Chapter 23: Sooooo Cold!

I cannot believe I will be able to give you two posts in one day, but that is happening and yes, if you have not read the first, do that now, and keep this one for later.

If you have already read the last post, you will find yourself prepared to go on a short journey to Wales with me. The plan was: 

• Getting up on the Saturday, getting a train to Newport and another train to Abergavenny.
• Enjoy a fun day there, sleep at a small hotel, get up in the morning and get a train to Cardiff.
• Haste through Cardiff, take a lot of pictures, and take a train home in the late evening.

As some of you may be familiar with my organisational skills, you will find it hard to believe, that this would work out. I got up way to late, and had to leave the house without breakfast, ran to the bus stop and - to my own surprise - got the bus. I was happy that I was not late, and I would catch my train. Well, I would have, if my luck did not leave me. The bus broke down, and I had to run to the train station. I missed my first train by two minutes, and had to wait for the next one. Of cause that meant I would have to travel on my own. So I was robbed of one of the most exciting parts of all tours. Instead of laughing,sitting in the train, joking around and making plans that would never come true, I was stuck in a train on my own. Instead of two trains, I now had to take 3 trains, and thanks to the delays due to the weather, I missed the second train as well. If that is not bad enough, let me cheer you up, by telling you, that I also missed my third train. In the end I arrived, and was warmly welcomed by Beatriz, Chloé, Clotilde, Maria, Valeria and Christopher. After throwing my stuff in the cheap but lovely hotel, we went to see the town center of Abergavenny. The first thing I bought, were gloves, and spending 2 pounds on them, was by far the best purchase I have made in England so far. We got a hint from the tourist information that there was a beautiful way to walk to see some of the beautiful countryside, so we took the bus to where they suggested, and started to walk. It was about a four miles walk, and after it took us an hour for the first half mile, we started doubting if we would ever make it. It was a beautiful way along a canal, and since the scenery changed a lot, it was not boring at all. Also it was not boring, because you have plenty of opportunities to talk to the other people, and find out what they want to do with their lives, and what they have done so far. Most of them have by far more experience than me, and have stories to tell, of which I have never dreamed of, so it was really exciting and enjoyable for me. While sorting my thoughts, I'll leave you with some pictures, although there are a lot more in my Bath folder of picasa and I strongly advice you to take a look there. 

Not only did we walk along a canal, but there was some excitement going on, when we found our way blocked by a cow, standing on the wrong side of the canal. Obviously it wanted to go on the ice, but it did not carry the cow, so the cow crashed in the water, and had to swim to the land again. Sadly, it was the wrong land. The cow walked in front of us for about a mile without really having any other option. When it came to a small bridge, it could not walk further and it became really nervous. We tried to let it pass us, but that would not work. After some thrilling twenty seconds, it ran past us, and almost fell in the water. Needless to say, the cow was even more scared than us.

We arrived at our goal, right in time to catch a bus home to Abergavenny to watch the Rugby game. Sadly, there was no bus for 40 minutes. We arrived 30 minutes into the game, and where not too thrilled to see the rest of the game, mainly because it was sooooo cold, and we where really hungry. The evening was spent with enjoying the great hospitality of the hotel, eating pizza and talking to some native people. We ended up in our "living room" and played a really cool card game, which is by far the best drinking game I've ever heard of, although we did not play it as such. We slept in a dormitory for 10, but luckily we had it for ourselves, so it was no big issue. We got up early in the morning before our train arrived to see the castle again, and the town center and to take some nice pictures of Abergavenny. "We" meaning Beatriz, Clotilde, Chloé and me, since some of us value sleep and warmth more than pictures and experiences. It was really really really really cold, but totally worth it, since:

We arrived back in the hotel early enough, to have a tea to warm us up, before we took the train to Cardiff. Arriving in Cardiff, and with a full day plan, we enjoyed a sunny, and therefore beautiful Cardiff, and I will supply you with a lot of pictures, before I continue blabbing on.

Bea

Chloé, Christopher, Clotilde

Clotilde, Christopher
Valeria, Beatriz, Chloé

on the left hand: part of the Millennium Stadium

The Cardiff bay area

Now that I have picture spammed you enough, I will commence with telling you a little bit more about our day. The most important part: We ate Frankfurters (German sausages). Also I want to stress, that it was really really cold. We finished our sightseeing tour at around 5 and as we were so exhausted, we thought about taking an earlier train. In fact three of us did, but the rest of us decided that 10 pounds was not worth it, so we enjoyed the rest of our day in a Pub, mainly warming up, eating and looking at pictures.

I came hope so late at night, and so cold and exhausted, I just wanted to go to bed. Seeing the upload times of my pictures, you know that this did not happen, and thus began the new week with me being awake instead of asleep again. Drawing a conclusion, I would say, we all enjoyed the trip and I am quite sure, that lots of fun trips will be following soon. I think all that is left for me to do now, and that is what I was saving it for: Thank you!