April 11, 2012:
Some time during the middle of the night, my shower curtain rod came off the wall! Thankfully, I wasn’t using it at the time.
I woke up at 8:45am after almost 10 hours of sleep, feeling incredibly rested. I went down to breakfast and helped myself to the items spread out on the buffet: orange juice, toast, fruit, chocolate croissant. And then the woman working there came over and asked what I wanted for breakfast. Apparently the full breakfast is in addition to the items out on the table! Eggs, baked beans, fried toast, tomatoes, mushrooms–oh my! They even had vegetarian sausage for me!
I went back to my room and accidentally fell asleep for another hour and fifteen minutes. The comforter was just so warm and comfy and it was pouring rain outside, which doesn’t make for good snarfing anyway. It was amazing how tired I was still after 10 hours of sleep.
I headed out around 11:30 and the moment I stepped outside, the rain stopped and held off the for the rest of the day. Amazing timing. I walked around some streets I didn’t get to the day before, catching a couple snarfs. I also found a lion for Eeyore to pose with.
The Doctor Who/Torchwood Brit Movie Tour was AMAZING. Everything from the boy’s dorm in Human Nature/Family of Blood at St Fagans National History Museum to the diner where River, Rory, and Amy find Eleven to Rose’s apartment complex to the Ponds’ house to stairs Donna chased her fiance down to this random pub that has TARDIS doors to buildings where autons attacked and SO MUCH MORE. Other highlights included Sarah Jane Smith’s house and the church Van Goth painted.
 Church from Vincent and the Doctor |
 Exterminate! |
 Not bigger on the inside |
 Statue I didn’t pose with |
 American Diner |
 Church from Father’s Day |
 Ponds’ House |
 The sky is getting dark… |
 Martha just ducked inside with the TARDIS |
 Gala from the Lazarus Experiment |
 Sarah Jane Smith’s House |
 Ianto Goodness |
Exploded building! See the Sandringham Hotel on the right? That’s where I stayed! So close to a Doctor Who filming location!
I am so stupid not to have found it the day before because I ate literally ten feet away, but I finally got to see IANTO’S SHRINE! Not gonna lie; I cried a little. Then I took ALL the photos. Seriously, though, the diner was right next door to where I ate and I stood right on top of the shrine to take a photo of the statue there. I’m such an idiot to not have researched ahead of time to know what was around there. But oh well. I also got a proper photo of myself on the step leading into the Hub. Fans apparently have been chipping away at the sidewalk on either side of the step, to take a piece of Cardiff home with them, but they don’t want to hurt the sacred step.
Some of the kids on the tour knew much more than I did and recognized locations so fast! I was thoroughly impressed. The tour guide had been on Doctor Who and Torchwood a number of times and told some stories about his experiences. They even played Doctor Who and Torchwood clips on the bus so that we could match up the locations before and after seeing them in real life. So cool!
Afterward, I hit Forbidden Planet and bought some Doctor Who presents for friends, a Torchwood book for myself, and a Supernatural magazine for myself (going through Winchester withdrawal). I love Forbidden Planet; I’d been to the one in New York City, so it was neat finding one in Wales! Not to mention Hunger Games juxtaposed with Doctor Who.
I snarfed a few more snarfs on my way home. Dinner was amazingly yummy at Wok to Walk: rice, veggies, tofu, cashews, and teriyaki sauce. I picked the place because of the clever name and it was such a great choice. Dessert was a kinder egg I bought the day before because they are awesome and you can’t get them in the US. I got a toy race car!