Cardiff Snow- Feb 09

Friday, September 14, 2007

Rugby, Rugby, Rugby this weekend...

Well, no news really. Been a quiet 2 weeks, especially since I had a very bad cold/flu which left me in bed miserable for a while. Time just flew by really. Looking forward to this weekend as I am going away again, to Wales again to visit Bart :)

I leave tomoro afternoon, and arrive at 17h40 in Cardiff, with just enough time for us to either: 1. Head to the store, get some munchies and then get home in time to watch the rugby game-South Africa vs England..or to 2. Head home to drop off bag and get changed, then head to the pub to watch the game there. Its gonna be great!! I have my Safrican shirt all ironed and ready to wear allllll day tomoro, LOL. Am sad, a lil, that I cant be watching the game with Mark in a London pub, but then again, I am glad too, I dont think I wanna put myself thru the pain of listening to all these english blokes crying and making excuses when we kick their asses. HEHEHEHE!
Saturday is also going to be a great day, Wales play Australia in Cardiff so the atmosphere in the city is going to be AWESOME!! I cant wait!! Pretty much a rugby filled weekend for the most part. Not sure what else we will get up to...maybe the boat trip we didnt get to go on the last time...
Anyhoo, bed time me thinks, have to be up early.....ish...to do things before I leave...and make sure I get to the station in time this time!!
Have a great weekend everyone, take care!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

My weekend Fun in Wales

On Friday night, around 6pm I got a phone call from a friend of mine Bart who lives in Cardiff, Wales. He was on his way home from work and was just calling to say hello. Around 7pm, after he had been home and done some things, we talked again. We were talking about the weekend ahead and ho we both had no plans, then out of the blue we both decided it would be a good idea for me to go to Cardiff for the weekend to visit him. We both checked ticket prices, saw how cheap they were and within 20 minutes had bought a bus ticket leaving at 9:30pm from London and arriving at 12:20am in Cardiff.

After that, it was a mad rush to unpack my little bag, repack it, shower and get all the way to Victoria Station by 9:15pm. I left home around 8:10pm, thinking I would have plenty of time as I could catch a train straight to Victoria from the Station here in Lewisham. But.....when I got to Lewisham Station, realised there are no trains to Victoria at that time of night. So had to take a big detour to a different station, get on the tube, change lines and eventually got to Victoria at about 9:10pm. I knew that the walk to the Coach Station would be about 10 minutes so I was stressing that I would miss this bus. But, in the end I arrived there, got on the bus and 5 minutes later, we left. Very close call!!

Bus trip wasnt that bad, just listened to music and had the occasional phone call form Bart to see where we were and how the trip was going. Due to traffic along the way, we were delayed about 30 minutes and arrived at Cardiff Central Station at around 12:50pm. Caught a taxi back to Bart's place and chilled out there, watching tv and talking til around 5am!!

On Saturday, we only woke up around 12pm, got dressed and everything and headed out to Cardiff Bay. Bart works right there overlooking the bay, so he parked the car at the office and then we set off to see the sights.















We caught a boat from the Bay which takes u to the city along the river Taff (I think). Once we got to the city, we just walked around, looked in a few interesting shops and just talked. Eventually had lunch at Burger King and watched all the crazy Welsh youngsters out and about. They were all dressed in funny things, as part of organised parties and stuff. Very strange lot!
After all that, it was pretty late and we headed back to the Bay to fetch the car and then headed home. Watched TV again, talked most of the night and again, only got to sleep late, around 4:30am.

On Sunday, we decided we were going to go on another boat trip, this time, it took u out to an island. It was a real miserable, overcast and cold day, but we were keen to do it anyway. But when we arrived, we had missed the last boat and all the others had been prebooked, so that plan was out the window. We then went on "The Giant Wheel" and took some nice pics of the view from the top of the Bay. It moved pretty quick so didnt have too much time to take that many pictures. But here are some of them...















After we got off the wheel, we caught a bus into the city and went to the Cardiff Castle. This castle is like 2000 years old. Pretty amazing!


We arrived there too late for a guided tour, but we just walked aorund in the rain for a while by ourselves. Amazing place it was. My camera batteries died as soon as we got inside but managed to take one picture of "The Keep" . This was inside grounds of the castle and is a 12th century Norman Keep.
We went right up to the top of it, just below where the flag is and looked at the view of the city, pretty spectacular, but couldnt take any pics coz of flat camera!! Will have to go back to the castle next time. We fed some peacock in the grounds and then headed out as it started raining harder and we were already pretty wet. Headed back on the bus to the Bay, got the car and headed home. I was supposed to go back with the bus that night, but Bart said he would get me back on a train rather in the morning before he goes to work. Again, at home, just watched some TV, talked and then went to bed early, well earlier than the other 2 nights...around 2am.


On Monday, woke up at 9am, got dressed and packed up and made our way to the station. Got on the train at 11am, after it being delayed for 20 mins, and eventually arrived back in London around 1:30pm, got on a bus, and took forever to get home due to very bad traffic in London.

Had an amazing time, was a nice break and had great company. Totally took my mind off things and I feel a while lot better now, except...I now have a cold!! LOL!

My flat, Christmas and New Year

Thorpe Park, Open Day, Drinks