Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Cardiff (Doctor Who Experience)

Sorry that this post is coming so late. I had a few last academic things I had to deal with (finals, projects and papers), but now they're all done and I can spend my last few days in London at my internship and spending time doing as many things as I can.
Anyways, last weekend I packed a backpack and headed to Cardiff, Wales. I arrived in the evening and made my way to my hotel. My room was the smallest room I'd ever slept in. It was Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs small. It had the bare necessities, which was fine with me seeing that I was only going to be there for a weekend (then again, another towel and bed sheet would've been nice. Kleenex too.)
On Saturday, I went downstairs for my first English breakfast, I grabbed my umbrella and jackets and walked down to Cardiff Bay and to the Doctor Who Experience! I was lucky to get in on the first group of the day. It was SO COOL! In the beginning, me and a group of other shoppers got to actually live an episode of Doctor Who. After the experience part, we were brought to the collections, original and replica costumes and props from both the Classic and Revival series. It was amazing. I literally took pictures of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! I have two cameras full of the entire place. After spending like 2 hours there, it was a rather small collection in comparison to Harry Potter, I went to walk around Cardiff Bay. I bought myself lunch and then waited around until dinner. It was a rather long walk back to my hotel and there weren't any really good places to eat where I was staying. I had Burger King the first night I was there, and I wasn't gonna have that pathetic excuse for a burger again. So I bided my time in the pouring rain at the bay until it was close to dinner time, at a larger and more satisfying burger and then made my way back to turn in for the day.
Not wanting my entire trip to Cardiff to be all about Doctor Who, I was determined to see more of what Cardiff had to offer. I went walking around Bute Park, outside the walls of Cardiff Castle (it was £11 and I was feeling guilty having spent so much recently), the National Cardiff Museum, and Central Market. After grabbing lunch, I made my way to the train station. I don't know why I thought a 5:15 PM train was a smart idea because it wasn't. By 2:00 PM, I was ready to head back, but had to wait three hours until my train. I was too tired to do more walking and it was raining and windy, so I spent the final hours of my time in Cardiff standing outside the train station, buying a really good hot chocolate and playing on my iPhone (Yeah, I know, lame.)
With so few days left, the pressure is on to complete everything I want to do and see. I still haven't done the London Eye. I'm thinking of trying to buy cheap seats to a musical too (we'll see how that goes). Fingers crossed that I can fit it all in somehow. I'll post if I do. Till then, later!
My room. Like I said. Really small (shower is behind me).
British Breakfast of eggs, beans, ham and a tomato.
Cardiff Bay (Bae Caerdydd)
The Doctor Who Experience
Old Classic Doctor Who TARDIS console.

Costumes of the past Doctors 4-10. They were a combination of replicas, and refurbished originals.

Classic Series TARDIS
Ecceleston/Tennant era TARDIS interior.
The TARDIS console.
CYBERMAN!
Pieces from the Doctor Who Special The Snowmen
Along the docks, there's a memorial wall to Ianto Jones from Torchwood, a Doctor Who spin-off show.

Memorial wall to Ianto Jones.

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