I live!

So that whole posting every day thing kind of went out the window, huh? Oooooh well, these things happen. And by 'these things happen' what I mean is 'I am a lazy sod'. So what has happened on my Whirlwind Adventures?

When last I reported, I had just left Nottingham in search of Shakespeare-ier pastures. And I found them!

I stayed in this beautiful little bed and breakfast called the Curtain Call, which was small and quiet and very comfortable! The only downside was that it was a 15 minute walk from town. When I read that on the website I though 'psh, 15 minutes! That is nothing, everything will be fine!'

And you know, it really isn't much, if you just do it twice a day. It becomes amazingly daunting, however, if you walk into town in the morning, then back for a nap, then have to try and convince yourself to walk back into town to get food.

Needless to say, I ended up drinking a lot of complimentary tea and convincing myself I really wasn't hungry.

My first day, I decided to be a Good Tourist. I woke up early and had a big, manly English Breakfast. You guys, these people eat TOMATOES and BEANS for breakfast, how bizarre is that? Kind of tasty, though. Thus fortified, I began my day. I had a plan. I was going to see all five of Shakespeare's houses, and it was going to be AWESOME. So I set off in search of Anne Hathaway's cottage, which was actually closer to my B&B than town.

It was SO beautiful, you guys. The gardens were like nothing I've ever seen- a 200-year-old garden, it smelled like a fairyland. Next, I trotted off toward town and towards Shakespeare's birthplace! It was pretty awesome- lots of costumed guides and people performing Twelfth Night in the garden. I tried to get into the archives they have, but apparently you need to make an appointment and I was just too lazy for that.

I wandered around the little walking mall in front of the Birthplace for awhile- there were lots of people painted like statues, and giant groups of tourists, and tucked in the corner was this funny little magic shop with Harry Potter stuff in the windows. Well, it looked like Harry Potter stuff, but everything was misspelled a little bit so they didn't have to pay anyone property rights. It was pretty hilarious.

I continued wandering and stumbled across Hall's Croft and New Place, and then to Trinity Church to see Shakespeare's grave! Which was probably my favorite part. I mean, how cheeky do you have to be to put a pagan curse on your tomb in a church? Man, that guy was so rad. The church was cool all on it's own- apparently there has been a place of worship there for over a thousand years. The chapel is actually 'new', having been constructed as late as the 1200's. The history, my mind boggles.

By the time I got back to my bed, I'd been exploring for over 12 hours. Everything hurt. So for the next couple days, I tried to avoid touristy things, and just wandered around Stratford in the sun, soaking up the atmosphere. I did manage to get a few more touristy things in before I left, however- I went to Warwick castle, which was AWESOME, except for the part where I twisted my ankle. I went to this super old manor house and wrote a little in their beautiful gardens. And finally, I went to see a RSC production.

I was a little hesitant, because they weren't actually doing Shakespeare the night I wanted to go- instead, they were doing a new play, which was an adaptation of Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. I'm so glad I ended up going- the acting was amazing (Ophelia from Tennant's Hamlet was in it! EEE!) and the adaptation was actually really well done, although it did remind me of what a giant prick Malory was. It was one of those moments, though, where I really should have been with someone instead of on my own. Because if I'd been with someone, the following interaction never would have happened.

See, the girl who played Guenivere had really, really red hair.

At the moment when Arthur finds out about her and Lancelot, I, without thinking, turned to the guy next to me.

"That just goes to show," I said, unthinking, "never trust a ginger."

He gave me a REALLY horrified look and angled himself away from me for the rest of the performance. This is why I should not be let out in public unsupervised, guys.

Next, I traveled to a tiny town called Hay-on-Wye. It was a pretty hefty day of travel- first a train out of Stratford to a train station in one part of Birmingham, then hi-tailing it to a train station in a DIFFERENT part of Birmingham, then getting on a train to Hereford, and then flagging down a bus to Hay. And I did ALL OF THAT without getting lost EVEN A LITTLE BIT. Because I am an Awesome Navigator. (The fact that there were signs everywhere is totally irrelevant, shut up.)

So why this tiny town? I'm so glad you asked! Hay-on-Wye is internationally known as the City of Books. It is this TINY little market town- population of about 1500, and that's counting the neighboring farms. And guess how many used bookstores it has. Go on, guess.

25. TWENTY-FIVE used bookstores. It was amazing. Books everywhere! It was heaven. Dusty, chaotic heaven. I was there for five days, and spent four of it sleeping in and then blissfully wandering through the cobble-stoned streets, eating ice cream from this UNBELIEVABLY good ice cream parlor, and looking at neat old books.

The fourth day, I met this carpenter named Brian and we got to talking. He asked me if I'd gone through the national park that's right by Hay, the Brecon Beacons and I said I hadn't, as I had no car. He was horrified by this, and offered to drive me through it the next day and I am so so glad I agreed- it was unbelievably beautiful. So green, and with these beautiful rolling hills and gorgeous old churches, sheep everywhere. Hands down it was the most beautiful place I've been since I've been here. Took my breath away.

You might notice my Hay commentary is much shorter than my Stratford commentary- this is because it was a week of total relaxation, so there's not really much to report.

After Hay I took myself to the capital city of Wales, Cardiff. I only stayed for a couple of days, but they were FUN days. I stayed in this very nice hostel right across the river from the Millennium Stadium, so my first night I went and walked around there for a bit. Wandered in and out of stores, got some pizza (they eat it with FORKS here, you guys, it wasn't even cut into slices. WRONG) and then went back to collapse into bed.

The next day dawned bright and sunny, and my head popped off my pillow. Why, you ask? Because it was my Giant Nerd Day! I was going to go to the Dr. Who exhibition and then go see all the places where episodes were shot, and stand on the Tourists Entrance to the hub, and basically just be a giant, ridiculous nerd person.

Something you should know- after it rained on me in London, I went out and bought myself an umbrella. It's adorable and has tiny mustaches all over it, but that is not the point. The point is, I've been hauling that umbrella around with me every day since then, and it never rained. I'm tired of lugging this thing around, I said to myself this fateful Sunday morning, I don't think I shall lug it anywhere today. I'll wear my raincoat, which I still won't need, because I'm beginning to think this whole 'Oh it rains over here all the time!' is something the locals say to scare off tourists.

I really should not tempt fate like that. When I got out of the Who exhibition, it was raining. It didn't look like it was raining very hard, so I did not despair.

The weather on this island is amazingly deceptive.

I was SOAKED in about two minutes. Or well, my trousers and head were- my raincoat works amazingly well in keeping my torso dry! So that was a plus!

To make things even sadder, most of the filming locations were MUCH farther away than I had anticipated, and I couldn't stand at the Hub entrance because the were setting up for the food festival which starts on Thursday. Also, the tower was covered in giant, multi-colored strawberries.

All was not lost, however! I did manage to find Ianto's memorial wall, which is down on the docks, and while I was down there I saw they had tours of the bay. The captain, who felt sorry for my bedraggled, pathetic state, let me sit up in the Captain's chair! I did not get to steer the boat, but it was still awesome.

The next morning I went to Cardiff castle, which has been there for over 2000 years. TWO THOUSAND YEARS. So awesome. I may or may not have climbed into the walls and pretended to be a princess, kidnapped by her horrible uncle, because I am a Mature Grown-Up.

And that brings us up to today! Which was another day of NEVER ENDING TRAVEL. And by that I mean like 5 hours. But now I am in Aberwstwth, which is this amazing town full of tiny, independent shops and music and most importantly: IS ON THE OCEAN! Oh, ocean, how I've missed you!

On a separate note, I am beginning to suspect that all those pictures of sandy, sunny, warm beaches are ALL FAKE because every beach I've ever been to is windy, cold and rocky. Beautiful! But certainly neither sandy nor warm.