Three countries, two girls, one day!

Also six cities and five trains per weekend and four hot beverages per day! (Tory and I spent a good amount of time thinking that one out, so appreciate it.)

Tory and I had a lovely and very busy weekend in Cardiff, Wales. Beautiful little city, very clean and bright. Friday we caught an early train in, leaving us enough time to see Cardiff Castle before dinner. Cardiff Castle was funny- they clearly tried to be multi-national by creating a fifteen minute wordless film about the history of the castle, but the plot was really complicated! A teenage girl found a book that brough the history of the castle to life, so historical figures were riding around without explanation. Walked out more confused than when I walked in. Had a fantastic dinner friday at La Tasca, which is a tapas restaurant with explicitly labeled gluten free options! Delicious delicious delicious. Then we saw the new Matt Damon movie! Maybe not a particularly Welsh thing to do, but it's Matt Damon! There's an intrinsic exception there.

Saturday we went to the National Museum of Wales, which covered a lot of ground for a relatively small museum! We saw the exhibit on Buddhist art from Dazu, China as well as an exhibit on the evolution of Wales and one on French Impressionism. Nice bit of variety. Then off to St. Peter's Cathedral, followed by quick lunch and then Llandaff Cathedral. The cathedral wasn't actually on the map of the city centre, it trailed off down "Cathedral Way," so we figured it couldn't be a very long walk. 45 minutes of quick-walking disproved that notion. Anyway we got there and then hung around the area until our ghost tour on the old monastery grounds. Good tour! Legitimately scary! But a good amount of history, too. 2 and a half hours! Cold, though. Really freaking cold. The space heater in the hotel was my best friend for a good hour after we got back.

Also, note- hotel, not hostel! No flip flops in the shower! Ahhh.

Sunday we went to St. Fagan's Welsh History Museum, which was the equivalent of a kind of Williamsburg, but for Wales. The exhibits were open air recreations of different phases in Welsh history. Also, they had a GIANT pig. I bet there are cows smaller than that thing. Terrifying.

Before we left we had time to go back to La Tasca for lunch. Round two was even better.

So, on to pictures!

Forgot to mention, we walked through this really beautiful park along the river before we checked into our hotel.

Tory meeting Kip.

Flowers! Spring!

Duck butt. Hehe.

Cardiff Castle. It has a moat!

Kip inspecting the castle walls.

Note Tory's sunglasses. As in, there was enough sun for SUNglasses.

The city from the castle ramparts. It's really right in the city centre!

Main street.

There is an "animal wall" with all different stone animals. Kip wanted to join in.

Outside of the national museum.

St. Peter's Cathedral.

I really liked the words on this window. It reads: "When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today."

The market. We got super cheap and delicious blueberries and apples.

Llandaff Cathedral. Haunted by more ghosts than you want to know about.

The Museum of Welsh Life.

The General Store. All the stuff is real!

My Andy Warhol imitation.



Kip made some friends, but then Tory ate them.



He's more of a solo kind of bear, anyway. How majestic.

Tory communing with the GIANT pig.

Just look at that thing!

The Celtic Village.

The Celts were apparently very small people.

Ducks look funny walking on land.

This is Gwyn (that's welsh for "white"). He lives in the old mill and he is an exceptional climber.

This is Gwyn about five seconds later. I'm convinced that cat is part panther.

The remains (or lack thereof) of our lunch at La Tasca. Best. Thing. Ever.

Tory pretending that she didn't just eat half of that.

Great weekend, and Kerry (and Ariana?) are joining me this friday!!! I can't believe how fast the time is going. So many places to go!

Pooh quote: "Pooh hasn't much Brain, but he never comes to any harm. He does silly things and they turn out right."

Much love,
Erin

A sculptural update

Hey guys!

So I'm leaving for Wales with Tory in the wee hours tomorrow morning, so I figured I'd post a quick update. This week has been great- very very hectic, but that's exactly the way I like it. Plans for spring break are popping up everywhere, same as the crocuses that remind me everywhere I look that spring is coming! So much to look forward to! Traveling, the potential for actually getting a sunburn, or even wearing a sundress!

Anyway here is the week 2 evolution of my sculpture, thought it could be kind of a fun continuity:

Pooh quote: "It's sort of comforting to know if you have fourteen pots of honey left, or fifteen, as the case may be."

Be back sunday! Probably will update with picture monday.

Much love,
Erin

Northern Ireland!

Okay, so. I think it'd be easier to do this entry in all-picture form. Enjoy! (I did.) Damn I love Ireland.

First stop monday morning: The Botanic Gardens outside Ulster Museum. Pretty much the most delightfully fragrant and peaceful place I've ever been.

EVERYTHING was in bloom. COLORS!

And check out the sunlight!

Then we went to the Ulster museum, and after that it was time for a Coffee Break. Intentional use of capital letters to signify importance.

Camila agrees.

City Hall.

Interior of city hall.

Inside the very modern and cool mall, there's this "observatory" where you have a very cool view of the city.

The clocktower.

St. Anne's Cathedral.

Me and Kip and a big fish by the waterfront.

The harbour, near Titanic Quarter.

Check out that seagull shot. Mad skill.

Day two! The coast near the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

Gorgeous.

Kip was a little nervous about crossing the ancient hundred-foot-in-the-air-over-crashing-waves bridge, but I talked him through it.

Our shadows! dunno exactly how Camila became headless.

Giants Causeway.

Rock-scampering!

London-Derry. Aka Stroke City. Gotta be careful with the name. For protestants, it's Londonderry. For catholics, Free Derry. Site of the Bloody Sunday Massacre and still home to some serious religious tension.

A wall mural in London-Derry.

Day Three! A wall mural in the Protestant Quarter of Belfast. The tensions in Belfast are still very prominent, though the city itself is safe. I love how those tensions are being translated into an artistic medium, rather than a physical one.

One of the peace-oriented murals in the Protestant Quarter.

This was a motto during the peace talks that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The people want to be involved in the peace-process, not decided for or about.

One of the protestant murals. The gun follows you as you walk- watch.

How weird is that? It's very creepy to walk past.

The murals in the Catholic Quarter. The tendency here is to have current international as well local historical messages.



Newcastle. A very summery and quiet but cute town- I wanted ice cream there, really badly.

Camila and I playing in the fish-eye orb on the boardwalk.

From our little hike near the town.

Check out that reflection.

Pooh quote: "If you stood on the bottom rail of a bridge, and leant over, and watched the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you would suddenly know everything that there is to be known."

Much love,
Erin