On Saturday, April 16th we packed up the car early in the morning and said goodbye to our lovely cottage.
It was snowing as we drove away.
We drove a few hours to our next destination. Wales!
I had my mom take a few phone pictures along the way.
We were hoping to stop at a few places along the way but we just ended up going straight to Cardiff.
Once in Cardiff I drove to the BBC studios area and to a small car park near this place...
The Doctor Who Experience!
We purchased our tickets well in advance because you can only buy them online.
We stood in line for a little while chatting with some of the other people visiting.
There were a few little boys that knew SO much about Doctor Who. It was adorable. I felt like I have only touched the surface of the fandom listening to them speak.
Once the tour starts they take you into a room and you go through a fully interactive experience where you are traveling through time and space with the Doctor. It was really fun.
I couldn't take pictures or video of course.
After that was over you get to go into the areas full of props and sets from the show and take your time wandering through all of it.
They had all of the previous Tardis sets.
While I was taking pictures in front of this Tardis set, the grandparents of one of the little boys asked if they could take our picture. We thought their little grandson was adorable (especially because he was the same age as Maddy and I was missing my girls!) so he got in the picture with us.
Then we got to see all of the costumes and characters from the show. I won't explain all of them but if you are a Doctor Who fan you will most likely recognize all of it.
My mom is so silly and awesome.
We ended in the gift shop and then walked along the waterfront of Cardiff Bay.
We came into the area known as Roald Dahl pass as the author was born in Cardiff.
There was a demonstration of some kind going on that day. It seemed very peaceful but we didn't stick around and walked right on by so I am not sure what it was about.
The Wales Millennium Centre:
The huge inscription on the front is written in both Welsh and English.
It reads, " In these stones, horizons sing".
It is two lines from a poem written by the Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis.
It was really fun walking along this area because there were so many places that we have seen in episodes of Doctor Who. They film all over this area.
Our main destination on this walk was Eddie's American Diner for lunch.
That may seem like a weird choice for a place to eat when visiting another country... but this is also Doctor Who related.
In the episode "The Impossible Astronaut", the characters meet at this diner.
The rest of the episode was filmed here in my state of Utah but the diner wasn't.
They had a ton of pictures from filming all over the walls.
We sat at table 13 which happens to be a lucky number in my family so I took a picture of Jennifer Rain by the number for my kids.
We both ordered cheeseburgers, cheese fries, and root beer floats.
The cheeseburger was good. The cheese fries were good at first but after a few bites they stopped tasting good. And the root beer float, well, I wasn't convinced that it wasn't alcoholic. It tasted like it was made with the root beer we bought from the Amish farm a few years ago. Fermented.
But it was a fun experience!
After our meal we walked back around Cardiff Bay to our car.
I drove into the inner city to the Enterprise building and we dropped it off.
That was scary as would become a pattern. There really isn't anywhere to park so I pulled into an alley next to Enterprise and hoped for the best. Luckily it worked out and the guy there drove us over to the train station where we bought our tickets for the train that would take us to London.
Up next: The scariest moment of the trip....
4 comments:
Thank you again for all the pictures!! So fun to relive the memories... and the photos bring it all back! First off...so glad there was a restroom by the parking lot for both of us!! While waiting in the waiting room at the "Dr. Who Experience" I was a little worried about how the museum would be as it was really plain but it was fun listening to the little boys talk. But after we went through the doors it was great. They made "the Experience" really fun! Then the museum after was really cool...being able to see the props, costumes, etc. My favorite little boy there, Daniel, was so cute and so excited to get in the picture with us...with people clear from the United States! Walking along the dock was really fun and I did enjoy the food at the diner. Thanks for the experience!
Yes. I left out the restroom part didn't I? So for anyone reading the comments... we were racing to the porta potty by the time we got to Cardiff. :o Daniel! That's his name. I kept thinking Joshua for some reason. But duh. It was Daniel.
I admit that I know absolutely nothing about Dr. Who. I do not even know the premise. People have begged me to watch it, but now I am looking at some alien-ish looking creatures and wondering what on earth it is about. Probably not for me, I am thinking. It has a cult following though, so I am sure most people you know are so jealous that you went there.
I honestly don't think you would like it Julie. It is sci fi. I didn't think I would like it when I first started watching it and then all of a sudden I loved it. But I just don't think you would. I think it is more human emotion based than most sci fi but it still has lots of craziness. If you want to give it a try I would recommend watching Vincent and the Doctor first even though it is part way through the series. I did that with my mom and then she watched Blink and then she was hooked and started from the beginning. If you don't like either of those two then I don't think you would like any of it. Those are my two favorites and the first one makes me cry.
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