Today my plan was to explore more of Cardiff center and visit the National Museum Cardiff. I walked into the center of the city and headed over the civic areas.
The 194 foot clock tower of City Hall looks out over the whole city center. Each clock face on the tower is 12 feet in diameter.
I had heard that there was a beautiful hall, open to the public in the City Hall so I went in to investigate. I had to fight my way through a sea of Cardiff graduates and their families. It seemed that the building was used to pick up caps, gowns, and hoods (and then later dropping them off). It is also gorgeous, inside and out, so everyone wanted to take a picture next to some marble fixture. I went up to the second floor and into the Marble Hall. Here there are statues of famous figures from Welsh history. The first one I walked up to happened to be the only woman, and the one that would interest me the most. The statue depicts Boudica, a British tribal leader who lead a successful revolt against the Romans in 60 or 61 CE. Although not actually Welsh, she is a representative of the British spirit and independence.
The National Museum is right next-door to City Hall, so I went in, hoping to find some Roman artifacts from around Wales. Instead, I found a single piece of Roman art, which I understood to be from Rome herself. That being said the Jenkins Vase is a gorgeous piece, depicting the story of Paris and Helen. Other figures on the vase include Muses, like Polyhymnia show in thought above.
Though disappointed by the lack of research related pieces in the museum, I wandered through the other exhibits. The museum has a great collection of art from around Europe, but with a lovely focus on Welsh and Welsh-inspired art. A large portion of the museum is dedicated to Welsh ceramic arts.
It was very fun for me to see artistic depictions of some of the places I've been since coming to Wales. Unsurprisingly, Caernarfon Castle is an extremely popular subject. Can't say I saw that sort of Tuscan sky over the Castle while I was there though. Other highlights to see were a depiction of South Stack on Holy Island and a view of the entrance of Cardiff Bay in the 1800s.
The art collection spans all eras of art since the 16th century, including French Impressionism. I was excited to see La Parisienne by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It's such a beautiful painting, depicting French actress Henriette Henriot. I was surprised to see it Wales, having no idea I would find such a famous French painting here!
The other portion of the National Museum is dedicated to natural history. I (perhaps sadly) have much less patience for exhibits about rocks, minerals, and animals. I think it has something to do with the language being designed to be accessible for young children. I strolled rather quickly through the exhibits, just stopping to more closely examining things that caught my eye, like this beautiful piece of malachite.
This picture is mostly for my boyfriend, who adores foxes. But they are truly beautiful animals and it was great to be able to see one in detail, especially since it could not run away!
Another image I had to include was this photo of an aye-aye's hand. If you've never seen (or don't remember) what an aye-aye looks like, go Google it now. The long middle fingers of this lemur are specially adapted for reaching into tunnels dug by bugs in trees and pulling out the insects. Pretty terrifying, if you ask me.
After the museum visit, I explored the parish church of St. John the Baptist and then decided to have my first afternoon tea since coming to the U.K. I went to Pettigrew Tea Rooms, a spot I had heard on a Buzzfeed list titled "16 Places All Tea Lovers Must Visit Before They Die." I didn't get the full afternoon tea (which is quite a lot of food), but instead went for a classic cream tea. This provided me with a lovely lavender tea, two schools, strawberry preserve, and clotted cream. I was joined at my table by a French woman, who I assume now lives in Wales, and her Welsh friend, as the place had very limited seating. We shared pleasant small talk about my research and travels and their experiences traveling Wales and abroad.
After finishing my tea, and waiting for a light rain to stop, I headed back to my hotel to have a relaxing evening.
Fun Fact #18: According to my tour on the sightseeing bus, the National Museum Cardiff has the largest collection of Impressionist (maybe French Impressionist) art outside of Paris, with works by Renoir, Monet, Manet, Rodin, Cezanne, Morisot, Degas, and others.
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