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    • Chris in the UK
      11
      Day 31

      A Façade City

      September 26, 2022 in England ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

      "Bath is a façade city," said our tour guide Charlotte. "For wealthy Georgians, this place was Las Vegas or Monte Carlo. It was all about tourism. So the money was spent on the front of buildings, not so much on the back."

      She really did look a lot like Imogen Stubbs, did Charlotte. But her tour was progressive and electric. She wasn't trying to sell Bath's image as a place of Austen-franchise romance. She wanted to take us behind the "honey coloured sandstone" to the impulses and real stories behind Bath's architecture and existence. She started with the myth of Bladud, a leper whose pigs were cured of leprosy in the spring waters of Bath, and who founded the settlement the Romans later called Aqua Sulis. Then she talked us through the Roman settlement and the Georgian appropriation of the Roman myth, before talking about more modern controversies - like the overpriced and overdue Thermae Baths, a privatised venture selling "Taking the Waters" in modern architecture. Stuart and I had nearly gone to the spa instead of the tour. We were right to change our minds. A walking tour of Bath, starting at the Abbey, taking in Pultney Bridge, the Circus, the Crescent, Beau Nash's Theatre Royal, the Thermae, Jane Austen's house in Trim Street (Austen hated it, and I loved her for hating it), and the medieval wall just around the corner. It was 90 minutes of ocular delight and intellectual thrill.

      I was in a lot of pain walking around Bath, though. My foot was screwed. I took my last codeine tablets just trying to stay good humoured, but I still cracked the shits when we embarked on tour number two at the Roman Baths, an interminable trove of audio devices we all held up to our ears, shuffling through the (Georgian restored) Roman Baths. I could barely stand the longwinded audio tour after taking such a great walking tour. I turned the damn thing off. Stuart had one of the biggest smiles I've seen on his face this whole trip - he loved the Roman Baths! I felt more in common with the slutty teenage girls taking ass pics by the baths themselves, next to a paid model dressed as a Roman Matron photobombing everyone's instagram. I wanted to take some slutty shots myself, but I didn't want to throw my back out.

      We had Sicilian for lunch. Our waiter had platinum curled hair and dark brown eyes. I had an espresso with lemon and sugar in it.

      Anyway, I loved Bath. And the fact that we got a parking ticket for 25 pounds because their own parking system was broken didn't depress me. Stu is disputing it. He is right to dispute it, but I am more "this river lives in Mombasa anyway" about it all. And let the record show: if the council hadn't been so shitty with their parking, we would have spent a LOT more money in their little town, so, lol. #TooBadSoSad

      After we got home, I went and had a quick shave (just with foils, not with a blade) at Exposure Barbers, then Stu bought a book, we had a beer, and some KFC for dinner.      Read more

    • Chris in the UK
      Day 32

      Unwinding

      September 27, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      We left the alarm off this morning, and slept in for an hour and a half. Today was to be a day without obligations or commitments.

      We went for morning coffee at Bristol's Oldest Cafe in Corn Street. I imagine the building has seen better days, but I was aware that in the 18th Century that coffeehouses were centres of economic and political decision making.

      From there we walked the Christmas Steps to Bristol Museum, greeted with a very welcome display about anti-racism, and about Bristol's long connection to slavery, slave money, and white supremacy. It's not just the "great men of Bristol" like Wills and Colston who derived their wealth from slavery, but the very buildings and assets of the city were funded from sugar and tobacco plantations in the Americas. Bristol's riches are Black riches. It's great to see Museums pivoting from Nationalist mythologies to egalitarian truths.

      I enjoyed the art gallery, especially the chance to enjoy another Hubert Robert, and a spectacular statue of Daedalus and Icarus. The Gift Shop underwhelmed us for free, but we still gave a 10 pound donation to the Museum. It looked a little worse for wear.

       The rest of the day was unremarkable. Some shopping at Next and House of Fraser. A beer at the art nouveau Clayton Hotel (with its magical Kubrickian toilet). A few griffin sightings. Some squid. Paying the congestion tax for tomorrow's return to London. And a nap.

      Stu and I are starting to reflect on the trip as a whole, and reminding ourselves that the important thing is to look forward to the future, not dwell in the past. We've just been through such a riotous hurricane of hedonism, exoticism and inconvenience over the past four weeks, it's hard not to be captivated by Whatever The Hell Just Happened. But we are making plans for work, for Stu's retirement, for my mental health, for our physical health. And I have been nurturing the seed of another trip for years now anyway - back to San Francisco, down to New Mexico, and then to wherever Stuart wants to go. It's important to have something on the horizon.

      I've just paid the 15 pound congestion tax in the middle of typing up this footprint. We discussed tonight that we probably won't want to do another driving holiday. It is a world of trouble for us. So far from liberating our movements, it has lumbered us with this huge chunk of metal we're supposed to care for, protect, and pay for. Parking has been a nightmare. Driving has been a needless stress. And catching buses, trains, ferries, taxis, and ubers is such a great way to get to know a city.

      It's our last night in Bristol, this deliciously imperfect place, everything just a bit scuffed and scarred, but pointed resolutely toward the future. I hope I take some of this energy with me.      Read more

    • Chris in the UK
      Day 30

      Bristol Fashion

      September 25, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      Day 30 of this bizarre Odyssey. Who knows what's going on back in Ithaca. I'm sure Penelope and Telemachus have everything in hand.

      Today was another day of weird delays and detours. There's nothing to do at this point but to lean into it, and to see every plan of action as a mere prayer to some foreign and capricious god.

      Our plan was to head out to the Clifton Suspension Bridge at 8am, then have a coffee in Clifton, come home and rest, and I would go for a massage on my legs for which I've been taking pain pills.

      What happened instead was we went for coffee at Caffe Nero, took an hour to get the bus to Clifton (our tickets didn't even work), ended up spending an inordinate amount of time at the Visitor's Centre (the charming woman there wanted to give us a free TED talk on the fate of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but it was pretty cool I will admit), then after coffee we got stuck in a traffic jam on the way home because of the Great Bristol Run. At home, we had to change hotel rooms because the toilet wouldn't flush (right when flushing was R E Q U I R E D [I said "Abandon Shit" and Stu said "Shit shape and Bristol Fashion."]) and then we ended up walking to a super scruffy part of Bristol, me holding onto a failing bag of laundry like a body bag (we lost a sock, and then picked it out of the gutter on the way home), and then FINALLY, I went for my massage and the guy used a massage gun and wouldn't stop telling me conspiracy theories.

      But you know what? Today was GREAT. Coffee at Bar Chocolat in Clifton was beautiful, and the bus ride was fun. We saw SO many great buildings we would never have noticed driving around. The suspension bridge was astonishing, and I loved seeing the rejected designs at the Visitor's Centre, especially a gaudy Victorian gothic style design by the Colossus of Roads, Thomas Telford. I K Brunel's Egyptian styled suspension design is peerless, and in real life, it takes your breath away.

      I got to see two parts of Bristol that tourists wouldn't normally see, a Redcliffe Council Estate and the St Judes market: so much poverty, so much struggle, so much ugliness, and so much camaraderie and nobility.

      And after it all, Stu and I went to The Wellhead and recited the rivers we had now seen:

      The River Thames
      The River Tillingbourne
      The Trent
      The Foss
      The Ouse
      The Tyne
      The Tweed
      The Waters of Leith
      The Clyde
      The Tay
      The River Ness
      and now
      The River Avon.

      Bristol is a jewel of a place. I'm having a great time. And I have a working toilet too.      Read more

    • Chris in the UK
      11
      Day 29

      The Delays

      September 24, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      I guess we must have thought, looking at the EasyJet website five months ago, that since the flight from Inverness to Bristol was only an hour and ten minutes, we'd really have the whole day in Bristol to enjoy and discover.

      What's an hour and ten minutes? It's nothing! We'd be practically waking up in Bristol, right? And once there, the airport is just outside of town, we can drive straight to our digs, and strut around town!

      This isn't exactly what happened. The flight itself was a masterpiece of genial efficiency, Scottish style. The road from our Inverness cottage to the airport was empty and beautiful. The airport was small. The security were friendly and clear. The aircraft was small. I had nobody sitting next to me. We got away on time. We arrived early.

      But the shit and the fan had not yet met their point of encounter.

      That was to come the moment we stepped outside Bristol airport, and had to wait for a long time for the bus to the Car Rental Building, located I think on one of the Faroe Islands considering how long it took us to get there. The building was a desolate glass and steel warehouse, and when we walked in, we were the only customers in a huge hall surrounded by competing car rental companies. It was like an abandoned space port.

      The Sixt Car Rental booth was abandoned, but eventually an obsequious man in a waistcoat arrived and started spinning us all sorts of complex yarns. My face turned to thunder again. I was having none of it. Stuart was the picture of calm. We were referred to the Europcar booth - useless, and then to the Avis booth - useful, but hilariously slow. It took us around 30 minutes of standing at the booth for the computer to process our rental, a little Fiat for four days to be dropped off at Euston.

      The Fiat was a nice size, but it had a strange ring around its gear stick. You had to pull the ring up like a foreskin to get the thing into reverse. We only learned that by Googling it and watching a YouTube tutorial while the car was plonked illegally in the Hertz parking spaces.

      Isn't this a great Find Penguins entry?

      Anyway, we made it to Bristol and we were able to park the car - but not check in. So we went to Cabot Circus - another lunar bio-dome full of disaffected teens with painted hair and torn clothes - I loved them ALL - where we had the WORST coffee of the trip at Costa Coffee. Still, it was fun to walk around in the glittering sunshine and see how dynamic, how activated, how convivial Bristol is. There's a bit of hollering and hooting, but nothing too spooky.

      We got a glimpse of some of the city's charms - Castle Park, a few boats, a dining district - but really we have barely arrived.

      The lesson here is: it takes all day to go from one city to another. You might feel like it takes an hour, but it takes all day. The energy required to pack up all your chattels and hit the road is immense!

      I'm glad we have a four day stay. Tomorrow: Clifton Suspension Bridge, and better fucking coffee!      Read more

    • Travelerlanguage stay
      Day 17

      Geburtstagsfest 🍾🎊

      February 21, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      Heute vor 18. Jahren ist meine Schwester auf die Welt gekommen. Ich bin so unglaublich stolz auf meine Schwester und ich habe Sie unglaublich lieb!💝🍀

      Happy Birthday sis.🥳

      Um dies ausgiebig zu Feiern gehen wir in ein Pub. In einer kleinen Runde mit ihren Kolleginen und ein paar Männern aus der Schule, unteranderem ihr Mitbewohner, machen wir uns einen gemütlichen Abend.
      🍻🍹🍸🎂🎉      Read more

      See translation
    • Travelerlanguage stay
      1
      Day 7

      Wells 🏛⏳️

      February 11, 2023 in England

      Die 2. Station war Wells. 🚌
      Wells ist ebenfalls eine kleinere Stadt eine Stunde von Bristol entfernt. 🗺

      In Wells habe ich mich in der Zeit zurück versetzt gefühlt. Es hat so viele schöne und alte Gebäude, dass man gar nicht weiss wo zuerst hin schauen. 🏛

      Als erstes haben wir die Kathedrale von Wells angeschaut. Ich habe schon viele schöne Kathedralen bestaunt. Für mich ist diese nach der Sagrada Familia in Barcelona mein Favorit. ✨️

      Auch sehr spannend war the Bishop's Palace & Gardens.
      Mit einem See rund um den Palace. 🏰🌊

      The Vicars Close fand ich sehr eindrücklich. Haus an Haus jedes identisch mit den klassischen Kaminen in einer Reihe. Heute sind es normale Wohnungen und früher hatten die Kindern dort Unterricht. Ganz hinten in der Ecke sieht man noch eine kleine Kapelle von früher.      Read more

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    • Travelerlanguage stay
      Day 6

      Alle guten Dinge sind 3 🎊🍀

      February 10, 2023 in England

      Heute ist ein Tag zum Feiern. Es ist mein neuer persönlicher Feiertag. 🎊❣️
      Nicht nur wegen meiner Geschichte, sondern auch aus der Schweiz nur gute News🍀

      Als ich am Morgen in die Schule komme ist der Direktor gar nicht im Haus. Also bleibt mir nichts anderes übrig, als bis um 17 Uhr nach dem Unterricht zu warten.
      Dann ist es soweit und der Schuldirektor überbringt mir die freudige Nachricht, dass ich bei meiner aktuellen Hostfamilie bleiben darf und NICHT noch einmal Umziehen muss!🥳💪

      Ich bin so erleichtert und überglücklich, dass ich endlich meine Koffer auspacken und ankommen kann.🍀

      Ich bin ausserdem so dankbar, dass ich jetzt so eine gute Hostfamilie habe und sich meine Gastmutter telefonisch bei der Schule noch für mich stark gemacht hat.🙏💝      Read more

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    • 12 Pfoten auf Europa Tour
      Day 250

      Von Land's End nach Wales

      June 5, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      Wir sind heute von der Land's End Spitze bis nach Wales gefahren, nachdem wir morgens noch einen wunderschönen Küstenspaziergang gemacht haben. Und dabei ganz viele (frei lebende) Kaninchen und 2 Seerobben gesehen haben, sowie Esel, Schafe, Schweine, Lamas&Pferde auf einer Farm.
      Unterwegs haben wir natürlich auch noch einen Spaziergang gemacht, an der nördlichen Seite in Devon, zum Peppercome (Stein-) Beach. Jetzt stehen wir auf einem netten Bauernhof kurz vor Cardiff.
      Seit Überqueren der Landesgrenze ist übrigens alles zweisprachig angegeben (und völlig unverständlich).      Read more

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    • TravelerEngland/Wales 2023
      1
      Day 39

      Weston-Super-Mare

      November 16, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

      So we are now in Western super mare. I wanted to come here because it holds memories of the time I spent here back in the late 60s. It must have been either 69/70 when I was for two weeks at the Rotary Boys Club. I remember the large clubhouse, the afternoon tea sessions, the walks along the beach, the pony rides along the beach visits to the Grand Pier, and just generally the fantastic time we had there. Holiday from home. The photos show the old pier , also known as Birnbeck Pier. Built-in 1867. There is a trust fund to rebuild it.

      Also, wir sind jetzt in Western-Super-Mare. Ich wollte hierher kommen, weil es Erinnerungen an die Zeit weckt, die ich hier Ende der 60er Jahre verbracht habe. Es muss entweder 1969 oder 1970 gewesen sein, als ich für zwei Wochen im Rotary Boys Club war. Ich erinnere mich an das große Clubhaus, die 5 o'clock tees, 4die Spaziergänge am Strand, die Ponyritte am Strand, Besuche auf der Grand Pier und einfach allgemein die fantastische Zeit, die wir dort hatten. Urlaub vom Alltag. Die Fotos zeigen die alte Pier, auch bekannt als Birnbeck Pier. Erbaut im Jahr 1867. Es gibt einen Treuhandfonds, um sie wieder aufzubauen.      Read more

    • TravelerKnights of the Island 2019
      2
      Day 2

      Overnachting 2

      May 12, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

      Een veld gevonden van een boer. Blijkbaar wordt het als camping gezien 😅 Wij zijn al lang blij. Ook andere runners hebben dit plekje gespot. Morgen de eerste party met alle teams, leuk om iedereen dan te zien.Read more

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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Bristol, BST, Bristón, Bricgstōw, بريستول, Горад Брысталь, Бристъл, Bryste, Μπρίστολ, Bristolo, Brístol, بریستول, Briostó, בריסטול, ब्रिस्टल, Բրիստոլ, ブリストル, ბრისტოლი, ಬ್ರಿಸ್ಟಲ್‌, 브리스틀, Bristolium, Bristolis, Bristole, Бристол, Bristo, Бристоль, ਬਰਿਸਟਲ, برسٹل نگر, Bristullu, பிரிஸ்டல், บริสตอล, בריסטאל, 布里斯托尔

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