Adventures in Cardiff

[rich_jacko]

A hundred years ago with a heart-load of hope
They sailed oceans, travelled unmade roads
From Somerset, Somalia, Ceredigion, the Caribbean,
Driven by hunger, drawn by a dream.

They worked the furnaces for iron and steel,
Carried, shovelled, loaded ships with coal,
Raised chapel, mosque and market, cool arcades,
Civic buildings, a millionaire's parade.

Perhaps an ancestor paused here on the stairs,
Worn by hard labour, come for quiet hours
To learn, to better himself in this old library.
Remember him. The city is his story.

- Gillian Clarke, poem to celebrate the opening of The Cardiff Story

"What about me? I saw the Fall of Troy, World War V. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm gonna die in a dungeon. In Cardiff!"

- The Doctor, The Unquiet Dead

Having decided against doing anything constructive at home with my holiday, and after going to see family for the first week, I decided to treat myself to a trip to Cardiff in the second week.

Why Cardiff? Well, apart from going to look round the university, I've never been. It's reachable and there's a lot to see there, including the Castle and all the fantastic new development in Cardiff Bay.

Look, I didn't just go for the Doctor Who / Torchwood connection, you know.


Honest.

I stayed for three days / two nights (Tuesday through Thursday), got a lot of walking done and saw a lot of the sights. I visited various places in the Bay on the first day; did Cardiff Castle, the Senedd, and the Millennium Stadium on the second; and the National Museum Wales on the third. I had a great time and pretty much managed to do everything on my list, but I'd still like to go back and see some stuff again and other places slightly further afield.

I was surprised to learn how young Cardiff is as a city. Its history goes back to Roman times, but before the coal industry it was a very small town. It's only been a city since 1905 and only been the capital of Wales since as late as 1955.

Being Wales, obviously it rained every day, but nowhere near as bad as forecast. I only really got drizzled on, and there were plenty of sunny patches between the rain.

In the evenings - Well, Cardiff has a Cineworld and I have an Unlimited Card. I saw Cabin in the Woods on the first night, which is awesome, and totally not the film you might expect. It's very Joss Whedon yet at the same time not quite like anything you've seen before. I can't say any more without spoiling it, but go see it. The second night I saw Battleship, which is every bit as rubbish as you'd expect. Though there is amusement to be had from the contrivance of the heroes guessing which coordinates on a grid the enemy ships are in ;o)

I took over 300 photos over the three days. I will spare you the full lot, but I've uploaded a selection here:


Click for photo gallery

Comments

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

That's a great set of photos. There's a lot of blue sky and sunshine in them too - you may have had better weather than we did in Sheffield. Your comment did make the think of the slogan in the tourist adverts for the Socialist Republic of Wales in Jasper Fforde's books - 'Wales - not *always* raining'.

The centre of Cardiff at least looks like it's had some serious investment and has some interesting shops. If only the same was true of Sheffield.

[longrat.livejournal.com]

Cardiff is a fabulous place - I do wish Sheffield could get some investment to make the drab parts as shiny :(

[clarestar.livejournal.com]

could like to point out the street would be named after the Silures - the Iron Age tribe in lived in South Wales.
Sorry- the Dr Who connection is much more interesting....
We are planning to visit the Davies tribe at some point this year and really want to see Cardiff!

[rich-jacko.livejournal.com]

It's possible I already knew that... but chose to ignore it! ;o)