Day 15

Today, we met Professor Wolfe in the refectory at 8 am and left immediately for the Baker Street Tube Station. On our walk through Regents Park towards the tube, Professor Wolfe announced that last night, she was lucky enough to have seen President Barack Obama drive past her hotel, with Michelle Obama alongside him. She said there were police cars and security everywhere, but she was able to catch a glimpse of Obama through the car window. We were all very jealous but excited for Professor Wolfe, who was completely ecstatic. Once we reached Baker Street, we took the Tube to Paddington Station where we met with Professor Parkhouse and waited for the train to Cardiff, Wales. After a late start due to some technical problems, we began our 2 hour train ride to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales at around 9:10am. At the beginning of the ride, Professor Wolfe handed out the breakfast she bought us since we did not have time to eat at Regents. We were all pleased with the variety of bagels, croissants, bananas, and cinnamon buns she had selected. When we finally arrived in Wales, we were greeted by some rain showers, which continued on and off for the entire day. We have been very lucky so far with the weather, having beautiful, sunny days for all our adventures for the last 2 weeks.
From the train station we walked to the nearest city sightseeing bus stop. The rain kept most of us on the bottom, covered portion of the double-decker bus, but Nicole and Kay braved the rain and sat on the top of the bus for the tour. Our guided bus tour took about an hour and drove us around sites including the Cardiff Castle, Millennium Stadium, Mermaid Quay, the church where famous author Roald Dahl was baptized, and Techniquest. After the bus tour, Professors Wolfe and Parkhouse met us and walked us into the cafe in Cardiff Castle for lunch. We ate our chilli and cheese loaded baked potatoes and salads and tried welsh cakes for dessert.
After lunch, we headed into the castle for our guided tour. We toured various rooms of the castle including the nursery, the gentlemen's room, the arab room (for women), a family dining room, a bedroom, a library, a drawing room, a roofless garden, and a banquet hall. Every room had a different theme and design but they were all indescribably breath taking. Every detail in the architecture was meticulously designed and thoroughly contemplated. For example, in the bedroom, there was writing on the crown molding that was written so that it could only be read properly through the mirrors that adorned the ceiling. Another example of the architects intricate attention to detail was in the garden, which the tour guide explained that on June 22 every year at sunset, a beam of light would penetrate through the window, past the fountain centerpiece, and onto a statue, aligning them perfectly.

We all agree that the Cardiff castle was one of the most impressive we have seen, and is one of our favorites. After our tour, we had enough time to climb the 100 steps up the Norman Keep, which was used as a prison, to view the spectacular cityscape of Cardiff over the castle walls. From the Norman Keep, we quickly browsed through Wartime Tunnels, which were used as bomb shelters during air raids, and then made some purchases in the gift shop before leaving for the train station.

We ran to make the train back to London that was departing, and barely made it. Professor Wolfe passed around the leftover croissants from breakfast to have as a snack, and then many of us napped during the train ride back to London. When we arrived back at London, the rain had picked up, and when Regents Park came into sight, thunder, lightning, and heavy rain had us running back to the college. After putting dry clothes on and getting settled, we headed to the refectory for dinner, and then everyone spent the rest of the night working on their reflective papers.