Cardiff, Wales, United KingdomPrimero Apartments, Trade Street Brickworks, Cardiff Wales
So I must have been pretty tired last night because I woke up at 8:30 am.
Marilynn had considered waking me up, but opted for opening the drapes and hoping that daylight would trigger some life. I showered, ate breakfast and tried to get my stuff together, only forgetting one or two items, and was ready by 10:10 am.
I have been very dependent on Marilynn with her phone and GPS so she found her way to Cardiff Castle - our aim for the day. We paid our entry fees and signed up for a tour of the house - famed for its opulence. We walked around a bit before the 11 am tour. The tour leader was quite good with his spiel - some of it slanted with the views of the ordinary people vs. the upper crust. The family that owned the Bute estate was well connected and very wealthy from the coal business. They were responsible for Cardiff becoming a major coal-shipping port. One of the ancestors was a descendant of Robert son of William the Conqueror, I think. I need to check this. The tour guide went through a number of the famous family members but I had a hard time following them all - there were Normans, Welsh, Scots, English and were there any Irish?? One member disgraced the family somehow and there is a stained glass portrait of him with his shield upside down, signifying disgrace and maybe treason. He was drawn and quartered. The history of the castle as well of the prominence of the family and
their wealth made it notable. Oh, our guide kept mentioning that this
was only a summer residence for 6 weeks of the year. Their main
residence was the 2nd largest castle/mansion in the UK.
The rooms were decorated in the mid or late 1800's by a famous architect - John Burges (sic) for the 3rd Marquis of Bute in a Gothic Revival style. There were a lot of carved wood panels and coffered ceilings, stained glass. The colors red, green and gold. It was on the dark side, even with a lots of gilding and goodly number of windows, yet still quite appealing in the richness of the wood and wall decoration. We visited at least one bedroom, study, library, the Arabic room, and a room designed as a nursery with nursery rhyne motifs. Each of the rooms had a theme - like Chaucer and Abraham from the Bible with Hebrew writing. The old castle was partially in ruins but we did get to walk to a lookout at the top after a bunch of never-ending winding stairs.
We also visited Bute Park, with the famous Animal Wall sculptures, which runs along the river and a smaller body of water - maybe a canal. It was quite pleasant and we marveled over all the huge trees there. I was also impressed by how fresh and almost spring-like the leaves were on the trees.. There was a stone circle we saw and maybe some other things but I cannot remember anything specific. We looked for something called Sophia Garden and every time we came upon an intersection with signs, it seemed the signs were always pointed in another direction and we niver found this garden.
It was quite late (2 or 3 pm) when we looked for lunch after leaving the castle and park. We went to the Blue Bell and
both had fish and chips which I thought were very good.
(9.99 pounds)
I tried a local bitter ale and liked that too but it seemed less
intense than an IPA. I am not exactly sure what a bitter is supposed to
taste like. Oh, today is Saturday and there was a loot of partying
going on on the pedestrian street where our and many other pub
restaurants were located. After lunch, we went for a short walk on the Summer Trail in Bute Park.
When Marilynn noticed it was 5 pm, she suggested that it was time to return to our apartment lodgings...which we did....once we got to the correct street in front of the castle entrance. We struggled a bit before we found St Mary's street which would lead us back to the apartment. Marilynn entered the numbers into the 3 keypads and we got in. She discovered some mud or something on the bottom of her shoe. When I looked, I found that I had picked up some dog poop so I tried to clean it off and it was not easy.
I find it is difficult to get organized. I finally started my camera batteries on the charger, but forgot to push the switch to put the electric outlet on. Marilynn cooked our remaining ravioli and we made our salads and had dinner. Now she is watching TV and working on her computer and I am doing this blog. I still have a few days to catch up on. I don't really feel like it but I should do at least one before I can go to sleep It is only 8:30 pm.
2025-05-22