Sunday morning found the three of us not quite getting out of bed as quickly as we should have...oddly enough I was the first one out of bed. After a quick shower I went down to breakfast soon joined by Maria and Katherine. Instead of the orange marmalade I used apricot...and it brought back memories! During breakfast we discussed what to do, and could not decide if we wanted to go to the Cathedral (a good thirty minute bus ride we thought) or just go to the National Museum (A brisk walk past the castle). Maria and I decided that, well, since we had the Minster in York, no Cathedral would look better then that, but Katherine wanted to go, so at Millennium Stadium we parted ways, she going to catch a bus, we to walk to the museum. On our way though we stopped in a store that we were planning on going to the other day, but neither of us had cash and not enough merchandise for credit. So we went in there and got our little dohickys that we wanted to get and then mosyed in the direction of the museum.
Of course since I was leading the way without a map, we found out we were going the wrong way when Katherine called saying that the bus wasnt coming and she was heading our way. So once she arrived she got us going in the right direction and we headed off.
The Museum was really nice on the outside, but was under construction (they were adding exhibit areas and galleries) so there really wasnt that much on the inside. But they had a really interesting exhibit about evolution with fossils and ooold rocks and replica's of different dinos and oooold mammals etc.... They also had an exhibit where they had artifacts and bones from the various tribes and empires and human races that have lived in Great Britain and that was really neat because for the most part it was all real, no replicas. One really neat thing was a pile of coins, mostly from the roman era and looking at how intricate they were and well preserved. They also had a bunch of jewelry and weapons and tools and crockery etc. Some of it looking like more modern, but it was still really old.
The final part of the museum we went through was the art gallery they had. It was fascinating how many paintings they owned. Some Picasso's there were a good amount of landscapes and a whole gallery full of portraits. I have to believe that my favorite was a landscape portrait done on the lid of a harpsichord. Since harpsichords were more angular there was a whole corner added later when it was removed from the instrument itself and so if you look closely at the painting you can see where the corner was connected to the original. Of course this added piece was still painted by the original artist, so that there was no mistakes or difference in brush strokes or colors between the two making the painting look like it had been that way the whole time.
After the museum we knew that we needed to head back toward The River House so that we could grab out bags and head to the train station so we began looking for a place that we could possibly eat lunch. We ended up at this little pub, that looked like it was not so banged up due to the night before and trundled inside. It was quite a nice pub...we were the youngest people in the joint (well the bartender might have been our age) since it was oh only about one, but we got a nice table right under a tv with a football game on and settled in. I ordered Chili, because i had seem a good amount of places advertising it, Katherine got the sunday roast, and Maria ( i want to say) got either a chicken dish, or a burger..... The chili was pretty good (don't worry mom yours is still the best) and it was the perfect dish to warm me up before a long ride back to York.
When we grabbed our bags we said goodbye to the staff at The River House, traded information with a few of the other travelers, and headed off. Honestly it was a little bittersweet because that place had been so nice and comfortable and amazing. We left really nice comments in the guest book.
I had looked up all the information for our trains home so I knew the time of each one and it was easier to figure out which track and all that. Before we boarded though we each purchased something for the ride...as either a snack, or as dinner, because we didnt know how much time we really would have between the two. So I grabbed a small bag of mixed nuts (unsalted of course) and a bag of dried mango, I think Maria got nuts as well, and Katherine got some biscuits, and we were planning on just sharing everything.
WAIT!!! Back up to the beginning of the day before we headed out I forgot somehting...so here it is. When we went to check out Mum (the lady who cleaned up after us and was always it seemed bustling around the kitchen) had told me about a open air market that happened down the street from the hostel. So before we headed off we went through it, and oh it reminded me so much of the Urbana market that I almost started dancing...there were stalls with vegies, there were jewelry stalls (although it didnt look like anything i would have wanted) there was a butcher there and i think a fishmonger, and then there were like three stalls with baked goods. I purchased a bag of cheese scones so that we would have them on the way home, and Maria got a pack of Welsh cakes. Both of us were tempted to stop and get some spices from a spice stall and then also a salad stall had some interesting looking salads (like potato salads etc.). This market made me love Cardiff just a little bit more, because wherever I end up living HAS to have an open air farmers market, I just love them soo much!
So we had the scones and welsh cakes too if we got hungry, although those never got opened. The train ride home was actually really nice. Our first train was from Cardiff to Manchester, and it was quite empty so we ended up getting two seats to each of us and a table...we were very happy to have a table. So I read, Maria fell asleep (except when I woke her up to see sheep) and Katherine read as well. The train from Manchester to York was quite busy BUT after some switching of seats Maria and I ended up at a table with an elder couple, who were quite odd it seemed...i couldnt tell if they were speaking english half the time, or welsh, or another language, and then Katherine ended down the isle from us as well. We all got home safely though, grabbing a taxi at the train station to get us back safely, and because we were quite tired by this point.
Well that is the final day of Cardiff...sorry there really hasnt been that much going on in my life, but I hope you enjoy these gigantic posts.
I am leaving you all with the recipe for a "baked good" that I have grown to love called a flapjack. http://www.flapjackrecipe.com/
I think i might try to start leaving recipes here or something at the end so that you get to try a bit of the culture back at home...we shall see if i remember this every time.
anyway...more to come later.
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