Medieval Times

Wow there is sooo much happening in Cardiff at the moment! It's great, although personally it's all being eclipsed this weekend by the visit of a very old friend that I haven't seen in way too long! If anyone needs us we'll be on the sofa eating ice cream (I got some lovely vegan ice cream) and watching Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and probably some Tommy Tiernan dvds, it's going to be great! ...I'm more then a little excited!

In other news, last week I went to a special medieval info and talk day with the Celtic Learners network at Caerphilly castle, it was fantastic! The weather was great so I did skip one talk to sit in the sun eating a yummy lunch, but I went to the rest of them. 

First up was Castle Architecture, which was made all the better by being in a castle, but also by the fact that I had recently been to Trim Castle so I could see how much of what was said made it to Ireland, and the reasons for a lot of the design. Then was a talk on history as it was viewed in medieval times, ie through a religious filter. Very interesting to hear about lots of stuff that had just never occurred to me and also the rational behind the earth being 6000 years old and why the middle ages are called the middle ages.

After lunch it was the Black Death, and who doesn't like a good talk on the Black Death! Though I was not to happy when I got home to see that a squirrel carrying it had been found in California! 

The final talk of the day was about Owain GlynDyr which I found the most interesting, since as an Irish person I know very little about him. For the non Welsh out there, he was a Welsh noble who crowned himself prince of Wales and tried to get rid of the English, a fascinating story and legend, and it got an interesting conversation going about Welsh independance!

All in all a very good day, think I'll be keeping an eye out to see what they have happening in Autumn. 

Right back to cleaning the house before my guest arrives!