London

Luckily, between the wedding and camping, I was able to sneak down to London for a quick 48 hour visit. When I arrived at Maddy and Matt's new flat (which is amazing) dinner was almost ready and there were a fine selection of brews for us to enjoy. We ate and watched the closing Olympic ceremonies. It was really helpful to have them around as some of the performers I did not recognize, but between Maddy and Matt they had them all down by name. 

 While Maddy and Matt had to head to work the next day I went about exploring. When arriving in the London Bridge station, I spotted this sign: 

 Really, London? The Unicorn Theatre? Right. sure. right next to city hall is it? London had loads of additional signage up for the out of town Olympic visitors, but I reckon this is a joke all year round. 

 Around the British Museum, there were multiple facts and trivia painted on the pavement. This goes to support my theory that one of focuses of British culture is to prepare its citizens to be successful in a pub quiz.

 Normally in the underground there are no shortage of "keep left" signs. However, in honor of the Olympics there were hundreds of bright pink signage and intentional reminder that unlike most other countries in the world... the Brits pass on the left. Quite polite of them, really.

 These are two of the pictures I took in the Shakespeare Staging the World exhibit at the British Museum.  It was very much worth the extra pounds entry fee. I should also mention that I was yelled at immediately after taking the second photo. Not just quietly asked to put my camera away but a decidedly "that is your last photo" with a scowl from the tiny man in the corner. As if I were surreptitiously sneaking around photographing things. I looked for signs of no photos before taking the picture. Ah well. So this is John Donne. ta-da! The exhibit connects historical events during Shakespeare's lifetime with characters, events and circumstances in his works. I would say that the exhibit does a good job with the correlation, but I think they would be hard pressed to claim causality in many of the cases. I kept wanting to circle bits of the plaques with a red pen and right "source?" Still good though. 

 William Blake! After I picked up Maddy from work and before we headed to Caroline and Rebecca's for dinner, we stopped by the graveyard of non-Catholics right around the corner. Where we see the grave of William Blake!

 and John Bunyan! Maddy kept asking "who the lady was that is on that grave." Hence the quizzical face to find out she is a man.

 It was a really rejuvenating and all too short trip to London. We ran to catch trains, ate some delicious food and laughed a lot. I do believe I have some of the greatest friends. Sometimes I wish they were not so far away, or all lived in the same city. But as it is... seems almost no matter where I find myself there is at least one old friend nearby to greet me. I am lucky.

Pretty prefect transition picture for the upcoming blog entries. We were on the tube returning from dinner and saw this advertisement. Why, yes. I will go to Slovakia. In fact, I am there right now! :) 

Tenby, Wales Part Three: Sunshine!!

Our last two days of camping in Tenby we had unbelievably nice weather. Such nice weather that we decided to stay an extra whole day and do indulgent things like have a long late breakfast at Cafe Vista. We found Cafe Vista on the first evening of walking around Tenby and the views of the coast are unbeatable and the coffee and food is delicious. Hence the big smile. :)

 Plus I had some good company. Tim in his Cafe Vista promotional photo.

 My view from the balcony.

 Tim's view from the balcony

 Of course, we didn't stay in the cafe all day, though it was tempting. We wandered around the beach (I have so much sunscreen on in this photo) and played some backgammon at the park overlooking the water (no photos of that, but I assure you it was really nice. we even had some fresh cherries for snacks!)

 British Beach culture is fantastic. There are so many families and kids, people of all ages out building sand castles, hiding in little beach tents or turning as red as lobsters. In some subcultures in the UK, a sunburn is something of a page of honor that conveys the message: "I was on holiday somewhere beautiful and it was SUNNY." They love the weather, they do.

I really enjoyed the little bunting decorations around the town. After experiencing running around Tenby under an umbrella and slowly sauntering around Tenby in the sunshine, I have to say, I like it either way. It was interesting to see the shift in people primarily spending time in town to moving to the beaches once the weather was warm. We managed to find a restaurant on the beach which allowed us both shade of umbrellas and coffees... great combination. I hadn't remembered to take pictures of the view from our campsite which was just north of town, but it was also beautiful so we spent most evenings firing up the little portable BBQ and making creative and delicious camping feasts! Holidays are great. 

Tenby, Wales Part Two: Caldey Island

Tim and I decided that a good use of one of the days with nicer weather would be to make a trip to Caldey Island.  Caldey Island is home to a Benedictine Monastery and retreat center established in 1910. You can see the Island from Tenby's beaches. In the picture below, behind me and Jesus, you can faintly see the city of Tenby. It starts with a boat ride across the bay. Which is great and terrifying if you are like me and ever so slightly maybe a little bit nervous around open water. 

 We made it and Tim offered to take my picture with the cross, which is nice to have now and also strange, but that's me: nice and strange. So I offered to take a photo of Tim with the cross reflecting on his sunnies, subtle and very cool.

 The Island was beautiful, especially if you can make your way to the more remote portions, which I would highly recommend. The trees above are fairly near where the boat drops you and the cliffs below are on the other side of the tiny Island hear the light house.

 I sat on this rock ledge for awhile, it was cozy and not too close to the cliff as it might look in the photo above. Remember that I am almost 6 feet tall so my feet are going to be a considerable distance closer to the edge than the rest of me. Don't worry, mom. I was safe. Also thought that the view behind me was pretty beautiful (pictured below)

 Here is a bit of the coastal path around the Island. This is a great part of the day because where the tea shops and main area for visitors is, there are a ton of families and kids... which is great... unless you want some quiet time. Far fewer people are found wandering out onto the path. Maybe because of this sign found on the fence:

 However, carrying on down the path allows you seats like this. A place where I imagine monks go when the Island is closed and they have the run of it. It was quiet. It was peaceful. 

 In addition to the new builds on the island, there are several older buildings, including the oldest still functioning Roman Catholic chapel in the UK.  You can kind of see it in the picture above, it is where the tall pointy bit of stone peaks out over the trees. Most other buildings are either churches or named "The Old Mill" "The Old Priory" The Old _____ . You get the idea.

 These are some photographs from inside St. David's chapel. I am always moved that even in a busy touristy Island, so many have made time to come and light and candle and say a prayer for their loved ones.  Below is some of the artwork by the monks on the island. These were also taken in the chapel.

 Some photographs of the outside of St. David's. My favorite part of the Island (other than the cliff path)  was that you could hear the monks singing and praying the hours from the Daily Office. It was beautiful. I'd highly recommend the little boat ride out to the Caldey Island. 

Tenby, Wales- Part One- The Rainy Season

For a bit of vacation before starting my internship, I headed to one of my favorite spots: Pembrokeshire. Pembrokeshire is in South West Wales and so beautiful. Tim and I were deciding between St. David's and Tenby as places to go camping, but as the weather forecast was dubious, we chose Tenby... many more options for a rainy afternoon. Plus there are cool signs... like the one above and the one below :)

 Even though the weather was grim for the first two days, we ventured out onto the Beach, it was especially nice when the tide was out. Here is a view of those pastel buildings of Tenby from the beach!

 Rain jackets and wet hair--this is the kind of beach to which I am accustomed. I think there must be many people who think "beach" and think sunshine and swimming. But I grew up in Washington State and the "beach" to me means turning over rocks to look for little crabs, wind, rain jackets, kites, and candy shops. So the rainy day at Tenby suited me just fine.  Note the umbrella in the photograph above.

 This is the view of Tenby as we walked down from our campsite. Tenby is really beautiful, there were loads of little tea shops where we had afternoon cream teas... or as I ordered: 

me: "Hi, may I please have two scones with jam and clotted cream and two cups of tea with milk?" waiter: "So, two cream teas?"
me: "ah. yes. thank you. that would be the shorter way of saying it."

They were delicious.

 This is the North Beach in Tenby, it was great to walk on it on the way to town, even with the rainy weather. There is something really relaxing about being out and on the beach. When the tide is in, it goes well passed that rock and I feel extra sneaky and cool that I get walk on the part that is normally under water...it is the little things.

This is a picture of Tenby from the beach in the picture above. Not a bad way to walk into town for a cup of tea, eh?