Blaenavon Ironworks and Newport - May 27 - Day 12

Helen decided that studying was essential to her success as a student for her final exam, so Heather and I took the train to Newport without her.  From Newport, we took the bust to Blaenavon for a tour of the ironworks (now a museum and non-operational).  It was originally opened in the 1780's, and is one of the most complete ironworks from that time that's still around in Britain.  It's also the site of a TV show that was filmed by BBC Wales called Coal House, which Heather had never heard of before she got there.  Apparently it's a reality show.

Post ironworks, Heather went on a quick walk around Blaenavon, which is a very small town right next to the Brecon Beacons (a national park in Wales consisting of hills/mountains).  They have some pretty neat things.

After returning to Newport, Heather went on a walk along the River Usk, which flows through Newport.  The riverside contains lots of weird art, a pretty great bridge, and also a castle.

When we got back to Cardiff, we went for a brief excursion to the Bay.  They had a neat little international food market going on, which was kind of cool.

Cardiff Museum & Techniquest - May 26 - Day 11

In the morning, Helen needed to do some studying for her upcoming exam, so Heather headed off to Cardiff Museum.  By that point, she was pretty tired of museums, and therefore took zero pictures.  After lunch, Heather headed over to Jammo's house to find Helen (which was quite the adventure, since Helen's hand-drawn map was not QUITE the right degree of helpfulness, so Heather got a little lost after the official touristy map of central Cardiff ended and she entered the neighbourhood where Helen actually lives).

In the afternoon, Helen and Heather went down to the bay to go to Techniquest, which is a hands on science museum.  It's a little bit like the Science Centre in Winnipeg, except it's not in a basement so it's much more well lit.  We lucked out because it turns out that if you get there after 3:00 (we got through the doors at 3:01), adults only need to pay 3 pounds and they also get a free drink and snack (which is a significantly better deal than the normal price of 7 pounds and no drink or snack).

Some of the fun and exciting things in Techniquest included a heat sensor (turns out that, being from Antarctica, I'm actually pretty cold), a plasma static electricity ball (which are far too much fun to play with.  Also, you can shock people, which is pretty great), fun mirrors of all shapes and sizes creating various effects (including bodylessness!), and strange musical instruments.  Also, there's a telescope over the bay, and you can use it to spy on people walking down the street, which is a little creepy but also kind of fun.  I wonder how many young children figure that out... A good time was had by all.

Tintern Abbey - May 25 - Day 10

Heather got new boots (mostly for work) before heading off to Britain, so she brought them along so she could test them out before going wandering around the bush looking for shinies.  It was therefore decided that we would go on a hike.

It was decided that Tintern Abbey would be a good place for said hike to begin.  It was a very nice, old abbey that, like so many old things in Britain, has a serious lack of roof.  It was built about 900 years ago by a bunch of monks who didn't like fancy things.  This distaste of fancy things was later abandoned, so some of the walls are really quite impressive.

After visiting the abbey, we headed over the bridge (into England) and up the hill to the Devil's Pulpit, which was apparently placed there by the devil to tempt monks away from the abbey.  I fail to see why, since it's a lot of effort to climb up a hill.  You do get quite  lovely view from the top, though.

After lunch, we climbed back down the hill again via a meadow, Daleks, an old railway station, and  a funny looking circle of wooden stations of crazy dead guys (and also a mermaid).

Eventually we ended up back at the abbey.  And then we went home.

Caerphilly Castle - May 24 - Day 9

Helen and Heather headed over to Caerphilly in the morning to visit the castle.  The end result of the visit being that Helen decided she wanted to live in a castle.  It was a pretty great castle, and it features a tower that leans about 10 degrees away from vertical (which, according to the signs in the castle, is more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa and is therefore impressive).  Helen decided she was going to push it back up again (it didn't work).

In the afternoon, we went to visit Cardiff Bay.  It turns out that the Millennium Centre is actually kind of ugly (which is not the impression you get from watching Doctor Who OR Torchwood).

The fountain across from the Millennium Centre was devoid of water when we visited, and as a result was ridiculously reflective.  Heather still felt the need to stand in front of it on Torchwood's "invisible lift," though.

Apparently huge fans of Torchwood REALLY miss Ianto.  A wall has been put up in the Bay to allow people to show how much they wish Ianto would come back to the show, despite the fact he DIED at the end of the last season.

Cardiff Bay is also full of interesting statues and weird art.

There's a mysterious circle that Heather thinks might be dedicated to Roald Dahl...

A bizarrely reshaped boat that is most likely no longer seaworthy...

A statue that definitely represents Scott leaving Cardiff on a doomed mission to Antarctica from which he would never return...

And two funny looking men in a bathtub for reasons I cannot begin to understand...