On Friday 18
th September I took the Deputy Head of Mission at the Swiss Embassy, Minister Schmid, on a visit around Cardiff, taking in some of our most famous landmark buildings - the
Senedd, the
Wales Millennium Centre and
Cardiff Castle. This was the Minister’s first visit to Wales, so we needed to impress!
We were joined on our visit to Cardiff Bay in the morning by Ruth Thomas Lehmann, Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Wales. Starting in the Senedd, we were shown around the building by a very informative guide who pointed out some of the sustainability elements of the building and explained the ideas behind its unique design. Minister Schmid was very impressed, particularly with the openness and transparency of the building. We took the opportunity for some photos here before walking over to the Wales Millennium Centre.
On our tour of this iconic building we took in the impressive Donald Gordon Theatre and visited the back stage area, where the set was being prepared for a performance of La Traviata that evening. We also toured behind the scenes and visited one of the dressing rooms. After the tour ended we walked along the waterfront to visit the
Norwegian Church arts centre and then called in to the nearby
‘Tube’ visitor centre to see the interactive exhibitions and the large-scale model of Cardiff Bay. After a short stop for a delicious lunch in the Wales Millennium Centre we left Cardiff Bay and headed back into Cardiff town centre.
We were joined for our afternoon tour of Cardiff Castle by the four musicians of the Gémeaux Quartett, who were performing that evening at the
Swiss Ambassador’s Award Concert in the
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Our Castle guide gave us a fantastic tour of the Castle apartments and Minister Schmid and the musicians really enjoyed it. This completed the tour of Cardiff and Minister Schmid told me he’d really enjoyed the day and was looking forward to returning to Wales!