Europe Summer Episode Three

EPISODE THREE: Wherein I saw the first castle of the trip and reunited with Harry Ramsden

This is Cardiff, the Capital of Wales. We arrived at Cardiff city centre via coach from London Victoria. This is a city that has a history dating from the Roman Occupation of Britain to its rise as the world's largest coal exporting port following Industrial Revolution. Today, its a busy city with streets lined with old heritage buildings. Their landmark ancient castle is just right within this busiest commercial area. And like any city in this world, they have their share of Starbucks and McDonald's and Topshop. We hardly see any skyscrapers, which is really a nice thing. There is nothing especially exciting about this little city, much to our disappointment. But I still appreciate it.

The odd looking building beside the river bank is the Millenium Stadium. Its is the landmark of Cardiff and our hostel (Cardiff backpackers) is just a few streets down. This stadium is the home of their local football league and sometimes the hosting stage for the pop superstars. There were no such events during our stay at Cardiff and so, it was just another building to me.

It was time to eat. And so we scuttled to the Cardiff Central market to find some cheap local food. We tried the Welsh cake, which tasted a little like our good old Tau Sar Piah, except its sweeter. That of course, was not enough to make me happy. We bought drumsticks ( Bird insist on having two to herself) , salad pasta box and a scotch egg. What is a scotch egg? Its not very tasty and we didn't finish it. It is a hard boiled egg wrapped in minced turkey meat ( i think) and coated with breadcrumbs then deep fried. I dun like cold fried food and the meat tasted weird.

The bottom right picture was taken at the butcher counter. Funny the way they carve out the meat.

After gobbling our packed lunch at some random alley, we visited the Cardiff Castle. This castle dates back 2000 years and was once the resort of some noble family dealing with the coal business. They gave this castle a new look, adding in Gothic towers and Mediterranean gardens. The interiors are themed to different countries and cultures during their occupancy. Freaking rich people.

We had fun climbing up the Norman Keep ( the building with the red dragon) and nuaing away at the garden watching the peacock. I hereby conclude that peacocks are vain and noisy. They should be females instead.

Our evening was spent at the Cardiff Bay. A bus took us to the Wales Millenium Centre which resembles our very own Esplanade. It is also an Arts and exhibition centre situated just beside the riverfront. Along the river, there are just so many restaurants and chill out spots. But I only longed for one of them. Harry Ramsden fish and chips!!! They were in Singapore ( Kallang carpark) many years back when I was in Secondary School. They served really good fish and chips!!! And the portions are really generous. Imagine this, even I can't finish it!!!

And bet you didn't know this. Our favourite author Roald Dahl is a Welsh! He has this little plaza named after him at Cardiff Bay.

The Wales Millenium Centre is really gorgeous when they turn up the lights. The word carvings on the building front becomes illuminated. The only word we understood was "Stones", the rest were in Welsh. Nevertheless, that building is oozing artistic vibes.

On our way back, we kind of lost our way. Some guy came over to help but we were to paranoid to let him help us. Some car sped pass us and the driver yelled something rude at us. We were quite freaked out as we hurried down the small lane back to our hostel. Night time just isnt as safe and peaceful here.