Chapter Eleven

This week we went on a short jaunt to Wales and a bit of England that is next to Wales.  Our first stop was the Big Pit, which is a coal mine.  Basically it was awesome.  We got to go down in the mine and take a tour.  It was intense. We had to wear hard hats and leather belts with ventilators on them, in case the mine caved in or something. Basically we were looking really cute.  

Coal Mining Cuties. 

Our tour guide was a hilarious little Welsh man.  He told us all about how he did drugs once in Amsterdam and he would never do it again... basically my favorite middle aged Welsh coal miner ever.  The mine was awesome, but would be no fun to work in and made me so glad that I will never be a coal miner, even though I did love the hard hat ensemble.  

Our next stop was the Welsh Folk Museum.  It wasn't really a museum, but more like a Welsh Folk version of Disneyland.  There were all these old Welsh buildings that took you through all different aspects of Welsh life.  The whole area was very pretty and the autumn trees were my favorite.  Growing up in Newport didn't give a lot of opportunities to bask in autumn's loveliness.  So I did in Wales.  

I love autumn. 

Chicken fight in the Cock Pit.

The next day we went to Tintern Abbey, or what was left of Tintern Abbey.  When Henry VIII began the Church of England he had all the montessoris disolved.  The churches were stripped of everything, including the roof, so they fell into disrepair.  There are tons of Abbey ruins all over England.  I loved Tintern.  It was so beautiful and majestic.  In a way I thought it was almost more beautiful as the intact abbey's.  The mixture of the grand building and nature was really beautiful.  

The rest of the day we went on a church history tour of the Hereforshire area.  We visited the places where Wilford Woodruff taught.  It was really great to be able to see the places where miracles happened and learning about the difficulties that many early members of the church faced. One of my favorite places we visited was British Camp, Malvern Hill.  It wasn't really a british camp, but was used in a battle or something.  That wasn't why it was cool though.  It was this huge green hill.  When we got to the top we could see all of the countryside.  It was beautiful.  The sun broke through the clouds while we were up there and we could see the whole expanse of the Malvern hills and the fields and villages.  

I am still amazed by all things that I have done these past few months.  Whenever I look back at the things I have done it seems unreal.  Everyday is such an adventure, it seems unreal.  I have climbed to the top of the Malvern hills, explored ruins, and traipsed through tunnels 400 feet underground, and that was just these past two days. Somebody pinch me, please.