Wales - A week later.

I was so incredibly busy this week with schoolwork and trying to figure out Thanksgiving plans that I forgot to post about Wales. Now, I have to hope that I can remember all the wonderful details of that Christmas themed weekend.

PS: This is one of my infamous, un-edited posts - I apologize for any mistakes...

18, November 2011:

A Christmas Celebration in Cardiff, Wales. 

We left London at 12:30pm - I think - for Cardiff, Wales. It took about an hour and thirty minutes to get out of the city - but it was such a pretty drive. London really is a gorgeous city with its old buildings and the Thames river. Once we got out of London, I remember what grass was - the grass, and trees and flat open fields ending with rolling hills. It was wonderful that we left in the daylight just so I could remember how much I love being in the country - even though we were not able to leave the bus to grab some fresh air. The countryside was as beautiful as London. It has pushed me towards planning a trip to some small English town in the future.

When we arrived in Cardiff the sun was just beginning to set - it gets so dark so early here now. Ruth knows her way around Cardiff like the back of her hand, so just as we landed she directed us off to the hostel. It was one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in. There was security everywhere, and lockers where we could leave our backpacks while spending time out in the city.

Cardiff Castle. 

Once we settled in a bit and cleaned up from the ride, we decided we needed a roast for dinner. After getting directions from the woman who had checked us in, we headed to a local pub and spent a few hours eating and chatting. It was a very nice relaxing time. After this, Ruth showed me Cardiff at night - we walked around the city for HOURS. We found a Christmas market that would be open in the morning, many really cute shops, and a Christmas festival. They had ice skating, rides and food.

On the way home from our exploring, we walked past a cinema and decided that to keep our Christmas weekend theme going we should watch Arthur Christmas. It was a really cute movie, a new holiday favorite about Santa's youngest son who is desperate to make sure not one child is left out on Christmas morning. It made me laugh, made me cry and made me get OVER excited about Christmas.

19, November 2011:

Myself and the Keep in Cardiff Castle. 

We woke ourselves up pretty early - Ruth did a much better job than myself - showered, and then headed into Wales. It seemed like a whole different place in the daylight, and I was pretty confused again as Ruth directed us through the city - which is a lot smaller than I had thought. Our first stop was Cardiff Castle. I have to say, every town in the world should have a castle - what a cool concept! It was a lot of fun walking around inside it, and discovering where they turned part of the castle into a bomb shelter during WWII. That part of the castle was very spooky and took my breath away as we walked through the dark tunnel. I cannot imagine having to hide out in there during wartime.


We also climbed up the keep, and explored inside the palace. It was full of monkeys and other jungle animals - like birds. It was really gorgeous, and had the most brilliant library.

After walking around the castle for a few hours, we then decided to get lunch at one of the Christmas markets. It seems to be a thing in the United Kingdom to have German Markets to bring in the holiday season. We have one in Kingston and that was what we found in Cardiff. I bought myself one of the most delicious hotdogs I have ever had and we then proceeded to walk around the market. There we many cool - and very Welsh - stands, and I found myself always having to pull myself away from the Love Spoons. They are so fantastic and I found so many that I wanted to hang on my walls.

Cardiff Bay. 

We then went exploring for some Doctor Who memorabilia and that is when poor Ruth discovered that her favorite place in the world - The Doctor Who Experience - was closed so they could update the exhibits. Luckily, she had already gone to a Forbidden Planet - google it - and filled up on her geek for the day - haha!

Next, we headed to Cardiff Bay where we bought ourselves some Welsh Cakes - SO GOOD - and walked to the waterfront. Industrial life could be seen in almost every direction I looked. After staring out at the water for a moment, Ruth then led me to the entrance of Torchwood - google it - where fans of the show had taken to posting sympathy letter when one of the more popular characters was killed off. It appears they were not pleased with the writer's decision of cutting him out of the series.

While reading all the notes, I noticed that there were some boat tours heading in and out of were we stood in the bay. The tour was only 5GBP and I figured because we lost a few hours of our planned day because of the Doctor Who Experience being closed, we should see the bay. Ruth sucked up her fear of boats really well for me as we headed off to see a close up of Cardiff Bay.

Torchwood Letters, Cardiff Bay. 

Then next planned step in our journey was to watch Santa light up Cardiff. They had set up another market here in front of the world famous Millenium Center - including rides, food and live entertainment. Ruth and I spent hours walking around the tents and exploring the center. It was really good Christmas fun and it really got me in the mood for celebrations. The fireworks were really excellent, even better then the ones I saw for Guy Fawkes and it was fun to see the whole city light up.

Millennium Center at Cardiff Bay. 

That is when I decided we needed to have one last bite of Christmas before calling it a weekend - as our bus would leave at 4:30am. I suggested to Ruth we use this Welsh market to buy each other Christmas presents. We took turns with a 10GBP limit and exchanged the gifts to Ruth's ipod which she has playing Christmas Carols. IT WAS WONDERFUL.

On the way home, we again passed the cinema and with little hesitation ran to the 3rd floor to again watch Arthur Christmas. As I said, I loved that movie - and it seems that so did Ruth!

20, November 2011:
We left Cardiff at 4:30am. After attempting to sleep the whole way home and failing, I crashed in my bed for many hours on that Sunday afternoon.

T H E  E N D . 

Fireworks for the Christmas Celebration at Cardiff Bay. 

xx, Kristin

PS: Did I mention I got to hold an owl?!