A Little Trip To Wales
Apr. 9th, 2012 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeFrantic EuFuria was truly magnificent. Beyond magnificent in fact. However, it was largely down to the company rather than the event itself which has given me an interesting perspective on furmeets and conventions in general.
We arrived on Friday evening to discover a lack of furries in the Hostel's bar. We wanted to go to popular American titty bar Hooters but upon arrival outside said establishment, we found the doors bolted and we had to make do with Pizza Express as that was the only place serving at 10pm on Good Friday in Bristol. The curry place wanted to lock up and we didn't want to be rushed. In all honesty, Pizza Express was closing too but we had to eat something and the exasperated Frenchwoman was pleasant enough. The pizzas were the thinnest imaginable and Wolfie's had a centre full of rocket hiding a huge hole but we shared some nice rose wine and talked of many things, of scimitars and shields. And puppies. We later found out that Hooters had been closed since February due to rent and building problems so with tummies full, we headed back to where we were staying, hoping to catch up with a few fuzzies.
However, at the Hostel, we discovered an almost deserted bar so we ended up talking to the archetypal bearded Liberal Democrat supporter who happened to be the barman for about an hour and a half. He was an interesting chappie and told us a great deal about his life, as well as asking questions about the Fandom. He seemed to dig the whole furry thing, which was rather brilliant. We then chatted amongst ourselves for a bit before heading to bed around 2am, tired after the long journey and poor quality food we had been eating on our four hour trip.
Apparently my drunken snoring and whimpering in my sleep kept everyone awake so come morning time, I wasn't the most popular puppy at the party. But recommending a local bar called Graze for an excellent breakfast - with brilliant local ale from the Bath Brewery (oh yes, beer with breakfast, and 5.2% beer at that) - mellowed the mood somewhat while the chocolate festival we visited subsequently got the day back on track. There was loads of overpriced goodies there, from chocolate to donuts to eclairs you could put your penis in. Thornton's have a chocolate liquer now, which we sampled and loved, but didn't buy mwah ha ha ha! We also tried some salty chocolate and spied a woman selling crap balloons. We grabbed an overpriced donut and proceeded to smear most of the brown coloured cream all over our faces such was its design. The pastry was a bit dry in all honesty and we looked like we had been feltching someone with a bowel condition.
We needed glowsticks for the night's festivities so we traipsed around Bristol to go to a pound store. I picked up loads of pink ones while everyone else went for multi-coloured fun. After this, we headed back to the Hostel and prepared ourselves for a trip to Wales.
Oh yes, I saw it from the other side of the Bristol Channel last November but now we were finally going!! We headed over the Severn Bridge - £6.00 to enter Wales yet no charge to leave, make your own joke - and as we did, the anticipation was building. I had never been to Wales before and so was massively excited about our pending trip to Cardiff. As it turned out, it wasn't a particularly Welsh city at all. Unlike Edinburgh, which oozes with a Scottish identity, the Welsh capital was just another place, albeit one with an excellent castle and civic quarter full of grandiose and beautiful buildings. I annoyed Taneli, Enteirah and Wolfie with my insistence of looking around and taking photographs, while also reading as much Welsh as I could find. I loved the dual language thing going on, it was like being in another country yet not being in another country, although I did wonder about the level of fluency in Welsh, particularly in Cardiff itself.
Welsh Greggs are as disappointing as their English equivalents while we also stopped off at the Millennium Stadium as it is an iconic piece of architecture slap bang in the centre of the city. We stopped by the WRU shop where I picked up a plush red Welsh dragon and bored the salesman with my 'first trip to Wales' talk. We then wandered around the centre of the city in the Welsh drizzle, spotting the numerous arguments and considerable levels of aggravation that seemed to be inherent in the culture here. We saw a nice looking Victorian clock, delightfully made in Leeds and still working, while we called in at the central market where I bought a husky plush and listened to an Englishwoman badmouth where she now lived.
Twitter was telling me there was a Cardiff meet on, and there would be some Twitterati who would be there. Having walked around Queen Street and the railway station, establishing that Cardiff is like most other places in the UK, we decided to head to Bar Icon, a bright and gaudy gay bar near Marks & Spencer where the meet is held. The jukebox here was excellent, as was the company, as we met up with Loup Pony, Moonie Pony and a handful of other furs who were chilling out and having fun. This was after our usual half hour of curmudgeonness (sic) in the corner first. The time flew and we needed to head back pretty promptly but it was definitely an excellent addition to our trip and a fantastic lasting memory as we headed back over the Severn Bridge and towards Bristol to embark on the evening's festivities.
We arrived on Friday evening to discover a lack of furries in the Hostel's bar. We wanted to go to popular American titty bar Hooters but upon arrival outside said establishment, we found the doors bolted and we had to make do with Pizza Express as that was the only place serving at 10pm on Good Friday in Bristol. The curry place wanted to lock up and we didn't want to be rushed. In all honesty, Pizza Express was closing too but we had to eat something and the exasperated Frenchwoman was pleasant enough. The pizzas were the thinnest imaginable and Wolfie's had a centre full of rocket hiding a huge hole but we shared some nice rose wine and talked of many things, of scimitars and shields. And puppies. We later found out that Hooters had been closed since February due to rent and building problems so with tummies full, we headed back to where we were staying, hoping to catch up with a few fuzzies.
However, at the Hostel, we discovered an almost deserted bar so we ended up talking to the archetypal bearded Liberal Democrat supporter who happened to be the barman for about an hour and a half. He was an interesting chappie and told us a great deal about his life, as well as asking questions about the Fandom. He seemed to dig the whole furry thing, which was rather brilliant. We then chatted amongst ourselves for a bit before heading to bed around 2am, tired after the long journey and poor quality food we had been eating on our four hour trip.
Apparently my drunken snoring and whimpering in my sleep kept everyone awake so come morning time, I wasn't the most popular puppy at the party. But recommending a local bar called Graze for an excellent breakfast - with brilliant local ale from the Bath Brewery (oh yes, beer with breakfast, and 5.2% beer at that) - mellowed the mood somewhat while the chocolate festival we visited subsequently got the day back on track. There was loads of overpriced goodies there, from chocolate to donuts to eclairs you could put your penis in. Thornton's have a chocolate liquer now, which we sampled and loved, but didn't buy mwah ha ha ha! We also tried some salty chocolate and spied a woman selling crap balloons. We grabbed an overpriced donut and proceeded to smear most of the brown coloured cream all over our faces such was its design. The pastry was a bit dry in all honesty and we looked like we had been feltching someone with a bowel condition.
We needed glowsticks for the night's festivities so we traipsed around Bristol to go to a pound store. I picked up loads of pink ones while everyone else went for multi-coloured fun. After this, we headed back to the Hostel and prepared ourselves for a trip to Wales.
Oh yes, I saw it from the other side of the Bristol Channel last November but now we were finally going!! We headed over the Severn Bridge - £6.00 to enter Wales yet no charge to leave, make your own joke - and as we did, the anticipation was building. I had never been to Wales before and so was massively excited about our pending trip to Cardiff. As it turned out, it wasn't a particularly Welsh city at all. Unlike Edinburgh, which oozes with a Scottish identity, the Welsh capital was just another place, albeit one with an excellent castle and civic quarter full of grandiose and beautiful buildings. I annoyed Taneli, Enteirah and Wolfie with my insistence of looking around and taking photographs, while also reading as much Welsh as I could find. I loved the dual language thing going on, it was like being in another country yet not being in another country, although I did wonder about the level of fluency in Welsh, particularly in Cardiff itself.
Welsh Greggs are as disappointing as their English equivalents while we also stopped off at the Millennium Stadium as it is an iconic piece of architecture slap bang in the centre of the city. We stopped by the WRU shop where I picked up a plush red Welsh dragon and bored the salesman with my 'first trip to Wales' talk. We then wandered around the centre of the city in the Welsh drizzle, spotting the numerous arguments and considerable levels of aggravation that seemed to be inherent in the culture here. We saw a nice looking Victorian clock, delightfully made in Leeds and still working, while we called in at the central market where I bought a husky plush and listened to an Englishwoman badmouth where she now lived.
Twitter was telling me there was a Cardiff meet on, and there would be some Twitterati who would be there. Having walked around Queen Street and the railway station, establishing that Cardiff is like most other places in the UK, we decided to head to Bar Icon, a bright and gaudy gay bar near Marks & Spencer where the meet is held. The jukebox here was excellent, as was the company, as we met up with Loup Pony, Moonie Pony and a handful of other furs who were chilling out and having fun. This was after our usual half hour of curmudgeonness (sic) in the corner first. The time flew and we needed to head back pretty promptly but it was definitely an excellent addition to our trip and a fantastic lasting memory as we headed back over the Severn Bridge and towards Bristol to embark on the evening's festivities.
