Bristol, Cardiff, and a kiss from an Irishman!

Yes indeedy, as the title suggests, I shall elaborate on the four day long weekend Scott and I took to Bristol and Cardiff, and by the end of this post, I shall reveal where I was when I was kissed!

On Friday the 15th December (it seems forever ago now), I began the morning with a visit to the dentist for a filling. Oh the excitement! I do, luckily for me, have a cute looking dentist. I was left with a numb face, right up to my lower eyelid. Weird sensation, and not one I want to repeat in a hurry.

That evening Scott and I took the train to Bristol. We arrived about 10pm, to rain, and walked to our hotel. The next morning we headed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. It was a bit of a disappointment really. Working in a museum, I have an understanding of what makes a good "visitor experience" and what doesn't. What doesn't is not having a cloakroom, drawers that are difficult to move, no staff around to tidy up, and having to hunt around to find the captions for the objects in the cases!! Argh! Really frustrating. We left, and headed (via the city centre and a yummy market with olives and spicy parsnip soup) to the Industrial Museum, only to find that it was closed for renovations until 2009!! So we headed for the ss Great Britain. They have restored the ship a great deal, and we started by walking underneath her. She is sitting in a dry dock, which they have sealed in with a layer of glass and they keep the humidity at 20% to prevent more corrosion of the hull. We also wandered in the upper parts of the ship to see what life would have been like sailing on her. We caught a ferry (tiny one!!) back to the city centre and headed back to the hotel for dinner and to crash.

Sunday saw us head to the station we were leaving from that evening, only to realise that we could not leave our bag anywhere and there was really nothing there at all! So we caught a cab to the Clifton suspension bridge and had a wander around to have a good look at this bridge, which was designed by Brunel, but he did not live to see it completed. We walked the length of it, then stopped on the other side to have a look at the small exhibition about the bridge, bought some souvenirs and headed back (all with our suitcase in tow!). We caught a bus to the station and hopped on the train to Cardiff.

We arrived in Cardiff and found our hotel, which was right opposite the castle and very centrally located. The castle is quite literally in the middle of town! We grabbed some dinner and headed to bed. Next day we headed to the St Fagan's Museum of Welsh Life, out of Cardiff. It was a fantastic museum. The museum consisted of buildings that had been donated to the museum, then moved there and reconstructed for the public to enjoy. It was very well done and reminded me a little of Sovereign Hill in Ballarat (those of you who know it), but more spread out, and the buildings ranged in date from the 1500s to 2000, as well as a reconstructed Celtic Village and timber circle. We had a really fantastic time, enjoying the fresh air and the Welsh hospitality (and some amazing scones!!). We headed back to Cardiff and caught a bus down to Cardiff Bay (a couple of miles from the centre of Cardiff) for dinner. Had a lovely meal, and then Scotty played some blackjack at a casino (and won our entry price to the castle for the next day!).

Tuesday we headed to Cardiff Castle and did a tour. The decoration of the palace rooms was something else - incredibly ornate and often inspired by poets, religion and other languages. After the castle we headed to have a look at the "winter wonderland" they had created, which was and ice skating rink etc, then had a looky in the shops! We did a stadium tour of the Milennium Stadium (which bizarrely had a fairground in it). The tour was very interesting, not about rugby really, much to my delight! We still had a couple of hours to kill before our train so we headed to the movies (our train was at 8.15pm and not much was open anymore). Then we hopped on the train (first class, baby) and headed back to London, arriving in at Paddington about 10.30pm.

Wednesday I worked for about an hour and a half, then it was off to the Christmas party for my work. It was in the Guildhall again this year. I had a lovely lunch with my colleagues, then it was off to the pub for some more fun, and I was home by 7pm (and I got paid for the day!).

Thursday and Friday were normal days, then Friday night was the Iron Maiden concert. Yes, I know what you are thinking... I don't even like Iron Maiden. Yes, it's true, and probably still is even after seeing them. BUT, I enjoyed the concert experience, they are great entertainers. About halfway through the concert the band was told they had to stop playing, as there had been a powercut, and by power cut I mean that the power cord leading into the building (Earl's Court Arena) caught on fire. This meant that the electricians had to frantically put the fire out (first things first, right?) and then rig up a new cable so the show could go on. Meanwhile, without sound, the only way the band could communicate with the audience was through sign language and a megaphone (which was almost useless). Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer, managed to get the audience to sing Christmas carols, do Mexican waves around the arena and back again and play volleyball with a soccerball. I was very impressed with him, and with the crowd - all very well behaved and good natured about it. I am now the proud owner of an Iron Maiden t-shirt, which Scott bought for me. Never thought you would hear that, did you? ;-) Oh, and the kiss? The guy next to Scott was getting very excited, so much so that he grabbed the railings that we were leaning on and shaking them violently. I asked him not to, so he leaned over, gave me the finger, to which I replied "Charming!". He then shook my hand and put his arms around me and Scott and gave me not one but two kisses on my head. Gotta love drunk Irishmen at rock concerts, right? :-D

Christmas Eve was uneventful - last minute shopping for food and each other, and we went to the video shop and borrowed 6 cheesy movies for Christmas day. I rang home and my cousins that evening to wish everyone a Happy Xmas. It had been ages since I spoke to my cousins. I miss them, and I really should ring them (and other people) more often.

Christmas Day was quiet for us. We opened pressies and had porridge for breakfast. Watched our first movie, then started to prepare lunch. We had curried parsnip soup, roast lamb and roast vegies and homemade mint sauce and a lovely crumble for dessert with brandied whipped cream. Lunch, by the time we ate, was really dinner though!

And today... Scott rang his sister Kim for her Birthday and then we headed to the football (soccer to you Aussies!!). I was a football virgin until today, so it was quite an experience for me. I likened the rules to hockey, as that is what I understand from when I played at school, oh so many years ago now. The view we had was ok, but it was hard to get a perspective of the whole pitch as we were behind the goal at one end and quite low down. But, it was an interesting experience, and one I have to, apparently, repeat on January 6. Hmmmmm.......