Day 84 - Cardiff Castle

Hello again bloglies!

Thank you so much for joining me in my little corner of blogland.

Last Wednesday, we decided to go Cardiff, this being just 30 minutes back down the track from where we were staying.  Cardiff is absolutely HUGE!  Unfortunately Lovely Man and I don't really 'do' the big corporate High Street shops and I feel completely out of place in huge shopping malls.

Luckily, there were lots of lovely little alleyways to explore with some quirky shops and cafes so we were all happy!

KTT was less happy when we decided that we'd go to have a look at the Castle whilst we were there.  We gave him the option of going off on his own or coming with us and he took an absolute age to decide what to do.  In the end he opted to come with us but I think that was more for our benefit than his and despite reassurances that he must make his own decision as to what to do and whatever that decision was would be fine, I do think he did what he thought we would want him to do.  Nearly 16 is such a bloody difficult age!  He looks like he's in his 20s but he's really not and that's the conundrum.

Anyway, the Castle itself is lovely and we enjoyed looking around.  Lovely man in particular as he's a bit of a history nut, particularly military history.  There was a big military history installation there and so that was ideal.  There was a replica 'Brown Bess' musket on the wall which one of the curators encouraged us to lift. That in itself was heavy - but then he fetched the real thing which was twice as heavy! Good grief - I do pity the poor fellas having to carry those around as well as all their kit!

Standing on it's lofty perch

A view from the moat across to the apartment rooms

From the ramparts

The castle was used as an air raid shelter in the war

long, long, dark corridors used to house and protect hundreds of people

Stunning old trees

A view of the Millennium Stadium from the castle ramparts

My gammy knees wouldn't let me climb the steps of the old Castle so I 

sat nursing a cup of tea whilst the boys went exploring.  It makes me laugh

that Charlie is standing so well back - he has a terrible fear of heights!

Inside the apartment rooms, the interior decor was 

absolutely stunning - all gold filigree and stained glass, painted and unpainted

wood carvings.

The incredible ceiling in the Arab Room designed by William Burges.
Click on the next photograph to see a little more information.

It's quite astounding that this amount of work went into a home at that time.

Puts our little flat pack boxes to shame eh?!  

Ah well - just think of the dust!!