This year I definitely wanted to make sure I made an end of year tour All Blacks match. And what better place than Wales, home of the Leak. Our destination was the Millennium stadium in Cardiff. Michelle and I took the 7.45 am train from Paddington, the journey time was a nick under two hours. With plenty of time before the game, we wandered round the city, trying to dodge the heavy showers. Cardiff town centre is very well set-out with lots of malls and public areas. One thing that stuck out for us was the share number of jewellery shops, literally every shop in one mall in particular had jewellery in the front window. As we wandered through one of these malls I randomly bumped into the only welsh person I knew, my boss John. We also popped into a couple of sports stores and bought beanies for the game, Michelle also picked up some running leggings and we both shared steak, leak and potato pasties. Game fever was slowly gripping the city as the day wore on and every second and third person had a red jersey on! We went to the indoor markets and purchased a couple of souvenir items. Whilst munching on Chelsea buns we walked up to the Cardiff castle, but decided not to go in as it looked like ‘just another castle’. We decided to try and find our hotel; and as we were walking along the street I noticed my friend Summer sitting with a bunch of Kiwi’s in the Varsity Pub, we popped in for a drink and a quick catch up. Our hotel was just round the corner so we dropped our gear off. Michelle was suffering from effects of a long week so she had a quick nap in the hotel. However I was raring to go so I went straight back to the pub. Now the pub was really chocca with red jerseys. Everyone was watching the football Cardiff vs Swansea a big local derby, unfortunately for the masses Swansea came out on top. Meanwhile Richie, Mel, James and Emma arrived so met up with them at the haha bar and grill down the road. There Michelle joined us and we had a few more drinks and something to eat. At about 4.30 we started walking with the throngs of Red jerseys to the game. The streets had been closed off to the traffic, which made life easier for everyone. Michelle and I were gate 7, right round the other side of the stadium. We went straight to our seats (Behind the try-line, LHS, 2nd from the top) afraid we were going to miss the Haka, sitting amongst a bunch of Kiwi’s we were bound to see someone we knew (Nathan Hudson). With the roof closed the atmosphere in the stadium was something to behold, especially during the Welsh anthem’s. The fire show before the game was spectacular, even though it left a slight Kerosene taste in the mouth afterwards. It was a game dominated by kicking and pressure, and the fact the ground was very soft did not help the players either. Dan Carter was definitely not a favourite with the locals after head-highing a welsh player. However, NZ still triumphed 19-12. Headed to zero degrees after the game where we had a ‘few’ more drinks. Ate pizza and watched David Hayes beat the giant Russian (Valuev) on points. The night from then on was a bit hazy, but we did catch up with Conrad Smith and had a good old shake on the d-floor. Bed by 1.30 ish.
Awoke at 10 am, the room was so pitch dark it felt like 5 am. Checked out and left our bags behind the front desk. Went down to Sainburys and bought breakfast, fruit juice, apple pastry and sultana scones. Then we decided to go for a wander round the city. Stumbled across a parade for the war veterans over by the town hall. Then we skirted the castle through the botanic gardens, our fingers hovering over the shoot button. We wandered down the river, past the boat shaped millennium stadium and the mosaic artworks for all the countries in the 1999 world cup. Crossed the river to look at the markets, the Vendors were selling cheese, meat, curry’s etc. I bought an Onion Baji and Michelle some goats cheese and sun dried tomato crackers. Bumped into Eddie and his bro and had a quick catch up. Went back to the train station to see if it was possible to get on an earlier train, not possible apparently. So with time to kill we watched an aweful movie at VUE “Men who stare at goats”, I was so bored I fell asleep in the theatre. After the movie we went for a walk down to Cardiff Bay, saw a sign that described the water quality as poor, so it was lucky I didn’t bring my togs! It was 5 o’clock and getting dark by the time we finished our walk. We went to the Prince of Wales pub and watched Chelsea beat Man Utd in a premiership game (funny shot of person cleaning their teeth at the game). Then we picked up our bags from the Pack and Thistle Hotel and picked up Subway on the way to the train station. Great weekend in Cardiff.
No comments:
Post a Comment