Wales Day 2
Our second day in Wales was spent in Cardiff. Honestly, there isn't much to do in the city. There are two city centres, one down at the bay area, and the other is by Cardiff University. A ton of shops are in the second centre while the waterfront is newer and has less foot traffic. It's decently less busy than London, which some people might like, but I felt it entirely too quiet for me. I enjoyed the contrast though that Cardiff gave to London in the buildings. They are entirely older in London with the newer ones popping up in between, or rather above. Cardiff really grew during the 19th and 20th centuries and so most of the buildings are very modern in architecture.
We saw two more things that Cardiff has to offer for tourists, being Cardiff Castle, and the Cardiff story museum. In the middle of the grounds is the old medieval tower, but what is known as the castle itself is a Victorian-era mansion that belonged to the Bute family, who owned much of Cardiff and helped build up the shipping and coal industry that fueled the growth of the city. The mansion has some of the most intricately decorated rooms I have seen. My favourite room was the library, which feels like the kind of place I could live in for sure. A most interesting thing I noticed in the library was wooden monkey figures that were reading books and watching over those who entered the room. I don't know what their purpose or meaning was but I thought it was an interesting choice of animal. Visitors to the castle can climb to the top of the tower and get a 360 view of one of the centres of Cardiff. You can't see that far though, because of the larger buildings that block the view. I suggest going on a day when a ton of school kids are not also visiting because the one staircase that leads to the top of the tower is a small circular staircase and it's impossible to go up or down when another group are going the opposite way.
The Cardiff story museum is about a five-minute walk from the castle. It is a small, one room exhibit that takes the visitor through a history of the land of Wales. Some of the parts that talk about the old inhabitants of Wales feels like its reaching for a way to find Welsh nationalism. The rest talks about the importance of coal and trade for Cardiff.
In Cardiff, I felt that the people were quite proud to go about their business and that they are trying very hard to find their own national identity. They feel wholly sperate from the UK, even though they are a part of it. I think that given the chance, they would become their own completely autonomous region or county.
We saw two more things that Cardiff has to offer for tourists, being Cardiff Castle, and the Cardiff story museum. In the middle of the grounds is the old medieval tower, but what is known as the castle itself is a Victorian-era mansion that belonged to the Bute family, who owned much of Cardiff and helped build up the shipping and coal industry that fueled the growth of the city. The mansion has some of the most intricately decorated rooms I have seen. My favourite room was the library, which feels like the kind of place I could live in for sure. A most interesting thing I noticed in the library was wooden monkey figures that were reading books and watching over those who entered the room. I don't know what their purpose or meaning was but I thought it was an interesting choice of animal. Visitors to the castle can climb to the top of the tower and get a 360 view of one of the centres of Cardiff. You can't see that far though, because of the larger buildings that block the view. I suggest going on a day when a ton of school kids are not also visiting because the one staircase that leads to the top of the tower is a small circular staircase and it's impossible to go up or down when another group are going the opposite way.
The Cardiff story museum is about a five-minute walk from the castle. It is a small, one room exhibit that takes the visitor through a history of the land of Wales. Some of the parts that talk about the old inhabitants of Wales feels like its reaching for a way to find Welsh nationalism. The rest talks about the importance of coal and trade for Cardiff.
In Cardiff, I felt that the people were quite proud to go about their business and that they are trying very hard to find their own national identity. They feel wholly sperate from the UK, even though they are a part of it. I think that given the chance, they would become their own completely autonomous region or county.
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