A Wednesday in Wales

Charlotte:

We had to cross a big bridge to get to Wales that reminded me of Full House except it was blue.

We went to St. Fagan’s National History Centre. It was free and we saw a lot of old-fashioned houses and things. There were also houses from mediaeval times and the Iron Age. There was also this place where a lot of people used to gather around and watch chickens fight and bet on their chicken, but later they used the building as a garage. In a circle house, I tried weaving with a loom – it was so fun.

At a mediaeval barn, instead of a guard dog they kept a goose. It would let them know if people are coming. Their pigsties are round because pigs like digging holes especially in corners, so they made it round so pigs wouldn’t dig.

There was a candy shop and we went in and bought some old-fashioned candy. It tasted delicious.

Sam:

First I got a map so I could help navigate us to where the different cool things were. It was a very big area and there’s a ton of fields and it was mostly outdoors.

One of the things that I was looking most forward to was the blacksmith because he was there on that day. When we got there, he was sharpening some spikes. We asked him what they were used for, and he said that they were used to make different sized holes in horseshoes. He also explained how he put the horseshoes on the horses and how it didn’t hurt them, even though you use nails.

Charlotte:

We drove into Cardiff and went to Mermaid Quay (pronounced “key”). We went to a restaurant called Crepe Escape and I got a ham and cheese crepe. It was so good! So, if you’re ever to go to Mermaid Quay, you should go here.

Sam:

For dessert we went to a place called Fabulous, where they made some really good welshcakes. Welshcakes are kind of like a small dessert pancake/scone thing, specific to Wales. There were three flavours that they were making that day. We tried them all, and the flavours were traditional (which have raisins), apricot and white chocolate, and blueberry. My favourite was the traditional flavour.

Charlotte:

Roald Dahl Plass is in Mermaid Quay. You can bike ride, skateboard, and it’s also used for fairs. It’s a big flat place with pillars in the centre of Mermaid Quay. They made this place because Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff.

Sam:

We wandered around Cardiff Bay for a bit. We wanted to take a picture of our family by a building called the Pierhead building, and we had to wait for a long time because there was a group of tourists that were taking a ton of pictures in front of the building with a million different poses. The building that we were trying to take a picture in front of had a big clock on it, so we looked it up, and we realised that the clock was unofficially called the Big Ben of Wales.

There was a place I really wanted to go called Techniquest. I had researched it in Canada, but only when we got there did I see that Techniquest was closed for renovations, so we couldn’t go.

We came home for a late supper and bedtime.