Our first night’s sleep in Welsh Wales for about 30 years was fine. Rather lazily we didn’t get up till gone 8am. We decided to treat ourselves to the unlimited Premier Inn Breakfast and headed down to it in the lift. It amused me that the doors closing alert was given first in Welsh and then in English. Now I applaud the efforts in trying to keep the Welsh language alive, but the first language of the UK of which they are part is English.
It’s bit like why they have insisted all the road signs are in both languages. I bet everyone just reads the English version including the small 29% of people who can actually speak Welsh. It’s not big, not clever and must be more expensive so just stop it.
There was a queue for a table for breakfast, but it moved quite quick enough. The food was plentiful but just OK but it filled us up for the day.
We went back to the room and checked out. Our first destination only a few miles away was St Fagan’s – The National Museum of Wales. We arrived just after 11am and the car park was already very busy as was the pay machines. The cost was £7 but admission to the open air museum itself was free so I figured that one offset the other.
I do worry some people shouldn’t be allowed out on their own. The guy in front of me at the Pay & Display machine had several attempts trying to sort out his ticket. He was still trying to put his credit card in the machine when the ticket popped out. He delightedly try to tell anyone who would listen that he got his for free whereas in reality he had been waving his card in front of the contactless area that it had taken payment on its own. Oh well, he went away happy and will remain so until he gets his credit card bill.
We became more impressed by the museum the more we walked round it. The settings in which the old buildings had been recreated was excellent. Whoever had the foresight over 70 years to save old buildings from demolition and move them here deserves great praise. We particularly liked the old shops and working institute. My favourite though was the cockpit although I think they could have an animatronic reconstruction of an actual fight.
After walking around for over 1 hour we went back to the centre building to have a hot drink. The prices here made up for the free admission.
Then we walked to the Castle although it was actually an old Manor house. It was a rather ugly building but it did have some lovely formal gardens with some stream fed lakes.
After sitting and enjoying the views and sunshine we made our way back to the car.
We decided to drive the 10 miles to visit Barry Island, somewhere I was always aware of as a child as it was a location for a Butlins holiday camp but is now more known for the Gavin & Stacey TV series.
As we drove through the town of Barry we realised we would be passing the steep road of terrace houses where both Stacey and Uncle Bryn’s house were located and so diverted down it. It seemed strange driving down a road that seemed so familiar although having not been here before.
We headed on to Barry Island which hasn’t been an island for 100 years due to the creation of the docks. The beach and headlands were rather pretty. Everything else was tacky, run down and not. Nevertheless, we decided to park and have a wander in the sun. On the basis that are obvious desperate for visitors there were many free places to be found.
Karen wanted a ‘whippy’ ice cream, so we went to the one used in Gavin & Stacey. It was almost like being on holiday sitting outside at ‘Marco’s’ and so Karen then got herself a tea as well. As we sat there, I worked out the headland on the left hand side of the bay was where Butlins had been before being bulldozed for houses.
We decided we couldn’t leave without walking round ‘Ness’s slots’ They were as horrible as the name sounds.
It was then time to drive into Cardiff for the main event of our day at the Principality Stadium to see Billy Joel for the 4th time. I had booked parking very close through ‘Just Park’. The parking spot was between two official government buildings, and it was difficult to find or confirm whether we were in the right place. We eventually concluded that we were when other people turned up to park for the concert having booked spots as well and were as confused as us.
Our walk from the car park took us around the outside of Cardiff Castle. We headed to Pizza Express where I had booked a table. It was just as well I had booked as the restaurant itself and all around it was heaving with people.
Service was understandably slow, but we didn’t mind too much. Using the app, we were again pleased with the money we got off the bill. Everyone else sitting around us were also going to the concert.
It was a very short walk to the stadium, and we found our gate and made our way in. Our seats were high on the corner. As we got to them, Chris Isaacs who was the support act was playing. He was OK.
Billy Joel took to the stage at 8pm. He was as always excellent. The set was similar to the one we had seen at Madison Sqaure Garden last year.
We were surprised that the 70000 audience were not just people in our age bracket. There was a real mixture of all ages. Sitting next to Karen were a couple of students who knew the words and dance moves to all the songs even some of the album tracks.
The highlights again were ‘An Innocent Man’ and our absolute favourite (and seemingly the same for the majority of the audience) was ‘Scenes from an Italian restaurant’. There is something magical being with 70000 other people all singing along to songs they all love.
The drive here had been a long way but it was absolutely worth it. His songs cover lots of genres and the words are still pure poetry which convey real meaning. My only disappointment of the night was that he didn’t play his single that was released earlier this year. Long may he continue touring.
We left towards the end of the encore and hurried back to the car. We were heading out of Cardiff just ahead of what we had heard can be traffic chaos.
I had made a booking at a Travelodge on the outskirts of Swindon, but we didn’t know whether to stop there or to push all the way home. I realised quite quickly though I was tired and yawning and so as we crossed the River Severn we decided that we would use our booking. We were in our room and in bed just after midnight. As I laid down, I realised how tired I actually was which confirmed that we had made the sensible and correct decision.
It had been a good day but it was good to be back in England.
