A Welcome in Wales

On Sunday morning we set off for Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It is only about an hour's drive from Swindon. Wales is very scenic and maintains its cultural heritage even though it's been part of the United Kingdom for over 700 years. The Welsh language is even compulsory in schools.

In Cardiff, we first stopped by the home of a friend of mine from the University of Iowa named Karin. Karin and I had been out of touch for several years, so it was really fantastic to see her again! Karin is married to Andrew, and has a five-month-old son, Jacob, with whom Amelie had a play date. Dan and I brought a Dutch breakfast of poffertjes, pancakes, coffee and koffiemelk. Karin and Andrew rounded out the breakfast with hot cross buns, fruit, and tea. Liliane consumed what can only be described as a copious quantity of poffertjes.

After breakfast at Karin's, we drove to the nearby Caerphilly Castle. As soon as we parked and paid for the parking, a downpour began. We decided to stick it out and a few minutes later, the rain let up enough to go outside. Liliane was excited to run around the castle grounds. The moat was very wide and there were people fishing along its banks. Inside the castle, we encountered more medieval weaponry and a leaning tower that looked as if it could very well topple. As were were finishing our tour, a beautiful rainbow appeared on the horizon.

the rainbow

Liliane studies more medieval weaponry.

After the castle, we went to the Rhondda Heritage Park, which offered mine tours on which we could bring the girls. Unfortunately, we arrived 40 minutes before the next tour and the tour was scheduled to last an hour and a half. We knew that we would be pushing our luck, so we just looked at an exhibit there about a mining disaster and about life in the area in prosperous times.

We did a driveby of the Cardiff Castle and of the Cardiff Bay. Pictures I had seen before had not done the castle justice. The castle is immense, grandiose and is surrounded by a lovely park. If I go there one day, I will definitely plan to picnic nearby. The bay was nice, but there didn't seem to be a point from whence you could see the entire panorama. The view was blocked by some industrial warehouses, but you could still see England across the way and a cliff.

We were going to head back to Swindon, but we couldn't resist stopping back at Karin and Andrew's to see if they had any dinner plans. Andrew had just been toasting up some cardamom seeds for an African peanut-chicken soup when I knocked on the door. There was enough soup for us, but to supplement it, Karin ordered some vegetarian Indian appetizers. It was a delicious meal with great company!