Goodbye Torquay, today we finish in Cardiff! A couple of hours down the road we stop at Glastonbury. The home of old churches, hippies, alternative medicine and I hear something about some music festival; it's a small and welcoming town. The Australian equivalent would be Byron Bay or Woodford, but this place actually has history.
We only had half an hour before we were back on the road towards Bath. What a lovely city. Enriched with history, grand buildings and of course the location of the famous Roman Baths. In our three hours we decided to start off with the city sightseeing tour atop the open air bus. The live commentary gave us the insight we needed to understand the city. Afterwards Poppy and I, with one of our new friends had lunch at "Bath's smallest pub". We played the sensible card by having only a half pint of the local brew. Warm beer was a turn off, but when in Rome...
For lunch I ordered the "pub specialty", Bath Pie. Like a Guinness Pie you see back home but obviously they used their local beer and melted blue cheese on the inside. It was cooked to perfection and served with mash and peas. Yuuummmm!
After that we walked around soaking up the sights and the atmosphere of Bath. All modern buildings must be constructed with, or at least encased in Bath Stone to keep the heritage feel of the city. It works well as it avoids the new buildings being an eyesore on the historic back drop, as you can find in London.
Moving on from Bath we crossed an international border! Wales! Cymru! It was a short drive before we hit the rush hour traffic of Cardiff. We were meant to have an "orientation drive" but the traffic is woeful. It's been postponed to tomorrow morning.
Check in at the hotel, quick shower and we were off to take part in the first of the optional tour, Cardiff Castle. The tour concludes with a three course set Welsh meal for dinner and a Welsh cabaret show. Wine was included (keep this in mind. I also had a pint of cider.)
About 100 people, from our tour group and others dined in a hall that has stood for hundreds of years.
Dinner was delicious, as always. The Welsh host started telling a story and encouraged "ooohs and ahhhs". He looks at me. Points at me. Asks me to stand and join him on stage. Oh no...this cannot be happening. Not after cider and three glasses of Sauvignon Blanc!!
Four others were chosen to join me. I'll give you the condensed story. We acted out characters of a Welsh story, told in Welsh. I played the part of an angry sheep and had to make "baaa baaa" noises. Those who know me understand how:
1) bad at acting I am
2) awkward I can be
3) I laugh uncontrollably after drinking wine
4) I already know that 100 people are about to be laughing AT me
The others acted out their parts; an avalanche, a panting dog, a girl blowing kisses and a guy going "bang, bang". They did well, getting a few chuckles from the audience. Then I come in and had to make my loud sheep noises. I've never had so much laughter directed towards me. The roof was lifting off its rafters. Slightly embarrassing. No, wait, more embarrassing than the kid who pees the bed on school camp.
I get back on our bus and the only noise the others were making was "baaa baaa!" There's a video somewhere. If I'm unsuccessful in destroying it I may post it at a later date.
The night finished with the Welsh National Anthem as well as big smiles on everyones face. Time to sleep. No fire alarms tonight, please.
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