Cardiff and Home Again

Hanging in the park.

All photos taken by Xyla or Rose.

We had a great weekend in Cardiff - Andrea's still there, but it's back to normal for the rest of us.

Xyla wanted this upside-down and with the strap in the way.

Our original plan was to drive out there on Friday, but we have been liking our train journeys so decided to go that way.  Rush hour from Wilmslow was not the time to go.  The thing was packed and what we thought would be a leisurely trip with the four of us around a table turned into us going through three different seating configurations.  We made it there, though, and found our apartment after a 10 minute walk from the station. 

The place we stayed was perfectly situated - close to the Cardiff Market, close to the park and castle and super close to Millennium Stadium.  Too bad there wasn't a sporting event we could have gone to. 

On Saturday we walked through the park, past the castle and then on to the National Museum.  It's amazing how places like Glasgow and Cardiff have absolutely wonderful museums.  The collection in Cardiff has all of the heavies, and the space is beautiful.  It is also the first time where I have experienced the two-in-one fine art/natural history combo. Nice.

From the museum be walked a bit in town, collected things for a picnic and had lunch in a small park with the pigeons and other folks doing the same thing.

There was a huge festival at the Bay and we took a bus down there to see the water, eat ice cream and go down a lighthouse-shaped slide.  

Dinner at a funky vegetarian place in the evening.

On Sunday I bought a copy of the last issue of the News of the World.  It certainly didn't live up to the hype.  Felt ok knowing none of the money I spent on the thing was going to Murdoch.  

Andrea was off to her conference and the girls and I spent the rest of the day in the park and at the Castle.  Before agreeing to charge me the child rate for Rose and Xyla, the ticket guy was going to take 29 pounds for us to go to the castle.  It's good, but not 45 dollars worth good.

Found a game store on the way back to the apartment before our final departure and bought a new game for us - Too Many Monkeys.  We played it all the way back to Wilmslow - a trip we took with the three of us around a table.  

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I am probably going to make the entries even more infrequent.  The end of our time is near and I need to start getting ready for classes. Solid, well thought out entries just are not going to work.  I need the time to write and plan about the origin of life, agriculture and the beginnings of modern societies.