Barry Island

Finally we are getting multiple sunny days in a row!
To celebrate the lovely weather, I traveled with my friends Laura L. and Kirsten W. to Barry Island on May 31st. The train tickets were really cheap and the ride was short.

Sunny and beautiful, but the water was like sticking our feet in a freezer!

Barry Island was where some of the British sitcom Gavin and Stacey was set. It's a cute little touristy place. It reminded me a bit of York, Maine. We disembarked and walked through an amusement park. We had lunch at a burger place and of course we had to sample the milkshakes! I still haven't found a substitute for a proper American-style milkshake. Ideally, it's made with icecream and is thick and frosty. Brain-freezes come standard. British milkshakes are milk blended with ice and flavouring. Even the McD's here can't quite replicate it.

I'm not complaining though. It was just right for a day like this.

After we finished lunch, we went for a walk. It was very blustery which kept it from being too hot.

"Lifeguard" in Welsh. I wonder if I can get that on my tshirts for work?

Would YOU be up for it?

Yes! Someplace other than Vermont uses the word "Creemee" (and it's infinite spelling variants) 

Fun Fact #32: A "creemee" in Vermont is what the rest of the world calls "Soft-serve icecream". I have been given a lot of stick for this term by people at my Unis both at home and abroad.

We saw a sign for where Nessa worked (in Gavin & Stacey), so of course we had to get our picture with it!

Kirsten, Myself and Laura (Laura's Photo)

We walked along that little peninsula seen in the first photo.

Artsy shots, gotta have a one per trip minimum. 

We hopped down to explore the rocks. I found some fossils! Thanks Professor Hope for taking the Ecosystems Ecology class to the quarry. Now I know exactly what to look for.

My guess would be crinoids and some coral. Maybe some cephalopods?

Some sort of shell?

Flowers on the rocks

We climbed back up and admired the view off the end of the peninsula.

Of course we also decided to walk along the beach and dip our toes in. Brrrr!

Making our mark (Laura's photo).

We also looked through the little touristy shops. There was a lot of Gavin & Stacey merchandise. And to top off a day at the beach, we got some frozen treats. Laura got a 99 flake (vanilla creemee with a Cadbury flake stuck in it). I got a blue raspberry slushie. While Laura and Kirsten were admiring the guy at the counter, I couldn't help but think that he looked like the Welsh doppelganger of my cousin!

We caught the train back to Cardiff Central. The car we were in was full of middle-school age children (so I'm guessing around 13 years old). They were being the typical noisy, cursing, cheeky kids. They complained about the manure smells coming from a farm, when I interrupted with "At least it's better than smelling papermills!" They got really excited that there were Americans in their car. So they started telling us everything about their experiences with it. One kid's mother lives in Houston and he said that it would be really cool if we could visit. Haha, I'm sure his mom would be pleased. I told them that I come from the same state where Ben and Jerry's is from. They freaked out. One girl asked me if I had it every day. I told her "I couldn't keep this figure if I did!".

Fun Fact #33: With all this talking about my state's famous icecream, I should get a commission. I am singlehandedly increasing awareness of Vermont. 

Well, that was a very nice day. It was great to see a bit more of Wales.

Cheers!