Welsh at Heart

It is sort of hard to explain the sequence of events 25 years in the making that brought me to Wales this past weekend. My Mom lived with a Welsh woman named Rosemary Roberts during her year as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in the 70's. I've always known that I had a "Welsh Auntie" but I'd never met her. My mother informed her that I would be in the UK this month and I was invited to come down to Wales for a visit. Well Rosemary doesn't do computers so I got an email from her half brother's daughter Catrin who lives and works in London with her husband David. We worked out the details and it was decided that we would meet at the intersection of Davenant and Banbury Rd in Oxford, England and they would drive me down. It was kind of cool knowing I was about to be picked up by a pair of people I'd never met to go visit friends of my Moms that I had also never met to go to Wales, a place that I really knew nothing about and probably would never have ever visited on my own. As a side note, I believe I was mistaken for a homeless man while I was waiting for Catrin and David to arrive. I was sitting down against a wall with my backpack and jacket by my side. This man walked by and sort of looked at me. About a minute later he came back and asked me if I was hungry. I didn't realize what he was he getting at immediately and if you know me, you know that I certainly was hungry. I said so, and he whipped a sandwich out of his Jacket and handed it to me. Bewildered, I thanked him, then realized what had just happened. There's a first time for everything eh?

When I got there I found out that I wouldn't actually be staying with Rosemary at all. She takes care of her mother and decided that I would have much more fun with staying with her half brother Michael, David and Catrin. Well, I don't know how much fun staying with Rosemary would have been but I had a blast at her brother's house in the Welsh countryside (shown above). Upon our arrival he brought out half of a local ham, for "haggling" (cutting off small bite sized slices to eat with your hands) and a pint or two of local bitter. We woke up relatively early the next morning to explore Pembrokeshire, the county where they live.

The Welsh Language was so cool. I sort of attribute foreign countries with foreign languages, and as a result, I have rarely felt abroad during my time at Oxford - the lets just say copious amounts of work haven't helped foster that feeling either. I quizzed Catrin (David is an Englishman) on the pronounciations of all the Welsh roadsigns on the way down, and I must say, Welsh doesn't sound like any language I've ever heard.

Michael was the perfect tour guide. He seemed to know everything about Pembrokeshire. According to Catrin he is also well practiced as I was apparently not the first American to enjoy his patented whistlestop tour.

The highlight of the castle portion of the tour was most certainly Pembroke Castle, shown above from the inside. Pembroke Castle is recognized as one of the most impressive Norman castles in Wales, first established in 1093, when the Norman Conquest of Wales was not yet complete.

The castle keep is one of the best preserved keeps of its sort. At nearly 80 feet high it afforded quite a view overlooking Milford Haven. My vantage point allowed me take the two pictures shown above. Next on the list was the coastline, which I must admit was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. The pictures below were all taken at Stack Rocks, just past the nearby army shooting range.

Afterwards we drove further north along the coast to St. Davids, the smallest city in England, where Michaels girlfriend Maggie lives. By population, St. Davids would be considered a town but it is elevated to city status by the Cathedral located there.

After hanging out in the city for a while, we moved further up the coast to a beach Catrin and her brother Owen used to come to as a child. It was absolutely stunning in the late afternoon and it didn't surprise me to here her say it was her favorite beach in Wales.

After a long day out we were starving to say the least. We went to a restaurant called "Somethings Cooking" where I had my first meal of authentic fish and chips. Also worthy of note was this appetizer called white bait. They take these minnow sized fish, leave the head and skin on and then fry them in a batter. I was a bit skeptical but my hunger overcame my misgivings and I ended up eating them by the handfull smeared with tartar sauce. Later that evening, they took me to their local pub, the Tufton Inn. They live out in the Welsh country side, and I got the impression that they measure the size of a town by the number of pubs they have. Instead of being a "one horse town" as we might say in the U.S. I would describe their little area of the world as a one pub town. It was a really cool place, and one I would have never went to on my own. I wouldn't want to say I would have been unwelcome there if I showed up alone but it certainly would have been wierd. It was a really cool experience to have a few pints with the local Welsh farmers and then walk back in a daze through the one lane roads in the dark back home. The next day we woke up early to go hiking along this trail they have affectionately named the "Bluebell Walk." It was raining so the bluebells weren't out but I didn't care at all. I couldn't help but think the whole time how much my parents would have enjoyed it.

My "family" for the weekend from right to left: Michael, Maggie, David, and Catrin

Working so hard as I have been at Oxford, it has become somewhat hard for me to relax. If there is ever a spare moment and I'm not asleep or eating I feel like I ought to be achieving something. Even though I had the afternoon to sit around and do nothing, I ended up donning the rain gear and setting out on my own to explore the farmlands around Michael's house.

That night, it was finally time to go to Aunt Rosemary's house for dinner. I had heard from just about everyone how interesting of a lady she was and I wasn't dissapointed. From her obsession with Elvis (she is pround to have stolen some of his carpret from Graceland in Tennesee) to the video of her with the queen, one can be sure that she will always have a story to tell. Aside from that, it was nice to finally be able to put a face to the name, and also to meet the lady that helped my Mom so much during her time in Wales.

I woke up monday morning with a discernable sense of sadness, that this was my last day in Wales. I didn't so much as crack a book during the 3 days I spent there and I was dreading my return to Oxford for a week of 5 tutorials in 4 days. Still the vacation wasn't over, as Michael and Maggie continued the trend of putting off everything in their own lives to show me around and we headed back out into Pembrokeshire to complete the tour.

I really loved the time I spent in Wales, thus the title of this entry, "Welsh at Heart." Maybe I'm just biased against England because of how much work I've had to do in Oxford, but I really felt more at home in Wales. All of the people I met there were so welcoming even though I had never met any of them before. I have no idea when I'll make it back but when I do, I know I'll have friends there.

London is the Place to Be

This past weekend Dr Williams, the head of the UGA honors program, was one of the first of the University VIPs to arrive for the dedication ceremony scheduled for tomorrow to celebrate the opening of the new UGA at Oxford house I'm currently living in. He is an important figure within the Fellowship and to celebrate, we all headed to London (fo free) for an awesome time in the capital of England. We were out the door at 8:30 a.m. and there by 9:30 or 10:00. I'm always amazed at how much I can see of a city in just one day, but the highlight of my time there was really the company. My small group consisted of Sheena, Tracy, Lucy, Sabrina, Calley, and Phoeny, making me the lone male in the group. So I got dragged into H & M for an hour or so and had to eat "small food" for lunch (those of you who know me, also know how much food I need to be satisfied) but what the hell - I have so much fun with them. I took a few hundred pictures throughout the day and I guess I'll just continue the story as I start to post my favorite shots.

Arrival at Paddington Station

Since we've been here, we have been so busy that the tendency has been to sleep any time we are not actively doing something, which turns out to be almost never...

We rode the "tube" as they call it to Westminister where we saw Big Ben (I was expecting it to be bigger honestly), the London Eye, and checked out the Abbey itself. In all honesty the abbey wasn't worth the 7£ it cost to go in. I'm still glad I did though, so I'll never feel the need to go again.

Along the way to Trafalgar Square I came accross this monument to the women of WWII. I know it wasn't meant to be seen this way, but I found it quite amusing and took a few pictures of it, all the while falling behind everyone else.

Trafalgar Square is a fun place if this picture of Sheena and I is any indication. Matt was a little bit unsure behind the lens of the D70 but he captured this moment like a pro.

TIKKA MASALA!!!!!! I shouldn't even really put this up here since I can't explain this inside joke to everyone but damn is it funny. Dedicated to a dear friend, who may or may not like Indian food as much as he used to.

The elusive Trey in thought

Check out that picture of the Homeless man I posted in the New York blog and tell me it doesn't remind you of P Mote as captured here!

Our beloved Jessica, who always hooks us up with food - Fo free!

Above: Dr. Williams himself, with Sheena lurking in the background.

So I have gotten a reputation for taking candid pictures of people but not only is it often so funny (Rachel) but I feel like you can capture a better sense of who these people are when they aren't posing for a photo. Not everyone agrees with me, especially when they don't like the faces they make in public, but hey, they are free to take pictures of me to.

These are some fun ones. Sheena's scary eye inspired me to waste about an hour of valuable time playing with this photo on powerpoint. I really need to get photoshop so I can make some truly cool stuff! *composition most likely inspired by the exhibits at the Tate Modern.

Once you go Asian you never go back

London is full of people, especially in the shopping areas around Oxford Circus. I just couldn't walk through Lingerie, and women's urban fashion very long so I posted up out on the street and nabbed a few nice pictures of passerbys.

I didn't want to post this one at first because it is a little out of focus but I thought it was still worth it. It looks like some sort of TRUTH advertisement.

I caught this dude red handed checking out that girls ass! This one is for Sabrina who just cannot comprehend that anybody would oogle her breasts without her consent.

I got a few of nice shots on the way from the Oxford Circus to St. Pauls Cathedral. I especially like the last one. I mean come on, people think Americans post redundant signs.

I really like the way this last one turned out. I often feel like window reflection shots all look the same but the way the panels skew the geometry of the opposing building gives this shot a more unique character.

What an impudent pidgeon, perched on top of the queens head out front of St Pauls, waiting for his chance to deface this symbol of the British Monarchy!

I feel like this shot captures the bustle of London very well.

Ah the Thames... I love cities with rivers running through them and London was a particularily nice example. My only regret was that there was no way to stick my hand into the water. I don't know why but I have some sort of fixation with actually touching the waters as I was able to do with the Rhine and Danube last year in Germany.

After a full day of pounding the streets of London we were lucky enough to get to see Shakespears, Midsummer Nights Dream in the restored Globe Theatre on the Thames. What an amazing experience it was to be a groundling (thus the final picture) at the Globe even though it was admittedly an arduous task to stand for three hours after hoofing it all over the city. Sadly they wouldn't let me take photos during the show, but you can't always get what you want.

Everyone loves a blurred night shot. See how one of Ryan's eyes remaind intact? It looks like it shouldn't be there, but one tends to forget how tall he really is.

Well eight of us thought it was was a good idea to stay the night in London as it was really our only chance to enjoy the city. Besides who wants to do supplemental reading anyways? The plan was to go out clubbing but... lets just say things don't always work out in your favor. Katie had booked the hotel rooms but didn't write down the directions or the full address. The Tubes close at 12:00 or so and we realized with 10 minutes to spare that the well meant intentions of a young British chap had led us astray. We boarded the second to last carriage heading to Harlesden, an apparently sketchy neighborhood on the outskirts of London. Of course that meant that once committed to our path there was no cheap way to return to the city should we not find our place to stay. No one else had traveled alone or really even encountered anything close to the feeling of being lost early in the morning in a sketchy situation wondering where you were going to sleep and I'll be nice by saying that people were getting quite upset. It didn't help that Harlesden really was as sketchy as people had told us it was. We FINALLY found the hotel only to find out that the reservation never came through somehow. Alex and I were planning to either sleep out on the street or just stay up the rest of the night as opposed to the girls plan of charging up the emergency credit cards but we ended up getting a room at the last minute. To quote Bobby, "Sometimes security outweighs frugality." In this situation I'd personally have to disagree, but I suppose money shouldn't stand in the way of piece of mind if you need it. Anyways, when I said we got a room, I mean one room for all 8 of us. Really that is what I'd wanted from the start and the group was so relieved to be off the street that no one minded sleeping 4 to a bed. The night ended up being a blast - I'll leave out the details if you don't mind - but I will leave you with these group photos we took of the freshly pacified girls and of course Ryan, Bobby, Alex, and I.

Here is a picture of Harlesden during the day so you can get a picture of what the place is like. Not so threatening now, but when there are lots of crazy people walking around in the middle of the night, you wouldn't want to be there if you had a choice.

I was sad to see our group from Harlesden split up but we wanted to see different things with our last time in London. I went with Alex to Picadilly Circus where I agreed to do a bit of shopping with him if he would come to the Tate Modern with me afterwards. As London's version of Times Square, it was worth the visit. We had some spectacular weather which made for some nice photos.

As you might expect, no photography is allowed inside the Tate Modern, but the building is fantastic and the art even better. Maybe I just feel like this because I was just there, but I think I enjoyed this museum more than any other I've been to.

This was the one picture I managed to take inside the museum before I was informed that it was strictly prohibited. Don't think I was being sheisty either! I swear, there were no signs posted anywhere!

There was however a balcony of the third floor where you could take a break and I got some cool photos from there. The man in the cherry picker was working in conjunction with those two men on the ground. I've no idea what he was doing, but I bet he thought it was wierd that I was taking pictures of him.

These are the last two photos I took, reflected off the glass, before we left the Tate and headed back accross town to catch our train home. The first shows the full view accross the Thames, but the second is cooler in my opinion. I just like the way that Alex and I look.

Wow this took a long time to put together so I hope that someone reads this and whoever does, at least enjoys it somewhat as much as I did making it. I'll be heading off to Wales this weekend so expect another entry in something like 10 days.