A warning before we begin: This series of photos will contain many depictions of Ancient Monuments and, as this sign points out (in both Welsh and English), Ancient Monuments CAN BE DANGEROUS! So please, exercise caution while viewing. Thank you.

I stand in front of the ruins of a Roman ampitheatre in Caerleon, which is thought by some to have been the origin of the idea of King Arthur's round table, as Caerleon is often considered to have been his original homebase.

Remains of a Roman barrack. (This is only a tiny corner of what would have been a vast encampment, but they're the only remaining such ruins on all of Europe--an incredible fact when you consider how widespread Roman military occupation was at one point.)

Caerphilly Castle. Note the concentric construction design. And overall castle-ishness.

I prepare to storm the inner castle from the vantage point of an outer tower.

A number of medieval weapons of war stand on display, including (the central, tallest structure) a trebuchet (that's for you, Matt, if you're reading this!)

I peer out from beneath a castle archway in what would have been the central private rooms of the inhabitants.

Caerphilly Castle looking particularly castle-y with duck-strewn moat, rounded towers, and flags flying in the upper left-hand corner.

View of a few of the many collected houses, cottages, and farms built in various time periods and reconstructed here on the site of the National Museum of Welsh Life at St. Fagan's.

Interior of a 17th century farmhouse

Me with a stone beehive-like pigsty from about 1800.

Corner of a restored general store complete with period packages from the 1920s.

Interior of the final house in the time-travelling row of Iron Workers' Houses--yes, folks, that monstrosity beneath the TV is a giant VCR circa 1985. Awesome.

A standing timber circle a la the ancient druids.

The group heads off for a hike through Brecon Beacon National Park. Our first stop, as the gate so picturesquely proclaims, is Sgwd Gwladys, or Lady Waterfalls.

I stand before Sgwd Gwladys.

Horseshoe Falls, so named for their shape. I think this was my favorite waterfall of the walk.

I perch on a mossy outcropping of tree above our third waterfall, whose name I can't recall. Alas.

The sheep bid us greetings as we pass their carefully guarded domain. (Notice, hidden in back of cluster, the black sheep of the family--there always is one, isn't there?)

Glorious view of sunset up the trail on the way back to the bus at the end of our walk.

Ty'r Morwydd Environmental Study Center in Abergavenny where we spent our second night. (Ty'r Morwydd means House Of The Mulberry Trees)

Curtain call at the Borough Theatre in Abergavenny--the cast of Orpheus in The Underworld takes a well-deserved bow.

Pwll Mawr--The Big Pit Mining Museum

Tintern Abbey in all its glory

The chapel--stained glass and roof gone, Nature now fills in the gaps left by man's past destruction.

From Tintern Abbey, I bid goodbye to Wales and another wonderful weekend of travel.