When I went to Hay on Wye, Part-2

Time makes every memory more romantic, more pleasurable or more horrible than we felt actually at the moment. So it is with my trip to Wales. In my mind as I write this, the hills of Wales are more greener, the breeze from acres and acres of flowers is more scented, and the 45 minute ride from Hereford to Hay on Wye, one of the best rides of my life. As I recall that day, I don't seem to remember the meter in the taxi running faster than a rumour on the Internet. I don't seem to remember my anxiety as the taxi bill went from 10's into 20's into 30's, eventually settling in the 40's. I only seem to remember the lush greenery, the beautiful houses among the hills, and the most beautiful streams. I only seem to remember the Chinese family in the back of the taxi, whose English was the most basic, manners were impeccable and the love of books enough to bring them from China to a small village in Wales.
The moment the taxi stopped in the village, I could not feel being aprehended. I have never been in a village in England before, let alone Wales. As the Chinese family thanked me and went their way, I went searching for true salvation. And I got it. I found the book lovers paradise. Books. Books, everywhere. Row upon rows of books. Books in hallways, on steps, on the floor, in basements, in attics. Paperbacks, hardbacks, antiques, rarest of the rare. Literature, fiction, philosophy, medicine, gardening, crime, business, you ask for it, and they got it. Shop upon shop, lane by lane. Shops dedicated to books on murder, shops dedicated to books on music, the ones dedicated to books on cinema. Books for old, young, for born, unborn. Thousands of orange penguins on a big shelf.
A Vatican, a Mecca for people who want to read. For people who worship books. For those after knowledge. For those who can sit under a tree and while away the rest of their lives, just reading books. If books were gods, the shops were monuments or temples to them, with the sellers as high priests.
To be continued.........