This past week, the Hansard Society Scholars program took all of us scholars to Cardiff Wales for three days of lectures, tours, and parliamentary visits.
Trains, Planes, and Automobiles
Cardiff is about a two hour train ride from London. As a native of suburban New York, I grew up riding trains and have mastered public transportation, which has made the actual act of traveling to a place one of the most interesting parts of every one of my trips. To get to Cardiff, we took a train from Paddington station. Last time I was in Paddington was the day I arrived in London and I was therefore incredibly sleep deprived and didn’t manage to pay too much attention to what it was like. This time, however, I made note of three things:
- Paddington is open air. There are no walls on either end of the station where pedestrians enter and trains depart. As someone who is used to commuting through Grand Central Terminal in New York, this was somewhat odd. Similarly, the structure, while nice, isn’t quite as grand as many in the states (such as Grand Central or Union Station in Washington, D.C, for instance) or even those in Europe (Milan).
- Trains have assigned coaches. I often take Amtrak from New York to Boston and aside from the distinction between a business class and a coach class seat, there are no assignments. Apparently most non-regional trains within London have assigned train cars where you can reserve your seats. I also saw this in Vienna, though few people on that particular train adhered to the seat reservations.
- The station is not a destination in itself. Grand Central is one of New York’s most historic buildings and, in my opinion, is also among the city’s most beautiful. Made of white marble and topped with its famous ceiling of constellations, the terminal is visited by people from all over the world. Even my mother, who has commuted through Grand Central Terminal twice a day, five days a week for as long as I can remember maintains that it is her favorite building in New York.
Thoughts on Cardiff
Upon arrival, I noticed exactly what I had been most excited to see: signs written in Welsh. The Welsh language is notoriously complicated to non-native speakers and can be spotted by its excessive use of vowels. For example, the phrase ‘Cardiff is the capital of Wales’ translates to ‘caerdydd yw prifddinas Cymru.’ I have always found this fascinating, so to see it in person and hear locals speaking the language was absolutely incredible.
On our walking tour later that afternoon we learned that Cardiff was once among the world’s most important port cities and had a booming coal mining industry until recently. It was also the city where the first million dollar check, which was used for a coal trade deal, was signed. The city currently has a population of nearly 350,000 people, though it felt much more like a small town: no matter where we went or at what time, we hardly saw any other people. Most cities, even small ones, have areas that are almost always crowded. And while we certainly visited such places in Cardiff, we never encountered any large groups of people.
Cardiff Castle, the bay, and most restaurants were quaint, but quiet. After the first day, this became somewhat unnerving as Cardiff has all the amenities and services of a large city, but lacks the population to fill it.
Over the course of our short trip, we learned about Welsh devolution, the processes through which Wales has become more and more independent from the United Kingdom. We had lectures from several members of the Welsh Assembly, including one party leader who generously rearranged her entire schedule just to be able to spend a few minutes with us in between major party dealings.
We also received a tour of the Assembly building from an incredibly charismatic tour guide. The assembly building opened fairly recently and has a thoughtful design. Meant to resemble a tree, the roof has wave-like arches and connects in a trunk-like structure in the center of the building that opens to the debating chambers. This is meant to symbolize the importance of this assembly as the root of democracy in Wales.
One of my favorite experiences on this trip was sitting in on first minister’s questions. During this period, all MPs have the opportunity to ask the first minister questions on any and all matters relevant to Wales and its position as a member of the United Kingdom. Though all members speak English fluently, many (about 40%) are also fluent in Welsh and therefore pose their questions in the language. This meant that we were required to wear headsets in order to receive live translations.
Another favorite experience was the photo walk I took with a fellow photography-inclined friend on my program. The weather this day was particularly lovely and we were able to get sun-lit shots of many of the sights we had seen during our rainy walking tour. This also gave me the opportunity to try out Welsh public transportation. As our hotel was in close proximity to one of Cardiff’s monuments, it was quite easy to figure out and was incredibly convenient. However, my experience on Cardiff’s buses reinforced my observation that the city is relatively empty. I rode the bus a total of six times while in Cardiff but did not ever see more than three other people riding it. For such a sprawling city, this was strange.
Seeming lack of residents aside, Cardiff treated us Hansard Society Scholars well and taught us much about the structure of the United Kingdom. It also allowed us the opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of London, if for a short while. Though the break from London’s fast pace was refreshing, I was happy to return to my university flat and find that I felt right at home.
As my program’s classes begin and we prepare to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland for a similar trip, I am incredibly excited to continue learning.
