We
had a long weekend for the bank holiday (plus Andrew's half-term break)
and while we spent most of it relaxing at home, we decided to be
ambitious and take a day trip to Cardiff!
We
planned it for just one day because we have a new baby and I was not
interested in cramming our new family of five into a little hotel room,
especially while we have a baby who wakes multiple times during the
night to eat. And while we had several things on out list of things to
do and see, we were able to fit it all into our one day so it worked out
really well!
The drive was about an hour and a half from home to our first stop: Caerphilly Castle.
This castle is the real deal! We've been to several castles since
moving out here but this one is by far the most intact and open for
exploration. We were able to climb the spiral staircases up into the
towers as well as around the grounds. We said hi to the baby dragons,
and there was even a little setup on the grounds with tents and costumed
actors doing all kinds of things like sword fighting and archery
demonstrations.
Next
we headed into town for lunch. Though there were lots of great options
on the high street, we ended up at McDonald's (because kids). After
lunch we walked around and took a look at all the shops. The little
market streets were so neat- they are clear-ceilinged streets with small
shops. A lot of them were closed (due to the bank holiday probably)
but they were still neat to see.
Once we had our fill of wandering and shopping, we wandered over to Cardiff Castle,
which is right at the end of the high street. There was a lot to see
here: the keep, the house, the bomb shelter tunnels (within the castle
walls), and the Welsh soldier museum. We didn't do the guided tour, but
apparently some of our favorite shows have filmed here!
Our
next stop was Cardiff Bay. We didn't have anything we wanted to do
here, but rather landmarks we wanted to see. We took the train (which
was a welcome break for my feet even though it was only about a four
minute ride) and then it was just a few minutes walk to the bay. We
stopped for a bit in front of the Millennium Centre and I fed the baby while the big boys played with the water tower fountain (aka Torchwood). We went over to the water and made a quick stop at Ianto's shrine (another Torchwood entrance).
By
this time my feet were killing me and it was about dinner time. There
were a lot of restaurants at Cardiff Bay, but we decided to head back to
town, get in the car, and stop for food along the way home since we
were already going to be getting home late. If/when we come back to
Cardiff we'll have to make a little more time for the Bay! But the only
thing I wanted to see but couldn't was the Doctor Who Experience.
It closed back in the fall, before we had a chance to go, but there
were still directional signs up for it all around Cardiff Bay, just to
taunt me. Lame.
We crammed a lot into that one day and though it was tiring, it was also a lot of fun!
