Beach, Cardiff and back

So this was our last day of our Wales trip. After this fabulous day on the coast we were quite reluctant to leave and therefore decided to make a short stop on the beach before getting into the bussling capital of Wales: Cardiff.

Roads can get quite narrow and I expected a narrow road down to the castle at the coast, but to be honest, I never expected it to be THAT narrow! Well, the main problem, however, was not the road itself, but the oncoming traffic which turned out to be huge tractors with enormous hay wagons! I had only 10cm next to both outside mirrors and these tractors half shaved the bushes on the roads off. So there was no way off getting past them and therefore I had to go backwards for half a mile before we found some space to let it pass. My nerves were really strained after this encounter with the tractor and I just hoped that it was the last one. But it seemed that every single farmer in that area was going out to get the hay back that morning and we encountered 5 more of these monsters!!!! I do not even want to know what the underside of my car looked like after driving off in the woods to let another one pass!

Anyway, we finally made it to the beach and the gorgeous castle on the little hill. The beach was covered with shells and we enjoyed quite a long walk. Even though it was low tide and the water was quite far out (apart from the one in the river mouth) it was a beautiful spot and I really did not want to leave from there. However, Vanessa needed to be back in Cardiff by 5 to catch her coach back to London and so we had to leave! By the way, I look really tiny on this picture, I think I have shrunken....I guess that comes with turning 26!

I really enjoyed this 3-day-trip around the countryside, but I was also looking forward to see Cardiff of which I have heard so much. I was told that it is a lively young city and this turned out to be true.

I managed to find my way into Cardiff harbour which has been completely remodelled in the last 10 years. The architecture is just fantastic, old and new buildings (all unique outlines) mingle perfectly in this bussling part of the city. Many artists were invited to contribute to the great harbour and it has become one of Cardiffs most popular areas with lots of shops and fancy restaurants. There is also the old Welsh Assembly (red brick building) and the new Assembly (the snall "sail building" on the right hand side) to be found there. We had a look inside both of them and it looks quite nice, even though it is of course tiny in comparison to the German Bundestag. Nevertheless it has a great architecture inside and I absolutely loved it. The old Welsh assembly looks tiny and as it made out of Lego cubes - it is just so different to the buildings surrounding it.

Just as impressive as the Welsh Assembly is the Opera House next to it, which reads "In these stones horizons sing" on its big front. It has a huge golden dome which you can also see on the picture above.

From the harbour we headed into the city centre which took us some time and we even found the car park right next to the train station. When we got out, however, we found out that you could only get a day ticket which cost us £7. We thought that was way too much and decided to move to another car park in the city. But that was a big mistake, because for 2.59 hours we had to pay £9.70!!!!! This is unbelievable, I do not even want to know how much we would have had to pay if we stayed 3 hours!!!!

We took a stroll around the city and as we were all really hungry we treated ourselves with some delicious fish and chips - but it was way tooooo much. Unfortunately time had run out and Vanessa had to leave us after an hour in the city to catch her coach. Christoph and I walked through the great market hall and the various nice arcades. We also went to the Castle and the great park surrounding it. From there we had a look at the Court of Justice and the University which are also quite close to the city centre. The buildings in that part of the city are quite impressive and so is the National Museum.

We did not want to go back to London that night and therefore had booked a B&B in Bath. I had been to Bath before and I quite liked it back then so I agreed to the destination. When we finally arrived there we seemed to have booked us a very comfy and luxurous accomodation and as the sun was still shining we took a tour around the city and later on admired it by night. To round up that day we spent a most enjoyable evening in a traditional pub on the way back to the B&B. It got quite cold that night and our breath showed when we stepped out of the pub. Somehow this day must have been more demanding than the others (probably because of the traffic in the city) and even though I had only one pint of the most delicious Cider I ever had (from a small local brewery), I got really tipsy and Christoph had to steady me once in a while! But we got home savely!