Vacation Blog Day 14

Friday, August 13, 2010

Knowing that we are moving tomorrow, we planned a short day for today.
We left the house by 9:15 and went up to Conwy. We did have a little delay on starting, because Bob thought the bus sounded funny; we stopped in at the hotel where we turn around and he put in a quart of oil.

We arrived in Conwy just in time to get a prime parking space in the shadow of the castle. A man was changing his tire, and we noticed he didn’t seem to know what he was doing, so as Bob went to pay for a parking ticket he asked the man if he needed help, which he declined. But on Bob’s way back to the bus the man called to him. He couldn’t get his jack to work at all. So Bob expertly set it up for him and helped him get the spare on. The man was very grateful, but Bob explained he was practically born a mechanic and it was no trouble for him.

Then we went over to the castle, where we deliberated in the gift shop just long enough for a whole busload of American tourists to come in and clog up the checkout lines. So we looked around a bit more, and finally made it in. Admission for just the castle was 14GBP, but a 7 day pass to any CADW property was 36GBP, so we went ahead with the 7 day pass. Conwy castle was interesting; several unique features; lots of stairs. We went up into one tower, but on the way down I nearly had a panic attack. I was on the verge of calling for Bob to come back and help me, but talked myself through it and William and I made it down safely. At any rate, I refused to go up any more stairs, so I sat on a bench with the 3 little ones while Bob and the big ones finished exploring. To explain further about the stairs: this tower is at least 5 stories high, all on a single ascent in a tight spiral staircase where the wide end of the steps is about 8 inches deep (my foot being about 12 inches), and the rope that acts as a handrail is on the inside (narrow end). I had on Bob’s camera backpack (he was carrying Elijah) and holding William’s hand. At first I had William to the inside, so I had a chance of standing on the steps, but that gave me no handhold, and with the backpack on I couldn’t lean against the wall. So after my near-panic, I made William go on the outside and I held onto the rope, and that was bearable.

We left the castle with over an hour left on the parking ticket, so we went looking for lunch. I was eager to revisit the kebab place, but Bob was less so. He found a cute little bakery/deli and after we tore our eyes away from the sweets we ordered some meat pies, sandwiches, baps, and back to the sweets. Bob picked out a slice of chocolate chip sponge cake, covered in chocolate. I got a chocolate cake with cream filling; the children wanted cream filled éclairs. It was all good, but Bob’s treat was the best.

Back to the car, where we decided to just come on home. We had laundry, packing, and baths to do; it’s 9:30 now and I’m still not done. Tomorrow we head south, if we can decide on a road to take. :- )