The Oxfordshire Countryside - May 30 - Day 15

Kate and Heather had made plans to spend the day in Oxford doing fun touristy things and probably getting lost (Kate's bad at directions, and Heather's only good at navigating if she has both a map and a general idea of where things are based on having been somewhere more than once).  Unfortunately, it was raining ridiculously hard and showed absolutely no sign of stopping, so instead we headed over to Kate's place for lunch, games, and a journey to the stereotypical English pub.  

All of lunch was Kate friendly, meaning it contained no gluten, dairy, soy, or oranges.  It was, however, delicious, and Kate's family was very nice.  

It turns out both Heather and Kate suck at pool, so despite Alice (Kate's sister) taking over the pool game, it still dragged on for a very long time.  And Kate won at Racing Demons (a game suspiciously like Dutch Blitz, only played with real cards).  

After lunch, we took the Thatcher family dog to the pub.  To get there, we needed to walk through a field of sheep, through a gate, along the edge of three fields, diagonally across a field with long grass, over a ditch, past another field of sheep, and down a country lane.  It was very wet, since it was raining.  Then we got to the pub and it was dark and small and lovely, just like all English pubs should be.  The dog was even allowed inside!  

All in all it was a good day. 

Windsor - May 29 - Day 14

In the morning, Kate came by for breakfast.  However, she had already eaten breakfast before she came for breakfast, so she just came and watched Helen and Heather eat breakfast (which is probably for the best, since Kate pretty much can't eat food).  Helen had a cricket match to attend (she's managing the Oxfordshire under 15 girls' team or something along those lines), so after breakfast, she dropped Heather off at the train station, and Heather headed off to spend the day in Windsor to visit the queen (once again, the queen failed to make an appearance, so we just went sightseeing instead).

Windsor Castle had an absurdly long line to get in, so we made the wise decision to not stand in said line.  The castle was, in fact, under construction, which was pretty great.

Also, there was a clock in the sidewalk.

We went on a brief visit to Eton (located across the river from Windsor, and about a 4 minute walk away) to see the college.  It is pretty ugly, but has some very hilarious gargoyles/grotesques on the walls of the chapel.  And also a lovely way into the grounds for young children who out past curfew.

Then we went for a walk down the Thames.  We saw swans, the river, the lock, and a pigeon pooped on Heather's bag.  She was annoyed at the pigeon.

And that pretty much summed up the day!  We headed back to Eynsham and we actually met Helen's mom.  Then Helen came back in a panic because her cricket game went longer than anticipated (which is apparently common for cricket games), so she ran around like, ate some toast, and then we drove her to the train station so she could go back to Cardiff and her exam (which was the next day).

Barry Island and London - May 28 - Day 13

On my last day in Wales, we got some traditional Welsh weather.  It was cold, it was rainy, and it was generally not nice out.  So to celebrate, we went to the beach!  We headed out to Barry Island (which is not actually an island) on the train from Cardiff Central (instead of Cathays, which meant more walking, but generally better train services).  

Upon arrival at the beach, we discovered there was no one there (this was largely due to the nice Welsh weather).  However, it was a very lovely beach, with a nice cliff/wall/something overlooking it. 

(This guy was the only guy in the water since the weather sucked so much.)

It was very windy at the top. 

Also, there were rocks.  Heather decided that sedimentary rocks look pretty, but they're really not that exciting most of the time (aside from their nice looks). 

In the afternoon, we headed to London and visited St James' Park.  It was full of ducks, and also people. 

We also made a brief stop at Buckingham Palace and an even briefer stop at the parliament buildings.  Someone was protesting in a TARDIS, which of course caught Heather's eye (apparently Doctor Who is super interesting.  Who knew?).  

Post London, we took the train back up to Oxford and the bus back to Eynsham where we would be spending the rest of our vacation.  We were staying at Helen's house now, which is EVEN CLOSER to the bus stop than Helen's granny's house.  

(This is where Helen lives.  She's moving soon.)

Blaenavon Ironworks and Newport - May 27 - Day 12

Helen decided that studying was essential to her success as a student for her final exam, so Heather and I took the train to Newport without her.  From Newport, we took the bust to Blaenavon for a tour of the ironworks (now a museum and non-operational).  It was originally opened in the 1780's, and is one of the most complete ironworks from that time that's still around in Britain.  It's also the site of a TV show that was filmed by BBC Wales called Coal House, which Heather had never heard of before she got there.  Apparently it's a reality show.

Post ironworks, Heather went on a quick walk around Blaenavon, which is a very small town right next to the Brecon Beacons (a national park in Wales consisting of hills/mountains).  They have some pretty neat things.

After returning to Newport, Heather went on a walk along the River Usk, which flows through Newport.  The riverside contains lots of weird art, a pretty great bridge, and also a castle.

When we got back to Cardiff, we went for a brief excursion to the Bay.  They had a neat little international food market going on, which was kind of cool.