Robot Claw

Back to London today on a comfy train. We’re both getting pretty worn out!

Did a bit of shopping – buying you a souvenir maybe!

Tomorrow, a day trip…

St Fagans National History Museum is a little like the ‘Old Sydney Town’ of Wales, which means it’s a open-air museum showcasing what life was like in Wales hundreds of years ago.

It’s broadly divided into two halves, one containing the farms and village buildings; the other the castle and gardens. The buildings are (mostly) original and have been moved there from all over Wales. It’s not restricted to one period or region, and there’s a large variety of buildings to explore (from houses to stores to working buildings). I particular liked a terrace house with six units that had been furnished for six eras from 1830 until 1985!

We found ten piglets in one of the farms! There were other animals (sheep, cows, ducks etc) as well. There’s also recreations going on (since most of the equipment still works) and shops sell period food.

The castle side included an old manor house (the top photo shows the other side) surrounded by beautiful gardens. We both found this side of the museum the best.

We didn’t see everything. It’s massive and would take many hours. It was quite hot today and we were both tired after several hours of exploring. It was siesta time!

But not before a stop at an amazing retro game store I randomly found on the Internet. It was loaded with stuff I may had bought if I didn’t worry about getting it home, but in the end I ended up adding the first (and last) Spectrum game to my collection:

That tape (which still loads!) is 29 years old 🙂

I asked the proprietor if he had any Zzap or Crash magazines (my holy grails) in stock. Incredibly he did, but burned them in a bonfire ~3 weeks ago because no one ever wanted them and he didn’t have the space. It almost brought a tear to my eye 🙂

We’re now in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The train trip was pleasant and not long, and our hotel is very comfy.

That’s Cardiff Castle, a remarkable edifice right in the center of the city. Originally a Roman fort, it’s been owned and reworked by many rulers these past 2000 years. We explored the grounds, including the keep and 19th century manor house.

That’s the interior of the keep, which as you can see is open to the air but once held a series of wooden buildings. The (very steep!) stairs on the right lead up to the top of the keep tower.

The entire castle complex is surround by massive stone walls that were built on top of the remaining Roman ruins during the early years of the 20th century. These walls are hollow with tunnels underneath which were used as air raid shelters during WW2. The exhibit of wartime life in this tunnels was particularly moving.

The castle was owned by the super-wealthy Bute family for many years and Lord Bute had this spectacular Gothic mansion built within the walls. One again we walked through exquisitely decorated and rooms that boggled the mind with their grandiosity.

Almost every square inch of the house was decorated with carvings or paintings or tapestry. It took decades to complete, and no expense seems to have been spared (one room has a ceiling coated with real gold!) and it’s all so fantastic and surreal that I absolutely loved it!

The architect that designed the house also designed a wall outside the castle now known as the ‘animal wall’. It’s a series of a dozen or so carved animals creating a stone wall and oozes charm right on a Cardiff Main Street.

Between Cardiff Castle today and the Roman Baths yesterday we’ve been spoiled by first-class attractions. Who knows what else we’ve got waiting for us?

Bath was named after – you guessed it – a Roman Bath that was here about 2000 years ago. It’s a major tourist destination and we visited today.

That’s the main bath itself but it’s actually a large complex consisting of a temple and several baths. Most of it is now under the street level of Bath (much of the museum is under ground) but very well preserved. It’s fantastically well presented and there’s loads to see.

That’s a ‘curse’ which is a pray for divine intervention that petitioners would write on lead then throw into the main bath. They have many on display and they’re almost all asking the goddess of the spring (Minerva) to punish thieves. In some cases the petitioner even suggests a punishment, such as Docimedes who wished that the (unknown) man who stole his gloves would have his mind and eyes removed!

2000 years ago these were written. It was fascinating!

Needless to say we greatly enjoyed the Baths and if you’re ever here don’t hesitate to visit.

That is ‘The Royal Crescent’, a curved line of homes that are apparently some of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in England. We went and had a gander, but to be honest it didn’t impress any more than many of the other examples of lively architecture that fills this city.

As we were strolling around we saw signs for a steam-powered fair which we just had to check out. Find it we did and it was incredible:

Both those rides are steam-powered, as in run from steam engines! So is this one:

The theme of the fair was restored amusement rides from yesteryear. While it wasn’t massive (about 10 rides) all of the rides were beautiful and almost all used steam engines! One children’s carousel was even man powered via a hand crank. We rode the ghost train (which gave us a good laugh), had some ice cream and chickened out from riding the ‘steam yachts’ (shown above).

It was very warm and sunny today. Let’s hope this weather follows us west tomorrow…