After a 3 hour train ride west, I arrived in Cardiff. I stayed at a lovely hostel... good combo of social things but def not a party hostel. I arrived and settled into my hostel room (superior- aka single beds not bunks- 4 bed mixed with only one roommate! An older brit named Ray who is VERY chatty but very nice too). After I rested up, I headed downstairs to make friends and find a dinner recommendation.
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| Welcome to Cardiff, Wales! |
Well, I fully felt like an awkward fool this first hang out in a hostel. There were two Americans and three hostel workers all chatting and seemed to know each other really well. I just sat there feeling like I didn't belong and didn't know how to jump into the convo. Eventually I did, but then quickly left to have dinner.
I went to a fantastic burger place and wandered around the shopping district, exploring all the cute shops in the unique Victoria style arcades. Ultimately I ended up at Primark (bc where else do I know where to shop at in the UK, hahaha). I bought some souvenirs for my sister and an umbrella for myself (since my last one from there lasted so long, I thought I'd make another investment).
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| One of the shopping Arcades in the City Centre |
I met the American girl while I was grabbing some beer at the off license and we chatted for the rest of the evening until I headed up to shower and sleep. Kind of an unexciting evening but I was exhausted from my London adventures that I welcomed a more mellow night.
Private Tours and Travels in Time and Space (#tripofthenerds)
I didn't have the greatest first sleep. I think I was nervous about not knowing who I was sharing the space with, but luckily I did not have that trouble the second night. Regardless, I pulled myself out of bed to make it to the walking tour in the morning.
They are supposed to cancel tours if there are less than 2 people that showed up, but the guy (Andrew from Wales) who gave me the tour wanted more practice so he gave me a private one! It was great. We walked around Cardiff Castle, the government buildings, the stadium and some of the City Centre. My hostel, Safehouse hostel, was pretty well located so none of these were too far.
Random facts I remember: There was a gold painted post box because whenever an olympian won a medal in the London Olympics, they painted them a gold postbox in their hometown. The olympian from Cardiff? He had no idea. ;)
The red bricks along the bottom of the castle walls are actually the old Roman ruins, anything above it was the restoration.
Also, he was cute so I was a little distracted anyways.
After Andrew's tour, I took his suggestion to take the river ferry down to the harbour. Also, I had no idea how many swans there were in Cardiff! I've only ever seen one or two, but there were like 10 on the shore at one point. The boat also gave us some informative facts about places we passed along the way (such as the various yatching areas and tourist friendly places).
Cardiff Bay was BEAUTIFUL. Granted, it was a gorgeous sunny day, but still. I could definitly feel myself getting burnt -- who would have thought that would even have been a concern on this trip! I took some shelter in a cafe that used to be an old church (that Roald Dahl, a Cardiff native, was baptized in!).
Then.... The Doctor Who Experience (aka the whole reason I even came to Cardiff at all). It starts off with a theatrical walk/journey where Peter Capaldi talks you through a mission to collect crystals to power the Tardis and save the day! It was hokey and fantastic. I love interactive things like this. Also, I got kind of freaked out with the weeping angels portion -- if I was a child, I definitely would not have continued on that walk through.
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| The face of Boe |
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| Ten's Companion Costumes (Donna, Cpt. Jack, Martha & Rose) |
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| A very traditionally Welsh bar |
