Croeso i Gymru

Taylor, Cate, Holly, Ariel, Eunice and I ventured out of England to Wales this weekend. As it was rugby weekend, Cardiff was packed with people, and we were unable to find housing in any hostels. Instead, we chose to "couch surf". I was pretty skeptical about staying with people we'd never met and knew very little about, but it turned out to be a fantastic experience. I would definitely do it again!

We stayed with a couple Cardiff University students and another couch-surfing group, a frisbee team from the University of Plymouth. I think there were something like 17 of us in total. In short, it was pretty crowded, but we got to meet a lot of interesting people. Our hosts helped us find our way around the city and were very accommodating. They were very laid back and didn't seem at all phased by 17 people traipsing through the house at all hours of the night and day. They had a bunch of large mattresses that were laid out in any available space. Our group had a bed and a mattress. Three people slept in the bed, two on the mattress, and two of us took the floor.

On the first day, we visited Cardiff Castle and Cardiff Bay. The castle was really fascinating and sits right in the middle of the city. The castle grounds are surrounded by a huge wall that sets it apart from the modern office buildings and stores that surround it. Mostly, there's just the keep and the castle itself.

Here's a photo looking out from a window in the keep. You can see the castle on the right and the city to the left.


After we'd explored the castle (and the gift shop), we hopped a cab to the Millennium Centre at Cardiff Bay. The buses were running on a strange schedule on account of the rugby craze, and the bay was a bit of a walk from the city centre.

Here's the stereotypical postcard photo of the Millennium Centre.


I also took a quick tour through the Doctor Who Exhibition at the nearby Red Dragon Centre. It was a lot of fun, but I was a bit disappointed. The exhibit consisted of a number of props and costumes from various episodes. The items were organized by episodes and each had a plaque that summarized the corresponding episode (with spoilers). Some (like the Daleks) used animatronics to move and make some noises. My major gripes with the exhibit were twofold. First, there wasn't any 'new' information. No interesting facts about filming or any write-ups about the cast or creatures. Except for the fact that I could see the costumes and props in-person, I could have gotten as much from watching the episode. My second gripe was that the exhibit only focused on the new reboot. Besides a couple pictures of the past Doctors on a wall at the entrance, any references to the earlier Doctor Who series were nonexistent.



The most interesting thing about the exhibit was really the people who came to see it. Mostly, the visitors were parents with children. The parents obviously LOVED Doctor Who and had imparted this sentiment upon their children. The parents would make some [geeky] comment about the show, and the kids would get so excited... Ah, well... I love the UK.

On Sunday, we went to the Museum of Welsh Life at St. Fagans. The museum itself was pretty interesting, and they were having a special exhibit about Italian immigrants in Wales.

Welsh Scrabble (this pretty much sums up the Welsh language)


The collection overall was rather small. The museum contained the Italian collection, some lovespoons and other items of Welsh culture (including Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart), some clothing, and agricultural tools.



The museum's real interest is the "open-air museum," which includes the old castle and "over forty buildings which represent the architecture of Wales." We were very fortunate in that the weather was moderately warm and sunny (a rarity in Wales and Britain in general).



We spent a couple hours exploring the castle and grounds. It was a really incredible experience, and I'd highly recommend the museum to anyone visiting in Cardiff.

Afterwards, we were told that the last two buses back to Cardiff City Centre had not come. We tried calling the "Traveline Cymru" which was posted in two places on the bus stop, but according to the lady who answered, the number had directed us to Northern Ireland and she had no idea what we were talking about. Instead, we had to walk to an alternate stop nearby.

Cardiff is home to the Brains Brewery, which produces a popular beer called "Brains" (it also sponsors the Welsh rugby union team and the Celtic Crusaders). Still, I found this to be incredibly amusing. Mostly because of such phrases like: "Have some brains!" or "Try my Brains!" I was determined to get some sort of Brains memorabilia, and as it turns out, Brains pubs sell their pint glass for only £1.99 ('Cymru' pint glasses in most shops ran to £5+).


Mission Accomplished.

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A few notes:

1) All the photos that I took from this trip can be found on Facebook.

2) Cardiff DOES NOT HAVE good food! Either pack something or do your research beforehand! Don't believe me? Go to the Zagat's site (I know Zagat's is not the only indicator of good food), set your location to Cardiff, and press "Show all restaurants." Do any restaurants come up? NO! When I went to look up food before we left, I could only find two reputable restaurants. When we got there, one had closed down and we never got around to the other. However, it is completely possible (though not healthy) to live off jacket potatoes.