Wales (not whales)

This weekend marked the end of an era. Our group went to Wales: our final excursion. Wales was about a four-hour drive from York. We left early and most of us slept on the bus. We went to Conwy first, a charming sea-side town with a castle. It was sunny and warm when we got there. I had a cheap, yummy lunch at a little bakery, and then Karie, Gabe and I lay down in a field of grass before we met our group at the castle. Conwy Castle was very fun to explore, although it did start drizzling once we got in. You might see a video of me on Facebook where I'm imitating a sheep on a pile of rocks. That is in Conwy Castle.
By the time we were finished climbing up the twisty staircases in the Castle, it was very cold and wet, so we huddled in a mass penguin-style until our bus came to take us to our hostel. The hostel was nice and clean, and it had beds, which was our main area of focus, since a lot of us conked out for an hour or two until our group dinner. Unfortunately, the entire floor below us was inhabited by a mob of very loud middle schoolers. I may or may not have said some very nasty comments about wishing the bunk beds would collapse on top of them, a remark I regret, since they were surprisingly polite and well-behaved in the cafeteria. After dinner, most of the girls took a nice walk through a field and some woods. Then a group of us went into the town and found a pub.
The next morning, we left Conwy early and went to Caernarfon, another town with a castle. This castle was bigger than Conwy Castle, and it had a lot more secret passageways and rooms to explore, which I did with Karyn and Kristi. I had purposely stuffed myself at breakfast, so I didn't need lunch (I also stole three croissants and an orange from the hostel for dinner. Sh!). However, I did get a latte. We left Caernarfon and went to Beaumaris, yet another seaside town with a castle. By this time, we were all castled-out. We went to the beach, which was freezing, and then strolled along the streets. We found an adorable little tea shop, which reminded me greatly of Grandma and Grandpa Gau's old house, with all these different tea sets displayed. I got a pot of tea, and we sat there chatting for a long time until we had to meet the bus again.
This trip was only about thirty-six hours, but I enjoyed every minute of it. It was raining most of the time, but the Welsh landscape is so wild and dramatic that it almost seemed fitting. Now the only thing I have to do is look up how to pronounce all of those Welsh words!