(A) We got a good night’s sleep after our day of traveling yesterday, and our wits are back about us. I started my day with crumpets, which do go with coffee, contrary to what you may have heard. Then I sat and looked out onto the side garden of our rental house.
On the way to our first stop of the day, we walked past St. Cadoc’s Church, which looks lovely.
Then we arrived at the National Roman Legion Museum, which houses many artifacts from the 1st-century AD Roman fort that was set up near Newport (Wales), along the River Usk. They’ve unearthed a bunch of great artifacts, and they’ve only excavated a small fraction of the site! They’re working on it kind of like how you put together a puzzle — you find the edges and sides, and then chip away at the middle. There were dozens of carved tablets at this museum (actual artifacts from the fort) and it blows my mind that I was so close to something that a Roman carved nearly 2,000 years ago.
Behind the museum is a garden that’s been created to resemble one that would have been there originally. Kim and I liked the architecture and the plants, but the girls were most impressed by the resident cat.
There’s an amphitheater just a short walk from the museum, and it would have been part of the Roman settlement. We read that there used to be fights between gladiators and exotic animals in the amphitheater. It was really eerie to be down in on the theater floor, where all that madness went on.
From there, we drove in to Newport for lunch. The place we intended on going closed early… I mean, we got there during posted business hours, but were told that they were closing early. But we were told about a cafe across the road, and I think that was a stroke of fortune, because that was an excellent experience. The place is called Geshmak, which you speakers of German will recognize as related to the word for ‘flavor’ or ‘taste’. In Yiddish it means ‘tasty’. It’s a small place, only a few tables, and we were the only customers there. As you’ll have noticed if you clicked on the link just above, the owner of the place was on the show Master Chef. She didn’t win that competition, and I don’t know why, because everything we ate there was amazing. She was friendly and conscientious and accommodating and, as I say, a great chef. And as an added bonus, her son was working there. Turns out, he’s soon going to be going to Leeds to study jazz guitar. He happened to have his guitar and amp with him, and at his mother’s suggestion he played for us while we ate! I took a surreptitious photo.
Anyway, if you know anybody who goes to Wales, tell them to visit Geshmak.
We needed some groceries, so we went to the store that everybody we’ve talked to seems to prefer: Sainsbury’s. It’s pretty nice, as grocery stores go. One thing I noticed was the sign for the liquor area. I think the italicized words on the sign are just how “Beers, wines & spirits” sounds when you’ve had too many beers, wines, and/or spirits.
Now we’re back at our rental house, settling in for the evening, preparing for tomorrow and another wonderful day in Wales.