Day 1 - The Grey Feather - Monday 22nd June 2015.
I am in Cardiff. I set out this morning like Don Quixote, star of the novel I am currently reading. Okay, perhaps without the delusions of grandeur and desire to save any damsels in distress.
My first impression of Cardiff is how laid back it feels compared with London. It is also cheaper. I arrived in Cardiff this afternoon, found my Ibis hotel relatively easily and was pleasantly surprised to hear a relatively obscure Elvis Costello song playing as I checked in. Anyone would think that the management had the inkling that Mr C would be playing this week in their city.
I decided to get my bearings, so walked around impressed by the wide range of restaurants scattered around. I teased myself with the castle, which I will probably visit tomorrow and spent a while in the remarkable Bute Park, which is enormous. I gazed upon the remains of Blackfriars Friary. The trees casting shadows over a stone, inscribed with something meaningful, if only I could speak the Welsh language.
At one point, I looked down and saw a grey feather. Today has therefore been unofficially dubbed by myself as the day of the grey feather. A bird is probably looking for its flight propellant. It's still there.
I hit an Italian restaurant called Bellini's after the park and remained their sole guest for the duration of my meal.
Now, I lay in my hotel room catching the last of the sun rays and preparing to enjoy a quiet night of reading and a bit of TV.
Barry Watt - 22nd June 2015
The grey feather.
The inscribed stone, part of the remains of Blackfriars Friary.
Bute Park.
Standing stones in Bute Park.
Flower in Bute Park. Life and death in equal measures.
Squirrel. You've got to love them!
Afterword
Don Quixote is the main protagonist of the classic novel of the same name by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra. The novel is available as a very cheap Wordsworth Classics edition and can also be downloaded as an e-book for Kindle. So far, it's brilliant!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quixote-Wordsworth-Classics-Cervantes-Saavedra/dp/1853260363/ref=sr_1_sc_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1435486300&sr=8-6-spell&keywords=cerventes
Ibis are a major international chain of hotels, providing relatively inexpensive accommodation plus their beds are nice!
http://www.ibis.com/gb/united-kingdom/index.shtml
Bellini's are a rather nice family of Italian restaurants. I went to the Park Place branch.
http://www.bellinisitaliano.com/
BW.
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