Castles and Fairs- What could be better?

I  am currently on a bus coming home from an excellent weekend in Wales. This morning we got up and packed our backpacks and put them into storage at the hostel. We then head out to go to the castle but as we left the hostel, the guy working there told us he had a better idea. He suggested that we go to St. Fagans (where we went the previous day). The Welsh sure are pushy, two people telling us to abandon our plans to do something else. Regardless, we walked to the castle and got there at about 9:30. It was really quiet so when we got there which was wonderful. We first watched this video and we were the only ones in the cinema so Eleanor, Kate and I talked throughout the video. It was incredibly corny and supposed to tell the story of the castle but it involved a girl in modern day Cardiff and the story was lost on us. She ran through the streets, got chased by football fans, and someone this teenage boy was incorporated it. Overall it was a strange video, but hey, it was interesting. 

At the end of the video the screen lifts up and you can see the inside of the castle. Then a set of doors opened and we went through the tunnels and walked through the corridors which became an air raid shelter during World War II.There were lots of unique posters in the halls that reminded me of the ones I have studied in school, but much more sinister as bombings in the UK was a much more direct threat and this castle was bombed. From there we took the walk along the castle walls. It was a beautiful day out and we got to walk through lots of cool halls with little windows to peep out. From there, we went the actual residential building. There was a beautiful library with lots of old books from council meetings, city dealings and religious texts. There was also a stunning spiral staircase and a magnificent 'Arab Room' that was spectacular to look at. From there, we made out way up the keep. It had super steep steps that we had to climb and once inside there was an open green space about 30 feet in diameter. Then we climbed a set of stairs even more steep than the first set to get to the top where we got an absolutely breathtaking view of the city. It was a gorgeous day and we could see really far! The castle is in the middle of the city so right behind the clock tower you can see Millennium Stadium. Then we had to walk down the stairs which was terrifying. I never thought I was afraid of heights but these stairs made me question that. My foot could not fully fit on the steps but I made it down alive. \

From there, we went to the country fair that was occurring. Since we were there and got free admission with our ticket, we decided to check it out. There were alpacas, chickens, and guinea pigs. Whereas the Minnesota state fair may just let you pet them, here they were actively selling them. They were advertising how easy it is to raise the chickens in the city (presumably in Cardiff, not in our London flat). You could also buy an alpaca for 495 pounds. (It reminded me of Gilly's llama sound). Unfortunately they were not selling bison, sorry dad! There were tons of food places so Kate and I went and sampled all of the cheeses (once place had 7 types, the other had at least 10). We continued our sampling and tried a jam (I tried Raspberry with Coriander and Kate had Apricot with Lavender), elderberry brandy, elderflower wine, ginger wine (amazing!), two ales, roasted pecans, game and red wine pie and some delicious breads. Needless to say we enjoyed the foods and I managed to only buy one thing (ginger cheese) although I was tempted to buy much more. 

Given the nice weather, we then went to the park next to the castle and walked around It was quite picturesque and there were lots of blooming flowers, dogs frolicking in water, etc. Finally, we wen to the National museum and wen through the national history museum which had lots of exhibits on earth, dinosaurs, neanderthals, etc and some stuffed animals. Then we ventured upstairs to the art museum and we looked at some Montes, Picasos, etc. There were also rooms with Nethlandish and Italian Renaissance art next to each other which was exciting. There was also a really strange modern art area and I watched a movie about a man made boulder that was followed for 30 years and this really strange fire ceremony. 

Before we left Cardiff we stopped at McDonalds to get a quick dinner before we picked up our bags and went to the train station. The McDonalds had four machines where you could order instead of going to a person. Then you would go to the counter and watch a board that would say what they were preparing and what was ready. I had a nice kids meal but I still dislike the ketchup here. It is far to sweet for my taste so I added a little bit of salt to it. Eleanor laughed at me but it made it taste more like home. Now we are on the bus coming home. I have a lot of homework to do but I am tired and decided to take a quick break to blog. The pictures will be up in a few days when I have the time to go through the pictures. I think I have over 300 pictures but am not sure. (Update as of 9/30/13: There were 561 photos taken. The internet is super slow today so I will only upload a few pictures and am just going to put them at the end because it takes too long to move them.)