Cardiff - Day Four

Knowing we would meet Eddy, one of my guild members (take a look at her ArtFire studio, so fun) and online friends, in the early afternoon, we didn't plan much for the morning of day four.
We walked over to Mermaid Quay, heading to the Norwegian Church. The church which is an arts center now was built in the 19th century when Cardiff was one of Britain's most important ports. At that time the Norwegian merchant fleet was the third largest in the world, so this church as a place of worship for the Norwegian seamen was established.
Roald Dahl, the famous writer, was baptized in this church which originally had stood on the grounds of our hotel!


Right next to the church is the Scott Antarctic Memorial, reminding of Captian Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition which aim it was to reach the geographical South Pole first. Cardiff was one of the biggest donors for this expedition.


We walked on through the docklands before then reaching Cardiff Bay Barrage, constructed in the 1990s to help regenerate the docklands and created a vast freshwater lake, separated from the sea.


There is even a sea angling zone and of course we had to stop there. No, not I am the fishing member in this house and I have to admit my interest was somewhat limited, especially since I was the only woman there which felt a little strange. I also have to admit that I wasn't keen on staying there until someone would catch a fish. On the other hand it was funny when one guy thought he had hooked a fish and found it was another guy's fishing line.
I have no idea what exactly this hut is used for, but a pink building in an area where very manly men pursued a very manly and serious activity made me giggle.


Remember the buildings I had been so fascinated with? An abandoned structure and a restaurant built in 18something. I guess I'm just attracted to old buildings.


We thought it would be fun to take the waterbus back to the other side of the bay and were lucky that we didn't have to wait for long.
From there we went down to the wetlands for a sandwich until it was time to meet Eddy. We didn't sit there for long before a swan decided to keep us company (although the sandwiches hadn't been unpacked yet) and called over a friend after a while. We didn't feed them, don't worry. It didn't seem to make them happy however, so they finally came out and went to the other side. I took a video of them slowly swimming down the water until they disappeared in the reed. Quote: "Who comes to Wales to film swimming swans?" Well, I do! ;-)


Now it was time to go to Cardiff Bay Station. As someone having commuted by train since 1983, this station was a little surprising to me. Seriously, I have never seen anything like it. Even the smallest station I know has two tracks.
You can tell my surprise from the fact that I took a photo of this single track which looks as if it leads straight to the skyscraper in the back.


We had a fun afternoon. Unfortunately the pictures are personal and not for blog use, you know the rules. We took a bus ride (how many tourists get to see Cardiff hospital?), we looked at the shops and the new library, we had lunch, we went by the castle on to see the Animal Wall (that we had missed on Day Two) and then to Bute Park.


It was a lovely day, it was lovely company - thank you, Eddy! - and although I did NOT get a green balloon (private joke), I really enjoyed the afternoon.
We took the Aquabus back to Mermaid Quay where we had some icecream first and finally said goodbye.

Stay tuned for tomorrow if you dare losing any respect that you ever might have had for me before ;-)