Conference tallis::celt

    Hi Luc,
    
    	I don't have any information on Wales, unfortunatly I haven't
    gone yet (hopefully this summer), but I can point you toward a pretty
    good source.  The TRUCKS::GREAT_BRITAIN notesfile has a wealth of
    information on traveling ALL of Great Britain.  There were a lot
    of recommendations on where to go and what to see in Wales.
    
    Good luck and enjoy,
     Karen

    Hi Luc,
    
    Where are you located - I can send you a pack of tourist information
    from Reading UK if we have the time to get it to you.
    
    There are many B&B's, and you should not always need to book.
    
    As a suggested route, I would start in the south and tour through
    the valleys, Wales is famous for its castles - some of the largest
    and most elaborate in Europe (The second largest castle in Europe
    is in my home town of Caerphilly).  If you're interested in the
    historical perspective there are many historical sites from stone
    age to Roman (Caerleon/Caernarfon) & Medieval (St Fagans in Cardiff).
    
    Then via the Beacons national park (scenic, caves) to mid Wales, and
    via Devils bridge to Snowdonia.  Interesting narrow-gauge railways that
    teeter along on the sides of mountains.  Finally, the northern
    coastline, (Anglesey) or possibly down the west coast (Pembroke).
    
    Keep an eye on the long-range weather forecasts before you plan
    to go.  It can be a wet place in the summer so it's worth planning
    your route so you have the option to spend time indoors.
    
    Croeso i Gymru,
    
    Colin
    
         

    
    Hello Collin,
    
    Thank you very very very much. That's just the kind of info I was
    looking for. 
    
    It would be great if you could send me some tourist-info. I'm located
    in Belgium, so if you could send something to
    	LUC ROBBENS @BRO
    I would be most gratefull.
    
    Thanks again,
    
    Misschien tot ziens... (I hope you don't understand this neither...)
    
    Luc.
    

	Hello Colin,

	Thanks for the "Groeso i Gymru", I asked my wife (a Digital 
	Sales-woman...) to translate it. See agrees with your proposition, as
        she already has some experience with Wales.

	She gave me a message for you :

	" Diolch yn fawr i chi ! 
          Mi na i dysgi gymraeg blynnydoed ymlaen, ym Mangor.
          Dwi i ddin yn siarad cymraeg o gwbwl nwar, bod yn typyn bach.
	                        Y gwir i Luc                             "

	Let me know what she told you.

	Could you arrange for the tourist-info ? Our planning to come to
	Wales are growing fast !

	Thanks,

	Luc.
    

    If you intend driving through North Wales, you should stop at Conw(a)y
    - a lovely little town, complete with castle and walled town. A
    walk down to the quay and you are able to pop into the Liverpool
    Arms. It is a small pub with pictures showing the height of the
    water inside the pub during a winter storm many years ago.
    	Do not blink as you pass the "smallest house in Gt Britain"
    - you may miss it! It is tiny, but apparently the last occupant
    was over 6' tall (probably slept in the pub).
    
    	The North Wales "chunnel" does not look too wonderful now, but
    in a few years it should be worthy of a picture again. It is quite
    an engineering feat, if all goes well. 
    
        Another "must" is Llandudno, nestled between the Great and Little
    Ormes. Take a trip up to the top of the Gt Orme either by tram or
    cable-car, although it can get very windy suspended 30 feet above
    ground as I found to my cost.
    
    	Where-ever you go, have a good holiday!
    
    Trefor

    S'ydych chi Luc,
    
    	I think I made a mistake when I sent you the MAIL with a
    translation of your message - if it was last year or a few
    years ago then the message should read "yn �l" instead of "ymlaen".
    That's according to my sister, who is the family.
    
        There is a pack of stuff on it's way to you, including a list
    of B&B's - some of iy is in Welsh, but I guess that't no problem
    to you :)
    
    Best regards,
    
    Colin
    

             <<< HYDRA::DISK$USERPACK02:[NOTES$LIBRARY]DAVE_BARRY.NOTE;1 >>>
                       -<  Dave Barry - Noted humorist  >-
================================================================================
Note 290.0            Foreign Languages Made Simply Stupid            No replies
SMURF::DUNLAP                                        81 lines   8-FEB-1987 15:02
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	Foreign Languages Made Simply Stupid
		--by Dave Barry

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to
discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the past
30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages.  Oh,
sure, they speak SOME English, but usually just barely well enough to
receive a high-school diploma here in the United States.  This can
lead to problems for you, the international traveler, when you need to
convey important information to them, such as:
   "Which foreign country is this?"
   And:
   "You call this toilet paper?"
   To their credit, some countries have made a sincere effort to adopt
English as their native language, a good example being England, but
even there you have problems.  My wife and I were driving around
England once, and we came to a section called "Wales," which is this
linguistically deformed area that apparently is too poor to afford
vowels.  All the road signs look like this:
   LLWLNCWLWNRLLN - 3 km
   It is a tragic sight indeed to see Welsh parents attempting to sing
traditional songs such as "Old MacDonald had a Farm" to their children
and lapsing into heartrending silence when they get to the part about
"E-I-E-I-O."  If any of you in our reading audience have extra vowels
that you no longer need because, for example, your children have grown
up, I urge you to send them (your children) to: Vowels for Wales, c/o
Lord Chesterfield Parliament Luckystrike, the Duke of Earl, Pondwater-
on-Gabardine, England.
   But the point I am trying to make here is that since the rest of
the world appears to be taking its sweet time about becoming fluent in
English, it looks like, in the interest of improving world peace and
understanding, it's up to us Americans to strike the bull on the horns
while the iron is hot and learn to speak a foreign language.
   This is not an area where we are strong, as a nation: A recent poll
showed that 82 percent of the Americans surveyed speak no foreign
language at all.
   Unfortunately, the same poll showed that 41 percent also cannot
speak English, 53 percent cannot name the state they live in, and 62
percent believe that the Declaration of Independence is "a kind of
fish."  So we can see that we have a tough educational row to hoe
here, in the sense that Americans, not to put too fine a point on it,
have the IQs of bait.  I mean, let's face it, this is obviously why
the Japanese are capable of building sophisticated videocassette
recorders, whereas we view it as a major achievement if we can hook
them up correctly to our TV sets.  This is nothing to be ashamed of,
Americans!  Say it out loud!  "We're pretty stupid!"  See?  Doesn't
that feel good?  Let's stop blaming the educational system for the
fact that our children score lower on standardized tests than any
other vertebrate life form on the planet!  Let's stop all this
anguished whiny self-critical FRETTING over the recently discovered
fact that the guiding hand on the tiller of the ship of state belongs
to Mister Magoo!  Remember: WE STILL HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.  Ha ha!
   Getting back to the central point, we should all learn to speak a
foreign language.   Fortunately, this is easy.
                   HOW TO SPEAK A FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
   The key is to understand that foreigners communicate with each
other primarily by means of "idiomatic expressions," the main ones
being:
   GERMAN: "Ach du lieber!" ("Darn it")
   SPANISH: "Caramba!" ("Darn it!")
   FRENCH: "Zut alors!" ("Look! A lors!")
   Also, you should bear in mind that foreign persons for some reason
believe that everyday household objects and vegetables are "masculine"
or "feminine."  For example, French persons believe that potatoes are
feminine, even though they (potatoes) do not have sexual organs, that
I have noticed.  Dogs, on the other hand, are masculine, even if they
are not.  (This does not mean, by the way, that a dog can have sex
with a potato, although it will probably try.)
   PRONUNCIATION HINT: In most foreign languages, the letter "r" is
pronounced incorrectly.  Also, if you are speaking German, at certain
points during each sentence you should give the impression you're
about to expel a major gob.
   Okay? Practice these techniques in front of a mirror until you're
comfortable with them, then go to a country that is frequented by
foreigners and see if you can't increase their international
understanding, the way Jimmy Carter did during his 1977 presidential
visit to Poland, when he told a large welcoming crowd, through an
official State Department translator, that he was "pleased to be
grasping your secret parts."

    RE:  -1
    
    Hey keVin,             
    
    
    
       I bet you pay for that one 8*).
            
    
    paddy
    
    

    
    
    	.7 was put there in "fun"
    
    
    	NOT intended to offend anyone.
    
    
    
    	kVn
    

    
    Llanfairpwllgwyngychgogerychchwyndrobllantysyliogogogoch!
    
    No apologies accepted�.  Mr Burns has become the Salman Rushdie of
    the CELT notesfile and we're sending a hit team (me) to the US
    to set his trousers on fire.
    
    (Now that's what I call a good Burns night....)
    
    
    � though we may be bribed by a pint of the black stuff.
    

    
    
    
    	I'll buy the pint(s) only if the following three conditions are met.

                                                                     
    	1. They will NOT be purchased or consumed at the "R�is�n Dubh"
                                                          
    	2. You will NOT set my trousers on fire  !!!   :-)
                                                        
    	3. Paddy Culbert will NOT bring his Bodhran.
    
    
    
    	keVin

    It's a deal.  Your convictions are quashed.  (Sounds worse than
    having your trews alight).
    
    C
    

    I just came to finish my trip around Wales (and by consequence start
    working ago...).

    Thanks for the info in previous replies. Believe it or not, but I have
    visited them all, and it was realllllllllly worthwhile !

    I suppose we were very lucky with the weather, as we had no rain at
    all. At the top of the Snowdon we could admire a marvelous landscape
    for about 3 meters, all the rest was rather cloudy.

    Thanks for the tip about the Devil's Bridge. After finishing the walk
    down and up again, I had lost about 5 kilos. My wife appreciates it.

    Once again, thanks, and I really can advise everybody to travel around
    in Wales, it's great !

    Luc.