please empty your brain below
Great photos!
Cardiff is one of my favourite places to visit; hope you had time to visit Cardiff Bay to see the gorgeous Pierhead building, adjacent to the Welsh Assembly HQ. I normally walk there from the city centre and get the waterbus back to Bute Park.

Frank F | 19.03.17 - 8:07 a.m. | #

Hailing from the Rhondda, Cardiff is my spiritual home, and where I gained my first full time job.

Back in the late 1960s, the planners laid down a visionary 25 year city centre plan, with an almost traffic free centre, I remember the fascinating exhibition and its massive scale model. I'm pleased to say that it has been carried out in its entirety.

The only thing I miss are the long departed trolley buses. Queen Street used to be a four-lane one way permanent traffic jam. I used to enjoy watching the conductor jump off to reattach the boom when buses had to make a particularly tight turn in the congestion, and overstretched the limits of the technology.

When you return I suggest you spend some more time exploring the beautiful and historic Arcades together with a visit to Cardiff Bay with all it too has to offer.

Ken | 19.03.17 - 8:21 a.m. | #

Um, was there a Duke of Bute? Or was that the 3rd and 5th Marquess?

Andrew | 19.03.17 - 8:34 a.m. | #

I was also going to mention the trolley buses. They were still operating on my last visit to Cardiff!.
As the main line from Paddington is being electrified-the Severn Tunnel now completed-maybe I will visit again when the new trains start running.

John | 19.03.17 - 8:43 a.m. | #

St Fagans for national history: https://museum.wales/stfagans/

Karen | 19.03.17 - 8:52 a.m. | #

"One unexpected challenge in a bilingual museum is to work out which half of each information panel you can actually read, a necessity which also halves the amount of information each panel can contain."

I'm all for preserving the Welsh language but the requirement to put everything official in English and Welsh is beyond a joke. Many road signs in Wales take so long to decide which bit to read and understand that the point of the sign has passed!

Tim | 19.03.17 - 10:08 a.m. | #

Great timing for me - I checked the 'DG Tour of Britain' last week as I have an imminent trip to Cardiff and was disappointed - thanks!

Alistair | 19.03.17 - 12:42 p.m. | #

Cardiff Trolleybuses last ran 11 January 1970

Agent Z | 19.03.17 - 1:06 p.m. | #

@Andrew
Indeed the Butes are Marquesses - one down from a Duke - elevated from an Earldom in the reign of George III. (The third earl was briefly Prime Minister)
The current - seventh - Marquess had a brief career as a racing driver, winning the 1983 UK Formula 3 championship, scoring three points for Lotus in the 1986 Formula 1 season, and winning the 1988 Vingt-Quatre Heures Du Mans with Jaguar - the only time in five attempts he completed the course.

timbo | 19.03.17 - 5:50 p.m. | #

Great city. Pity you couldn't have stayed longer, for a taste of Cardiff's, shall we say, energetic nightlife!

James Webber | 19.03.17 - 6:37 p.m. | #

"(for which read 'had been unduly subjugated by the English since the 16th century')"
Undue subjugation has been prevalent for almost 500 years before Henry VIII imposed the English language on the Land of his Father by the "Act of Union" of 1536. Earlier examples include the murder of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282, the castles and fortified towns of Edward I across north Wales and the Norman castles across South Wales.

Cymru am Byth!

John ap David ap David ap David Morgans, Maesgwastad | 19.03.17 - 7:44 p.m. | #

@Tim You're right, it would be preferable to have them in Welsh only - save the English folks getting so confused.

Karen | 19.03.17 - 8:07 p.m. | #

.. or you could have them just in the mother tongue of the majority of the local people...

Malcolm | 19.03.17 - 8:59 p.m. | #

You did miss a treat by not going inside to see the Burges rooms in Cardiff Castle. They're worth the journey from that London alone (along with a side trip to Bute and Burges' other fever dream, Castell Coch).

The Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagan's is also worth a look.

Roy | 20.03.17 - 1:36 a.m. | #











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