Monday, January 30, 2012

UK-trip, Day 1: Amsterdam-Bristol-Cardiff
Originally Tan and I had wanted to travel to the UK as usual: by Eurostar train to London. Due to a national strike in Belgium, we had to find another way to cross the channel. Luckily we managed to buy cheap plane tickets from Amsterdam straight to our destination Bristol, where Panic! at the Disco would perform on Tuesday, January 31.
But I'll start my travel story on Monday, when I caught the bus from my house to the station for the 7.16 a.m. train to Schiphol airport. Despite the snow (!) my journey went according to schedule and I met Tan as planned around 8.45.
Here's what we did on the first day of our five day trip to the UK...


After checking in, passport + baggage control and a lot of waiting we finally boarded the 10.40 EasyJet flight from Schiphol to Bristol. It left about fifteen minutes late.


I had a window seat, yay! I so love watching the clouds:)


At Bristol airport we got on a bus that brought us close to the hotel; we only had to walk around the St. Mary Redcliff Church. Very impressive, couldn't get it in one photo:)


Our hotelroom exceeded our expectations: it was HUGE. Two double beds, a fancy sitting area, a closet full of fluffy towels and tea with flapjacks. \o/


We left our luggage at the hotel, walked to Bristol Temple Meads trainstation and...


... got on the train to Cardiff. We didn't even have to wait!


About an hour later we arrived at Cardiff Central Station. Welsh is a funny "language". :-D


To start our Torchwood fangirling touristy tour, we got on a bus to Cardiff Bay. See the fountain on the right? That's the elevator-exit of Torchwood! For realz!
(When I was here in July 2008 it was covered with strawberries, I'm so glad I finally got to make a clean picture:)


Close up of the Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru (Wales Millennium Centre;)


Tan standing on the Torchwood exit \o/


Both of us fangirling on the elevator (stupid bulky wintercoat)


Eep! We found the Torchwood entrance (former tourist-information centre) covered in crazy fangirl messages; a shrine to coffeeboy Ianto. Oh dear.
(Also: check out the beerlogo on the top building and say it with me: B-R-A-I-N-S!)


Wave of lettering on the pavement surrounding the Norwegian Church in the bay. Couldn't make out what it was saying. There were also inprints of fishes and other sea-creatures all along the walkway. Cool design.

We had wanted to visit the Doctor Who Exhibition/Experience, but as it turned out that was moved to London. So we ended our fangirling and went back into Cardiff Town to visit the Castle!


The history of Cardiff Castle stretches over 2000 years. (Click to read more;)


Before going on a guided tour inside, we walked around the grounds. This is The Black Tower.


Stained glass windows in one of the towerrooms represent all the days of the week, this is Wodan. (Wednesday)


Love conquers all. Or something. :-p


Very impressive mural.


Ceiling of dining hall.


A glorious indoor pool in the top of the tower.


After the wonderful tour, we went into town to find a place to eat. I had to take a photo of the bollards (Is this the correct word? It's what the Dutch equivalent, an 'Amsterdammertje' is called on Wikipedia).


A very helpful* Welshman saw us looking for a cafe, and gave us directions to the best restaurant EVER: Harvester. We shared a starter (potatoes with cheese and bacon, mmm) and chose different maincourses: peas and chicken for Tan, boneless ribs and potato for me (I gave my corn to T.;) Dessert was even better: strawberry sunday for T. and I got a Lemon Blizzard. (Size matters *grins*. De-lic-ious.


Completely satisfied and warmed up we walked back to the station and managed to get on a (delayed) train back to Bristol and our marvelous hotel, where I made a display of my souvenirs:)

Day 2: Walking through Bristol

*All the people today were supersweet! Our cynical hearts melted a little (despite the cold;)

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