CASTLE!!!

Guys.
For real.
I went to a CASTLE today.
In WALES.
A CASTLE!!!

For starters, Wales is absolutely beautiful. It is so green and lush and indescribably gorgeous. Add to that the fact that you're looking at a castle, and it is overwhelming.

The castle that we went to is called Chirk Castle. Apparently the builder of the castle, Roger Mortimer, was in on the (successful) plot to kill Llyewelyn, the Prince of Wales. Kind of shady. Regardless, the castle itself was breathtaking. It stood on a hill with a view of the countryside that was just so amazing, and SO green. Adam's Tower and the East Wing contrasted a lot - Adam's Tower held the dungeon and armor, as well as simply older looking stuff dating back to the castle's construction date. The East Wing definitely held more of the "high life" stuff of castle living. Either way, being inside of a castle was way cool. Being in there was like traveling back in time, and I couldn't believe that I was actually there. The gardens were also so incredibly beautiful - I don't think I've ever seen such big, healthy looking roses. Beautiful doesn't seem to me to be an adequate enough word, but I'm really just running out of adjectives to describe how amazing this place was.

Basically, I'm Flynn Rider from Tangled: "Guys, I want a castle."

We also spent some time in Chester once we were back in England. This city was once surrounded by a wall, which is still there and in use to travel around the city. We stopped by some ruins of a Roman amphitheater, which I definitely did not expect to be part of the city. Our main target was the Chester Cathedral, which was seriously one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. No joke. I couldn't take pictures inside the actual sanctuary since a service was going on, which was a bummer, but it was awesome to hear the choir and organ while exploring in there. It definitely added to the experience. The city itself was beautiful to look around, and the mixture of old and new was really exciting. I was really glad that we were able to stop there on the way home.

My host and I watched an episode of The Musketeers after we got home and had dinner. I had never seen it before, but I really enjoyed it! Definitely adding it to my watch list.

Tomorrow, I will be going to Ivy Church Fallowfield, per the invitation from the Grow Group I attended this week. It was really nice to have these past two days to be able to further explore Manchester and more of England as well as Wales, but I am ready to get back into ministry!

Pray for everyone who walks into Ivy's doors tomorrow, as well as our Eden church here in Merseybank!

Blessings,
Lindsay