If it's Ddyd Llun, it must be Cymru

Note: Local terms are in parentheses.

So I spent Sunday night at Craig Y Nos Castle. It was pretty neat. I spent most of the time I was there at the hotel bar, knocking back Guinnesses (the best of the castle’s draft (draught) selection; Carling isn’t fooling anyone and I don’t mind cider but if I have to choose between Strongbow and Guinness…) and taking advantage of their free wifi. Free wifi in a castle! Will wonders never cease? It’s not a castle like you would think of a castle; no battles were fought there or anything, and it’s really more like a mansion than anything else. The interior is all done up modern, with wood floors and what not. It’s a really nice place, but it’s not like there’s shields on the walls everywhere and knights’ armor mounted on stands at every corner.Anyway, the castle (like all castles in Britain) is supposed to be haunted. I took this with a grain of salt, since they make a lot of their money with the haunted house schtick. But I think it might actually be possible that there’s some messed up stuff going on there. There was some weird looking knick-knack on the dresser in my room that I wasn’t at all comfortable with, so I put it on a table in the hall. I tried to take a picture of it with every possible camera setting and it always came out blurry.SPOOOOOKY

Also, at about 5 in the morning, there were footsteps running up and down the hall. Now, the lights in the hallway were on all night, and I didn’t see any shadows running past. Also, the only other people there that night were two older couples, and I made it to breakfast before them, so unless they like to run around castle hallways like children I don’t think it was them. Who was it? I DON'T KNOW.

But all of this was worth putting up with because I got to accomplish two of my lifelong goals – to spend the night in a castle and take a bath in one of those really big bathtubs. It was pretty great. Nice to relax a bit after all that running about in London. It’s all running about from here on in, at least for a while.

In the morning my taxi took a while in arriving, so I had to go with my backup rail itinerary. This means that I was unable to return to Cardiff (Caerdydd) to find out what the deal was with BRAINS. But I found out anyways. It has to do with beer. Of course.

The cab driver (who charged an obscene amount, by the way) was apparently a really big fan of wrestling. He likes the Undertaker the best. I was unable to get involved in an in-depth discussion of the intricacies of the WWE (nee WWF) though, since much of my knowledge of wrestling deals with the Hogan/Piper/Andre the Giant era, and he seemed to have not even heard of any of them. The dude was in his 50s, it wasn’t like he wasn’t around, right? I dunno. Whatever. He was cool, and he got me to Neath (Castell-nedd) Station. That is the point.

Anyway, I left Neath (Castell-nedd) and headed to Swansea (Abertawe), then Llanelli (Llanelli), then finally to Fishguard Harbour (Porthladd Abergwaun), where I picked up the ferry. That’s where the above paragraphs were typed. I am currently crossing the Irish Sea in a ferry that is appointed almost as well as a cruise ship. Hopefully, I will not get seasick. They have stabilizers and etc., but who knows. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, just in case!

Note: This post was written Monday afternoon. I can't be bothered to post my Dublin adventures yet since they are still happening and also I have more important things to do. Like tipping the glass.