The fog had lifted by this morning but it was a very grey, overcast day. After a very nice buffet breakfast at Future Inn, we drove to the Dr Who Experience.
Approaching the Doctor Who Experience. I have always enjoyed Dr Who so I was quite excited!
This Dalek was made with 157,460 Lego pieces and weighs 280kg. It took a team of four people 328 hours to build it.
The experience began with a short introductory movie. We then went on an interactive Doctor Who Adventure led by a guide, assisted by a movie showing the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi). We had to find three crystals in order to stop an invasion. I found the third crystal! It was all good fun but we were not allowed to take any photos during the show. We were then able to wander around two floors of exhibits covering the first 50 years of Doctor Who. It was very interesting to see some of the costumes used in the series at close hand and quite nostalgic to see things such as the 3rd doctor's car "Bessie" which I remember so well from the early 70's. Doctor Who was shown on the Channel 2 four days a week, and in those pre-video, black and white days, there was no way to watch any shows missed!
The first Tardis appeared in 1964.
The console of the Tardis from 1983-1989
The Tardis in the 1980s
The robot "K9"
The console of the Tardis in 2005
"Bessie", the car driven by the 3rd (and my favourite) Doctor (Jon Pertwee)
The Face of Boe (the oldest creature in the Universe)
An Ood (the fact that all these characters have a page in wikipedia demonstrates the popularity of Dr Who!
A Silurian (cold-blooded, live for 300 years)
A Sontaran
A costume worn by the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith)
A costume worn by the 4th Doctor (my second favourite - played by Tom Baker)
The Supreme Dalek (2008)
A Dalek (1984)
A wooden Cyberman (2013)
A Cyberman
Heads of various forms of Cybermen
Chained Weeping Angel (The episodes with these enemies of the Doctor are actually very scary!)
Davros (a favourite character - so evil!)
The Keys to the Tardis
Doctor Who's Cot
A Zygon
The Tardis at the edge of Cardiff Bay
The next stop was Caerphilly Castle. Building began in 1194. It is now mostly in ruins but some parts have been reconstructed and new floors have been created in some of the towers.
The grey day made the castle look quite grim and forbidding
A reconstructed floor in one of the towers
The toilet(one's business went straight down to the ground!)
Two views from the top of the castle
Many parts are still in ruins
The Great Hall can be hired for dinners, weddings etc.
The south-west tower has quite a lean!
The last stop for the day was Llandaff Cathedral. As you can see it was getting quite dark (it was 4:00pm!) and photography was a bit limited. I think you can get the general idea. We had a little over an hour to explore the cathedral before Evensong began at 5:15pm.
The Nave. The cathedral was quite badly damaged when a bomb landed on it in 1941. As a result, its roof is quite modern as well as much of its furniture. All the stained-glass windows were destroyed and most of it has not been replaced as yet. Note the Jacob Epstein sculpture of Christ in Glory high above the nave. A division of the organ is also housed there.
The Organ Console
The Sanctuary. Note the well-preserved Norman arch which has survived from the building of 1120.
The Lady Chapel
The Lady Chapel altar and the 15th century reredos.
It was really too dark for windows photos but here is Mary visiting Elizabeth
The Archangel Gabriel and Mary
A Statue of Mary and Jesus
When I saw this door, I was immediately taken back to my childhood. There was a TV series called "The Magic Circle Club" which began and ended with a door just like this. I was always totally intrigued by it. I hadn't thought of it for years and years. The series ran from 1965-1967.
This grainy image (please ignore red line) is the door in "The Magic Circle Club". You can see it better in the last 10 seconds of this video.
The Organ, built by Nicholson and Co., was first heard in 2010. It replaced the organ rebuilt after the war (which was destroyed by a lightning strike in 2007). There are 4870 pipes.
Three angels in the ceiling
The Lectern
The ceiling (20th century)
In a passage (on the way to the toilet) was this wardrobe. Of course my mind went straight to "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" by CS Lewis!
Detail of above
This Norman arch (which withstood the blast of the bomb in 1941 even though it landed quite near), leads to St.David's Chapel, dedicated in 1956 in memory of the fallen in wars since the 18th century.
Evensong was sung by the men of the choir. The music was the plainsong responses, the Wood in D canticles and the anthem Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth (traditional tune arranged by Parnell). The singing was excellent with near perfect blending and very good diction. We returned to the Future Inn for dinner (tonight's steak was even tastier than yesterday) and, after writing journals (I took a record 415 photos today and it took ages to sort them!), retired for the night.