Caerphilly Castle and Christmas Market

When one is forced to deal with Emotional Halfwits (cleaner version of Bridget Jones' term), it is always good to have gone to a Castle.

So yesterday, Dawn collected Katharine and Stefani and myself, and brought along her tenant Anna, and we all went toodling back across the mountain to where Dawn lives in Caerphilly. We toodled by car, of course. The Christmas Market was set up in the town centre, across the road from the Castle. "Castle" in Welsh is "Castell" -- this looks like an easy word to pronounce until one remembers that one is in Wales and that the "ll" is that fun consonant that we have already learned in a previous lesson. It is much easier to say at the beginning of a word, such as Llandaff or Llanishen, than it is at the end. A lot of side spitting is going on, so people should keep their distance from amateurs.

Castell Caerffili is Wales' largest moated medieval castle and there are trebouchets in the outer yard area. (For some reason I like trebouchets after watching some Discovery Channel show where they made one and pretended to attack a castle wall. Hurling things at high speeds is good fun.) The Castle was built in the 13th century by Gilbert de Clare, lord of Glamorgan under Henry III.

Most of the castle is ruined, but the Main Hall is still a function location for parties and such. There was a little market with food vendors and crafty people so my picture is more populated than I would prefer. There is a museum in another of the more intact towers. There is a Ghost of a Green Lady who haunts one of the large cathedral windows, looking for her banished lover to return and collect her.

One must attempt the Tower Challenge. This tower leans at a greater degree than the tower in Pisa. The challenge is to put one's heels against the base of the Tower and attempt not to fall over fowards. I only have proof of Katharine doing this. I succeeded in holding for a second by gripping my nails into the stones (very good for the cold fingers), until Dawn berated me for cheating. However, this was not mentioned in the initial instructions, so any means necessary... but i suppose i failed if one is being particular.

The castle is unusual in that it has two skins of walls, making it even more difficult to attack. It was never taken!

Before we went to the Castle, we meandered through Caerphilly Christmas Market and Famers Market and then had lunch at the Courthouse Pub. Market had international foods (including Swedish Pear Cider! with samples. mmm!) as well as local artisans -- kind of similar to the vendors at the Cardiff Christmas Market.

This particular dessert is the largest mixture of various and sundry sweets I have ever seen. I was too sated from Hearty Ale Pie, peas and potatoes to partake in the festivity so instead served as Documentarian. It's called something like the Luscious Delight or some such ridonkulosity, but we renamed it the Goblet of Sick.

At the bottom was a chunk of chocolate fudge cake, topped in fudge sauce, then about 10 profiteroles, two scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and smarties (these are NOT m&m's -- i asked and was scolded).

Finally, there is really no joy in life if you do not see it's absurdities. And make sure you document them. A Mini Cooper El Camino -- hee hee hee hee, snort!

It really is rather a travesty, yet so funny.