We spent the day at Penrhyn castle, which was actually very lovely. But..... The walk up the driveway is a mile from the bus stop, partly up hill. Part of the walk was a shortcut through the castle lawn, which soaked through my shoes to cover my feet in freezing cold early morning dew, which matched the odd mixture of sweat that was brewing under my damn jacket because I had some cold/hot temperature issue my body was trying to figure out. When I asked if I wanted the camera for photo opportunities, I growled, "No", in my sweetest possible voice. All I could think was I wanted the dry pavement because my feet were wet. Andrew was incrediably sweet and did his best to make me feel better.
It was nice to see where Andrew spends so much time and to meet all his friends and coworkers. Everyone here has been so kind and warm, I really have been lucky to meet so many nice people. We did spend half the day at the castle. After learning all about the Penrhyn's, we had afternoon tea in the castle tea room. I had my Earl Grey with a flapjack. Now, a flapjack isn't what we also call a pancake. It looked like a light and fluffy square of spice cake, but ended up being a very yummy, but heavy and filling sweet oatcake that sits in your gut like a brick.
After tea we made our way out of the castle and walked down to Porth Penrhyn where we caught the bus to upper Bangor where I went to my first proper British grocery. They have so many of the things we do at home, but it's all packaged differently. They have Pringles, but in flavors like Prawns, Cheese and Paprika. The bakery area has packaged breads, but also these bins filled with rolls that are just open for anyone to rummage through with bare hands! I was appalled and Andrew looked at me and asked what. What? Really? There may be a set of tongs, but who actually uses them? And God knows where hands have been and when they were washed last, not to mention just the open air with the germs of all the people walking by. Yes, I had a small germ-a-phobe moment in the middle of Morrisons bakery section.
I've yet to adjust to the cars driving on the other side of the street thing, nor have I been able to make sense of the seemingly excessive use of round-abouts. For those who don't know what a round-about is; think the traffic circle on Admiral in Tulsa, that's a round about. But instead of the one we have, they use them instead of our four way stop intersections. Now imagine that on a bus, looping its way through town.
Today was so long that by the time we got home I wasn't sure if I needed pain medication for my feet or nausea medicine for the motion sickness I get everytime I'm on a bus. Yes, the girl who gets car sick sitting in the back of a car is using a bus as my main mode of transportation. The first shopping trip we had to make was to Boots (pharmacy) for motion sickenss medicine. Ohmigosh! That reminds me, in Boots, they had a mini Loreal Mens display with a picture of Gerry! It took everything I had not to squeal (louder than I did) and lick the display (which I did not)!
From now on I will be posting one proof-of-life picture per entry and including the rest by adding a link to my photobucket account. The process for posting them here is too long and the photobucket is much easier.
Hope all is well with everyone at home.
~Rebecca
