A trip to Chester, England & North Wales...A MAINE PATRIOT WOODSMEN/FARMER under the very nose of the Queen. Pt. I.

The second of my three daughters took a semester's exchange from The University of Maine and went to The University of Cork in Ireland. That's where this story, sort of begins, because it was from that event 12 years ago now, that she eventually met her husband, moved to the U.K. full time, and now has our second grand-daughter and a beautiful home on the outskirts of Chester. (Personally, I liked it better when they were high up in the hills of North Wales earlier, but that's a whole 'nother matter.)

At the time these photos were taken (2014) they were still in their lovely duplex in the Welsh town of Penymynydd--pronouced "penny-min-ith." It could have been a much harder Welsh town to say, though. They could have chosen to live in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch:

This is the administrative/government building for all of "Cheshire..." i.e. the English county administered from Chester-- one of England's oldest extant towns. It's so old, in fact, that it was the Roman stronghold in the North of England 2000 years ago, and had already been established some decades before that. It sits on the River Dee estuary, and is a very stately and "proper" (as the Brits are fond of saying) English city of about 77,000.:

The Chester Cathedral is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since 1541 it has been the seat of the Bishop of Chester:

The downtown or "olde towne" part of Chester is as quaint and Medieval as it would have been in the 16th-century...or at least the Tudor Buildings are. Very pretty. Street entertainers abound, and the streets are lined with shops, boutiques, pubs and cafes. The very center of the old Roman city is closed to vehicle traffic, so the whole thing becomes like a giant open-air market, really:

The very ornate and lovely clock tower above sits on a part of the old Roman walls encompassing the "olde towne." It was a gift to the city from Queen Victoria, commemorating something...I forget what exactly.

The River Dee has been "locked up" and the vast majority of it above the most seaward lock is now part of the famous British canal system that goes all over England and parts of Wales. People actually live year-round on these long narrow canal boats. In fact, the Bohemian "hip" thing to do is to sell your house, buy an older boat, fix it up some, and live off the excess from your real estate sale while traveling all over the place like a gypsy..

Okay. That's it for my photolog for today. We'll be back tomorrow with Part II...lots more photos...lots more history...lots more, more. Do stop in to my blog again soon, hear?