Day 8
While I was getting my act together I met Georgia from Australia. She was travelling around the UK on an itinerary similar to mine. What was very strange was that we were both in London at the Piccadilly Hostel at the same time and in the same room. We just didn’t run into each other.
We decided to check out Cardiff together and headed straight to the castle. The castle dates originally to the Romans, but the history doesn’t get very interesting until about 400 years ago when the Scottish lord Butte, later the Marques of Butte, acquired the land through marriage. Several different of the Marques built on and expanded the castle area.
The 3rd Marques did the most renovations. He had the rooms ornately decorated in the romantic idea of medieval decoration. Every room was full of symbols. The smoking room had the zodiac signs, the children’s playroom was decorated in French fairy tales, and the Arab room looked like it came out of a Moroccan harem.
Also enclosed in the castle walls are the remains of a Norman castle. There isn’t much left, but you can climb up one of the towers for a great view of Cardiff.
Like me, Georgia preferred walking, so we decided to check out the Llandaff Cathedral no matter how far away it was. As it turned out it was pretty freakin’ far away. It took about 1.5 hours of constant walking each way to get there and back. Luckily, it was worth the walk.
Llandaff Cathedral is one of the oldest religious sites in the UK. Unfortunately, it was heavily shelled during WWII and most of the ancient church was lost. The current building is a hodgepodge of reconstruction and older bits. There were several of the older graves that had survived the bombing. One of them was a really creepy skeleton statue.
We were famished by the time we got back to Cardiff and grabbed a quick lunch before heading to the harbour area. Cardiff is a small town and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to do.
I think that the harbour would be a lot better during the summer. It was quite dead when we were wandering around, and the cold and wind didn’t help the situation.
After a cheapie dinner back at the hostel we headed out to find some brains. I don’t mean real brains, I mean the Welsh beer Brains. We each tried a couple of different kinds, and I recommend that everyone get some brains!
The 3rd Marques did the most renovations. He had the rooms ornately decorated in the romantic idea of medieval decoration. Every room was full of symbols. The smoking room had the zodiac signs, the children’s playroom was decorated in French fairy tales, and the Arab room looked like it came out of a Moroccan harem.
Also enclosed in the castle walls are the remains of a Norman castle. There isn’t much left, but you can climb up one of the towers for a great view of Cardiff.
Like me, Georgia preferred walking, so we decided to check out the Llandaff Cathedral no matter how far away it was. As it turned out it was pretty freakin’ far away. It took about 1.5 hours of constant walking each way to get there and back. Luckily, it was worth the walk.
Llandaff Cathedral is one of the oldest religious sites in the UK. Unfortunately, it was heavily shelled during WWII and most of the ancient church was lost. The current building is a hodgepodge of reconstruction and older bits. There were several of the older graves that had survived the bombing. One of them was a really creepy skeleton statue.
We were famished by the time we got back to Cardiff and grabbed a quick lunch before heading to the harbour area. Cardiff is a small town and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to do.
I think that the harbour would be a lot better during the summer. It was quite dead when we were wandering around, and the cold and wind didn’t help the situation.
After a cheapie dinner back at the hostel we headed out to find some brains. I don’t mean real brains, I mean the Welsh beer Brains. We each tried a couple of different kinds, and I recommend that everyone get some brains!
2 comments:
Looks like you are happy to have that winter coat with you!!
Love, Mom
Its so freakin' cold. I don't know what I would do without the coat!
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