Cardiff

This past weekend was spent in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. We left bright and early on Friday morning, keep in mind Thursday was St. Patty's day and we had tons of fun ;o) No, I actually behaved myself pretty well, but still had fun. Either way, everyone was pretty tired leaving at 8 in the morning. The bus ride wasn't too bad, I was pretty much fascinated by the cars on the road. We were driving on a road that was probably wide enough for 3 cars but it was just a 2 way road. So every once and awhile a car would pass us in the middle of the road. It really didn't matter if there were cars coming at us or not. I thought it was pretty crazy but it must be the norm because it happened quite often.

Our lunch break was in Hereford England which was a pretty cool town. We had a few hours to wander around and it was recommended that we go see the cathedral. We did just that and it was really interesting. In the cathedral was a map called the Mappa Mundi. This map dates back to 1290 and is a map of the world from a spiritual perspective. In the center of the map was Jerusalem which was considered the center of the world back then. The map also contained things like the Red Sea that was parted by Moses and then where the forest they wandered around for 40 years. We weren't allowed to take pictures but it was really cool. After that we wandered around in search of Chinese food (which we all seemed to be craving for some reason). We never did end up finding what we were looking for but we did find a cute sandwich shop.

After some shopping we were on the road again. Our next stop was the Tintern Abbey but it took us awhile to get there. We ended up going on a road that was under construction and we came to a bridge that was being worked on too. Our bus driver tried to get us over it by saying we were about 8 tons when we were actually 10 tons. Either way it didn't work, they made us turn around. This added about an hour to our drive but it was so worth it when we got there. This abbey was in ruins but it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The pictures do not do it justice but if you want to see more they are all in my facebook album.

After a quick drive we were finally in Cardiff. It was a looooong day, took us 9 hours to get there! The hostel we were staying in was so awesome, at least comparitvely. The only other hostel experience I have had was the one in London and it wasn't hard to get much better than that. In this hostel we were all staying with only people in our own group. So there were 6 of us girls in the room and we all knew each other; much better than 19 people in the same room and not knowing hardly any of them. It also had an awesome kitchen, dinning room and living room for our use. Very nice! A few of us decided we still wanted Chinese so we set off on another quest. We were told by told by the guy at the front desk where there would be a really nice place. I was a little leery but I went along with it anyways. It ended up being a really fancy and expensive place that was completely booked, so we headed to the next best place we could find. We ended up at a really nice Italian restaurant that was still pretty fancy but not as expensive. It was actually really good. After that we headed back to the hostel and watched a movie. Then we headed to bed and it was really cool. It was like we were all 12 again and having a sleep over. Everything was funny and it seemed like no one was ready to sleep. I really felt like a kid again for a little bit. We finally settled down because we knew we had to get up bright and early for a big day in the city the next day.

Saturday was a busy day with lots of things to see. I won't bore you with all the history but our first stop was at Cardiff Castle. This castle was very unique because up until 1947 it had been lived in. You will have to look at the pictures for sure; there are far too many good ones to pick from to put on here. Needless to say, every room was unique and amazing. The details in each room were crazy. You could take 500 pictures in each room and not catch everything. Every bit of each room had a story from some event in history behind it. I personally really liked the nursery. I would have loved to be a kid growing up in that castle, absolutely amazing.

The whole group with Tecwyn at
Millennium Stadium

After the castle we headed to Millennium Stadium, the home of the Wales Rugby team. I really haven't followed rugby before but I'm starting to get the hang of it. We ended up watching the game that night in the hostel against France (which we lost, sad day) and it is kind of like a free for all soccer and football combination. I think I will have to watch it a few more times before I really understand it. Anyways, the stadium was really cool and it was really the first pro stadium I have ever been to (unless you count Wrigley Field). When we walked from the locker room out on to the field they played the music really loud like it would be on game day and they even had people screaming and clapping; you couldn't help but feeling pumped up! I would love to go to a game there! The stadium isn't just used for rugby but also for soccer and concerts.

After that we headed to Cardiff bay which was very beautiful. We wandered around for awhile and looked in a few shops. There were tons of places to eat but we packed lunches to save money. Nothing like eating PB&J over and over! Hey it isn't too bad since I have skippy from home... thanks mom :) After Cardiff bay we headed to the Museum of Welsh Life. Museum is used very loosely here; this was actually a huge outdoor building walk around type thing. They had all of these historical buildings moved and rebuilt on this site from throughout different parts of the history of Wales. We did get to see another castle but it was very modern feeling. We also got to see lots of baby lambs. They were so cute and they never get old. That was the end of educational parts of the day. We spent the rest of the night at the hostel cheering on the Wales rugby team while enjoying some adult beverages. It was really a fun night even though Wales didn't pull through. I'm coming to the conclusion that I shouldn't cheer for them because the last time I did they also lost. I kind of get that feeling when I cheer for the cubs too (but I don't think that is entirely my fault ;o)).

The next day wasn't such an early morning. We got to sleep in but of course I was up earlier than I needed to be. I have this thing where if I know I can sleep in I will be wide awake by 6:30 with no chance of falling back asleep. Oh well, just gave me plenty of time to shower without having to wait in line and pack up all my stuff. I was impressed with my ability to get everything I had back into my back pack. I even had room to spare. After we checked out of the hostel we headed to the National Museum of Wales. Maybe I'm not a museum person, but I found this pretty boring. I can only look at so many portraits before I get bored. They also had an interactive rock exhibit, that was cool... haha ;o) The coolest part (and I was actually kid of excited) was the dinosaur exhibit. We got to see some pretty cool skeletons and replicas.

After the museum we set off on the long drive home. It was a five and a half hour bus ride but it seemed much longer. The weather was so nice when we left Cardiff but the closer we got to Bangor the uglier it got. We finally made it home and it was nice to get off the bus. It was a really fun weekend! Our next field trip is our trip to Ireland, which hopefully is just as much fun if not more!

Until next time...

~Amy