I don't think we did anything for Dan's birthday, but it was on the 16th. Happy belated birthday Dan!
Dan had work in London, so we went up the weekend before to explore Cardiff.
Cardiff (Caerdydd) is the capital of Wales.
Originally Caerdyf, now Caerdydd, in Welsh, it more or less means Fort on Taff. Taff is the river that flows past Cardiff Castle which was built on the ruins of a Roman Fort. Now you know.
We went down to the wharf on Cardiff Bay to look around.
It has lots of shops and restaurants and historic things.
The big red brick building is the Pierhead Building. More on that later.
A giant metal torque! It's art!
It's called Celtic Ring and it was made by Harvey Hood in 1993.
This is Roald Dahl Plass. Roald Dahl, a famous children's author, was born in Cardiff to Norwegian parents. The "Plass" is a nod to his Norwegian heritage.
Also, the bell tower is unofficially called Baby Big Ben.
On the floor of the foyer is the company's crest and motto, which means "by water and fire."
They used to do boats, now they also do trains.
It has a lot of interesting tile work on the inside.
In 1947 the building became the admin offices for the Port of Cardiff. There was a little museum inside about the history of the building and the port.
The flags of Cardiff, Wales, the United Kingdom, and the EU outside of the National Assembly.
In a about a week the UK will vote on whether or not to stay in the EU. I guess we'll see how that goes. They may have to take down the last flagpole.
This is the Merchant Seafarers' War Memorial. From this side it is a face, from any other angle, it is the incomplete hull of a ship. It was created by Brian Fell in 1996.
The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is considered one of the most successful such projects in the UK.
Here's a better idea of how the Pierhead Building fits into the rest of the waterfront.
A view across the bay.
Where the hillside drops off is the Cardiff Bay Barrage. It closes the bay off to the Bristol Channel. To get in and out of the bay, water craft must go through a system of three locks. Unfortunately, blocking off the bay has not been great for local species of waterfowl.
On the far end of Cardiff Bay is the Doctor Who Experience.
We only went through the lobby and the gift shop.
And here is some info on Daleks, in case you wanted to know.
We stopped to get tea and snacks at a little tea shop.
When they brought me my tea, it came with this timer so I would know when to stop steeping my tea.
Yay for a tea focused country!
This is Friary Gardens. The guy on the plinth is John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. He is the basis for Benjamin Disraeli's novel Lothair.
We walked through some of downtown and found this little park.
It is between St. John the Baptist City Parish Church and The Cardiff Story Museum.
Fuchsia magellanica, aka Lady's Eardrops.
Downtown Cardiff had many of this little covered shopping alleyways.
So many colored things in jars!
Our last stop for the evening was to Cardiff's Techniquest.
It's their science and discovery center. It was a very exciting time for Techniquest as Tim Peake, the first UK astronaut to visit the International Space Station, was returning to Earth today. He had been in space for 186 days. I got a pin celebrating the event.
There were lots of hands-on demonstrations, but this was our favorite. You pumped a handle. The harder/slower you pumped the bigger the bubble you got. The bigger the bubble, the faster it moved. I liked watching the bigger bubbles overtake the smaller ones.
Viscous bubbles in action!
*bloop!*
You will have to imagine your own sounds.
*bloop!*
You will have to imagine your own sounds.
This concludes our adventures for today.
