I think we found Wales' Disneyland!

On our last day in Wales, we drove again through the mountains past streams and waterfalls, to a set of caves. What we didn't expect was the caves to be like a theme park. I mean, I read it in the guidebook, but didn't want to believe it. But when we arrived at the Dan-yr-ogof caves and saw the large parking lot with an entrance of a brontosaurus, we began to get an idea of what we were in for! It was cute to see the children so excited though. There was one child who turned to his parents with a big grin and said "Did you know that's a pterodactyl?" It reminded me of the kid in Jerry Maguire who said "Did you know a rabbits head weighs eight pounds?"

Syd was cringing as we walked through the park, but once you get into the caves, the natural wonders that they are speak for themselves. The stalactites (like the phallic looking one below) in the first cave were truly majestic, and took hundreds of years to form from dripping water, calcium and lime. There were actually 10 miles of caves discovered back in the mid twentieth century, but only one mile is open to the public.
The second cave - the cathedral cave - aptly named for its domed ceilings - was the best. The ceiling in it must have been 20 feet high, and brightly lit so you could feel the vastness of it. There was also a number of thundering waterfalls within it. Near the waterfall there was cheesy wedding music and a chapel set up, no doubt to advertise itself as a wedding venue, but hey, I guess the Wales tourism board has to do what it can!Part 2 of our disneyland experience was at Caerphilly castle near Cardiff. When we crossed the great drawbridge into the castle grounds we immediately saw a number of people dressed up in medieval garb, including kids. Of course I was instantly pumped, but Syd rolled his eyes and said "here we go again!".
There were medieval demonstrations throughout the castle grounds, including the firing of the 4 different types of war machines (i.e. catapults).
We lucked out because they only fire them on holiday weekends. Syd admitted that the catapults were the highlight of this massive castle. I couldn't agree with him more, and actually deemed this my favourite castle of the entire weekend. ;o)