Sunday 30 May 2010

Rocks in a Circle, Conwy Castle, Colwyn Bay Zoo, and Penrhyn Castle

My Dad and I woke up really early the next morning to catch the 6 o'clock train on Friday. We went to NewPort and then switched train to go to Salisbury. Now Stonehenge is not in Salisbury but it is the closest town to it. We bought tickets for a tour of Stonehenge and then took a bus to get out there. Stonehenge is in the most weirdest spot ever. It is out in the middle of nowhere with two lanes of traffic on both sides. Before you go into the area to see Stonehenge, you have to pass through a tunnel underground (to make sure people pay to see the attraction and not just walk right in) and come out on the other side right by it. You can no longer get very near the rocks but there is a section where you can get fairly close to it. We both got audio tour guides but somehow mine was not in English, I think it was in Russian. It didn't really matter. Dad was the one who really wanted to see it so I let him listen to all of the information on his English speaking audio guide. We walked around the whole thing twice and I took so many pictures of it. I really didn't need to but I wanted to try different angles. I look at them now and they all look the same. Oh well. We stayed there for a little while and then caught the bus back to Salisbury but not without taking a detour at the Old Sarum. This was a place where a castle used to be but there wasn't much left except for a few ruins so we didn't stay too long at the place. Our train left for Bangor in the afternoon and didn't get back until later in the evening. On the train ride back up I studied for my psychology final that was going to be next week.

The next day, Saturday, was a fieldtrip to Conwy Castle and the Colwyn Bay Zoo. But this time I was able to take along Dad! It was so great! We arrived at Conwy and walked on top of the medieval town walls that surround the town center. After 800 years, we are still able to walk ontop of them! I found that to be pretty cool. Dad loved the castle and I found it to be interesting but to tell you the truth, it was another castle. I was getting a little tired of castles and they were all starting to look the same to me. After exploring the castle, Dad an I went shopping for some gifts Dad was going to buy for the family. We ate our sandwiches for lunch and then headed on over to the Colwyn Bay Zoo. We had to take a very winding road to get to the place up in the mountain and it was a miracle the bus even made it through the narrow passages. The zoo is a very small place because of the little funding they have but I hadn't been to a zoo in a while so it was still fun. They put several animals together which made it rather interesting. For example, ponies and deer, wallabies and goats, and parrots and ginnie pigs. Weird, I know. We didn't stay too long at the zoo. We got back and then I had to hurry and get ready because my choir concert was that night. We were singing Verdi's Requiem and it lasted way too long in my opinion. But we had 4 soloists and the Bangor University Symphonic Orchestra with us as well. It went very well and I enjoyed it so much. What made it even better was my Dad was able to see it. I would have never thought that Dad would ever come see my choir concert while I was abroad. It certainly made my night. I was in the second row on the left hand side among the many sopranos. Annie Wignall, a senior from Central, did choir with me. I had so much fun with her this year. I got to get to know her better and have someone I actually knew during choir. After about 2 and a half hours the concert was over. After a whole semester of practicing, I thought we sounded fairly good.

The next day was my last fieldtrip and my last day with Dad. We visited Penrhyn Castle that is located right outside of Bangor. It was originally owned by the Pennent family as a house and is still furnished the way that it used to be. It was huge and very richly decorated. We had an audio guide that took us around the place (mine was in English, don't worry) and explained several items. In one bedroom, there was a one ton slate bed that Queen Victoria slept on during her visit in 1859. They also had walled gardens that made it actually look like it was from the Secret Garden! Inside the gardens were gorgeous with flowers blooming everwhere. After our time in the gardens, it was time to head on back to the bus and get back to Bangor. Dad and I ordered pepperoni pizza from the Pizza House and helped him pack everything up. His train left at 5:14 in the morning and his flight left at 9:30.
The next morning I got up at 4 with Dad to make sure he had everything packed and to say goodbye. He didn't want me walking him to the train station because then I would have to walk back alone. So I had to say goodbye to him in my room. It was incredibly hard for me. I spent every single minute (except for a few days) the last 2 weeks with him. I will confess that I did tear up a little bit but I made myself not cry. But as soon as he left my room, I crawled back into my own bed and cried. I eventually fell asleep and woke up the next morning to an empty room. My emotions were very confused the next few days because it felt like my room was back in order because no one was there but then it felt really weird not having Dad there. I eventually got over it and things kinda went back to normal. I just had to keep telling myself that I was going to see my Dad and everyone else in about a month.

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