amberwavestour: Castles, and TARDIS, and MOJO, Oh My!

Okay, so I was stretching for this last title, but the kids always like me to fashion one each trip in that classic manner, and it's the best I could come up with as bags are being packed/stuffed, tube cards returned, and time is running short before we need to head out on our Heathrow Express to begin our long journey home.

Yesterday, we all agreed over our last dinner in London (a late, post-show Indian spot, which allowed us one final fix of that great food in a lovely restaurant just off Piccadilly Circus -still serviing dinner after 10:00), was one of our favorite days of the vacation. We often will do a "top five moments" sort of recap at the end of each vacation, and this year we shared many top moments. It's always nice when on everyone's list are both the first and last days of a vacation, and that was the case for us on this holiday.

When I finally convinced Dana that trying to cram TWO castles into our six hours in Cardiff would be too ambitious, our day trip came together beautifully. We once again hopped on our train just a minute before it rollled out of the station (intentionally this time, as we chose the Hilton Paddington for our final three nights for just that very reason!), enjoyed the gorgeous countryside of England and then Wales, as the train's two hour travel time gave us time to nap a little, read a little (Daniel has consumed the entire Hunger Games series on this trip, finishing the last few pages when we returned to the hotel after midnight last night), and sightsee (though passively by looking out a train window) a little.

We arrived in Cardiff at about 9:30 and headed to the Cardiff Castle, which was our first stop for the day. As soon as you get off the train and see signs in Welsh, you have to smile. While everyone we encountered spoke English, both languages are printed on every sign, and I imagine most residents speak them both. We opted for a guided tour of the castle to maximize our time and education, but also enjoyed exploring the grounds with our audio tour when we had a bonus 30 minutes or so before picking up our City Bus tour, which would take us around Cardiff (in a guided, hop on/hop off manner; these tours are popular all over the world for a reason) at 11:50.

Have fun "storming the castle" - the weather couldn't make up its mind, but we had more sun than rain throughout the day.

Though the castle has been around for centuries (first built in the last 900's), the current interior design was done by the family that last owned it in the 1800's.

The children's nursery was completed in a nursery rhyme scheme, where every corner of the room celebrated the authors and stories their father (who spoke and read 7 languages) admired. Since he wanted his children to be proficient in multiple languages, he hired four nannies/teachers who spoke four different languages and asked that they only speak to the children in those languages.

It was quite a steep climb up to the top of the "keep" (even scarier going down!) but we all eventually made it.

The kids misbehaved, so we had to make a public spectacle of them.

And the view from the top.

That's Dana up there, though the light makes it difficult to see - still thought it was a dramatic shot :)

After our time in Cardiff Castle, we took the bus for just the first few informative stops before getting off in Cardiff Bay for the... drum roll, please... Dr. Who Experience! This was something Daniel had been anticipating since we set off on the trip, and he had to be very patient, as we switched the time we would take our trip to Cardiff several times before determining that January 2nd was the day.

Despite all that anticipation, the place didn't disappoint. There is a huge BBC studio that was built here several years ago, and it used to film both Dr. Who and much of the new Sherlock series (where the "permanent set" of 221 B must be located). While the studio is only periodically open for tours, the tour guide's reference to the lovely Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch was enough to make Maddie start planning a future trip.

The "experience" consists of a 25 minute walk through a Dr. Who style adventure, complete with special effects and video, followed by as much time as you want to explore two stories of exhibits, everything from costumes to villains to every TARDIS design that has been used in the decades the show has been on the air.

After we finished up in Dr. Who land, we "hopped on" for the rest of our tour, which was now empty but for one other couple on the top deck with us. This time we had an audio tour, which worked really well, timing the information about each thing we passed just as we passed them; it was quite impressive.

A view from the last row of the top deck of our city tour bus, as we passed some old building important for something... can't quite remember what now :)

As we got back to Cardiff central station in time to take the 3:55 train back to London, Daniel gave a satisfied thumbs up that the day was all he hoped it would be. Two hours later we would pull into Paddington station, giving us just enough time to freshen up before heading for the tube to Piccadilly and our evening show.

While MOJO was very different than the typical theater fare we seek out, it was compelling, funny, disturbing and brilliantly acted. A highlight for Maddie occurred before the show even started, when she went downstairs to use the "loo." When she returned, hands shaking and heart pounding, she breathlessly explained how she had run into Sam Claflin, the actor best known for playing Finnick in The Hunger Games films. She was composed enough to gracefully approach him, tell him she admired his work, extend her hand and introduce herself. She tells us he was gracious and told her it was nice to meet her. So even though Dana was not amenable to stand outside the stage door at 10:00 waiting for a glimpse of Rupert Grint or Ben Wishaw, at least Maddie got her brush with fame by meeting an actor just there to enjoy the show along with the rest of us.