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As soon as we knew we were going to England, I started working out how to add a trip to Cardiff. Why Cardiff? I could say it is because my mother’s grandmother was Welsh but honestly, it was all about Doctor Who! I’ll apologize in advance if you have no idea what I’m talking about with my Doctor Who fan speak.
We caught a train from Bath Spa in the morning and it took about 1.5 hours to get to Cardiff. My main goal was to see The Doctor Who Experience (blog post about that next week) and to see some of the locations from Doctor Who and Torchwood. My mom has never seen these shows but she decided to play along. We also scheduled in time to go to Cardiff Castle.
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We started out the day at Cardiff Bay to see the Doctor Who sites.
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On the other side of this fountain is the secret entrance to Torchwood. Don’t believe me? Check out Google Maps.
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If you zoom in on Roald Dahl Plass, the plaza near the Bay, you see Torchwood labelled. It is a little off on this screenshot but I was thrilled that the location of the fictional base on a television show was labelled. Roald Dahl Plass was used a lot in Doctor Who. Here’s an example of The Doctor, Martha, and Captain Jack during the Face of Boe discussion.
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| From here |
I was so excited to be here. I spent the whole day completely geeking out – quietly, in my head so as not to alarm my mother. She was already alarmed from The Doctor Who Experience.
You can also see in the lower left corner of the map Ianto Jones’ Shrine. SPOILERS
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Ianto was a character on Torchwood. The fans were angry when he died. All but one character on that show died but Ianto’s death angered people. So now there is a shrine.
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People bring offerings. This was my mother’s favorite.
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There’s a memorial book to sign. Some people don’t realize that Ianto wasn’t real. There are entries like, “I’ve never heard of you but you must have been a stand up guy to have this many people sad about your loss.”
I had picked out this restaurant to go to ahead of time. It is a Turkish restaurant but I picked it for the exterior.
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This exterior shot was used when the Ninth Doctor took the last Slitheen out to dinner before returning her to her planet. Yeah, I ate there just for that.
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Upcoming Cardiff posts:
The Doctor Who Experience
Cardiff Castle
[…] Britain). If I go again, I want to follow in Heather’s footsteps and take a day trip to Cardiff (Day Trip to Cardiff, Cardiff Castle, and the Doctor Who Experience). Or, I might use Bath as an intermediary stop […]
I had no idea there was a shrine for Ianto – that’s totally awesome!! I cracked up at the people signing not realizing he’s a character hahahaha! I’m pretty impressed you kept it together so well (I would probably not have succeeded. Luckily my mother is fairly accustomed to my dramatics)
[…] week, Heather began the first of several reports on her day trip to Cardiff and shared the YA steam punk fantasy, The Unnaturalists. Becky read three books set in the British […]
This looks so fun and I’m not even a Doctor Who fan. Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday Linkup. Pinning to our linkup board and hope you found some great posts to visit this week!
[…] A Day Trip from Bath to Cardiff – A must for all Doctor Who Fans! […]
Oh, this is awesome! I’m not a Dr. Who geek but I do love my David Tennant, plus I have Dr.Who addicts in my family. My niece just got married and had a Dr. Who themed photo booth at her reception.
What a splendid idea! My husband doesn’t speak Doctor Who, so I didn’t even think about Cardiff. I didn’t realize it was close enough to Bath for a day trip.
LOL at the memorial book entry. Ianto was a stand-up guy — and, since he’s fiction, I like to think he still is!
Oh, my! I hadn’t realized this stuff existed. I’m completely geeking out with you and waiting for your next post.