Cardiff is a busy little town. It is a port city that has grown and falter over the 1000 years people have been calling it home. It had its modern heydays back in the late 1800 early 1900s as a coal town. It is now a major port for import and export of goods from Wales.

The area is full of pedestrian streets and Victorian arcades which are basically alleys or small streets with roofs and shops. We shopped our way through several and found some great stuff. I had been all worried about losing my luggage and yes I would have hated to lose the clothes I had but I would have had no trouble finding a complete wardrobe in Cardiff.

After returning to the hotel to drop off our purchases we went to visit the church. It is right in the middle of town. It had a very lived in feel to it. You could tell it was old originally built in the 12 century with various add ons for ver the years. There was some major damage in the 1400s so mainly rebuilt during then and the early 1500s. The size was increased in 1860s and from them mainly the same. A lot of these old churches feel more like museums than places of worship. This seemed like a church.

The organ was massive with two sets of organ pipes. I now see why the could find a mummified cat in an organ pipe in dublin.

After the church we stopped for lunch at the Botanist. A really good Mediterranean place. They had a lunch special for 9 pounds and it was delicious. It was so good we plan to go back for dinner. I had the lamb kabobs, sweet potato fries and the hummus.

Cardiff surprisingly has a number of Mediterranean and eastern restaurants. We have passed some good looking gyro places.

From lunch we went in the Cardiff City Museum. I had read that it was pretty good but it was more for kids than adults. I did learn some fun facts about Cardiff but for the most part nothing really spectacular. There was a really nice tiled hallway that was the entrance to the old city library. It was very ornate in a distinctly Victorian style. It had likely survived because the library was too small and the new addition moved the entrance to the other street so the hallway was not used past the first few years.

We piddled around some more which of course included more shopping. Val might need to buy another suitcase. So far all my purchases are fitting in my bag but I do need to slow down or I will be right there with her (and we haven’t even gotten any books yet). I did buy some cute things and I am very happy with them all.

Took a short break to get everything organized for our move tomorrow before heading out to dinner. We did go back to the Botanist. This time we shared the surf and turf kabob. It was steak and shrimp again with the sweet potato fries. It was just as good as lunch so we were happy that we did a repeat.

And yes that is a bowl of mayonnaise. I guess for the fries, I’m not sure. We didn’t eat it.

We just walked back to the hotel after dinner and called it a night. Tomorrow meet up with friends and join the tour at 11. Even though it will not be an early morning we don’t want to be late.

And just like that I am caught up on my blog. I doubt I will stay caught up but it is nice to be on the right day at least once.