Our Trip to Wales

Note: We recently returned from three MARVELOUS weeks in Europe! Over the next little while, I'll be sharing our adventures with you {as well as some of the things we learned}. We chose to plan our own trip because we couldn't picture ourselves on a tour bus with a bunch of other tourists. Whenever possible, I'll explore the myths & stereotypes that I've always heard & if they are true or not. I'm going to be honest about our opinions & experiences - in doing so, I hope I don't offend anyone.

I'll admit it - I knew almost nothing about Wales. In fact, my son likes to tease me because I thought the citizens of this country were called "Welch" {like the grape juice}. Nay! They are Welsh. So once I got that straight we were ready for our adventure. Wales has it's own language - which we did hear many people speaking. It is very pretty. Most signs are in Welsh & English. 

This area of the world has some breathtaking country. 

There are rolling hills of lush vegetation where Foxglove grows wild & sheep graze. Our favorite thing was to take long walks to delight in the scenery. 

- Photo by Jeffrey Lunt -

We stayed in the Snowdonia area - which has mountains of beautiful slate. We all enjoyed hiking & our sons did some rock climbing. 

Because this resource is plentiful, everything is made of slate - fences, roofs, even the placemats & the key chains at our bed & breakfast! We completely fell in love with slate!

We just loved our little motel - The Snowdonia Mountain Lodge. We found it on the internet & it was a great place to stay. The room was clean. The shower & toilet worked great {this is not always the case in the UK}. And the breakfast was oh so good! The staff was incredibly helpful & kind. We wish we could have stayed longer.

photo from http://snowdoniamountainlodge.com/

Here's a video of the lodge facilities {below}. Important tip: notice that they say all rooms are "en-suite" this is a VERY important word they use that means "there's a potty in your room". In the US, this is a given in even the most humble hotels. Not so when traveling Europe & the UK! One of our boy's rooms {at another B&B} had a sink & a shower - but the potty was down the hall! 

Another highlight was the Caernarfon Castle.  It was built in the 1200's & it is quite large. I'm amazed at how well these structures have passed the test of time. We really enjoyed seeing it. 

One negative aspect of traveling in the UK - we almost always had to pay a pretty penny for parking & the castle was no exception. I'm such a dummy that I thought the money we paid for parking also got us into the castle {or got us a discount at the castle}. Not so. It was another 6 pounds each for admission. 

We love Wales! Have you ever been?

Want to read more about our adventures? See the links below:

• To read about our visit to Scotland {CLICK HERE}
• Our Stay in Paris {And a Safety Warning}
• {CLICK HERE} to read about our London adventures
• {CLICK HERE} for a chuckle about the unusual signs we saw on our trip
• We LOVED Bath! {CLICK HERE} to find out why
• {CLICK HERE} for Manchester England & Christine's Rhubarb Crumble Recipe
• {CLICK HERE} for The Lake District in England
• For our visit to Ireland {CLICK HERE}