Cardiff...What if?

Thursday afternoon, Nathan and I realized that our week off was quickly coming to a close, and we wanted to try to fit in one more trip. After a little bit of research and some suggestions from friends, we decided on Cardiff, Wales...just an hour train ride away, tickets for Saturday were reasonable, and there were several castles, museums, and tours in the area that looked interesting. And...that's pretty much all we thought about. Admittedly, we didn't take the time to consider some of the "what-ifs"...

- What if there was a 90% chance of precipitation in Cardiff on Saturday? All day?

- What if Nathan's alarm didn't wake him up? What if he missed the train? What if I had to wait at the train station in Cardiff with no means of communication, hoping (but not knowing) that he caught the next train from Bath?

- What if there was an International Rugby Championship match between Wales and Italy in Cardiff on Saturday? What if an extra 80,000 people flocked the city for the game?

- What if the aforementioned event and sudden influx of visitors caused streets to be closed, busses to be re-routed, and tours to be cancelled?

- What if the bus driver neglected to inform us when we had reached the stop for Castell Coch, even after I butchered the pronunciation of the name when I asked if the bus even went there, clearly establishing myself as a know-nothing tourist? What if this caused us to take the extra-extra-long-scenic-route to the castle?


In spite of some minor setbacks, we tried to make the most of our day in Cardiff. We did eventually make it to Castell Coch, which was quite lovely to walk around. It was originally built in the Middle Ages, but the inside was renovated during the Victorian era. Funded by the 3rd marquess of Bute (cha-ching!) and designed by an "eccentric genius" of an architect, the place was incredibly detailed and extravagant. I'm including several pictures here so you can get a good idea of just how ornate the inside was...

The outside retains much of its Medieval charm...


Kitchen, drawing room, and Lord Bute's bedroom...


Three views of Lady Bute's room...by far the most fantastic!



After exploring Castell Coch and making our way back into the city, we had just enough time to check out the National Museum Cardiff (left). Admission to the museum is free, and they have some spectacular exhibits. We spent most of our time in the Origins exhibit, which details the story of the history of Wales. I also had time to catch part of the "Artes Mundi" exhibit in the art gallery, which is an international celebration of select artists, only in Wales for a short time. The other pictures below are of the Millenium Center (right) and fountain in front of it (center) that we stumbled across earlier in the day while trying to figure out our plan of attack (pre-"sorry all the city tours are closed for the game" and "sorry all the busses are being re-routed because the main streets through the city are closed")!