Cardiff is a beautiful city with an incredible mix of old and new. The castle tower dates from the 1500's. I took a genealogy sheet with me that my mom gave me with information about her great-great-great grandparents who lived in Pembrokshire, Wales - not far from Cardiff. The dates on the sheet are in the mid-1600's. I imagined that perhaps they saw this castle.
This street reminded me of a scene from the little German town we lived in 34 years ago.
Scott and his sister Patty on the wide walkway that winds through the main part of town.
I love the flower baskets and planter boxes that hung above the store windows.
The Welsh language is still spoken - though in the larger cities there is always English too. This bench welcomes visitors to the Ryder Cup.
The mall was a welcome respite from the rain - we retreated there after our drenching day.
Me, Mark and Pat after a breakfast of wonderful hot cocoa, lemon poppyseed muffins, anda chocolate brownie triangle called a tiffin. Yumm.
I was so surprised at the flowers - everywhere! They were in full bloom and beautiful.
This was called an arcade - it was actually an old-fashioned shopping street with lots of tiny shops selling everything imaginable. We saw several of these arcades and they all had glass roof enclosures over the top. So shopping is possible in spite of the rain and wind.
One of my favorite paper stores Paperchase was in the mall with amazing displays.
More Paperchase delights...and a huge Christmas section with cards, books and calendars.
This shows the mall interior - and I have to add that later in the day the mall was packed with shoppers. It was in this mall that I discovered a Clarks shoe store and bought the pair of shoes that saved my feet...and ego. (I had good running shoes to wear, but they looked so "unclassy" and, believe me, in Europe the people are very well dressed.)
