A little trip to Cardiff (Part 2)...

Here's the second part of my pictorial summary of our trip to Cardiff (the first is here).  This is the exciting bit, with some pictures from the Doctor Who Experience!

If you've ever been on the Warner Bros Studio Tour, this is like that but quite a lot smaller.  There are lots of costumes - one from each of the Doctors and several from the most recent seasons' companions.  There's also a few Tardis sets - one of which was part of the interactive experience section (which involved you getting captured by Daleks, Mam was quite confused!) - the one I was really excited to see was 9 and 10's from the new series.

When you go upstairs there are more costumes - most of which are the monsters!  There are also a few 'outisdes' of Tardises (Tardisi?) for you to pose in front of, and some displays showing you how they make the sets/alien models.  I do wish they had put more props in, but I guess it's because they're constantly using them in filming so wouldn't want to keep changing the displays.  It took about an hour and a half to go around in total, and of course there's a 'little shop' at the end!

The first Tardis console from the new series - it's so detailed (and pretty battered!)
I haven't got many more decent pics from downstairs as the lighting was quite low.

'Daleks through the ages' - they'd also got Davros there!

In the evening we went for another toddle around the Bay, and managed to find the 'secret' entrance to the Torchwood Hub.  It's now been turned into a shrine to Ianto Jones - there's a plaque and many many lovely tributes!  Quite corny but it's rather nice as there are no Torchwood sets to go look around.

We also went for supper at an awesome place called Pie Minister.  The food.  Is.  Amazeballs.
 I believe there's one in London aswell, so we'll be hunting that down next time we're there for sure.

All in all, we had a lovely time in Cardiff.  I'd thoroughly recommend a visit there!

xxx

A little trip to Cardiff...

This summer, I made a list of places I wanted to see and things I wanted to do.  Once I've headed off to uni the time will fly by, and before I know it three years will have passed.  Therefore, on impulse Mam and I booked a trip down to Cardiff!  We spent several days there, and went to most of the tourist spots.  I've also loved Doctor Who for years, so was really excited to see some of the filming locations for the show and to visit the exhibition down in the Bay.

Since I took a helluva lot of photos, I thought I'd split the trip up into a couple of posts.  (Just so I can chat a little about each one and not give readers information overload!)

We wandered around for a while, and ended up at Cardiff Castle.
The sky looks quite dark here, but I promise it was really hot and sunny!

Here's Roald Dahl Plass (home of the Torchwood Hub), with a nice view of the Millenium Centre.
I (being daft) thought that this was the Millenium Stadium - oops!

There was a really cute funfair in the centre of the plass, and a mini beach too!
(Oh, to be little again *sighs*)

This is the Pierhead building.  We popped in to shelter from the heat, and there was a really interesting film rolling about the history of the docks.  The building itself is also a work of art.  It's in the Gothic Revivalist style - like the Houses of Parliament and Natural History Museum in London.
Right next door to it is the Sennedd, which has a quiet little coffee shop upstairs (if you're in need of some refreshment!)

We also went to the National Museum of Wales, which is close to the Uni.
There's a really great exhibition on the 'Evolution of Wales' - if you're
 interested in geology or natural history I'd definitely recommend checking that out!
(They also used this as the filming location for 'Vincent and the Doctor'.)

We also visited St Fagan's - which is another part of the National Museum (about 25 minutes out of town).  It's made up of many many examples of Welsh buildings throughout the ages, which have been moved to the grounds of a castle.  They filmed 'Human Nature' and 'The Family of Blood' here too.  My Mam absolutely loved looking around all the houses, and there was fresh bread available from the bakery at lunch time!  A great day out :) 

Part 2 soon to come...

xxx