A Trip To Cardiff - aka Journey To The Centre Of The Whoniverse

[magicom]

This is only my third journal entry of 2009. I'm not exactly prolific, am I?

My recent visit to Cardiff was very Whoniversey and I decided to put together a collection of particularly Doctor Who/Torchwood related pics. The photos are mine, the screencaps come from The Medusa Cascade.

All of the pictures will get somewhat bigger if you click on them, and the commentary contains spoilers for Torchwood: Children of Earth and may contain spoilers for any episodes of Doctor Who or Torchwood that come before that. Enjoy!

I arrived in Cardiff by train (our car had a minor disaster a couple days before we were supposed to leave for Cardiff, necessitating the train ride). If we had driven as planned, I probably wouldn't have visited the train station, though. The same one Mickey Smith arrived at in Boomtown: Cardiff Central.


We didn't go to the Bay until our second morning there, but on the first day, walking through the City Centre, I accidentally found the narrow street Ianto walks in CoE: Day Two after the Hub explodes. It was the only narrow street across from the castle's clock tower, which you can see behind Ianto in some of the shots. This one clearly shows the same buildings that Ianto is walking past:


And the aforementioned clock tower, shown in our photo and a shot from the opening of CoE: Day One.


The building that Jack is shown standing on in Torchwood's opening was near my hotel (Cardiff Centre Ibis - very nice for a budget hotel!):


Also in the City Centre - near the stadium, but visible from much of the centre - the 'Central Server Building' from Exit Wounds. I don't know if that's really what it is, but here you go:


And the British Gas Building (aka Jack asks Ianto out for a date in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang building):

I couldn't find a good shot of the outside, but what's meant to be their logo is shown quite clearly all over the place :)

Aaaannnnd then to the Bay! :D

We walked to the Bay, so the first view we had was similar to our first view of the Plass in Boomtown!



Also in Boomtown, Nine, Rose, Mickey and Jack eat at a restaurant on the Quay:


Back into Torchwood, Jack and co. often found themselves in front of the Millenium Centre, as it tends to dominate the Plass:


The Plass is also home to the INVISIBLE LIFT! :D





The upper level around the Plass leads to the bridge Jack and Ianto ran across in CoE to get to where Gwen was witnessing child weirdness in Day One of CoE:


Child weirdness was going on by the merry go round!


Right! Enough messing around! Let's head down to Mermaid Quay and the tourist office!

It was a little more crowded when we visited than when Gwen was heading to work.



I went to Mermaid Quay last October. Here is a comparison of my pics of the tourist office PRE-Children of Earth and POST-Children of Earth:


The Ianto Shrine from the front and from the top:

IANTOOOOOO :(

Okay.
So then we went for a walk by the Norwegian Church, where Roald Dahl was baptized and Tosh and Tommy frolicked in To The Last Man:


And then took a water taxi from Mermaid Quay, out to the barrage bridge and then to the castle. You might know the barrage bridge as where that kid disappeared in Adrift. If you can remember any of that episode apart from the hothouse scene ;)

And the houses where his mom is supposed to have lived:



We also went to the Doctor Who Exhibition at the Red Dragon Centre. Here are some of my favourite highlights:


Me & the TARDIS! It was locked. I don't have a key :(


Costumes!


MORE costumes!


CAPTAIN JAAAAAAAAAACK!


K9!


Harriet Jones, Former Prime Minister (I knew who she was).


Other squees included the Anne Droid, Daleks in ACTION and UNIT's cute little red caps :D

My whole trip was loads of fun, but the Cardiff experience was awesome! I would totally recommend it to any Whoniverse fan who finds themself in the UK!

Comments

[bluesuit_handy]

K9 is HUGE in person! Normally stuff seems so much smaller when you see it up close, but it was the opposite for me with K9.

I really need to get my Cardiff pictures posted. And my Britain pictures in general. Uuugh, laziness and delays. I wasn't anywhere near as systematic about any of this stuff, especially since I'm still so far behind on Torchwood, but I'm glad I went. Now when I do finally watch it I can freak out about having been there. And I need to watch the episodes of DW where Ten wears the blue suit and freak out about having omgtouchedthat.

[magicom.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! And I'm not usually all "Do I look like an out of bounds kind of guy" on things, but I totally touched the Doctor's suit and BOTH of Jack's costumes. Eeeeee!

It was really cool being there in person. It also gives you a better sense of where things in the city are in relation to each other :)

[dulcinea]

omfg this is awesome. The Ianto shriiiiiiiine ;____; I'm jealous you touched the TARDIS :\ and Jack's clothes :\

[magicom.livejournal.com]

I see your smooch icon and raise you a snog :P

I can't believe it, actually. It was AWESOME!

[dulcinea]

OH SNAP. The only other Torchwood icon I have on this journal is this one.

I'm rather fond of it. :)

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Well, having no icons from Adrift with which to up the icon-sex-act stakes, I will simply revert to something kinda cute :D

You'd think with the amount of time those two spend making out in public, I'd have BEEN THERE, at some point, when it happened. But no.

[dulcinea]

Maybe that just means it will happen sometime in the future and you'll be there. It's a sign.

This is Jason and Peter's last kiss. Not really cute. Just depressing. XDD

[magicom.livejournal.com]

WELL. I do not HAVE Jack and Ianto's last kiss, BECAUSE I AM STILL IN DENIAL. *LALALALALALALA*.

I do have an icon for that.

[nomorememory.livejournal.com]

THAT IS SO EPIC.

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks! I hope so! It took me SOOOOO many hours!

[billy-shriner.livejournal.com]

Good to see you are about though. Hope you enjoyed your trip to Cardiff - certainly looked like it.

You should post more often!!!

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Thank you! We really did enjoy it :D And nice to see you Billy!!!!

[billy-shriner.livejournal.com]

Good to see you too... You know, you weren't actually far from where I live, I'm just past Bristol (Across the Severn Bridge).

Hope the weather was kind... we've had another naff summer!

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Get out! :D My husband lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, so we were mostly there and around that area, but he took my fangirly self to Cardiff because when we went last year, the Doctor Who Exhibition was closed for refurbishment. We did have SOME less-than-stellar weather, though! It absolutely poured the entire day when we went to Alton Towers, though the upside was we didn't have to queue for very many rides :) We could go on our favourite roller coasters TWICE! In JULY! :D Anyway, it's been humid and sweltering here, so I was not upset about the lovely, cool British summer weather!

[billy-shriner.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I'm down in Weston-Super-Mare :D (Although I originate from London my hubby has always lived in Weston).

So how long were you over here for?

[onceinspired.livejournal.com]

Even though a few others commented with their character journals, I FELT VERY AWKWARD DOING THAT, so I logged in as myself. I don't think Eric would have bothered commenting on someone else's vacation pictures, so YOU GET THE REAL ME INSTEAD. :D

I'm not familiar (other than a few random things) with Torchwood Canon, so having the pictures from the show beside the ones you took was very helpful, otherwise I'd be like, "Oh, cool clock tower thing!" And the clock was very awesome, btw.

I'm also incredibly amused by the costume shops! I kind of want to go down to Louisiana and see if they have TB stuff. XD

I can tell you had fun, lovely. ^^ And we're also glad you're back!

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Hi Jamie! Thanks! And thanks for dropping by, even though you don't know the canon well :) The costumes were actually part of a little Doctor Who museum the production company has set up in, funnily enough, a shopping centre near the Bay. They're the actual costumes worn by the actual actors during filming, hence my EXTREME excitement. Especially about the Captain Jack ones. Two of them. TWO! :D

And the real you is more than acceptable!! :D

[onceinspired.livejournal.com]

Ahh, yes, you did say it was an exhibit. XD I have memory fail sometimes. :|

I think you need a Jack coat. Just putting that out there.

...I don't know, I just got done chugging a huge iced vanilla coffee, and I'm hungry and my blood-sugar's a little low, so I'm a bit loopy at the moment. :|

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Hee! That's okay, I'm high on caffeine and low on bloodsugar myself today. I really must eat lunch soon :D

OMG. Okay, I can only say this with a mathematical equation:

ME + Jack!Coat = SQUEEEE. It's scientific. I think I *do* need a Jack coat and I don't even care how pathetic that is :D

[onceinspired.livejournal.com]

Math is always factual. That equation cannot be disputed.

I own a Hufflepuff tie and scarf and made Hogwarts robes a few years ago, it's all good. >.>

[cloudillusion.livejournal.com]

Okay, so now it's clear that I must just live vicariously through you. Thanks for posting these pictures! And you paired them with screencaps! How delightfully fangirly of you! :D

You wore Gwen!shoes on the invisible lift! Much as I'm not a huge fan of Gwen, that is awesome. I want to stand on the invisible lift! And great catch on Ianto's narrow street! And IANTOOOOOOO :( Love your from-above picture of his shrine. Even though it makes me all wibbly.

Oh, and I *totally* remember all of Adrift, not just the hothouse scene. WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR, SOMEONE WHO JUST WANTS TO SEE JACK AND IANTO SHAGGING? Oh. Right.

Do they have any Ianto suits in the costume section? If not, they need to get on that. Love the UNIT hats! :D

[magicom.livejournal.com]

Gwen stole *my* shoes, the cow!! I've been a red Chucks girl for years. Gwen, she is fickle, with a pair of blue ones and red ones and green ones and black ones. They really DO make a lot of money at Torchwood! :P But, in honesty, I was quite pleased to find a picture of her on the lift in red Chucks to put against the picture of me in MY red Chucks on the lift. Quite pleased indeed.

The shrine totally made me wibble. Totally. Anyway, there was a farmers market up above the tourist office and my husband was checking out the extensive selection of fresh cheeses and I didn't want to get coerced into trying a sample of some weird Himilayan goat cheese with sun-dried something-or-other mixed in, so I looked over the railing and THE SHRINE! So I took the aerial view picture, which I think turned out rather nicely. So you all can thank weird cheese for that one :D

NO Ianto suits. No Torchwood. Just Doctor Who. I was sad. Torchwood needs more love from the DW establishment. It gets screwed by The Man. And then they all get killed :(

Ianto's street SO made my day though :D I believe it's called Womanby, but it is now OFFICIALLY (in my mind) Ianto Avenue.

[cloudillusion.livejournal.com]

Gwen, that bitch! >:(

A farmers market, fresh cheese, and the tourist office? I wouldn't have known where to turn. That is the way to do it, Cardiff. Nicely played. And yes, thank you, weird cheese, for the aerial view picture ;D

Torchwood is just the ugly stepchild of DW. Which is NOT OKAY. But it explains the suckage of days 4-5, I suppose. (I think a case could be made for at least one Ianto suit in the DW exhibit - after all, he was on DW once. I WANT THE SUITS.)

[magicom.livejournal.com]

It is definitely NOT OKAY. *grumble grumble*

Oooh, was he ever on Doctor Who. And in the yummy pink shirt and a waistcoat. That needs to be in the museum RIGHT NOW.

[cloudillusion.livejournal.com]

*gasp* I LOVE YOUR ICON.

That DW getup is definitely museum material.