Feels like I am spending quite a bit of time in Wales this year, but to be honest not half as much as I would like to. My second granddaughter Imogen turned 14 a few weeks ago, so as a birthday treat John and I decided we would give her the Cardiff experience . It is somewhere she had wanted to visit, so this was a good excuse. We wanted her first trip there to be special, so we booked a nice executive room at the Novotel which we felt would suit her, as it has a fun modern feel to it. Imy has stayed in several hotels before with us but she was younger then so this was to be a more adult experience . We arrived in Cardiff early to make the most of our weekend, we went straight to the shops, which normally are not really her scene, but she loved it, as they had the shops she does like such as Jack Wills, Vans and the Apple store. Imy discovered several shops that brought in American drinks and sweets she liked and I found myself buying Twinkies.
Next stop was Jamie’s for lunch, it is always fun to eat their. The staff are brilliant and there seems to be a real buzz about the place perfect to take a teenager too, food is also good. We continued to shop till we dropped and arrived back at the hotel in time for a swim before getting ready to go for dinner.
Seven o’clock came around and the receptionist got us a taxi to take us down to the bay area. We had booked a table at Woods brasserie and we knew it would be something a little special for our birthday girl. Before going to the bistro we took Imy to see the Torchwood step and we both stood on it imagining rising from the ground beside Captain Jack Harkness. We saw a lot of people dressed up for their hen and stag parties, it has the feel of a real party city so unlike our rather conservative Salisbury .
Woods Brasserie made Imy’s evening very special I had told them when we booked that it was her birthday treat and her first grown up restaurant, when they seated us at our table they brought her a beautiful non alcoholic fruit cocktail with the compliments of the management. It was a lovely start, Imy found the menu a little daunting so I suggested that I advise her, she took my advice and had a wonderful meal which she said was the best food she had ever had. When dessert came the french waiter presented it with a pink candle gentle flickering away and wished her a very happy birthday, she was delighted. We will go back it was a lovely evening and we felt privileged to share it with her.
We got back to the hotel and let her pick a box office movie to watch which just finished the evening perfectly.
Next morning we were up bright and early had a great breakfast, they served a very good buffet with everything you could want, we then hit the gym to work it off and also a very nice swim in there lovely pool. Check out is not till midday on a Sunday so we did not have to rush which was very nice. We did have a deadline though as we had tickets for the new Dr Who experience at 1.00pm, we are all great fans and very excited.
We made our way down to the bay to give Imogen chance to see this area, she loved it, there always seems to be something going on there, it is a fun city. We got to the Dr Who experience it was exciting even in the entrance, from the moment your journey starts it is the most wonderful fantasy world you enter. It is very well presented and we all loved every minute, I wanted to go straight back round and do it again. It was the best way to end a very special weekend, one I hope she will never forget I know we will always treasure the memories and I now look forward to doing the same with the boys when they are a little older. Love you Cardiff.
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