Road Trip! - Part Deux

Once I had finally arrived in Cardiff, flatmates and I wandered off in search of food. They showed me the St. David shopping centre which was a building site when I left Cardiff 18 months before. I had a yen for Spanish food so we headed towards Nandos and Chimichangas. Fair enough it was 6 on a Friday evening, but there were queues outside both of them! I mean, both places serve lovely food but not what I'd be willing to queue for, especially when there are FOUR more Spanish eateries less than a block away.
Sheesh! People are nuts!

We, not being crazy, went to the aforementioned eateries a block away, in the Brewery Quarter off St. Mary St. We wandered around trying to decide which one to frequent when we passed 'Mia Porto Due', a Portuguese / Italian restaurant. They were playing Gyspy Kings on the tannoy, so that was me won over straight away!
They had me at 'Bamboleo'!

I headed in there like it was opening day at Comic-Con!
I ordered fresh Sea Bass, which was brought to the table with head, tail, fins, the works.
I'm sure that's probably a very fancy way of doing it and I should have been impressed, but as I tried to find my way into the sucker, I couldn't help feeling that I was paying someone else to let me do all the work!
Happily the bass was utterly delicious and worth the major surgery.

We rolled out of there stuffed to the back teeth and headed for home. Once ensconced, former flatmates and I slipped right back into doing what we did best: drinking tea and watching Asian movies.
In honour of my impending move we watched a Korean movie, 'The Good, the Bad, the Weird'.
It had some very funny moments, some hide behind my hands moments and a kick ass soundtrack which I shall be downloading from iTunes without delay. So all in all, a good night!

The next morning, Saturday, we girded our loins and set off for town, determined to get me black boots for Korea. I have been reliably informed that I can forget about purchasing shoes for my giant, Western feet in Ulsan. Happily, I have found a few shoe websites that deliver to Korea, but I didn't want to take any chances with the boots, so off we went braving the Queen Street saturday hordes.

After a mere five shops I got a great bargain and that objective reached, we were free to indulge in some serious window shopping.
I do mean serious, we're talking treat of hyperventilation here!
We went to Paperchase, which is stationary HEAVEN! In which place we showed remarkable restraint and discipline, so when we came out we agreed that we should reward ourselves with tea and scones at The Plan cafe in Morgan Arcade. (listed by The Guardian as one of the top 50 cafes in Britain)
Thus fortified we headed to Cardiff Market, with the plan of looking at kittens in the pet shop. The kittens were not in evidence, but Peruvian Guinea Pigs were so I was happy!

We bought Welsh Teacakes, because, let's face it, everybody should at every given oppurtunity and went home to watch the England / France rugby match and have the mother of all cheese feasts.
Mmmmmm, Wensleydale!

On Sunday morning I spent a bafflingly long time on the internet trying to sort out my transport from Cardiff to Salisbury to London and then on to Stansted airport.
Welsh train drivers are on strike Sunday and Monday, so that threw a spanner in the works, so I had to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get to Bristol and train it from there instead. That done, I then had to go through the tedious process of buying tickets online while telling them every solitary fact of my existence down to and including what I got for my sixth birthday.

I only want train tickets, not a blinkin' mortgage!

Ate some more cheese to calm down and watched the Ireland / Scotland rugby match.
Yaay! Ireland won!

After that we went to see the movie 'Paul'. It was very funny and I loved it and highly recommend it to all!

So now I have come to the end of the Welsh segment of my Road Trip and tomorrow I cross the Severn into England for Phase Two - the Sassenachs!

Catch you on the flipside.