Cardiff, Wales ~ A visit with the Greens

We met 3 lovely British families on our trip to Greece last summer, and we really hit it off with the Greens ~ Hilary, Tim, Laura and Katy.  We had been talking about getting together for a few months, and finally we found a date that worked for all of us!  They invited us to visit them in Cardiff, so we packed up and drove over to Wales!

 As we drove from the midlands to Cardiff, we passed over the Bristol Channel on this pretty bridge.  Bristol is in England, as we crossed we arrived in Wales. 

 All the signs in Wales are in both English and Welsh.  Cool. 

Cardiff is the Capital of Wales

After meeting up with the Greens at their house, we went out to nearby St. Fagan's Museum of Welsh Life.  They had houses from all different eras, brought in from all over Wales and rebuilt on the property.  Neat.  

 It's lambing season in Great Britain, so we got to see some baby lambs in one of the barn buildings.  

Meridian, Katy, Cambria, Laura and Tim, checking out the sheep. 

We got to go in this house ~ very low ceilings!  

There was a neat bed that looked like a cupboard, placed by the fire.  Didn't get a picture... but this lady did (yay Google images):

See, you can climb in and pull the doors shut, trapping in the warm air.  Nifty.

This is... believe it or not... a pig sty!  

This is a Toll House.  Anyone passing by on the road would need to stop and pay their toll.

Toll rates.  It's good to be Queen.  :) 

 Katy and Cambria enjoying the swinging gate.  

This is a cockpit.  For cock fighting.  Seems like the spectators would be a little too close to the action for my comfort.  Not that I'd go to a cockfight.  But you know what I mean.  Cambria is challenging the girls! 

Meridian and Cambria duke it out... but not really.  Meridian succumbed to the giggles first, so Cambria is declared winner! 

Cambria took on Katy, and Katy gave up first (probably not wanting to actually injure Cam or herself), leaving Cambria victorious!   

Cambria was pretty happy about being the winner.  :)  

 Here's the sign.  I didn't get a picture of the outside.  Oh wait!  

Gotta love Google.  :) Voila, the outside of the cockpit.  

Katy and Meridian give Cambria a ride.  That's our friend Hilary in the background ~ I didn't get many pictures of the adults.   

Inside an old village shop.   

Radium stick?  Really?  LOL  

Scott enjoys the fire in one of the oldest row houses, showing virtually the same house, and how it would have changed every 50 years.  This one would have been circa 1805.   The 1950s model had a bath tub in the kitchen!

Crazy steep staircases! 

 The gardens of St. Fagans

Queen of the mountain! 

Scott and I had booked a hotel room, but the girls stayed over with the Greens.  We had a lovely and fun dinner at their house before we headed for the hotel.  :)
I enjoyed a leisurely swim at our hotel in the morning, before heading over to meet up with everyone again.  We don't get evenings without kids very often, so that was very nice.  

Our first stop of the next day was Cardiff Bay.

This was a neat sculpture in the center.  Katy, Cambria and Scott touch it as Tim and Meridian look on. 

Looking up the sculpture 

 Look, it's me!  LOL  

Cambria, wearing Scott's jacket, touches the water.  You can see the reflection of the Opera House behind Scott.  That was a cool building too.  

Heading down to the water... Tim, Katy and Cambria.  I think I have a similar picture from Greece... lemme see... nope, that photo must be just in my mind's eye.  :) 

Scott and Meridian

Hey, Roald Dahl is from here!  Cool!  

 Carousel on the bay

Dock on Cardiff Bay 

 Fancy building for Wales' Parliament

Gothic Coal Exchange building 

 Crazy building on the water front, with the staircase on the outside.  Spooky!

 Welsh Scrabble

OK so we passed a few pubs with this logo and the name, not Brian's, but Brains.  I had to read it twice!!

  

Then, as we drove to the bay, we passed an overpass advertisement that I didn't get a picture of because I was driving, but here it is anyway (thanks again Google):

It's not the exact overpass, but the slogan is the same, lol.  Wales is ready for the zombie apocalypse!  

Hilary explained that Brains is a Welsh beer, very popular there.
Alas, we haven't found it here in Bicester... we'll need to visit Wales again!  :) 

Hilary, Tim, Katy (11) and Laura (15) in front of their house.   

Our last stop was this park, Garwnant.  There were rumored to be walking trails, but we let the kids play in the park and then had coffee and ice cream instead.  :) 

Katy on the crazy swing

They all loved that swing a lot.  Tim ended up giving every kid in line a push.  He's so tall and energetic they all had a blast. 

Neat woodland playground.  The kids dug it.

This was a precarious balancing act with two of them on these two ropes!

We parted ways at this park and began our journey home.  It's actually just over 2 hours, not too much of a journey.

Funny, on the way home we were about to stop at a McDonalds to use the loo... Meridian put up a big protest ~ apparently it's a source of pride for her that we haven't been to a McDonalds since we moved here.  LOL  We obliged and stopped at KFC instead.  :)


Back at home, we added another pin to our map.