did a lot of sleeping on the bus and arrived at the smallest town I've ever been in around 6pm but it was good. We stayed in a pretty sketchy hostel right outside of the cotswolds and had our choice of the 5 pubs in town for dinner. I got salad and chips and it was fun to be in a small town pub- very homey. It didn't seem like there was anything too exciting about this tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, but Friday morning Kinsey and I went on a run and discovered all it's beauty. It only took us 5 minutes to be out of town and we were running in the countryside. Past rolling hills and the cutest little cottages that looked like something straight out of a movie. The sun was rising and the sky was pink- it was so beautiful! Running always puts a perfect start to my day.

Sketchy Hostel

We got on the bus and headed off to Wales. We crossed this large bridge over some bay and there we were! Our 1st stop was Tintern Abby ruins. Very similar to the fountains Abby ruins we visited outside of York, Tintern Abby was really beautiful.

Welsh is the weirdest looking language

We LOVE our professors!

Professor Dursteler joined in! He's the back right haha

Next we headed off to the Big Pit. Wales was known for all of it's coal mining so it was fitting that we visited the last working coal mine in wales. We took a tour down in the mine and it was so cool! I was a little nervous about going down in a deep, dark and cold mine shaft, but hey, who knew it could be so fun?! Our tour guide Robert was the best and kept us laughing the whole time. He had us turn off our headlamps and the darkness was like nothing I've experienced. I couldn't see my hand right in front of my face; I couldn't see anything. I learned a lot about how mines work and the conditions for the men and boys who worked in them. Our group and Robert had a good ole time in the mine:)

For some reason we didn't get a picture with our tour guide Robert, but all the men were so sweet.

We left big pit and headed for the city of Cardiff. Im not sure if it's the biggest city in wales but it was a good size city. We were all happy to check into a hotel; it was heaven compared to our hostel! We walked down to the bay and had such a fun night by the water. First off, we rode the marry-go-round. I know kind of childish, but it was a blast!!:) The bay was so beautiful at night; it made me think of San Francisco. We ate dinner at Wagamama. Its a Japanese chain restaurant that's popular all over the UK- it was delicious. Then we stopped at the local Tesco (grocery store) and picked up some little necessities; a random assortment of gum, pita, magazines and fruit. It was about a mile walk to or from the bay, so once we were back at the hotel I was ready for sleep. We played a few cards and I was out like a baby.

I had way too much fun on this!

Saturday Paige and I ran down to the bay and ran along the water. It was a really pretty run and it was fun to see the bay in the sunlight. Saturday morning we were free to explore Cardiff. There was a fun atmosphere in town because there was a huge rugby game between Ireland an Wales going on in Cardiff later that day. We walked by the Cardiff castle, did some souvenir shopping, explored a market and got a feel for the welsh people. It was really fun, I just wish we could have joined the decked out fans for the rugby match!

Cardiff Castle

Downtown Cardiff before the rush of Rugby fans

I agree

Next we headed for a national welsh museum. It was more like a petting zoo, but we had a good time:) Afterward we hopped on the bus and headed home... well to London.
Until next time, cheers!

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