Gotta be willing to laugh at yourself

So we pull up to our hotel two nights ago, a tall, very narrow, decrepit, old building squished between two others. We’re given a key to Room 6. Then we find out that there’s only one room per floor. And no “lift”, but plenty of narrow, steep stairs. Loaded down with our gear (I was smart enough to bring a pack, but I also had my violin and laptop bag with me), we climb up to the 6th room, and guess what... the key doesn’t work. Turn the key upside down, and it’s a 9. Oh.

Other adventures in Wales: The Welsh have a few specialty food items, such as cockles and laverbread. We were directed to an indoor market to get our hands on some fresh samples. The cockles don’t hold much interest for me, as seafood is not to my taste, but I was eager to try the laverbread. We head straight to a bakery stall, but as I make my way around the stall, I can’t see any signs for “laverbread”. My mum asks the lady where we can get some, and she patiently points us down an aisle, and brightly tells us that Carol Watts makes the best. So we troop down the aisle, and find Carol Watts’ stall. A seafood stall?!? Laverbread is seaweed. Boiled and put through a blender. I settled for a couple Welsh cakes. The lady at the bakery stall must have had a good laugh at us as we were walking away. I wonder how many ignorant tourists make the same mistake.

We’ve stayed in Cardiff the last couple of nights, and have been exploring the South of Wales. There are castles everywhere! Mostly in ruins, but free or cheap to explore. For example, in Swansea, you step out of a Marks & Spencer shop onto a bustling shopping street, and smack, dab in the middle of the block is a green space with the Swansea Castle ruins. I think there are 6 castles on the Swansea peninsula alone.

There are also lots of fun shops. They have “arcades” here, that look like narrow alleyways, with fun, unique store fronts lining them. But even though it looks like you’re outside, the alleyways are covered. Now I just need to continue dropping the pounds so that I can fit into these UK clothes.

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Bath

Wales