Today we ventured to Cardiff. It was such an amazing trip. The train ride was quite long -- approximately 4+ hours going from London Paddington to Cardiff Central. Thankfully the trip to Cardiff Central was peaceful and although the return trip to London Paddington included a fussy baby in our cabin, we got to watch episodes of Doctor Who (DW) free of charge (each seat had its own little TV screen built into the back of the headrest).
Speaking of which, the DW episodes we watched were partially referenced during The Doctor Who Experience tour we went on and that was the whole purpose of ourjourney today! The moment the train pulled into Cardiff Central, Tom and I dashed off to the museum as we had less than hour to get there by foot (we had trouble hailing a taxi). Thanks to some very nice locals, a couple of maps, and Tom's brains, we made it to The DW Experience with minutes to spare.
The tour itself was fantastic!! For a brief moment I almost chickened out when I heard it compared to a haunted house (one of my biggest fears) but I'm glad I went through the whole tour. It's about a 30-minute long tour where you get to experience life as the Doctor's compainion along with 20 other tourists -- or, as the Doctor called us, shoppers! The tour vaguely reminded of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, where you get to be a spy of sorts during that tour.
First we entered a room with a large screen and bench seating. The screen had a vertical crack in it (as opposed to horizontal) which was a nice reference to the beginning of the 11th Doctor's serials. The video that we watched was about 5 minutes long it and it was a bit of a trailer for the show. I should mention now that the tour was very centered around the 11th Doctor, so he was the one in all of the videos.
Next we walked into another large room with all sorts of artifacts from DW episodes (a few were even from past Doctors, but not many). Granted, the only two artifacts I recognized from episodes of the 10th Doctor was the giant telescope (remember the Queen and werewolves, anyone?) and the life-like white stone face statue from the "Silence in the Library" episode (10 & Donna). All of the artifacts were quite amazing!
After watching a clip of 11 babble on about being trapped in a second Padorica box, he made the TARDIS appear so that we as his companions -- or shoppers -- could try to help/save the Doctor.
SO WE WERE IN THE TARDIS!!! Once we piled inside around the center console, another video of 11 popped on and he instructed us to navigate the TARDIS. Even though mostly children were told to usethe controls, I happed to luck out stnading next to one of the navigation controls. So together we made the inside of the TARDIS move and light up! (Again, it was all built to scale and very life-like.) Even the floor shifted at various points to make it feel like we were flying and smoke raised up from under the ground. IT WAS SO AWESOME!!
Anyhow, the Doctor then directed us to the next room in which life-size Daleks came out from three different areas of the room. SO COOL! They were there and so close and so huge! I was totally geeking out even though they're enemy of the Doctor. Eleven somehow bartered with them so that we could go through to the next corridor without being exterminated. (My apologies here -- I was trying to take in everything going on in the room, so my memory is a bit hazy.)
Next, per the Doctor's instructions, we followed a corridor that was nearly pitch black. Angels with fog surrounding them kept appearing!! I honestly thought that my anxiety/fear was going to kick into high gear. However, thankfully the weeping angels never got too close to wehre we walked. Plus I remembered to NOT BLINK!
Then we went into another room where we were given 3-D glasses. A screen off ot the left popped on showing 11 who babbled on regarding to how we saved/helped him (I think). Then a huge screen in the front center of the room was revealed showing the opening sequence of Doctor Who but some of his most notable enemies were flying through the space sequence. With our 3-D glasses, they were very life-like and popping out of the screen! The three that I can remember are a Dalek, weeping angel, and cyberman. IT was a pretty neat way to end that part of the tour, though a bit anti-climatic.
Once the live-action part of the tour was over, we got to wander around the museum at our own leisurely pace. There were lots of cool props, costumes, and life-size monsters recreated in the museum. There were even a few versions of the inside of the TARDIS set up! I took loads of pictures which you'll be able to check out on my Facebook so I'll spare you the boring details of everything we saw. However, I will mention the nifty kids stations they had set up like learning how to walk like the monsters from the show, operating a Dalek, recording & playing your own sounds for DW enemies, and more. I still think the show is way too mature/scary for kids but it was neat that the stations were there.
Once we finished exploring the museum, we stopped at the souvenir shop to pick a few gifts for oursevles and others. Before we left the museum, we picked up the t-shirt and other gifts that came with our ticket package. It was great!
So Tom and I left the museum to wander around Cardiff Bay for a bit, taking photos but primarily looking for a place to grab lunch. Tom noticed a sign for a small restaurant on a stationary ship. Cardiff Bay is surrounded by water (much like the Cheasapeake Bay back at home). So it only made sense for us to eat aboard this boat. IT was a great experience too! I was adventrous and had a chicken cornation "toastie" which is their for for a grilled sandwich. Coronation chicken is like a chicken salad mix but it's spicy and mustard-like. IT qas really yummy so I'm glad I tried it.
The few others on board the ship having a lunch there were very friendly as well. They suggested we explore the rest of the ship after we were done including the upper deck and below where ther was a small church. Then, after I laughed out loud to a Torchwood joke one of the men made, he recommended we visit the castles of Cardiff. All great suggestions!
After taking lots of photos of the ship, we headed out to explore Cardiff Bay. Our intentions were to find out a way to the Cardiff castles but we got distracted by Mermiaid Quay -- a strip of shops and restaurants along Cardiff Bay. We did more souvenir shopping because the quaint shops were too lovely to pass up!
Then we ran into taxis waiting near Mermaid Quay. We asked for a ride to take us to the Castles of Cardiff. Although we didn't get to go inside for the tour, we did get some cool photos of the outer parts of the castles and a nearby park, both of which were lovely.
By that time it was 4:30pm and with our train leaving in 45 minutes, we figured we should attempt to find our way back to Cardiff Central train station. We did so enough time to spare ocnsidering we were walking there and navigating our second new city (and country) in two days.
All in all we had an incredibly succesfful day considering we did it all on our own without it being part of our tour. My only regret is not staying in Cardiff for at least once night to see more of it! For anyone considering a trip to the U.K., I highly recommed visiting Cardiff/Cardiff Bay as it is simply beautiful.
Until next time, au revor!
PS: I will be editing this post at a later time to correct any spelling and grammar errors. I will add appropriate links and pictures later too!
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