Llandudno Promenade, Wales, United KingdomMarine Hotel, Vaughn Street, Llandugno Wales
After breakfast, we headed to the bus stop for the Bodnant garden.
Marilynn had already scoped out the bus situation so we headed to the Trinity Square bus stop. The bus was a little late. There were some other people waiting as well: a young man with his parents and an older woman. They all continued on to the garden stop although the bus seemed to go through all sorts of places. We passed Conwy and headed inland a bit - up into the hills to the grand estate with its garden and all its shops and its little disorganized cafe.
The garden was really spectacular - from the formal terraces with their depth of plantings and many blooms now - even in late summer. We followed the dell path past the mansion that was off limits. There was an old mill next to a rippling stream just hung over with deep blue Nikko hydrangeas. Gorgeous. There were lots of giant, giant trees including sequoia - one of which they were in the process of removing. We had a little trouble keeping onto the path we wanted to follow - bemoaning the lack of proper signs directing the way. There was a lovely rose garden with visitors exclaiming about the various varieties that they now wanted to buy.
There were some sections cordoned off so we felt we missed a few places, like the boat house. There was a meadow and we could see some sheep from a neighboring farm. Coming back we were a bit tired and hungry. When we made our way to the cafe, the choices were quite limited and the line long. Marilynn complained about the disorganization: 5 people were working in the cafe with little or no efficiency. Marilynn barely had anything to eat but I had a gluten0free sandwich with Welsh cheese and carmelized onion that was a bit dry but tasty. After lunch, Marilynn thought we only had a short time before our bus back, but actually it was an hour earlier. Then I wanted to check out the garden shop and other shops for a present for Kara but I could only fnd a tool sharpener and I was afraid the airport would confiscate it so I didn't buy it.
We caught the bus back and went back to our room before coming out again to look for dinner. That turned out to be quite an ordeal.
Dinner has become something of an effort because we are both tired of the limited choices in most of the restaurants we have visited.
On top of that, Marilynn is gluten-intolerant and she is also having some stomach issues that force her to be more selective. In the room, we had researched a couple of possibilities - several rejected for various reasons and then settled on an Italian restaurant. Marilynn has the address as 10 Mostyn or something like that. I remembered that some of the other possibilities had nummbers close to that. Marilynn was either following her sps or some directions and heading down Mostyn toward the far end of the beach away from Orne. We went for awhile and it looked as if all the restuarant area had ended and not much was there so I convinced her to go back in the other direction. I don't think she would have, but somehow I gave her the impresssive I knew where it was - which I didn't exactly - but I thought I had seen an Italian restaurant on that other end of town. We ran into some of the other places and then Marilynn asked in a shop and the woman told her it it was a 15 min walk, past the gas station in the direction Mariltnn had originally gone. So we walked back. It was a really dreary section of the town and I really would have preferred to walk along the seafront rather than on this dreary road. We had a conversation about things being named Mostyn and Marilynn said there were lots of different Mostyns, like Mostyn Broadway near where we eventually found the restaurant - which was closed. There was no sign on the door explaining why, but when I looked at the opeing time, I could see that it wasn't open on mondays - which today was - so we walked back - again on that horrible street. We ended up back at the 11 Mostyn Forte restaurant where we both had chicken leek soup and I had a seafood starter and Marilynn had an order of white bread, but we each had a glass of wine and then some dessert. Marilynn's cream cake did not turn out as she expected but my ice cream was good.
We went back to the hotel. I took a photo of our window held open by the hanger. Marilynn saw me and was waving but I didn't see her. Luckily she could see herself in the photo I took. The we watched a British crime series and probably went to bed by 10:30 pm...so as to be up for the next day - a traveling day. Oh, somewhere in there I had booked my train ticket to Liverpool Southpark station fro m Llandugno. Marilynn tried to get me to take a bus at 8 am but that was too early for me. Just as well since the buses were striking.
2025-05-22