There were three classes offered on this program, with corresponding field trips. Everyone had the option of going on every field trip (as I did), though the significance of the site was much greater if you were in the class as you had been discussing poetry or prose and history beforehand.
Jane Austen. Shakespeare. The Romantics. Those were the classes.
As we all learned to our chagrin, the Romantics field trips always involved hikes. Not just a long walk-- I mean real, arduous, sweaty, painful hikes up sheer cliffs.
This was the first such trip, and it was originally supposed to be six miles. I can do six miles, I thought, six miles? Psh. After Paris, this will be a breeze.
Six miles up a cliff, I can now tell you, is not at all the same as six miles of reasonably level, civilized pavement.
Before we began the hike, we first took the time to walk around the ruined site of Tintern Abbey. Before we began to walk, we took posed photos of our fresh, smiling faces. These two are Laura (Shakespeare) and Prithi (Romantics), with the soaring Wales countryside rising behind them.
Tintern Abbey has inspired a couple of poems, I gather. One by Sir Walter Scott, and another by... well, I'm not sure. Poetry is not my forte. All I know is that my neighbor in staircase no. 12 had an assignment to write about Tintern, the poem, and she somehow chose the WRONG ONE. She found out at one of our amazing three course dinners, from someone else in the class, that there was another Tintern Abbey poem that they had been assigned, and THAT was the one they were supposed to have close read, and pondered on, and kept in mind as we toured the site.
After Tintern and a light lunch of oranges and baguettes, we took off for the hills. This is the view that awarded us after dues fully paid in blood, sweat, and tears by all of us except ex-boy and girl scouts. Every birds eye view that I have photographed in England comes at a premium cost, a labor of love-- these are all like that special moment in Rocky, with the pumping fists and the twisted expression of manic glee and the twirling around in dizzy circles-- sans the triumphal background music.
After the hike, we got back on the bus and went to tour Chepstow Castle, another medieval ruin. I have to say, it, too, was pretty awesome. William the Conqueror built this castle in 1067 because the area was strategic, right on the Wales-England border. The castle began losing its importance as a defensive stronghold in the 140os, was remodeled into a great house in the 1600s, and in 1793 was first included in a guidebook of picturesque ruins for tourists. Both Tintern and Chepstow were ruins, true ruins, and preserved in that state of ruin. No chambers of state available anywhere in these places.
After the hike, we got back on the bus and went to tour Chepstow Castle, another medieval ruin. I have to say, it, too, was pretty awesome. William the Conqueror built this castle in 1067 because the area was strategic, right on the Wales-England border. The castle began losing its importance as a defensive stronghold in the 140os, was remodeled into a great house in the 1600s, and in 1793 was first included in a guidebook of picturesque ruins for tourists. Both Tintern and Chepstow were ruins, true ruins, and preserved in that state of ruin. No chambers of state available anywhere in these places.
