Field trip to Big Pit and St. Fagan's

On Wednesday, our group took a field trip to the Big Pit coal mine and a beautiful historic village called St. Fagan's. At St. Fagan's we got to go into the mine and have a guided tour inside the pit. We got a first hand look at how awful the conditions were in the early 1900's and how the coal was actually mined. It was a really cool tour and we got to where miners helmets, lights, and safety gear, but unfortunately for safety reasons cameras and ANYTHING with a dry cell battery wasn't allowed inside the mine, including my watch, so I didn't get any pictures during the tour. But I did get a picture of the outside of the mine.
Keep in mind, this is a VERY small part of it. The rest of it is to the left and there's a lot more, but I thought this water pump was pretty cool. There was also a museum with the history of early mining up to the miners strikes in the 70's and 80's that was really cool. I thought this was pretty funny
After touring the mine, we headed down to a 16th century village known as St. Fagan's. Or, I should say more specifically, St. Fagan's Castle, which was built in 1580, and the surrounding town. An interesting fact is that many of the buildings were dismantled from other sites and rebuilt around the castle. The castle itself was ok, but the surrounding landscape was amazing! We even got some sunshine! Take a look, here's the outside of the gardens
Here's the castle itself, not quite what I was expecting, but yet, still a castle (I was expecting the ruins of stone walls or something) And hey, who's that silly person blocking its view?
the gardens themselves
and the absolute BEST chocolate orange fudge I have ever had!There were a bunch of other old historic buildings such as a school house, bakery, farm house, and what not with a bunch of cool 15-1600's furniture inside. It was an awesome little place, and seriously one of the most beautiful villages ever. But now, to bed for tomorrow is London!

And here's a picture of the gorgeous flowers Nikki sent me so I could have a little bit of sunshine in my room even when it's gloomy. Thanks Nikki, you're the best and I love you!!