Royal Wedding 29/4/2011

Same as before, I meant to post this blog a fortnight ago..... MPHP87972S5G

Today 29/4/2011 is a day I am proud to be British, today marks the day of the Wedding of our future King, HRH Prince William of Wales to his fiance Catherine 'Kate' Middleton. The wedding has had an almost frenzied build up in the press, the first of it's kind since Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer almost thirty years ago.

The much media for the event has turned me off it a bit, I am happy they are finally getting married but hate the fact it is rammed down our throats all the time and all the tacky souvenirs that are being sold in shops throughout the country.

The ceremony itself was a wonderful, joy to behold. It makes me proud to to British, nobody can do all the pomp and circumstance like we can. Whether it be a royal Wedding like today or Trooping the Colours, we are the envy of the World. Olympics 2012 take note, this is how we do a show and this is what the World knows Britain can do well and most likely looking forward to seeing.

Kate looked beautiful in her dress, reminiscent of Grace Kelly in years gone by. I don't envy her, she will be under very intense scrutiny from the media, everything she does will be dissected and compared to Princess Diana. I don't get the love for Diana, she wasn't particularly beautiful and well a bit of a slag. Camilla and Charles get a lot of unjust hatred in my opinion but that's another story.

The surprising popular story to come out of the wedding was the brides sister Pippa and how she potentially upstaged the bride in wearing a rather clingy dress. Men noticed how when she would walk and bend over to see to the train of Kate's dress her ass was rather noticeable and seemed peachy haha. It even spawned a Facebook group which as of now has 45000+ members.

So all in all it was a wonderful day to be British and I wish the Royal Couple all the best in the future and hope they both be happy and well for many many years to come.  

St Fagan's Museum 25/4/2011

I meant to post this a fortnight ago but got sidetracked. Better late than never.......

What a beautiful day yesterday was. Usually as a family we rarely do anything on a Bank Holiday Monday but for a change we decided to go out for the day together. We decided to go to St Fagan's Museum in Cardiff. The museum is mainly outdoors with a various array of relocated buildings showing how people in Wales lived through the years, from Iron Age mud huts to an eco-friendly house.

It has been many years since I last visited St Fagan's Museum and I was very much looking forward to it, I'm a nerd and nothing makes me happier than spending a day wandering through a museum/gallery and yesterday was no exception. Everything was perfect, we were up nice and early, hadn't argued (which is rare for us) and the weather was scorching hot. The only problems we faced were firstly whether to take our own food or find somewhere to eat whilst we were there and parking. With it being a rare beautifully sunny Bank Holiday, it was odds on that every pleb would either have the same idea as us or go to the coast.

We arrived at about 10am and the car park wasn't full but wasn't empty, there was a huge queue for parking tickets near where we parked but 100 yard down the road there were three vending machines unused. I wasn't standing in line queuing like a knob lol. The added bonus for the day was , museums in Wales are free entry so the day only cost £3.50 for the parking ticket (excluding food and petrol), which was a pinch and if we had a nice day, we couldn't really complain.

Onto the museum, the museum is a huge former private home which is opened to the public, donated to the people of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth in 1946. The museum boasts over forty original buildings from all corners of Wales, moved and erected in the museum grounds. The buildings include many farmhouses, chapels, a Workmen's Institute and the beautiful St Teilo's medieval church, presented in all it's splendour with colourfully crafted wall paintings on it's interior.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day out, it was a perfect day. The attractions were just as I remembered them, I made sure to visit every building and take lots of photographs. The buildings I loved the most were the Iron Age huts, St Fagan's Castle and Kennixton Farmhouse. The museum involves a lot of walking if you intend to make the most of it and see every building. Everything is laid out rather well, although it was a Bank Holiday and there was quite a high volume of visitors it didn't feel as if everything was on top of you. The main problem was people photo-bombing my pictures. It would be best to go back on a nice mid week day when people would be at work and children at school. That way the museum would be quiet and you can spend a leisurely day perusing all the attractions.

On the whole we all agreed it was the best family day out that we have had for a long time. It was a really cheap and enjoyable day, except petrol and parking we only paid for food, which was nice. I would go back again sometime. The museum I would like to visit next is Caerleon, which is a Roman museum based on an old Roman Town. It has the remains of a bath-house and the best example of a Roman amphitheatre in the UK.

St Fagan's Pictures