Wales, July 2005
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All photographs and text © Copyright 2000-2005 by Jessica and/or Sharon Bussert.
The Dorm Rooms
As soon as we arrived in Cardiff, we headed to the local university where we were staying for the night.
Many years ago, Sharon made the great discovery that colleges and universities often rent out unused dorm rooms during the summer sessions. And they rent them cheap! WOOHOO!
Cardiff Castle
As soon as we dropped off our luggage, we headed for the Cardiff Castle.
Major construction took place on this location over three different periods. The first to be built were the fortress walls, originally constructed during the Roman occupation. Next came the construction of the main keep (pictured) which was built in the 12th century by the Normans. Most recently, a rather rich nobleman during the mid 1800's built the main mansion.
We were not allowed to take photographs within the mansion, and the outside was covered in scaffolding as part of a major renovation currently taking place. This was a shame, as the mansion itself was simply lovely. It did make you wonder, though. The mansion was decorated in gold leaf almost everywhere, beautiful rare marble covered many of the floors, and portraits and tapestries hung on the walls, yet this building was only occupied for six weeks out of the year...
After climbing to the top of the keep, Heather crawled into the window for a look out. She looked kinda cute sitting in there!
We asked a friendly tourist to take this picture of the three of us in front of the keep.
This is the view of the city center as seen from on top of the keep, looking out over the fortress walls.
I found Cardiff to be a fun city filled with pleasant, friendly people and lots of interesting places. I'd love to come back here again!
The Museum of Welsh Life
The next day we headed out to the Museum of Welsh Life. Often these types of exhibits can be somewhat tedious. Not this one! They did an absolutely splendid job of presenting a huge amount of interesting and captivating information on the subject.
The exhibit covered a 4000-year time period, and we started right at the beginning!
These were replicas of huts built around 2000 BC. They were made of stone foundations, timber walls, and thatch roofs.
This is a view of the inside of one of the huts.
Inside another of the huts, they were giving a demonstration of early iron working techniques.
I loved the view of the coals and the sparks in this time exposure.
As we walked through the woods to the next exhibit, I had Heather pose on top of this old stump.
What does the devout druid build if he finds himself too strapped to pay for a stone circle? Why, a wood circle, of course!
According to the archaeological findings, the remains of wood circles like this have been found throughout Wales.
Our next stop was the weaver's building. This place was filled with wonderful old machines used in the production of cloth.
When I asked I was told that this machine was a 'Spinning Jack', and it supposedly predated the 'Spinning Jenny'. Err... Umm... Yeah, right...
My exuberance aside, this was a cool looking machine and I had to get a picture of it!
The next room held two looms.
I've always been fascinated by the old methods for producing cloth. When you look at these machines, you just can't help but be somewhat amazed at the things our ancestors thought up!
Abergavenny
After leaving the museum, we caught the train for a small town called Abergavenny.
As I understand it, the name 'Abergavenny' means something like 'Where the Gavenny river joins'. So you might think that this lovely river is the Gavenny.
You'd be wrong.
This is the river 'Usk'. The Gavenny is little more that a piddly little ditch with a virtual trickle running through it. So why name your town after it? Hmmmm...
Having two parents who love to take photos can get quite boring for an 18 year-old.
Luckily for me, I caught this picture of a very bored Heather sitting on a rock in the river. I wonder if she was having a dialogue with anyone...
*Jess smiles to the Bruce Cockburn fans out there*
A little farther down the bank the ladies decided to do a little wading in the river. Right behind them came bounding this beautiful dog who just had a blast leaping in and around the water.
From the banks of the river you could turn and see parts of the old Abergavenny Castle off in the distance.
The castle was our next destination...
These ruins date back to the 12th century. The original castle was built by the somewhat nefarious William de Braose.
Old slick Willy was said to have once invited one of his rivals over to Christmas dinner, and while the rival and his guards were all getting stupid on the wine, he had them all ambushed right there in his dining hall! Personally, I think it would be a danged pain in the butt to get the stains out of the rugs...
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