Croeso i Gaerdydd! Welcome to Cardiff!

Yes, Croeso i Gaerdydd means "Welcome to Cardiff" in Welsh.  I have very effectively translated this using the banner on the Cardiff home page... *ahem*

Okay, I know this is WEEKS past due, but in my defense I had three enormous essays to write, so it was necessary.

Anyway!  My first proper trip since I've been here was to Cardiff.  It was just luck really, since my roommate, Rob, was taking his girlfriend to see the university there, so one of my other roommates, Jeremy, and I tagged along.

The plan was to go to the Doctor Who Experience, spend a few hours there, get something to eat, and then find our way over to an American candy store I had heard of.  From there on out, it was just going to be sort of hanging around, seeing whatever there was to see, etc.

Here's what actually happened:  We went to Doctor Who, which was great!  It began with a campy, silly little video, and then you walk through the Tardis, meet some Daleks, and end up in a small museum which eventually spits you out into the gift store.  It was fairly quiet, just families and kids.  It was fun, though definitely more family oriented than I had expected.  Aaaand it was also only an hour or so tops before we were done.

So we went and grabbed a bite to eat at a little french place where I payed for a bowl of mushroom soup with an arm, a leg, and my first born child, and then we made our way to the candy store.

This was something I had been seriously looking forward to: reeses, lucky charms, hersheys, all the terrible junk food I miss.  Well, needless to say it was crap.  It had the distinct feeling of a place that is seldom visited, they were asking £9 for a box of Lucky charms, and aside from Hersheys, the candy they had is all available here.  No reeses, either.  Just twix, m&ms, starbursts, and so on.  Not only are they pretty much all available here, but I can walk down to the Spar around the corner and pick up a Twix bar for 65p, and they were asking £2 at this candy store.  I left annoyed and without candy.

But here's the problem:  it was pobably about one pm at this point.  Rob and Aggie wouldn't be done until 5pm at the earliest.  Jeremy had already been to cardiff, so he led me to a museum nearby.  We were going to go to a wetland preservation area, but then... Wales, rain, wet, cold, indoor museums suddenly start to sound very nice.

We got about halfway to the museum when we decided to check out a few shops and arcade areas, where we ended up spending too much money.  I found a shop that sells unique liquors by the ml and bought 750ml of Rose Liqueur for £7.50.  I also got a bunch of postcards which I'll be sending out over the next month or so to everyone I promised postcards to!

After the arcades, Jeremy wanted to go to Cardiff Castle to buy a tshirt for his brother.  Since it cost £14 to actually go into the castle, I figured I'd settle for seeing it from the outside and the giftshop.  Of course, once we were inside, I realized how badly I needed to see it.  It was staggering.  Enormous, majestic, beautiful, the embodiment of history and age.   I opted out of the tour, so it was only £11 entry, which seemed way more affordable than £14 for some reason.

We went first to the inner castle, the parts we were allowed to see, anyway, and which were furnished to look like they would have then.  We were allowed to take photos, but not with flash and since it was quite dark, none of the photos were coming out.  So naturally, I used my little point-and-shoot camera to take videos of everything, which I have compiled into a lovely bit of loveliness for you:

It was really just a wonderful day and I will never forget it.  After leaving the castle, we met up with Rob and Aggie again, who unfortunately were unable to go to the university.  I avoided talking about how awesome my day was, because they seemed pretty put out by their somewhat less exciting day of adventuring.  I suppose for them it was about as interesting as going to Sacramento for a day would be for me.  For me and Jeremy, however, it was fascinating, instructive, and awesome.

Some other photos from the day:

Doctor Who Experience!

 View from the Tardis

Memorial statue that was just outrageously amazing

Important sort of... red brick building that I can't remember why is important....

It's Jeremy!  He's a history major, so the red brick building was obviously somehow historically significant....

Cardiff Castle again!

View from the Keep.  This photo doesn't do it justice... the view was amazing.

Giant chimney!

 Seriously, look how huge this was!

 Did I mention there was a trebuchet?

Selfie time!