This is Tinturn Abbey. It was a fully working abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the time of Henry VIII. At that time, it was abandoned and the local people began taking it apart. As the roof was made of lead, it was the first to go. Next, they would remove the stones for use in their own buildings. In the 1800's this was stopped and it is now being kept in the condition you see in the picture (hopefully for generations to come).
This is Amy and I in one of the windows. I felt like I should have had a Bible or some sort of old Greek or Roman text in Latin to read in the sun. The abbey was incredibly beautiful and really peaceful. One of my friends who is not religious said that they felt this sense of peace--like it was just an inherently spiritual place. I absolutely agree. We were only able to spend an hour wandering around and I could have spent all day relaxing and meditating.
On to St. Fagan's. When I heard it was a museum, I got really excited because, as you all know, I am a complete history nerd and I love old, historic stuff! St. Fagan's Museum actually is a lot like Plymouth Plantation or Colonial Williamsburg. There aren't actors from the time period, but what they've done is to find buildings from all different ages all over Wales and relocate them to a 100-acre living museum type place. They take houses down stone by stone and number the stones so they can be put together the exact same way. There was a Celtic village and a 1980's row house as well as a manor house, a corn mill (flour mill to us Americans) and the most beautiful gardens EVER. I had the most marvelous time wandering around with Kate and exploring the various areas and eras. We went into the mill for funsies and there was a man sitting in front of a fire with a beautiful black cat. He spoke to us in Welch: the most beautiful language I've ever heard! It was like a song, all soft vowels and sing-songy. If I had an aptitude for languages, Welch would be the next one I'd learn!
This is part of the marvelous gardens. They kind of capped off the whole day. It had rained for an entire week before the trip and that Friday was the first sunny and gorgeous day in a long time. It was a perfect day off work.
Speaking of work, I have been so swamped for the last two weeks. Since Emma and I missed a tutorial due to a miscommunication, we had to make one up this week. This means that, instead of the usual two 7-10 page essays, we had three. In one week. I have not gotten a proper night's sleep in a long time; however, as of Wednesday, I am back to the usual two essays a week which is now going to seem like a piece of cake! This week I am reading Ben Jonson's Volpone for my lit tutorial and considering the role of fortune and either the body or the spirit. For history, I'm reading about Winston Churchill...my favorite quotation about him so far is "He was the one minister who felt instinctively at home with war and with the politics of war." Basically, my essay is supposed to consider him as a wartime leader. This is a timely essay since this week's core class lecture and outing is about him and we will be going to Blenheim Palace (his family's seat). I am very excited about this prospect.
And now, having discussed my work, I should go do some for a while! Actually, I'm probably going to go to bed and just tell myself that I'll get up early tomorrow (ha, thats funny). Either way, this post has gone on long enough and I'm getting tired. Take care and I'll try not to wait so long for an update again!
Oh yeah, one more thing. MY BIKE IS FIXED!
1 comment:
"fel ci efo dau gynffon"
It's Welsh. It means "very happy". :-) (Well, not literally, but that is the gisted translation)
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