Saturday Feb. 13, 2010
Today was our field trip to Anglesey Island and it was partly cloudy, but still pretty out. Our first stop was to the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantyssiliogogoch...and I didn't misspell it or leave out any spaces, this is a real town name! In fact, its the longest domain name in the world! But before we got there, we stopped on the side of the road to take a perfect post card picture of the Menai bridge, strait and mountain peaks in the distance. It really was the perfect picture. We moved on to the longest town name, which actually means "The Church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the red cave". The town didn't always have the record for the longest name though, when they built the Menai bridge to connect Wales with Anglesey Island, they wanted more visitors and tourists, so they changed the villages original name, Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, to its long name known now. It's exciting to say that I've been to the village with the longest name in the world!
Next we drove to Puffin Island, a small island right off of Anglesey Island, named because of the Puffin birds that bred there. Just down the road we visited Penmon Priory, a monastery containing a couple of the old Celtic crosses inside, in order to preserve them. There was a well right outside the monastery that is said if you drink it, any eye problems will be healed. Annie and I didn't necessarily want to drink the water, so we just put a couple drops on our eye lids. We'll see if that helps...
Our next stop was to the Beaumaris Castle, the last castle to be built by King Edward and the only castle with a moat around the outside of the castle, though it was probably only about ankle high. Probably not too useful when trying to keep intruders out. We were able to climb to the top of the castle, overlooking the Menai strait and the mountains. The sun was finally starting to come out by then. We ate in the town before heading to our next stop, and Molly and I both stopped at the bakery to try a pastry sort of dessert. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was, but I can tell you that it was filled with whip creme, topped with chocolate, very messy, but yummy.
We drove to Marquis Tower, a tower built by his family in memory of Marquis, who is said to have had his leg blown off and not shed any emotion. He was also the first person to have invented the peg leg, after needing one himself. We climbed to the top of the tower, 115 steps and all, to an amazing view of the whole Island and even into Bangor. We were so high up and could see for miles if we wanted to.
Our last stop and by far my favorite location was at a beach near Newborough Warren. The tide was low so there was plenty of beach and sand. By now the sun was shinning and it was just so peaceful and beautiful! The beach wrapped around in a "U" shape to Llanddwyn Island, where there was a light house, and "The church of St. Dwynwen" was once located, now just appearing as ruins. From the top of the hill on the Island there were multiple crosses overlooking the Menai strait and we even saw wild ponies! It really was magical! As the day got later and the sun began to reflect off of the water, we decided to come back again sometime to camp and watch the sun set, and of course stargaze. Everything there was so perfect and everyone seemed to be so happy. Every bad feeling seemed to fade away...I absolutely loved it there!
So far, this was my favorite field trip, probably because of all the amazing views and scenery. I can't wait to show my family and friends when they come to visit. I know they'll love it just as much as I did=)
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