6 November 2016
Diwrnod arall, castell arall!
Translation from Welsh: Another day, another castle!
What do you do to get a feel for a new place? Visit castles, of course! On our recent visit to Cardiff in Wales, we went to see two castles in two days. So much fun!
Caerphilly Castle (Sounds like Care-filly) - Only a 15 min train ride from Cardiff to a cute town with a great castle! The fact that they rebuilt sections in the 1930's (they tried to keep it accurate) means that this is a very impressive castle.
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| View of the gatehouse from inside the main walls. The leaning turret is the one on the left :) |
They do a great job presenting it with sounds, visual aids, and other interactive displays. The room above the gate has a portcullis projected on the wall, so you know exactly what it's used for. The guard room latrine has a motion-activated person who farts when you walk into the room!
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There is no doubt what this room is for when you walk in and he lets out a huge fart!
It may seem immature, but so memorable and great for kids!
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| Nico and the leaning turret. His new nickname: Ho-turret (doesn't sound quite as good as Hodor) |
Cardiff Castle, in the middle of Cardiff, was also cool, with a history of being used as a Roman fort (3rd Century), Norman Castle (11th Century), Welsh Royal College of Music and Drama (1950s-1998, Anthony Hopkins went here!), and finally as an air-raid shelter during WWII.
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| Inside Cardiff Castle on a beautiful fall day! |
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| World War II bunker exhibit, complete with wartime sounds and propaganda. 'Be like dad, keep mum!' [Cardiff Castle] |
Some of the beauty here is the detail inside the castle: intricately decorated stairways, rooms inlaid with gold, and a library with polished agate shelves!
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| Five languages represented in the intricate statues in the library! |
The walls outside the castle were beautiful as well - the most unusual collection of animal statues on top of the wall in lifelike poses. How often do you see things like racoons and anteaters represented beside jaguars and lions?
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| The Cardiff Castle wall has a great selection of cool animals in really life-like poses! Just a few pictured here :) |
A few more photos from our Welsh weekend filled with castles:
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We travel to Wales and bump into a Scottish piper at the castle... [Caerphilly Castle]
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| Caerphilly Castle |
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| Crenelations you can sit on! Yay! [Caerphilly Castle] |
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| Fancy lights in the handrails for the old, spiral staircases at Caerphilly Castle - wish more castles had this! |
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| Something we've never seen at a castle before: Wooden structures built out over the castle walls so that you can look down over the attackers. Makes sense, but cool to see reconstructed! [Caerphilly Castle] |
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| Duck! Unique sign - only in a castle! [Caerphilly Castle] |
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| Nico playing with weapons :) Bombs away! [Caerphilly Castle] |
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| Cardiff Castle |
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| View from Cardiff Castle with nice autumn colours :) |
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| Beautiful ceiling in Cardiff Castle |
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| Detail on stairway at Cardiff Castle |
