Day 30 (4/20)
I started out the day by walking through the Jane Austen exhibit just a few houses down from where she used to stay when she lived in Bath. I learned some really interesting facts, like that Jane Austen brewed her own beer (you go girl!) and her books were simply published under the title "by a Lady."
After that I grabbed a bite to eat and sat enjoying the sunshine and various buskers (performers for all of you Americans) around the city. Then it was time to meet Ayesha and catch the train to Wales!
We arrived in Cardiff with another 4 hours of sunlight left, so we spent it down by the bay. Ayesha went on her first carousel ride! We grabbed dinner outside to get as much out of the sun as we could, and then took the bus to stay with our couch surfer host Becca.
Becca is a lovely woman from Australia, with an adorable and lively little one named Skye! They were both very welcoming, and we had a great time chatting with her!
After a few hours of swapping stories it was finally time for bed. I love bedtime.
The original scripts for 2 different versions of Persuasion, and Polaroids of some cast members.
Some of you will remember the bridge that looks enclosed that's near the cool waterfall in Bath. This is the street crossing the bridge. I had coffee in a little café on the right overlooking the water.
One of the many buskers here in Bath.
These next two I saw in stores and just thought they were really funny.
Americans: Hokey Pokey
English: Hokey Cokey
Australians: Hokey Tokey
This does seem very Canadian.
Try and read Welsh. Go ahead, I'll wait.
A Welsh Corgi! IN WALES!
Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff. For those of you who don't know, he wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the script for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
This is the opera house. It says "In these stones horizons sing."
First time on a carousel!
The flag for Wales is in the middle, the Cardiff flag is on the right, and the flag of St. David (the patron saint of Wales) is on the left.
Day 31 (4/21)
The next morning we got to hang out with Skye for a bit (so much energy for such a little thing), and then ventured out.
Becca recommended seeing Caerphilly Castle (Castell Caerffili in Welsh) instead of Cardiff Castle, because it was a little cheaper and loads more interesting. Boy was she right!
Caerphilly was fantastic! We spent hours exploring, and they even had a dragon!
Afterwards, we took the train down to Cardiff, where we ventured on to the castle grounds. With a quick glance around we decided we'd had enough of castles for one day. We wandered around and found a beautiful park, and City Hall.
With it being our only full day in the city we decided to explore a little more, so we really took our time having a look around. There were a ton of buskers, as seems to be the case all over the UK. I meant to take some videos, but my phone was dying after all of the pictures, and we needed it to get back to Becca's.
Also, I'm sorry if you're tired of looking at castles. Deal with it.
Caerphilly Castle
Apparently it's the largest castle in Wales, and 2nd only to Windsor Castle in all of the UK.
My new friend.
Or so I thought!
Don't worry, I won.
I played queen for a day and knighted him.
Apparently I'm abnormally short. Look at all of that room.
A castle?! WHERE?!
I like to climb stuff, i.e. I'm short (see above).
Wand/sceptre
The UK loves their stone spiral staircases.
"Walk this way."
Don't we look noble?
In case any of you have parties coming up, you can rent out the great room here.
I felt like he needed some help.
I found a friend. He's currently without a name, but I'm sure something will come to me.
Cardiff Castle
This is how life feels to me sometimes.
The national flower of Wales: the daffodil.
Magnolias everywhere!
Cardiff City Hall
I don't know what these are, but I want to, so if you know tell me!
Today we said our goodbyes to Skye and Becca, and thanked them for being such amazing hosts, and headed downtown for breakfast. And coffee.
Ayesha found a really interesting looking museum on TripAdvisor (and it was free!) so we hopped on a bus. It was this place called St. Fagan's National History Museum, and TripAdvisor was right, it was pretty cool.
It was this sort of makeshift village with buildings dating back hundreds of years, and they had recreated the market and bakery, both of which are still used today. There was also a castle (I know! Who would've thought) and some gardens that are probably very lovely during the summer months.
After exploring the grounds we caught the bus to Cardiff Central Train Station and said goodbye to Wales. We stopped in Bristol for pizza on the way back to Bath. I found this really nice and inexpensive brick oven pizza place called Pinkmans, and Ayesha wanted to give it a go. It was so worth it.
Side note: I had seen a pair of sunglasses at a little vintage shop when Ayesha and I went to Bristol the first time, but I wasn't sure if I wanted them the first time around. After spending the whole day thinking about them, I decided it was okay to splurge on myself a bit and went back only to find that the shop had closed. Since we decided to stop in Bristol today I thought I'd finally get my sunglasses. When we walked up to the shop, however, the roll down doors had been pulled halfway down, and we'd missed them by just ten minutes! Ayesha managed to get one of the girls' attention, and she said they hadn't done the till yet so they were happy to let me buy my glasses.
All's well that ends well.
I love old cameras.
Don't mind us, we're just warming ourselves by the fire.
It's lambing season. Lambs everywhere!
The start of the castle gardens.
Playing (see what I did there?)
The castle had unicorns and stags. Because that's what you like if you're royal.
The music room.
Always my favorite room; the library!
Still nameless. I'm deciding between some strong Welsh names.
On the bus home after a very long, but successful, day.
We stumbled upon some very cool artwork in Cardiff. I treated myself.
Tomorrow I spend the morning in Bath before saying goodbye to Ayesha and hopping on a bus to Oxford. After 2 nights in Oxford I'll be back with Lissie and Marco, and exploring London for a few days. I can't wait!
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