Up, dress, hair, makeup, breakfast, walk, class, learn, sketch, talk, listen...
Lunch! For lunch today, we set up something a little different. For our second half of class, we were taking a tour of Llandaff Cathedral after lunch. The cathedral is almost 4 miles away in the little town of Llandaff, north of Cardiff. So Lowrie said that she would drive three of us up in her car after lunch, and then a different three back after. Everyone else could either walk or take the bus for a few pounds. I opted to snag the drive up, since I had put a load of laundry in the wash before we left for class, so I wanted to hang it on the lines during lunch. So I walked back to the house with Calysta and Courtney, where we made lunch and I hung up my wet clothes. The day was hot and sunny again, perfect for everything that I was doing that day.
Lowrie picked us up from our house at 1:30 and drove us to Llandaff. Miya wanted to walk up, and the other girls took the bus. The four of us walked down past the ancient cathedral and peeked into the ruins of the old bishops palace. Yup, apparently bishops of cathedrals not only sat on a throne, but also had palaces built to live in right next to the cathedral. There wasn't much to see, but there was a gated-off room that was super overgrown inside, so it reminded me of a scene in Ever After. We then tuned a corner and walked down a little shop street, window shopping all the way. We waited at the base of the street until the girl's bus came, but then they wanted to see the shops, so we went and looked in all the shops again. They were really fun, but I didn't see anything I liked enough to buy. Believe it or not, gentle reader, but that is what usually happens when I go into a shop.
When we had been through everything, we walked back up to the cathedral grounds and then down the other side of the hill to the base.
It was a much smaller and more simple cathedral than any I had seen before. There were fewer decorative features and it didn't have a lot of stained glass. Our tour guide was a small old woman, who had an interesting personality. She didn't have a lot of kind things to say about anything or anyone, especially the young children who would come for tours, but she knew a lot about the cathedral and was excited (in her own way, I suppose) to show us all the rooms.
She told us about how a German bomb had landed right outside the long south wall, blowing a huge hole into it and destroying the inside. The crater was still out there, very easily distinguishable. She also had a picture of the damaged area, which was kind of cool to see.
I think she kind of liked us though, for some reason, because she told us to go take pictures sitting in the bishop's throne, to walk around inside St. Mary's chapel, and to feel how smooth the marble carvings were on the baptismal basin. Kind of odd, I thought, but it's whatever.
After the tour finished, we were drawn to the gift shop (they must have some sort of magnets, those gift shops. We can't stay away). They actually had a lot of cool stuff there. I think everyone got something fun. I saw a bunch of things that I really liked, but nothing that I loved. Until, I saw a stand of posters.
They were styled like the old illuminated text pages, but they had different messages. For some reason, one about friendship super stood out to me. So much that I took a picture of the message, telling myself that I'll just make something like it when I get home (it's ridiculous how often I've been doing that actually). So I put it back. Then I picked it up and read it again. It was so lovely, and I knew deep down that I wouldn't ever take the time to duplicate it, so I checked the price. Only two and a half pounds! Well, it was just a laminated piece of paper, but I really did love the message and the way it looked so much that I actually bought it for myself. Now I'll have some fun framing it when I get home.
Once everyone had been through the checkout line, we left the cathedral and started the walk home. Josie and Courtney opted for a ride home, but I was really excited for a walk. As we walked around the cathedral, we saw the preserved crater of the bomb blast. It looked like a big odd dip in the lawn. A large polished stone had been set up In the center of the large crater and had been inscribed as a monument to all those who had lost their lives in WWII to bomb blasts. I thought it was kind of cool that it said that any soldier who had died this was was allowed to have their cremated remains buried there with others like him. After we looked at it for a bit, we walked the rest of the way around the cathedral and into the first park.
It really was a gorgeous walk. At one point, it looked like we were walking through a giant green tunnel, as the hedges and trees lining the path were so huge, dense, and hanging over the trail.
We found an old cemetery that had a ton of celtic cross tombstones, so we all went inside. It really was a lovely cemetery. That might be weird to say, but I've decided that the cemeteries at home have a totally different feel to then than the ones here. At home, they are so, so muted. Just sad and cold. But the cemeteries here are built to be walked through and comfortably sat in. They are still sad places, but its more peaceful and tranquil in these places than the pretty unfeeling places at home. Interesting.
After about a half hour, we left the cemetery and continued walking home. The parks were so nice! I wish we had parks like this at home. They were just giant rolling fields, lined and occasionally pretty much roofed by enormous trees. There were people with dogs everywhere, so being the suckers for dogs that we are, it took us about an extra 20 minutes to get through. A happy extra 20 minutes :)
We walked through three long parks, all right next to each other. When we found ourselves in very familiar territory in Bute park, we hung a left at the main bridge and then made our way through the streets to our home.
When we got home, we found that Matt, Bronte, Calysta, and a few people from our house were at the kitchen table playing Monopoly Deal. Lydia was warming up the leftovers from our big Sunday dinner for everyone home, so I sat in my favorite sunny spot on the couch and journaled until dinner was out of the oven.
It was there that I remained while everyone munched on their Shepherd's pie as they took and gave millions at the kitchen table, after the game had finished and the Hope Cottage-ers had gone, after Connor came by, after he and Theresa went next door to get some Punjabi's, after Lydia, Miya, and a new friend Karly went down to Lydl's to search for popcorn kernels (with no success, unfortunately), and after everyone returned. Feeling like I had been a journal bum for a sufficient amount of time, I remained on my can as we all watched the second episode of Sherlock together!
I think it's funny that Connor likes to come by so much. He's a fun guy, but neither he nor any of the other ward guys I've met here are even in the ballpark to this awesome guy I know waiting for me at home. I think it might be really nice for him to be around so many girls who are LDS. He's mentioned once that its strange for him to not have to worry about us dressing modestly, so that must be a bit of a relief for him. And like I said, he's a good guy, so we've told him that he's welcome to come over any time.
When he came over that evening, he learned that we didn't have internet any more (Josie and Theresa had tried to get it going again that afternoon, but because it was in Tom's name, they couldn't get anything changed. And because Tom and Katy are in London for three days, we're stuck without internet). When Theresa told him the story, he said that his iPhone was a mobile hotspot and asked if we would like him to turn it on. With a loud chorus of 'yes'-es, he turned the hotspot on and we were once again able to connect with the world. I sent out a few emails, letting just a few people know that my internet connection was spotty, at best, and that I'd be a little more out of touch than usual.
After a bit, we turned on the glorious second episode of Sherlock. Actually, the second episode is my least favorite of them all, but watching Miya's face as she sees it for the first time is absolutely priceless. Once the story settled down for a bit, I went upstairs and took a quick shower, since I knew it was going to be late once the movie finished. I came back in time for the last half hour, so I got to see Miya flip out for the ending. That was a beautiful moment, let me tell you!
When it was over, Miya and Lydia offered to walk Karly home, since it was about 11pm. The rest of us stuck around in the living room and ended up re-enacting Josie's ''Butter wings'' blip in that hilarious voice of hers. After we had her going for a while, she started making up more of the story about the wool mines. I fortunately remembered to get most of it recorded, so that will be tucked away among my other little gems from this trip. Or as blackmail for a rainy day. Whichever.
That girl absolutely cracks me up. She cracks all of us up, actually, the four of us were all dying of laughter on the couch while we watched her casually sit under the spotlight at the table. I think it's the voice. Its this awful raspy sound that she has down to a ridiculous science. It is so coarse and ridiculous that it shouldn't be coming out of someone with such a truly beautiful voice. No joke, I found some of her recordings on her iPod, and she's legit. But there she was, in all her half-beaver glory at the table. And it was a very good place to be.
At about midnight, Lydia and Miya returned home, Connor left, and I went up to bed. I read my scriptures and had an amazing talk with my Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful that He loves me enough to help me learn at the pace He knows is best. After prayers, I got in bed and went right to sleep.
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