Wales Day 1

After we went to Bath we were on our way to a medieval monastery that was burned by King Henry VIII after he separated from Rome and created the Church of England. He went around the country destroying almost anything that was related to the Catholic Church, including numerous monasteries that refused to join the new order. Tintern Abbey stands in ruins on the border to Wales and England. It's a place of solemn beauty as its a reminder of a strong king who is remembered as a tyrant.

After leaving Tintern we were off to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Our first and only stop of the day in the city was the Welsh National Assembly. A relatively new construct, the institution works like a mini-parliament for regional issues. I would say that it compares to a provincial parliament in Canada, there are some regional issues they are allowed to discuss there but the rest is discussed at the national parliament. With only 60 members, it is not quite as intense as the national Parliament can get. The Welsh National Assembly tries very hard to be open to the people, including in how the building is built with large glass walls that overlook the bay, meant to represent transparency.

It was interesting to learn that Wales was allowed to manage some of its regional issues, instead of leaving it up to England alone. The United Kingdom is not just England like I used to think, its a lot of regions sowed together. The Welsh seem to see themselves as a wholly separate group than the rest of the British, they almost see themselves as their own country and many of the people I talked to there and I watched acted that way. The more I have talked to people, I've learned that people from Wales are proud to call themselves Welsh, and sometimes British, but people from England are more quick to call themselves British than English. When I've asked people what it means to be British, they all seem to have agreed that it means you are a citizen, or you were born, in the United Kingdom. The British identity is a kaleidoscope of cultures and ideas. I'm still not totally sure what it is and where it's come from because regional identities are as strong here as national ones.