Mischief in Europe: Welcome to Wales, we don't believe in vowels.

Cardiff, the capital of Wales. I thought it might be different than what it is. So far I've labeled this city the armpit of the British Isles. The surrounding countryside is lovely. The city is beautiful. The residents... well, they're a diverse bunch haha. A lot of them conjure up images of economically depressed West Virginia, a little ironic seeing as coal built this city. They look kind of run down, they don't smile. Maybe it's just such a stark contrast to the fashionable people of London that's making me feel this way. Or maybe it's the argument turned almost physical fight I witnessed today while eating lunch. Let me set the scene, I had just gone to the market and picked up a baguette (69 pence) and some raspberries (got him to take 81 pence as opposed to the full pound asking price, go me), as I walked out of the marketplace I was drawn to the sounds of someone playing an accordion "A pleasant place to eat this lunch" I thought to myself, so I followed the music. Lo and behold there is a beautiful tea garden adjacent to the music. "Well butter my biscuits!" I exclaim to myself in excitement. I find a bench, sit down, ward off the pigeons and commence to feasting. Not two bites into my baguette some lady leaves her stroller and crosses the garden to accost a (presumably drunk) man. She is yelling at him and shoving him. I continue eating my baguette and berries trying to ignore the scene and fend off the damned skyrats. While this is going on there is a man dry heaving into some bushes and spitting out lots of phlegm. The lady continues hollering, about what I have no idea because it was a mix of Welsh and English with a really bad Welsh accent, eventually phlegm man breaks them up and she returns to her unattended child and leaves the garden grumbling about everything under the sun. Lovely setting, terrible people.

However please don't think Cardiff is a terrible place. There are some people here who are really nice and want this city to be great. It shines through. The shopping plaza across the street is one of the finest in all of the UK. There is an open plaza with tons of stores and then there are what they call arcades, they are essentially narrow covered streets with merchants lining the insides. It's really gorgeous, I'll post pictures of them next time. The city hall here is a masterpiece. The Millennium Stadium is an astounding landmark, convenient to boot as my hostel is directly across the river from it. The waterfront is going through changes. It honestly reminds me of RVA a little. There is tons of potential and you can tell a lot of people believe in that potential and want to see it fully realized for what it can be. Just some of the residents are crappy.

Anyways, those are my feelings on Cardiff so far. I went to Cardiff Castle today and walked to the bay. It was a lot longer of a walk than I anticipated. I'm having a little trouble figuring the public transit.