Introduction to Wales: Cardiff and Machen

Let me start by saying I love Wales. They have a dragon on their flag and as their national symbol, including on top of Cardiff city hall:

Further, they have the most castles per area of any country in the world. Mind you, these castles were mostly put there by the English, so the Welsh see them much the way Koreans see Japanese cherry blossoms: a beautiful and bitter reminder of years of foreign occupation. This was actually my second visit to Wales. Previously I had only been to Pembroke to catch the ferry to Ireland. Pembroke Castle was one of the first real castles I'd ever seen and was all I'd hoped for. In 2006 Dan, Elana, Mark, and I had an interesting introduction to the country. We took the train from London, but the tracks were under repair for a section and so we were bused. However, the buses were too slow and we missed our connection, so the railroad put us in cabs. We happened to share a cab with a friendly Welshman. It took several minutes before I even realized he was speaking English, and several more to understand his accent (and I think it took everyone else even longer), but we eventually realized he was offering us a place to stay. He owned a pub and his friend ran a bed and breakfast above it, and he let us stay for free. This may be the root of my overly optimistic attitude towards travel planning. He made suggestions of how we spend the morning before boarding the ferry, which is how we ended up seeing the castle, which made an impression on me. 

 Most other castles in Wales also did not disappoint, even after the dozens of castles I'd already seen on this 2010 trip. Be thankful I didn't visit all six hundred in the country (you'll probably get sick of castle pictures by the end even with the couple dozen I did see). One that was sub-par, however, was Castle Cardiff. This is mostly because it has been renovated so many times that it is more a stately home than a medieval defense, and it is the latter that fascinates me. On my arrival I only walked around the castle's outer walls and neighboring park. 

The wall around the park had incorporated watchful stone animals at regular intervals:

In the park I had the sudden thought that daffodil was clearly a Welsh word judging by the spelling. It turn out I was wrong and that the etymological roots are actually a mix of English and Dutch and that Welsh actually call the flower  cennin Petr, or St. Peter's leeks. The daffodil is a national symbol of Wales, however, and they are all over the place. 

The park also contained a (new) stone circle and some art:

I was in Cardiff on this day to pick up some mail from Mad's aunt, who was kind enough to be my address in the U.K. My debit card was set to expire during the trip, which would have left me pretty stranded since you don't exactly expect to see a U.S. bank branch in Britain. I met with her and managed to talk my way into coming to stay the night in her home in the Cardiff suburb of Machen. I also got to meet her husband, a fellow philosopher who was writing a book of philosophy. I went on a walk through the hills just past their house at sunset at their excellent recommendation. The woods were filled with mist and mud and beauty. 

I made it up to a ridge to fully witness the sunset.

I even managed to find my way back in time for delicious vegetarian Indian dinner and to watch Persepolis.