Cardiff

I arrived in Cardiff and took a 45 minute bus ride from the airport to the central bus/train station. My hostel was just a 5 minute walk around the corner. I checked in and was put in a 16 bunk room instead of an 8 bunk room, but I was too tired to complain. I settled in and fell asleep for a good 15 hours! I feel bad wasting the evening, but it felt god to recover.
Breakfast was very simple, just toast and cereal. I had a few slices, checked out, and lugged my suitcase towards the castle. It's a pretty cool castle from the outside, but I didn't want to tour the inside and miss my Doctor Who tour. In hindsight, the castle would probably have been better.
Instead, I wandered through Bute Park, the 2nd largest city park in the world next to Central Park. The wall to the park is a bunch of animal statues aptly named The Animal Wall, designed by W.M. Burges. In the park I got ambushed by a marathon, so that was weird. I managed to find a weak spot in the flow of oncoming people and get onto a different footpath.
I still had a few hours before my tour started, so I checked out the pedestrian street area and stopped The Cornish Bakery for 2 sausage rolls. They left me a little queasy but I kept wandering. The street was nice and I was sure I was going to find the Hard Rock in this area. I didn't, and later I found out that the Cafe closed in October. Oh well.
After wandering I headed back to the castle, popped into a souvenir shop to pick up a Cardiff tankard, where I learned that the term "spooning" is probably derived from the Welsh custom of giving loved ones carved wooden spoons. After shopping I waited for people to show up for the tour. . And waited, and waited. Even though I was there at noon, and the tour started at 12:30, it wasn't until 1ish that our guide came and said that the tour started a half hour ago. How did that happen?! I missed seeing some buildings, so it wasn't a huge loss.

The tour itself was a let down. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but thinking through it, I should have put it together. It was basically a group of fans on a bus with an extra as our tour guide, going to random buildings in Cardiff and him pointing out "this is where blah blah was filmed". He had some amusing stories about the cast, and the tour did take us out of Cardiff to some smaller surrounding villages, including a reenactment that reminded me of Mount Vernor. If I had to do it again, I would have stuck with a hop on, hop off tour and done the castle.
After the tour, I grabbed something called a Lamb Oggie for dinner. It was a mix between a shepherd's pie and a calzone. Tasted great. Warm flaky crust with cold lamb and veggies in the middle.
I made my way to the train station and headed back to London to stay the night before taking another train to Edinburgh.
The train ride was great. The English country side was just lovely, and since the sun doesn't set until after 10PM, there was plenty to see.
I got into London, took the Express to the airport, and then a taxi to my airport hotel.