We got a bit of breakfast from the B&B before checking out to head to the train station to get a ride to Cardiff.
Someone grabbed our cab from the B&B to the train station - rude. Someone did finally come to get us, the train station is not far so there was no rush or worry that we would not get our train.
The train is a short one, only four cars, only four stops to Cardiff, and the cars are not full. It took about 1.5hours to get to Cardiff with only three stops and no changes.
The weather has been quite good to day, lots of sun with just a light breeze, temp was about 12oC so we walked from the train station to the hotel. We are located in the center of the city with easy access to shopping, restaurants and sites.
After checking in and getting a bit settled we went for some lunch, we checked out the local McDonalds as we do when we visit a new country and got a quick lunch.
After lunch we toured Cardiff Castle. Constucted over a wide period of time starting with the Romans into the 1800's the castle has seen a number of changes, but the main castle walls, had been restored and the keep is still standing with its moat in place. We climbed to the top of the keep get great views of the castle and the surrounding city.. We were able to visit some of the interior of the main castle, we walked through a number of rooms including the library which had a number of first edition collecitons from Jane Austin, Dickens and very early versions of the the Encyclopaeda Briticanna, there must have been thousands of books in this libraray.
After visiting the castle we did the Rick Steeves guided tour around the older section of the city, which included museums, churches and markets. We discovered welsh cakes, which are most excellent, we tried the traditional and the jam cakes. They are like a tea biscuit split down the center then filled with a flavor the jam cake were filled with a simple strawberry jam and the traditional were buttered with sugar sprinkled on top.
We also took in a museum (National Museum) with a frantastic hall covered in intricate and colourful tiles. We did not get a chance to take in more of the museum as it was closing as we were entering. We may go back if we have time.
We then took in some shops, Krista is looking for something specific for Jessica, so far no luck.
At around 7 we went for some dinner at a local pub / restaurant. Krista had the steak and I got the sheppards pie. I tried a local beer, or at least a Welsh beer made in Wrexham it was quite good.
We called it a night early because tomorrow we will visit the waterfront. probably do some more shopping and then we have the James Blunt concert.