The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Snowdonia, Chester and the OAP discount

I told a little bit about the location of our Llandudno hotel in a previous blog. In addition to a great location it also had an interesting history. The name of it was the Empire Hotel. It was built in 1854 and was originally in a row of shops. It was purchased by a family in 1946 and converted to a 20 room hotel. The third generation of family members are managing it today. One of the current family members actually married a Texan, a fact they proudly share in their story. It's tough to get a Texan out of Texas so it must be true love that he has been living in Wales and helping run the hotel since 1993. It wasn't overly fancy but it was full of character and very comfortable. Some of the staff shared with us that many of the guests have been coming to the hotel for quite a number of years. I don't know when we'll be back. If we're ever in the neighborhood I sure wouldn't mind staying there again.
http://www.empirehotel.co.uk/
From Llandudno it was an easy drive to Snowdonia National Park which covers over 800 square miles and is the largest national park in Wales. It also is home to the highest mountain in Wales and England, Mount Snowden. I don't think I had ever given it much thought but I wasn't expecting to see snow covered mountains here. Not only were many of the mountains in Snowdonia capped with snow they actually had a pretty good snowfall our second night in town.Our drive kept us just below the snow line but there were some great overlooks of valleys with lakes and green fields usually full of sheep with the snow covered mountains in the background.
We enjoyed driving over to the park and spending some time in the village of Betws Y Coed (no idea how to pronounce it). As with so many of these villages there was a beautiful mountain stream running through the heart of town. Very picturesque!
http://www.eryri-npa.gov.uk/home
On the drive from Llandudno to our next destination, the Lake District, we stopped in the city of Chester. Beth had heard about it from a lady she was visiting with back in the fall when we were on the New Zealand cruise. Thankfully she still has enough brain cells to remember some of what she's heard even months later.
Chester was a Roman Fortress built back in the first century AD. There were quite a few ruins that dated back to when the Romans were the big dogs over here. Additionally it is considered to have the most intact city walls of any city in Britain. It seemed like about 80% or so are still intact today. We enjoyed walking a pretty good portion of it. But what Chester is really known for is it's two story Tudor style buildings that occupy several streets in the city center. This style definitely gives the city a distinct look.
What I have left of my hair was starting to look a little scruffy. Our ability to burn up hair clippers is well documented, having fried one in New Zealand and another in Spain. We had decided when it was time for a haircut we'd just find a barbershop. Well it was time and we found one in Chester.
The young lady that cut my hair was very nice. When I set down in her chair I told her that I wanted her to make my hair look like hers. It was shoulder length and pink. She laughed and we were buddies right away. She told me about her independent minded six year old daughter and asked about our children. I told her about Ben and Sarah and of course included a good bit on SBJ.
The prices for haircuts were listed on a sign. It was pretty simple: Men 9 Pounds, Students 7 Pounds, OAP 6 Pounds.
When she was done she said that'll be 6 Pounds. I happily paid her and we were on our way still curious as to what OAP meant but having a pretty good idea. Google confirmed our suspicions. We thought it was Older Aged Person, it's actually Old Age Pensioner! I'll take that OAP discount anytime I can get it!