Cardiff’s castle is illuminated in the last gold of the day; the stone cold and hard from the day’s endless wind. It never really warmed up as promised today, but stayed shiny and brisk all day. I’m wishing I packed my toque, but refuse to purchase anything warm as I remain optimistic that tomorrow it will be milder. Of course we all know optimism is just another word for denial. But I’ve used denial as my modus operandi most of my life and see no reason to stop now.

 Today was the real start to the Travel Media Association of Canada conference. David Aaronovitch was the keynote speaker. I will be googling that man. He was hilarious and insightful and finished with some Dylan Thomas prose. I realized as he spoke that I’ve never read any Dylan Thomas in my life and the more I listened the clearer it was that I have missed out. I will be checking into that hole in my reading itinerary as soon as I get home.

 I started out on the walking tour of Cardiff but the cold was just too much to bear while standing and listening to our Welsh guide. He was lovely, and in fact, reminded me of a very wonderful Welsh friend back home, but even that was not enough of a draw to keep me following. I broke away as discreetly as possible, headed to a Starbucks to warm up and then began a little retail therapy.

 I discovered a fantastic little shop called Seren at 35 Morgan Arcade www.serenboutique.com I purchased a fantastic blazer with unusual ruffles on the back bottom hem. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  As I was trying things on, a young woman came in with her portfolio to show the shopkeeper. I had to look too, and couldn’t believe her style and the photos she had. It seriously looked like something out of Vogue. Her name was Tsi Tsi. I didn’t catch her last name but she’s from Swansea, so remember that you read about her here first.  I really felt like I was there at her beginning ascent to stardom. I told her I’d be looking for her name in lights in a few years. She was so modest and genuinely grateful for our encouragement as she told us she was just starting out. The best part was talking about her after she left and the shopkeeper said that she too, really loved everything about Tsi Tsi’s designs and her photos.

 This Hilton is proving to be a great deal. I love the view from our window of the castle with the Welsh flag snapping to attention all day. Breakfast was a great buffet with tons of fruit, which is always the selling point for me. The only downside is that like everywhere else so far, the coffee is sad, sad, sad.

 Our room is very large by European standards, heck; it’s large by Canadian standards though our friends told us their room is miniscule. Not sure how that happened. One other hotel pet peeve though…why bother with the little sign that says please hang your towel if you want to reuse it so that we can save water and the environment blah, blah, blah and then bring us fresh towels anyway? I run into this all the time. I even put the washcloth in the tub with the sign on it, so that everything else would be left alone. All to no avail. I know that housekeeping is just trying to show how industrious they are but it all becomes a bit of an unfunny joke.

 I guess if that’s my biggest complaint for the day, then I’m doing pretty good.