Read in a newsletter today: “There was something that surprised me a lot when I was in France: the separation of state and church is very important to the French. To talk about the faith is a taboo.” Stefanie, a German Student, in Focus ministry Newsletter, Summer 2010.
Day: July 9, 2010
Visiting Cardiff Castle
My parents have been staying with us since Tuesday, and are going back to France on Sunday morning. As they have come over the week and we have had several commitments, we have not been able to go very far to visit places this time. Instead, they have helped us packing up, and they have looked after the children one evening while Esther and I went to speak in a Church in Lampeter.
Nevertheless, we have been able to go to visit Cardiff Castle this morning. I had been twice before, but am still surprised by it. I learned today that William Burgess, the architect commissioned by the Marquess of Bute to restore Cardiff Castle loved opium. It is not surprising when you see the designs of some of the rooms. It is a real excentric Victorian place. My mum thought Bute was mad to want something like that. But was he really? He was one of the wealthiest men in the world at the time, and had more money than he would ever need. After all, very reach people today do not behave differently do they?