Cardiff - May 22 & 23 - Days 7 & 8

In the morning, we checked out the hotel in Manchester and took a somewhat roundabout way to the train station and an equally roundabout way to Cardiff.  This was exciting, because Heather got to see Helen for the first time in about 2 years.  The first afternoon in Cardiff was spent at Helen's friend Matt's house, where she, Matt, and Jammo were studying for their ridiculously exciting exam the next morning.  Heather watched Doctor Who while they studied (which was much more interesting).  Helen introduced Heather to Black Books, a sit com from around 2000 or so that, naturally, never aired in Canada and is absolutely HILARIOUS.  After a delicious supper (prepared by Matt and Jammo), Helen and Heather headed home so Helen could get plenty of sleep before her exam the next morning.

The next day was Heather's first full day in Cardiff.  We went and visited central Cardiff, starting with Cardiff City Hall.

After deciding it was far too expensive to go INSIDE Cardiff Castle, we circumnavigated it instead (well... almost).

Next to Cardiff Castle, there's a very lovely wall known as the Animal Wall.  It has a lot of animals (but sadly, none of them are penguins).

We visited Bute Park.  It was a very lovely park, full of flowers and rivers and things.

There was a stone circle which isn't nearly as old or mysterious as Stonehenge OR the Nine Ladies of Stanton Moor, but still looks pretty cool.

For some mysterious reason, some of the trees had the COOLEST branches.  They grew straight up, and I was quite impressed.

There was also an old abbey that was excavated by the Victorians.  Apparently, Victorians were not very good at excavating things, since they covered it up again with some weird red stones.

We found a really hilarious souvenir shop, full of very Welsh things (such as rugby, dragons, and sheep) and with the best sign you will EVER see on a shop.

In the afternoon, we went to meet Helen and her engineering friends in the Student Union pub, where we spent quite a long time playing ridiculous quiz games trying to gain money (between the 8 people or so in the group, they won 4 pounds.  People, unlike penguins, are not so bright).

Post pub, we went to another pub for supper (2 for 1 burgers!  Cheap and delicious!)

Then we went home to bed.