Cardiff 15.12.2009

Saturday morning Martin’s dad drove us to Glasgow Airport so we could catch our flight to Cardiff. T’was massively foggy on the way up there and it seemed the road was just placed in the middle of a great big grey and white cloud. Fortunately it was quite as bad at the airport so when the plane was delayed half an hour that was not why. It had some sort of tech fault but they fixed it and not very long after we were in Wales. We got the bus to the train station and got on a train to Cardiff City Centre. With the help of a city map and a friendly Welsh woman we made it to our hotel.

We dropped off our bags at the hotel and walked down to the Bay to find the Doctor Who exhibition. It was hidden in some huge building somewhere so we spent a while trying to find it. This wasn’t really a problem though as we’d planned to go check out the Millennium Centre and surroundings anyway. (Torchwood location!)

After the exhibition we got the bus back to the city centre and went for a walk in the streets with Christmas lights (Doctor Who locations, yay!) (geek) and stopped at a pub to have fish and chips.

When we’d finished our meal we managed to find the right way to the New Theatre to see the panto. John Barrowman was Robin Hood and it was absolutely fantastic (and hilarious!). Afterwards we walked through town back to the hotel which turned out to be quite near to the theatre when walking the right way.

Sunday morning we checked out but left our bags at the reception so we didn’t have to carry them around all day. We had breakfast at a nice little place in town and then got the bus to Cardiff Bay and went to see the Welsh Assembly. Very fascinating building with a wavy roof and interesting glass walls. Has to be seen. One of the people there gave us a guided tour in a lovely Welsh accent. Later we went for a walk at the Bay, looking at little shops, cafés and people. Apparently Cardiff Bay is the capital of hand-holding couples, which was very interesting.

We also popped into the Millennium Centre to check it out on the inside and found a fascinating sign on the door when leaving. Welsh is such a complicated language, especially when written down.

When we’d looked at everything we got the bus back into town and walked up to a tiny German Christmas market. We got yummy French pancakes from a grumpy English lady and sat down to eat them on a very cold Welsh bench and then went back to the hotel to get our bags, after which we went to get a train to the airport. We were quite early so we sat about eating an apple for a bit before checking in our suitcase. Very small airport which meant everything before the security check was closed, not very interesting. However, everything after security was open (when I say everything I mean about five shops and a café place) so we browsed around a bit and got some delicious soup while waiting for the gate to open.

When we arrived in Glasgow, there was more fog than on Saturday. Didn’t think that was possible. Still wondering how the pilot knew where to land because it was so bad you couldn’t even see the top of the car park building when standing right next to it. And it wasn’t even a very tall one! We got home safely anyway, had another bowl of soup and watching Strictly till late. Great weekend!

A few more pictures:

In other news, I’ve been working hard to get all my uni stuff ready for hand in tomorrow and I’m almost done with all of it. Fortunately I have tomorrow morning to get the last couple of things printed and mounted but it seems I’m actually going to manage so that’s good. Will be nice not to have to worry about it over Christmas. Tomorrow night I’m going with Martin to see Beauty and the Beast in Glasgow (quite busy few weeks we’re having) and Thursday morning we’re flying to Copenhagen.

Oh oh, and a random unrelated bit of information: This morning I sold a Ninja Chicken t-shirt, such a nice way to start the day.

By the way, Wednesday is the last day to vote for my picture in the See Me competition.