Michele comes to Cardiff!

This has been a very exciting week and started off with a visit from one of my best friends Michele :)

She arrived on Tuesday after a long flight to London and then a long train ride to Cardiff, what a trooper!  Once the jet lag was over, we hit the town on Wednesday, shopping all day long, then having a wonderful dinner at Ben's restaurant, Strada:

We indulged in dessert:

and even got some Christmas Crackers!

for those of you unfamiliar with this English tradition, a Christmas cracker is a paper tube that makes a pop when you open it and contains a joke, paper crown and a little toy.  Ours had some type of ring and curly screw, not the most amusing toy!

But we did enjoy our crowns ;)

After dinner we hung out with a couple of nuts:

well, nut crackers that is ;)

then had a bottle of champagne at the VIP Lounge:

so very VIP!

After a bottle of champagne at dinner and a bottle of champagne at VIP, Michele and I got a bit silly, as you can imagine!

running around Cardiff Bay and taking silly pictures:

then having the bright idea to stand on a frozen fountain in the middle of town:

Luckily Ben was there to supervise and help:

even getting on the ice himself!

and even I got peer pressured into joining in ;)

here's the fountain from further away:

a couple more silly shots on some random diggers on the way home:

and we were done for the night!  Cardiff was great fun, but Michele and I had to get in bed for our big trip to Paris the next day, pictures to come soon!