Croeso i'r Eisteddfod! - 30 July 2011

With the first month of classes ended it was time for some serious sightseeing. The plan was to circumnavigate Wales going up from Cardiff to the north and back down the the coast in the West. 

We started off by journeying to Wrexham to witness the National Eisteddfod of Wales. The Eisteddfod is an annual festival that celebrates the Welsh language, particularly through song and poetry. Thus, it is primarily a national competition between choirs, individual performers and poets. It lasts for about a week and then at the end is a huge awards ceremony where the chairing of the bard takes place. The poet who is judged to be best is proclaimed the Welsh Bard of that year and given a magnificent carved chair (they usually look like thrones). This makes the Eisteddfod sound like it should be a high class, well organized event but frankly, it wasn't. There weren't very many entertaining booths just mainly expensive shops and University of Wales information booths. It was a cross between a bad county fair, a high school college day and a local arts and crafts event.

Although the booths weren't that fantastic, the Eisteddfod is a perfect place for people watching. As we milled around and listened to people speak Welsh, I became very familiar with what Tom and Susan call “The Classic Eisteddfod Look.” Welsh girls from the country (and people attending the Eisteddfod are typically from the countryside) like to where brightly colored Wellies with short shorts and a rain jacket. Classy. Also, I finally saw some the Druids. This is a group of people who believe in Neo-Paganism. They wore long white robes and preached as well as sold their unique spirituality from their booth named Oaklord and the Gnome. I'm regretting now that I didn't go inside and buy something. So, all in all they are very special people. 

We ended our experience in a huge pink tent where we listened to an amazing choir. I'll give the Welsh this - they know how to sing!

After the Eisteddfod we drove to see...you guessed it. More castles and churches! We saw Rhuddlan Castle and the cathedral of St. Asaph. Both were beautiful and impressive (as castles and cathedrals always are). What made St. Asaph special was that it held one of the first bibles translated into Welsh by William Morgan.

We then made a quick stop in the town of Trelwyned. Besides being a beautiful town, this was the place that Hannah's ancestors came from. She was so excited to see the graves, parish church and just hometown in general of her ancestors. I think it was a very special and personal way for her to connect to her family history.

After that is was off to Conwy, a beautiful seaside town. I went to bed very early because of a massive headache so I didn't do anything else that night. After driving so much that day we all realized that we would have to be careful about rotating through the front and middle seats to help us all not through up in the car. The roads in Wales are much narrower and more winding so that even my stomach of steel (my stomach not my abdominals) was feeling queasy.