Spring Break Part One: Cardiff
So I was sitting around watching Vlog Brothers (Random Video) and suddenly I had this urge to be creative, and I came here, to my blog. Because apparently that's what I do now when I want to create, I talk to you people.
And I figured, well, I owe you some travel-log entries, don't I? So let's get started.
So y'all remember in the last week of March when I was all like, "I'm gonna see The Mob! I'm gonna see The Mob!" Guess what? I saw The Mob.
After I took a bus to the metro to the other line of the metro because I got on the wrong line at first and then ran through the airport to catch a plane to London where I caught a bus that ended up arriving late in Cardiff. I got there well after 1 am in the morning and was met at the bus stop by The Mob, which was nice. We then took a taxi to the dorm, and all was well.
We had three full days in Cardiff together before we were going to go to London, so we tried to make the most of it.
Mob took me down to the Cardiff Bay, which if you're a Doctor Who/Torchwood fan you'll know is the secret location of Torchwood Three.
And they have a memorial to Ianto Jones at the supposed entrance of Torchwood Three. For those of you that don't know, Ianto was a character on Torchwood that was killed off in the season 3 miniseries "Children of Earth" and a bunch of people got really upset about it.
They even have a plaque dedicated to him (which mentions very clearly that Ianto is fictional, in case we were confused why we didn't hear about this on the news or something).
We also walked around in the sunlight a fair bit, because nice weather in Wales is rare. Coming from Copenhagen, I was especially happy to see the sun out.
We went past an open-air market by the river, where we got a present for people back home (it's Mob's present, I'm not going to spoil it) and also goat cheese, which was really, really good.
Also, we made fun of the local beer, which is called Brains.
Another thing we did: visited Cardiff castle. Again, look at the glorious weather! The open fields! That place is just calling for picnicking! It was kind of lovely.
I also caught a lot of pictures of Mob when they weren't paying attention, which is only fair, because there are dozens of pictures of me when I wasn't paying attention, thanks to The Mob, so nyah.
Anyway, we saw the outside of the castle, and then we went into what parts we could see without paying an additional fee, which were...
...gorgeous.
It was all posh and lush like you expect the inside of a castle to be.
Although we didn't pay for the super-tour thingy, so we only got to see a limited portion of the castle, it was still excellent.
When we were walking around the walls before heading out, we discovered an air-raid bunker! It did not feel very secure, but it was real interesting to walk through.
And then we...
...raided the gift shop! Like I've been doing all semester, I needed to look for postcards from every city we visited so I could send one to all the people who asked for them. Whilst looking around we found this jar of Welsh Country Pickle.
As you can tell, it was a very serious discovery.
We also found tiny booze! Which, since we are above 18 and that's the drinking age in the UK, we were able to buy. Legally and everything!
Later, when we tried it, I had trouble deciding whether I liked it or not. My feelings about the flavor were contaminated by my feelings about how adorable the bottle was. I think I liked the drink, but the bitter-honey aftertaste was not a favorite of mine.
And that's... basically it. Mob, am I forgetting something important? I feel like the only things I haven't talked about are how we ate a lot, drank a lot of tea, and watched things on the internet -- and there, now I've mentioned them!
Here, let's end with a picture of the Millennium Centre. That's very Welsh:
And I figured, well, I owe you some travel-log entries, don't I? So let's get started.
So y'all remember in the last week of March when I was all like, "I'm gonna see The Mob! I'm gonna see The Mob!" Guess what? I saw The Mob.
After I took a bus to the metro to the other line of the metro because I got on the wrong line at first and then ran through the airport to catch a plane to London where I caught a bus that ended up arriving late in Cardiff. I got there well after 1 am in the morning and was met at the bus stop by The Mob, which was nice. We then took a taxi to the dorm, and all was well.
We had three full days in Cardiff together before we were going to go to London, so we tried to make the most of it.
Mob took me down to the Cardiff Bay, which if you're a Doctor Who/Torchwood fan you'll know is the secret location of Torchwood Three.
And they have a memorial to Ianto Jones at the supposed entrance of Torchwood Three. For those of you that don't know, Ianto was a character on Torchwood that was killed off in the season 3 miniseries "Children of Earth" and a bunch of people got really upset about it.
They even have a plaque dedicated to him (which mentions very clearly that Ianto is fictional, in case we were confused why we didn't hear about this on the news or something).
We also walked around in the sunlight a fair bit, because nice weather in Wales is rare. Coming from Copenhagen, I was especially happy to see the sun out.
We went past an open-air market by the river, where we got a present for people back home (it's Mob's present, I'm not going to spoil it) and also goat cheese, which was really, really good.
Also, we made fun of the local beer, which is called Brains.
Another thing we did: visited Cardiff castle. Again, look at the glorious weather! The open fields! That place is just calling for picnicking! It was kind of lovely.
I also caught a lot of pictures of Mob when they weren't paying attention, which is only fair, because there are dozens of pictures of me when I wasn't paying attention, thanks to The Mob, so nyah.
Anyway, we saw the outside of the castle, and then we went into what parts we could see without paying an additional fee, which were...
...gorgeous.
It was all posh and lush like you expect the inside of a castle to be.
Although we didn't pay for the super-tour thingy, so we only got to see a limited portion of the castle, it was still excellent.
When we were walking around the walls before heading out, we discovered an air-raid bunker! It did not feel very secure, but it was real interesting to walk through.
And then we...
...raided the gift shop! Like I've been doing all semester, I needed to look for postcards from every city we visited so I could send one to all the people who asked for them. Whilst looking around we found this jar of Welsh Country Pickle.
As you can tell, it was a very serious discovery.
We also found tiny booze! Which, since we are above 18 and that's the drinking age in the UK, we were able to buy. Legally and everything!
Later, when we tried it, I had trouble deciding whether I liked it or not. My feelings about the flavor were contaminated by my feelings about how adorable the bottle was. I think I liked the drink, but the bitter-honey aftertaste was not a favorite of mine.
And that's... basically it. Mob, am I forgetting something important? I feel like the only things I haven't talked about are how we ate a lot, drank a lot of tea, and watched things on the internet -- and there, now I've mentioned them!
Here, let's end with a picture of the Millennium Centre. That's very Welsh: