A panorama of he Bay from the walk mentioned in yesterday’s post and a picture (below) of the Norwegian Church Arts Centre at the bay.
Cardiff Bay
Tag: Wales
Ruined Amphitheatre
After the barrack ruins we wandered over to the grassy ruins of a Roman amphitheatre (see more pictures below).
Ruins of Roman Barracks
After the baths and the museum, we walked up the road a piece to the ruins of the Roman barracks. See more images below (click on them to see larger). The long trench you see was a Roman toilet where soldiers would sit and defecate communally, using a sponge on a stick to wipe themselves, then dipping it in a flowing water channel in front of them before soaking in vinegar to disinfect it for the next use.
Caerleon
One day we took the train from Cardiff up to Newport where we caught a bus to Caerleon, home to several ancient Roman ruins and one of the primary claimants to be the site of Camelot. We first visited the Roman baths, which were fascinating, though I came away with few useful photographs, then made our way to a small museum, outside of which we visited the “Roman-inspired” garden where these pictures were taken.
Have Brains, Will Travel
The slogan of the Brains Brewery, “people who know beer, have Brains,” is the kind of clever advertising I enjoyed seeing around Cardiff. I did not, however, get the opportunity to taste any Brains while there.
Triangle, Streets
The triangle juts out from the corners of Principality (formerly Millennium) Stadium. A couple of other contrasty Cardiff street views I converted to black and white below.
Arcade
Cardiff is famed for its many shopping arcades. The sign over the Taco Bar below (click to enlarge), advertises “unauthenc Mexican food” [sic].
Dome
The domed roof over the entrance rotunda of the National Museum + a couple of other architectural images. The “Keep Left” one might go with my “keep right” one from the Metropolitan in NY, or it might be a recommendation to the recently elected Labour party here in the UK who have tried so relentlessly not to frighten anyone with their leftism.
Wrestler
The painting above, with embedded video was from an exhibition about a local man who escaped the mines by becoming a flamboyant wrestler. I can’t find any trace of it on the museum’s web site.
We also saw an interesting exhibition called The Valleys, with work by over 60 artists including Tina Carr and Annemarie Schöne, photographer Robert Frank, Josef Herman, photographer Bruce Davidson, and Ernest Zobole as well as introducing the work of collier artists and makers including Nicholas Evans, Harry Rodgers and Illtyd David.
Castle
Our next stop, walking around Cardiff was the castle with the dragon sculpture set up for tourist photographs (who can resist?).
Museum of Cardiff
We walked into the city centre and gawked like tourists (see below).
Oxymoron
There are a lot of these contradictions in terms. Would a true gentleman ever really frequent a gentlemen’s club? Almost by definition, not. Would a club for true gentlemen require CCTV?
Stairs
Having started curating the hundreds of liminal spaces I’ve photographed for the project Neither Here nor There, I can’t help noticing these null zones everywhere I go. The first two pictures are of he same staircase and bridge, the third is a spot nearer to our hotel. Looks like AI is even getting in on bridges now (see below).
Hotel Elevator View
At the beginning of September we spent a few days in Wales sightseeing. More pictures to come over the next few days.