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Published: August 14th 2006
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Millennium Stadium
Can't miss the stadium. Seats over 74,000 Unbelievably, my trip to Cardiff started out with another fire alarm in the dorm. This time I was awoke at 3:15am by the fire alarm. Apparently it was the same girl in the dorm who set off the fire alarm from the night before. I’ve never been one for violence, but damn if I didn’t want to kick her ass that morning. I stayed up from that point until our taxi arrived at 4:10am to drive us to the Lancaster train station.
From there it was a long day of train rides as we made our way to Cardiff. About five hours worth of train travel time in total. A good hour or two of that spent riding next to a bunch of guys in costumes on their way to a London stag party (Popeye, Priest, Duff Beer, Cell Phone, and Whoopie Cushion to name a few costumes). Having spent the last two days sleeping on the floor, and currently working on no sleep from the night before, I was very anxious to head to the hotel to try out the bed for a couple hours.
Due to a weekend soccer match in Cardiff, hotel rooms were hard to
come by. After calling around to various booked establishments, I finally booked a room at The Lincoln House Hotel. The staff at the hotel was extremely friendly, and the location was only a short bus ride from the city center. The breakfast in the morning certainly helped to prepare me for the long days of sightseeing. I was however a bit disappointed with the room compared to the cost. The room and bathroom were a little small and simply unimpressive. However, upon arrival on Friday morning I crashed in the bed for a few hours to reenergize for the evening.
Once we were better rested, our first stop was Cardiff Bay. The bay was very lively on a Friday afternoon. It reminded me of the Baltimore inner harbor, only much cleaner. It definitely seemed to be a hot spot for Friday happy hours. We grabbed a bite to eat at a waterside Italian restaurant that failed to impress.
Later we traveled to downtown Cardiff where a couple blocks of a main street were blocked off for the evening. We’d obviously found a very popular bar/club district, as the streets were busy with plenty of joyful participants. We wandered
around for a bit, jumping in and out of bars. A sampling of the locally brewed beer (Brains Beer?) was unfortunately displeasing. Sadly, since it was brewed in Cardiff it was on tap everywhere! I could probably stay in Cardiff for a full week and still not go through half of the bar/club options available in the downtown area. Still feeling slightly tired from the early rise, we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel shortly after midnight.
We grabbed breakfast Saturday morning and headed out for a day of castle exploring. Our first stop was Caerphilly Castle in Caerphilly. The entire area in and around the castle was quite a site. The castle itself is surrounded by a moat, situated on an island connected to the surrounding geography by separate drawbridges. You could really envision the difficulties an attacker would have if they were forced to lay siege on the castle. It was the type of castle you would definitely see in a Hollywood movie, simply well designed defensively. We wandered around the castle grounds for an hour or so, soaking up the atmosphere while reading up on the history of the castle.
Afterwards, we hopped on a bus and headed to Cochs Castle. In comparison to Caerphilly Castle, Cochs Castle was much more similar to a Disney castle. Reconstructed by a wealthy businessman in the 19th century (Bute I believe), it was a small castle built more as a residence then a stronghold. The interior decorations had a very Victorian feel, which again felt slightly out of place with what I imagined a castle to be like. While the tour of Cochs Castle was enjoyable, it was a tad disappointing based on my expectations.
Finished with Cochs Castle, we headed back to the hotel. With a few hours remaining before dinner, I headed over to Bute Park located near our hotel. The day turned out to be a beautiful day, likely in the 70s with the sun out for most of the day. I brought along my ipod and a book for reading. I walked around the park for a while before settling down for some relaxation. The park was surprisingly one of the highlights for me. While not overly crowded, the park was bustling with people out enjoying the day. It was a great place for people with dogs to
let their dogs run free, as was often observed. Hidden in the park were various athletic fields for cricket, soccer, and other team sport activities. For me, it was a perfect way to really kick back and get down to doing what a vacation was all about…. relaxing!
We ventured back down to Cardiff Bay for dinner at Mimosa. A small restaurant/bar not far from the water’s edge. Although we were warned before sitting down that the kitchen was running behind, we opted to give it a shot. The food overall was enjoyable, despite one major setback. NO Ketchup! What??? I couldn’t fathom how such a catastrophe could take place in a restaurant of all places. I was forced to eat my burger and onion rings without the heavenly compliment of ketchup. Craziness.
After dinner we grabbed a drink at a bayside bar called Salt. The atmosphere was high energy, with all types of people dancing throughout the bar. I am very envious at how uninhibited the locals are when it comes to a night out. Everyone gets dressed up, regardless of age, and you better believe they’re going to have a good time no matter what’s going
on around them.
Later we went back to downtown and visited a club called Liquid. Except for the crappy beer selection and the bulk of electronic music selection, the club was top-notch. I loved the layout of the dance floor and overlooking balconies. The club also had a few rooms separated off to the side where you could take a break from the loud music and socialize for a bit.
One clear observation I’ve seen about the women while visiting a few bars and clubs to this point… when these girls go out, they ho out! No matter how cold the night is, how old the woman is, or how big the girl is… showing skin is in. Without exaggerating, some of these girls are wearing lingerie in the clubs. It’s completely odd, yet hard to look away from. Go figure. It’s a people-watching cornucopia.
Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast at the hotel. I’m not sure what radio station they had on in the dining room, but the song sequence went something like this… The Feeling “Sewn” > Janis Joplin “Try”” > Beyonce(or one of the Destiny Child’s members)/Nelly “I Love You(?)” > REM “Losing My Religion”.
Lei
On our way to Cardiff, passed out on the train. And how would you describe the listening audience they’re targeting? Once we finished eating, we headed to Cardiff Castle.
Short on time we were only able to see the exterior of Castle Cardiff. Admittedly, there really wasn’t much to see beyond a small island tower isolated within the castle walls and some random peacock. I don’t know about you, but when I think castles I immediately think peacocks! I believe history has shown the connection between the two dates back to the early ages of castle building; a fascinating touch of history that I just made-up. We snapped a few pictures (of both castle and peacock) and headed out.
Back to the hotel to grab our bags, we raced off to the train station to catch our 12:15pm train to London.
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Birdman
non-member comment
Showing some skin
Interesting bit of reading.... looks like your avian friend was lost, shouldn't he have been at Coch's Castle? I must admit that I found the pictures a little lacking, considering the strong undertones of this blog. Cochs Castle, peacocks, lingerie... and all you have to show is some old ramblers? And whats up with the UK millenium theme? Compare the stadium in Cardiff with the dome in London. Must have had the same unimaginative architech. Although the stadium pic does seem keep with the theme of Cardiff. Thanks for the insight. Matt Anderson, our in-the-field reporter. Now on to Sports and the weather.