After landing in London and setting myself up with both a job and a place to live, I had a few weeks up my sleeve before real life kicked in again. I had two more weeks left in a Youth Hostel in Stamford Brook, and as much fun as that lovely establishment is, I thought it best to use the opportunity to get out and about and see a little bit of the country I'd decided to call home for a while...
So it was off to Cardiff for a few days after scoring a cheap fare on the National Express bus service. Europe's newest capital city (it was officially recognised as Wales' capital in 1955) is a great little place. Small enough to be friendly; but big enough to have a little bit going on (well, actually, it could have had a little bit more going on, but for a few days it had enough to keep me entertained!).
Although not quite up to Aussie standards, the Welsh are sports-mad. Prime evidence is the Millennium Stadium, a futuristic-ish arena in the heart of the city that has hosted events such as the 1999 Rugby World Cup final, and most major football tournaments are staged here while England awaits the completion of Wembley Stadium. The Millenium Stadium also hosted U2 as part of the Vertigo tour - totally off the topic but I just love saying this: I saw them in Ireland the week before that event!
This is offset by the 12th century Cardiff castle on the edge of the city. Certainly not as big or impressive as countless castles around Britain and Europe (to be honest, it's a little boring!), but it is around a beautiful, grassy, peacock-inhabited courtyard, and right next to some gorgeous forest gardens.
(The view of the castle gardens from the top of the watchtower)
The other notable part of the city was the docklands area - quite a funky cosmopolitan district with cool bars and restaurants, with some great modern architecture. The Wales Millennium centre (I think it's either a concert hall or exhibition centre???) was pretty cool. Cardiff also had some great shopping - all the modern high street outlets, but also some great markets and boutique shops to wander around.
It's also worth mentioning my half-day trip to Caerphilly Castle, about 10km out of Cardiff - now this castle was impressive! It's quite imposing, covering about 30 acres, and is built on a series of islands (separated by moats) with 'layers' of castle walls leading to the main castles in the middle. It's huge, and still relatively intact, with most of the original parts dating back to the 1200's. Perhaps the most interesting thing though is it's leaning tower - one of the big watchtowers has started to lean due to subsidence in the ground - it (apparently) leans more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was a cold, rainy day while I was there, and I was lucky to be pretty much the only one in there - quite eerie wandering around a medieval castle in the cold and mist by yourself!
This was just a small taste of Wales - but I'm really keen to explore the rest of it, famous for its endless rolling grasslands, romantic castles, and those ridiculously long, tongue-twisting place names! I'm also on a special mission to visit Wrexham, the village my Mum was born in - definitely on the cards before I leave UK!
