magicom: (janto glance)
magicom ([personal profile] magicom) wrote2009-08-23 11:05 pm
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A Trip To Cardiff - aka Journey To The Centre Of The Whoniverse

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!

[identity profile] magicom.livejournal.com 2009-08-24 10:26 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! We really did enjoy it :D And nice to see you Billy!!!!

[identity profile] billy-shriner.livejournal.com 2009-08-24 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
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!

[identity profile] magicom.livejournal.com 2009-08-24 11:18 am (UTC)(link)
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!

[identity profile] billy-shriner.livejournal.com 2009-08-24 11:28 am (UTC)(link)
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?

[identity profile] magicom.livejournal.com 2009-08-24 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
I've been to Weston! It was YEARS ago, but I've been :) I was there for three weeks. Now I'm back to work :( Oh well, I guess I have to pay for these trips somehow!