Obviously not affected by Narnia in any way (just finished the 5th book and well prepared for the movie coming up in 2 weeks) I am heading out of Wales.
I woke up late and for the 1st time this week , did not have an English breakfast, but drank the remains of a shake I bought at the store yesterday.
The hotel would not hold on to my luggage and told me that the tourist office can hold it for a charge. I prefer walking around with the suitcase for hours rather than spend 3.50 on a stored luggage, even if it is uncomfortable, so I walked in the freezing morning air to the Cardiff castle. The main street which looked amazing and full of life at night , looks grim in day light. I pay the castle fee, get my personal audio guide and lucky me, they have a place to store luggage, for FREE!, so I leave it there and start touring the castle. It has a small Norman keep in the middle surrounded by a moat (no Gators) that I cannot enter, it is closed due to the ice. The stairs are limestone so the salt can melt the ice but damage the ancient stones so I walkabout, see the trebuchet, walk in the huge walls, see main house which is a small museum, watch the exhibition of the firing line which is the development of the welsh soldier through the years, they fought in many wars under the supervision of the English from Russia, south Africa, India and other locations, never getting the glory. You’ve seen how Edward the long shanks treated them in Brave Heart (they were the front line on the English side, the dying side)).
After an hour and something at the castle I proceeded to the national Welsh museum and went through it in 25 minutes. Lovely porcelyn, pictures by Monet, various drawing of ancient nobility are not my style, I did delay a bit in the archeology sections, watching some ancient beast. They have dragons everywhere here, it’s on flags and statues, I don’t know the significant of the dragons in the Welsh heritage, but I also saw a goat and a horse on the main symbol of Cardiff city hall, so the goat is also important here, but I still don’t know why.
I walked out and grabbed noon breakfast at a German sausage stand and walked the booths to find a gift for my travel agents for our 30 months anniversary a few days ago. The issue is money, I don’t have any, I spent some of street food , which is cheap but good, spent some on the castle ticket, but without an ATM code I am kind of stuck. Most stores accept a credit cards but the booths to not. I step in to a booth (not knowing yet that I don’t have enough) which sales authentic Welsh things. I like some of the items and hope travel agent would like them too, then I start rummaging again for cash, go through all my pockets and I have barely 1o pounds with about 20 hours to go, it’s not a lot. The gift is more. The saleswoman looks like a witch, dressed in somewhat rags clothing, shabby hair (not that mine is any better), but if you see her in a dark night, you would think of a witch as well). The thing is that not all witches are bad. For example, the good witch of the West, or the North in Oz. I don’t know why witches got such a bad rep. well this kind witch who is also the maker of these items sees that I don’t have money, suggests that I would by it later through the web site (that does not accept credit cards either), than she does the most incredible thing and says she would give me the item and I can pay later after I get home, she does not take my address, email or any guarantee, out of pure kind ship and trust, who does that? So I got an Osh with the witch, also told her about the ticket angel from yesterday. Go to love the Welsh. If you are ever in Cardiff, go to high street, and check out the last booth on the left (facing the castle).
And that is it, on the train now, I don’t have a book for the next 3 hours, so I will get some sleep and check the country side,
Next challenge is finding a hotel in London with no internet and dealing with a tube strike, returning home tomorrow to finish unpacking the house
cheers
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