Don't forget to visit the Europe page for a local map!
Don't forget to visit the Europe page for a local map!
We're in Wales now... visiting our friends Rachel and Andy. Welsh is an odd tongue. Bae Caerdydd yw'r datblygiad mwyaf cyffrous ar y glannau yn Ewrop.
Vowels don't plague the welsh language as they do so many of the Romantic languages. "Bae Caerdydd yw'r datblygiad mwyaf cyffrous ar y glannau yn Ewrop" means "Cardiff Bay is Europe's most exciting waterfront development
Super-abbreviated pronunciation guide:
'dd' as the 'th' in the
'ff' as the 'f' in fork
'si' as the 'sh' in shop
'w' as the 'oo' in book
'y' as an 'a' or 'i' whatever
Some words:
gwraig (pronounced 'gwraig') is wife
gwragedd (said 'gwrag-eth') are wives
sut mae ('sit mai') is hello
os gwelwch in dda ('os gwel-ookh uhn tha-ah') is Please
I already had to ask Alec to please not mock the language while we are still here creating our first travel rule:
===RULE 1: don't mock the locals. Reserve all joking and teasing until we are in the *next* destination. :-)
Nobody in Germany will care if we think the language here is funny or impossible to pronounce.
Since we've been here, we spent a very long time getting acquainted with the bus system (practice for when none of the signs is in English), ate dinner at a pub with our friends, and enjoyed some old fashioned American hospitality. This morning, after a lovely breakfast in, we braved the grey and blustery day to visit Cardiff Castle. The castle was renovated in the 1800's by a rich guy who was a midieval history buff. Pretty cool.
We took our first gps reading of the trip outside the castle. The little yellow guy asked us "have you moved hundreds of miles since your last update?". In fact, we're 5279 miles from home right now.
We ate authentic cornish pasties and took the tour and putzed around the high street. We also had a coffee break and got lost walking home. We're easing into the pace of travel.
===RULE 2: don't plan more than one activity per day.
This rule comes as a suggestion by our good friend Ryan C. I think that we can work it up to two things on some days, but it's a great guideline for keeping us sane.
Tomorrow, we travel to Leeds to visit Kristyn and Paul. Then back to London to visit with Dylan and Chris.
Hwyl fawr. (goodbye!)