After coming up empty-handed on ghost encounters, we made our way downstairs for breakfast before beginning another adventurous day. I ordered a bacon sandwich with a coffee, which was delicious and a nice little change-up from the full English breakfast that we had been eating every single morning. We took our time and enjoyed our morning and meal before packing our things and leaving the haunted pub. That day, we were setting off to cross the England border and visit a brand new country: Wales.

We had over an hour’s drive ahead of us, mostly on the M4, which included crossing over the River Severn and the Prince of Wales Bridge. Crossing over the border gave us all a new country to check off our list and before we knew it, we were in the country’s capital city of Cardiff. The plan was to spend a good portion of the day in Cardiff exploring a few things, before driving back to England and into Birmingham. While Wales is a beautiful country featuring gorgeous landscapes, we mainly wanted to venture there to say we had visited another country. And it was very easy to do since it was so close to where we were staying at in England.

Even though Cardiff is the capital of Wales, and its largest city, they only have a population of over 360,000. It seemed to be bustling, though. After we found parking, we walked over to Cardiff Castle, a medieval castle built in the 11th century by Norman invaders. Throughout its time, it has seen several conflicts and wars, including the Norman invasion of Wales, the English Civil War, and the Second World War. During World War II, the wall encompassing the castle was used as a raid shelter, which we were able to walk through and get a feel for, with artifacts and exhibits set up, along with speakers in the walls imitating incoming missile strikes.

The Castle Apartments, as they’re called, were the residential buildings that date back to the 16th century. After being in disrepair, the mansion was bought by the Bute family in 1766 and they didn’t hold back on any expenses. Decorating every room as lavishly as possible, it was like walking through a king’s mansion. The expansive library inside was extra impressive. This mansion, along with the Norman Keep (the stone structure to stand guard of the castle) was a cool way to spend a couple hours of our time. I would recommend it to anyone who may find themselves in Wales.

Upon leaving the castle, it was time for lunch. We exited the castle gates into the streets of Cardiff and walked two blocks until we came across a place called Elevens Bar & Grill. It looked like a cool place, so we grabbed a table, ordered a couple pizzas to split, and of course a lunchtime beer. On the tv’s was a cricket game. Had it not been for the cricket game, the spot sort of felt like we were back in America at a sports bar. The pizza, we all agreed, was absolutely delicious. The beer was an English bitter from the local brewery, Brains, and was really good. It was their flagship beer, I believe.

We really took our time eating lunch that day, probably spending an hour there. It was really nice to just relax, eat, and drink without being in a rush, which trips like that sometimes lend towards with so many things to try to do and see. We just sat, talked, and watched some of the cricket game and agreed that it definitely was an odd sport. I followed all that up with a double shot of Haig whiskey, soccer superstar David Beckham’s whiskey, before we finally paid our tab and headed back out onto the streets to buy a Welsh souvenir or two.

Originally, the plan was to go hiking after visiting Cardiff Castle. But a few days before our trip began, we had mentioned that a possible alternative to hiking was to go back to England a little bit earlier and attend a soccer game in Birmingham. We were just going to keep our options open and play it by ear. Sometimes, we have discovered after two international trips, we tend to get a little overzealous while planning a trip, trying to see and do as much as possible. So after lunch, we decided that hiking just wasn’t quite going to work out. It would have been biting off a little more than we could chew. Although we would all have loved to see some of the beautiful Welsh landscape, it just wasn’t going to fit in our schedule, so we hit the road again and our short, but great, time in Wales came to a close.

About 120 miles were added to our rental car when we arrived in the UK’s second largest city, Birmingham. Unlike the previous couple of nights, we were staying at a hotel that night in Birmingham instead of an old pub. We checked into our hotel around dinner time, set our things down, and quickly began our walk to St. Andrews, the soccer stadium for the Birmingham City Football Club. Our hotel was located in the city, so we just had to walk about 25 minutes to get to the stadium, which was pretty ideal. As we approached the stadium gates, I knew right away that this soccer experience was going to be totally different than the one a few days earlier at the West Ham game in London.

West Ham’s stadium was built for the London Olympics in 2012, so it was practically brand new. St. Andrews Stadium opened in 1906. Walking up to its exterior, the stadium gave off a historic vibe, similar to how I felt visiting Wrigley Field in Chicago. You could just feel the historic energy of the place. And I loved that. The team itself has been around since 1875. Us and thousands of other fans were filing in like crazy, getting last minute pre-game beers (I found out that English soccer matches won’t let fans drink alcohol in their seats…which I found very strange) before the match against Huddersfield got under way.

Like I’ve already admitted, I don’t know much at all about soccer. But I pretty quickly became a fan of the team throughout the game. I think it was a mix of the history of the club, the lively atmosphere at the game, and the fact that I have never heard anyone in my entire life claim they were a Birmingham City fan. I honestly don’t even think I knew the team existed until about a week prior to the trip. But I learned some things about them. I found out they are in the Championship League, which is the second tier of the English Football League, but can make their way up to the Premier League (1st Tier) by winning. I also found out that Tom Brady is a part owner of the team.

The atmosphere of the game was a lot of fun. Even though I didn’t know exactly what all was going on, I enjoyed being surrounded by so many people that took their team very, very seriously. Although I enjoyed the West Ham game as well, we all felt like this game was our authentic English soccer experience. It felt less commercialized and more-so of just working-class people, and die-hard soccer fans, filling up a stadium to live and die with their team. Birmingham City ended up winning the game with a 4-1 final score, sending the fans home happy. Even though a hike in Wales would have been awesome, I was really glad we went to the game. I’m always up for new experiences, and it was certainly an experience like I’ve never had before.

After the game we flooded the streets with our fellow Blues fans and made our 25-minute walk back to the hotel. Like always, it was nice to unwind at the end of a busy day. We got our showers, persuaded the hotel front desk staff to give us access to our room’s air condition because we’re Americans and we don’t sleep unless we have goosebumps (if you’ve ever been to Europe, you understand), and finally turned out the lights on another day. Four days were in the books; three were left to go. Cheers!

View of the city of Cardiff from the Norman Keep

Garett

England Trip: Day Four