Rhymes with Fonzie

The next stop on our travels was Swansea, a Welsh town on the west coast. When we mentioned to a friend in London, she'd exclaimed, "Why would you ever want to go to Swansea?" So we weren't sure what to expect. We bundled ourselves off the train, and I looked up our Airbnb. It was at the corner of Hill Street and Hill Road. Hmm. Sure enough, an extremely steep climb followed, giving us our first taste of town. Seemed hot, and cementy, with many stout men who like to walk around without shirts on.

Our niece Zoe also joined us for this adventure, which made it all more festive and fun. She's about Aurora's age, very independent, and radiated enthusiasm and energy. It was nice to see her and Aurora often wander off on their own rather than trail along. 

Anyway, we were a bit deflated to learn we had to walk all the way back down to buy groceries, but happened across a bowling alley as we went. Why not? None of our girls had ever bowled before. So our first evening involved lots of neon, the occasional strike or spare, and very happy kids. 

Tamar's birthday was great. Despite having a nasty cold and cough, she somehow went for a 15-km early-morning hike and run out to the Mumbles, an endearingly-named geological formation west of Swansea. We went to a board game cafe and played Azul for the first time (it seemed like the lamest game ever until we realized just how badly Jakob had misread the rules, and then it was great). We bowled again, and Team Tamar/Zadie smashed everyone. The day was capped by a bake-off, with Zoe, Sophia and Tova presenting a Picnic Cake which involved a frozen raspberry cheesecake and chocolate cake, plus chill music, multiple ancillary picnic dishes, and an outdoor garden. Aurora, Jakob and Zadie produced a Graveyard King Cake, in which Tamar had to solve a series of puzzles to defeat the King, who glared up from his chocolatey lair surrounded by tombstones and dead dogs. 

Otherwise, Swansea acquitted itself fairly well. We played on the beach, found a cool observatory (unfortunately closed), and had the odd excursion to the surrounding hills. The local ice cream, Joe's, was incredible. The city felt kinda dead in some ways, but with lots of ways to have fun nonetheless. Towards the end, Tamar's parents joined us, making for an even livelier house. Then they headed off to Ireland with Sophia and Tova in tow, while the rest of us hopped on a train for Cardiff, the capital of Wales, for more adventures.