Caerphilly, Cardiff, Bristol, & Bath! (Day 2)

The sightseeing really began on Saturday (1 Dec). After an unhealthily yummy full English breakfast, we head off for Caerphilly Castle - a 13th Century castle that's supposed to be one of the most beautiful medieval fortresses in Wales. It was the first castle that Jon & visited in UK, and it was great that it came complete with a moat and a draw-bridge! Largely intact, there were a few sections in ruins and a tower tilting like Pisa.










The moat must be filled with fish, cos we saw quite a few fishermen there. So much for scary monsters that could have lived in the waters in the medieval era. Maybe these fishes are the tamer off-spring? I'm just talking rubbish.. :)

The day we visited Caerphilly Castle there were preparations being made for a wedding in the evening. I suppose the place must be quite popular for weddings given it's cosy, yet grand and historic, atmosphere.



















At the gift shop, Jon and I got into a fight! Shouting at each other...armed with foam swords and shields, we battled it out! Engarde!! Don't quite know who won, but it was great fun! (betcha were wondering what kind of fight, huh? :) ).










Well we couldn't spend all day at Caerphilly, we had so many more places to visit! We packed into the car, and drove off to the next castle - Castell Coch (heh heh..how are you pronouncing that? It's "cas-tel cor-h". What were you saying? haha).

This castle was the summer retreat for the Bute family, and uber rich family usually based in Cardiff. The place is described as Disney-like, and I guess with the conical-roofed turrets, it does look a little like it could come out from a Disney cartoon!












And the fairy-tales carried on inside some of the rooms. There was one hall which had the walls painted with pictures depicting Aesop's fables. Stories like the Tortoise and the Hare, the Dog and his reflection, etc. To read the fables, you can check out this website: http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Aesop/Aesops_Fables/










There was one interesting set of sculptures in the fairy-tale room depicting Birth, Life and Death. The figure on the left spins the thread (signifying birth), the figure in the middle measures the length of the thread (the length of one's life), and the figure on the right cuts the thread (determining the time of death).










Moving on to see the bedrooms, we found that the women seem to have the better deal in this castle. They get huge bedrooms, but the room which was meant for the man-of-the-house was so puny! Poor man. But anyway, I didn't really think the bedroom of the lady-of-the-house was that nice. It was Oriental in style, but overly ornate. For some reason, it just reminded me of a Chinese funeral. Or at least, the back of the furniture shops in Dempsey road, which I always find to be a bit scary and jiang-si-esque.










The whole place was very kid-friendly and had plenty of activities like stenciling, assembling a model of the castle, etc. Not that we are kids, but since we were just enjoying the fun of it all, Ganga and I indulged in some art work! :)










Next stop: Cardiff (or Caerdydd in Welsh)!

As we were looking for a parking lot we found that there was a rugby match between Cardiff RFC and Maesteg RFC that afternoon, which got Jon and Sathia excited :) (Both had played rugby in school). So we decided to split up - Jon & Sat heading for the rugby match; Ganga, Hsu Hsien, and myself going to visit Cardiff Castle.

Anyway, as we were heading to the castle the weather conditions changed drastically in a span of around 30 minutes! First it was lovely and sunny, then there was sleet (like hail but much much smaller..ard marble size), and less than five mins later it was drizzling, then soon it was sunny again! C'est tres bizarre, non!

Cardiff Castle was also owned by the Bute family (same ppl as at Castell Coch). It was getting dark by then, so we ran through the grounds quite hurriedly. Not much, but the view from the top of the prison tower was quite good, allowing a sweeping view over the town centre, juxtaposing the old castle with the Millenium Stadium.










The inside of the castle was very ornate (but not o-biang), and I especially liked how each room had a theme. The drawing room had the theme of "time" - there were paintings representing the four seasons, and the ceiling was adorned with decorations of the horroscope, indicating the passing of time. (No pictures allowed in the castle, so I can't show you).

The nursery brought you into the land of fairy-tales. Characters from various fairy-tales were painted on the wall, and depicted in the stained glass of the lamps. Everything from Jack and the Beanstalk to the Little Red Riding Hood.

I think most impressive of all was the library where I found out that Lord Bute was fluent in 9 languages! Super impressive!

By the time we got out of the place it was dark (and cold and rainy I might add). We met up with Jon & Sat, and went for the main event of the trip - the Wales Rally GB! Car racing!










I don't follow these things, so it was all new to me, but exciting and interesting nonetheless. Fast cars of all makes and models speeding around the race-track, sharp turns, zooming around the corners - how to not be exciting? I especially liked it when drivers took a risk and started to turn many metres before the actual turning, then sliding around corner missing the barrier by inches (like in the movies!). To add to the fanfare, whenever the driver reached the end of the circuit, a row of flame-blowers would spew out balls of fire, rousing the crowd to cheer all the more loudly!









Anyway after all that excitement, and all that sightseeing, it was time for some food. And we had a yummy meal at Cardiff Bay, before driving on to Chepstow - our stop for the night - where we again had to 'sneak' into the inn. For some reason the inn keeper was also having a later dinner that night, and she left the keys with (i suppose) her friends at an Indian restaurant opposite the B&B. It felt almost clandestine, like some spy collecting secret documents or something. We went upstairs to the restaurant, told the waiter we were there to collect keys, he directed us to another man in a suit, man asks, "what's your name", and after giving the right answer, he hands over a white envelope. Dodgy huh? Haha :) But like I said previously, I think all these Welsh small towns are just communal, and everyone probably knows everyone else.

Once we got ourselves into the inn, we had a time of room hunting, cos we just had the room numbers, but no idea where all the rooms were. After some wandering around, walking to the back of the house through some narrow corriders, we finally found our room!

What a packed day and a full itinerary! I love it! Haha :)