However, it is not yet time to leave and I have had some fantastic adventures since my spring break. The one I'm most excited about is the trip to Cardiff that I took a few weeks ago!
For the trip in question, my friends Sara and Shira and I got up far too early on a Sunday to catch a bus to Cardiff. It is amazing to me that in the time it takes normally to get to my grandparents in upstate New York, I can take a bus to another country!
Anyway, when we finally got there, we still had some time, so we grabbed burgers for lunch. Upon finishing, we caught a city bus to Cardiff Bay and the main attraction of our trip - the Doctor Who Experience! From the minute we caught sight of the building, we were all far too excited!
The inside was covered with art and decor from the show, including paintings of the various villans, a Lego Dalek and memoribdlia from the show! We looked around a bit before joining the queue for the experience. While in line, we noticed that our Internet printed tickets were significantly less pretty than the tickets purchased on site. One of the staff members, hearing our disappointment in this actually came back a few minutes later with on site tickets for us! It may have been a small gesture but the fact that she was so willing to do that meant a lot to us!
Finally, it was time to enter the experience. None of us were really sure what to expect but were excited anyway! It transpired that the Doctor Who Experience is a walk through that reminded me very much of a walk through ride at Disney World!
We began with a short video that was essentially a trailer for Matt Smith's time as the Doctor. At this point, I was a little underwhelmed since I'd hoped for a more inclusive experience. However, all that changed when the screen split open, leading us into another room. This room was set up with a variety of props from the series, and we were introduced to it as a museum of the Doctor. However our tour was interupted by the alarm sounding and the Doctor appearing on one of the screens! He told us that he was trapped and needed our help and was sending the TARDIS to us. And sure enough, a few lights went on and the TARDIS appeared. We went through the door into the control room! The kids in the group were able to take positions at the console and follow the Doctors directions to fly it. Not only did the lights and sounds go off, but the floor moved too, giving the amazing impression of actually flying in the TARDIS! When we landed, we left the console room to be faced by animatronic Daleks and narrowly escape extermination before encountering weeping angels and eventually saving the Doctor!
When the experience was over, we werw let out into the museum itself, which featured an impressive amount of Doctor Who props, including costumes from all of the Doctors and most recent companions!
Upstairs were many of the villans and creatures! Primarily, these were from the new series but I was surprised at how much had survived from the old series as well!
Once we'd finally seen enough and visited the gift shop, we set off back into the main part of Cardiff. Since our return bus wasn't for a few more hours, we decided to visit Cardiff castle. Of all the castles and fortresses I've seen, this one is probably my favorite! It looks like it jumped right out of a fairy tale and made me want to be a princess there!
We were able to climb to the top of the keep and enjoy a gorgeous view of the city and explore some if the more recent structures. The staff noticed our Doctor Who bags and showed us around the library which was used as the TARDIS library in one of the recent episodes!
Our tour of the castle left us with enough time to grab dinner and get back to the station to catch our bus home. Overall, this trip was one of my best this semester and I hope to get back to explore more of Cardiff and Wales at some point!
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