Looking for the right kind of Doctor

After our disappointment at not seeing John on Thursday, and a pretty sleepless night not withstanding (remind me not to stay in Cardiff Travelodge again when its student night at Walkabout, and it’s open till 4am!), we were determined to follow the rest of our plans and see the Dr Who and Torchwood sites around Cardiff. Combined with a bit of shopping, of course.

So, map in hand, and fortified by a huge, and incredibly cheap, breakfast in a fab little café, we headed off, past Howells Department Store ('ooh, its where Rose worked, that got blown up'!), to find the shops.

Later, we headed down to the Bay by car, as it would have been a very long walk, there may have been squealing when we first saw the Millennium Centre, and the ‘Torchwood fountain’*. We took in Mermaid Quay, taking a photo of the Restaurant where Chris Eccleston’s Doctor had dinner with a Slitheen, and then went over to the Millennium Centre – sadly you couldn’t get to the Torchwood paving slab/lift to stand on it, as they were resurfacing that bit (how rude), so we had to improvise as above.

The foyer area, as used for the hospital in New Earth, was rather stunning (it also had a gift shop**, but it was a bit lacking in Dr Who memorabilia). No cat nuns either!

Then it was over to the Dr Who exhibition, which was fabulous, as it had on display David Tennant’s pyjamas and dressing gown, his suit and overcoat (how skinny is he!!), K9, a Cyberman and even a Dalek – which was actually pretty intimidating, or perhaps that was just my traumatising memories from childhood. It focussed very much on the recent series, with just mentions of previous incarnations of the Doctor, with lots of actual costumes and props. Very exciting - in fact I even got excited when told I had to wear an arm band (getting it off later was another story!)

We sat and drank cocktails looking out at the Bay, pondering that at any point someone could walk past, though sadly they didn’t... and thinking (and hoping and praying) about seeing John that evening. Oh well!

The people of Cardiff were lovely, really friendly and very helpful, from our taxi driver who sounded just like James Fox, to pretty much all the waiting staff we encountered, and the man who offered to take our photo outside the Millennium Centre. There didn't seem to be the cynicism about tourists that you get in other cities - York being one.

*I know that isn’t actually its name, but it is in my head

**which is actually quite funny, as the Doctor says it should have a shop and goes on about just where he would put it!