Reminiscences of Londinium: Cymru: Cenedl heb iaith yw cenedl heb galon.

To spend my Saturday I decided to journey to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Why on earth would I do such a thing like that? Well, I hadn't been there in nearly eight years and I fancied seeing it again. I took a train from London Paddington to Cardiff Central and from there walked to Cardiff Castle. At first, I was a bit distorted because the Welsh seem to find street signs rather unnecessary-perhaps this was a budget cut. I quickly found my way to the castle thanks to the small sign that had a drawing of a castle on it.

Above is a photo of Gorthwr Normanaidd and below is the Tŵr y Cloc:

Once I found the castle I went into the information centre to purchase my ticket. I have heard Welsh accents before as I have been to Wales, but the man at the till had an accent that was too thick for me to understand and spoke rather softly. I guess I looked like a confused foreigner when the man at the ticket counter asked if I wanted a tour or not (I'm assuming that's what he said) and so he booked me a tour. I thought the tour was mandatory, but I guess not. Anyway, I had an hour to kill before my tour and so I wandered around a bit. I had found complementary audio guides and decided to take advantage of this. The man had a thick Welsh accent, but it was very clear for me to understand. How was it easy? I have no clue, but I managed just nicely. When he asked me if I wanted English as my language of choice for the audio guide I told him I would. He questioned me and informed that other languages were available. I smiled and said that English would be fine. Perhaps this man also thought I was French like the waiter I had at Pizza Express the night before in Surrey. I took the audio guide and began with the Twnneli Rhyfel. Whilst wandering around the Twneneli Rhyfel, the audio guide malfunctioned and so I returned it just in time for my guided tour. What I discovered was Cleveland, Ohio plays a role in the castle's Victorian apartments. The man who painted the banqueting hall is actually from Cleveland. When I had walked into the banqueting hall I was mesmerised by its beauty and impressed by cakes and decorations that were awaiting the wedding reception that was soon to take place.

As the tour guide was talking about the American who had painted this magnificent hall, I went over to have a look at the wedding cakes. If my parents are reading this, I would like cakes like these for my birthday:

I was very tempted to try the cakes, but I didn't want to ruin them. I have seen my fair share of wedding shows and I can assert that the brides are more like 'Bridezillas' than peaceful, happy women who are going to marry Prince Charming. I didn't want to spoil their day just because I fancied something sweet.

Below is part of the banquet hall where they were storing the cakes:

Below is more of the banqueting hall:

Cardiff Castle has been by far one of the most unique places I have ever visited. The Victorian apartments have a fairytale-like theme to them and is almost something you would see at Walt Disney World. One of my favourite rooms was the Arab Room because of its unique design.

It's rather hard to tell in this photo, but the windows have crystal balls that will reflect the light from the sun to make the room appear this way to impress visitors and to show off the magnificence of the room. The sun was not shining when I visited, but happily there is electricity in the room and lights were able to show off the gold leaf that has been painted on the wood of this ceiling.

After my tour I went to explore the National Museum of Wales and to the Cardiff Market. In the Museum I saw a bust that looked a lot like my former Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony director, Dr Ciepluch.

As much as I would like to say it is Dr Ciepluch, it's actually a bust of Thomas Johnes of Hafod who planted nearly five million trees in Britain and was devoted to improving local agriculture. After the visit to the Museum I went to the Cardiff Market.

It's a bit like Cleveland's West Side Market, but better and not quite as big. My main goal was to find a Welsh flag and something to take on the train home for dinner. I did find my flag and for dinner I had two cornish pasties, dried mango slices, and coconut Welsh cakes. The cornish pasties were phenomenal and I hope I will be able to find more in London that are just as good, if not better. Below is a photo of one of the cornish pasties I had. Just a side note: it's easier to not eat them with cutlery.