EXTERMINATE!

Friday 20^th September

I found the pedometer…in bits…in the washing machine…no more pedometer readings until further notice!!

This morning we set off on the 143 k drive to Cardiff…it all went smoothly but we were surprised about a £6.20 ($A10.66) toll along the way…before this one the tolls we’ve paid have been less that £2.

We headed straight for BBC ‘Dr Who Experience’. The Dr Who TV series is filmed in Cardiff and Andrew is an aficionado and I quite like it too. As we left the public car park we could see this Dalek sign pointing in the direction we needed to go and so we followed the Dalek signs all the way to the entrance!

We knew we were in the right spot when we saw the Tardis.

The ‘Experience’ was fantastic…it’s a bit like some of the rides at the theme parks at The Gold Coast. There is an introductory movie featuring the current Dr. that finishes with a crack in time that you walk through into an adventure scenario where the Dr. has been captured and we needed to save him! You then actually walk through the door of the Tardis and into the control room and take over it’s operation, there is smoke, the floor goes up, down and sideways...Daleks attacked and tried to EXTERMINATE us…it was great. We were the oldest people there, most of the visitors were in their mid twenties and there were a few men who really looked a lot like Timelords…not by accident I’m sure!

Photography is not allowed in that section but from there you go into the museum where you can take as many photos as you like. There are thousands of props and costumes from the 50 years of Dr. Who…I’ve chosen just a few to share…

The control room inside the Tardis.

 Daleks...they're the ones that say 'Exterminate!'

We then headed off to explore the waterfront area around Cardiff Bay.

The Norwegian Church…one of the most famous members of the congregation was children’s author Roald Dahl who was born of Norwegian parents in Fairwater Road in Llandaff, Cardiff. His father Harold, from Oslo, co-founded a ship-broking company in Cardiff around 1880. Roald spent his childhood and school days in Cardiff and his family worshipped at the Norwegian Church.

A public plaza in Cardiff Bay …named after author Roald Dahl 

and is located on the coast along the south of the city centre.

The square is home to the Senedd (Welsh Assembly Building) and the Wales Millenium Centre, a performing arts centre. The bowl-like shape of the plaza has made it a popular amphitheatre for hosting open-airconcerts. 

The Wales Millennium Centre
Here's an explanation of the words on the front of the building from the architect...It was important to me that the English words on the building should not simply be a translation of the Welsh...I wanted to convey the sense of an international space created by the art of music...IN THESE STONES HORIZONS SING.

An interesting statue en route.

We had some lunch overlooking Cardiff Bay, explored the waterfront area and stopped off at the ‘Fabulous Shop’ to buy some traditional, handmade Welshcakes…we ate them while they were still warm…they were sensational.

Next stop…we checked into our hotel in central Cardiff and spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering the city…we were very impressed with the way the ultra modern and very old architecture meld together so well.

Tonight I’ll leave you with an interesting fact about Wales…

At only 170 miles from north to south and 60 miles east to west, it's no surprise that you're never far from a mountain or the sea in Wales.