I was invited by my friend Anthony and his boyfriend Jon to make a trip out to Bristol for a weekend visit. Bristol is about a 2 hour train ride west of London, and was an important trading port. A lot of the tobacco from the new world came into England via Bristol. It is also an important town in the history of steam locomotion, which can be summed up in one man Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Anthony, the pups, and I headed over to Paddington Station, (built by Brunel), and hopped on a train, which follows much of Brunel's orignally designed path from London to Bristol.
Anthony had purchased us two first class tickets, which were actually only 20GBP more than regular tickets. This was a terrific idea as it allowed us to spread out with the dogs and enjoy a nice leasurely ride there. We practically had the entire car to ourselves.
Jon met us at the station in Bristol with his car and drove us to his townhome, that was originally built in the 1800's as housing for coal miners. It has been in his family off and on for a couple generations. He's done a bunch of work on it, and it is very charming.
Interestingly enough, the dogs have been to Bristol already - Even before me. When Tony and I went to the states in December, they came with Anthony to stay with Jon for part of that week. They are quite the travelers. Bentley of course wasted no time getting reaquainted with his old buddy Jon.
The following morning we got up and drove into town. Bristol is built around the river Avon, which flows through the center of town. Being that Bristol was an important trading port, it was heavily damaged in WW2. We saw this beautiful church that had been bombed out.
For breakfast, we went to the Nicholas Market, a cute outdoor market to a restaurant called "Source".
We had a full English breakfast complete with ham, grilled tomatoes, and black pudding to prepare us for a solid day of sightseeing and fun.
The weather seemed to be working in our favor in that it wasn't raining, albeit, it was a bit chillier than I was expecting.
Bristol has been an important city to England and has been joined at the hip with London via Brunel's railroad since the mid 1800's. It's history goes back to medieval days when it was a walled city. Thankfully a handful of these buildings still survive.
We walked around Bristols downtown, which is very quaint. It is much smaller and lowkey than London, and will be a fun place to come visit as an easy weekend getaway. I think Tony would like it a lot.
Of course Queen Victoria, embodying the 1800's was there to welcome me.
The Bristol Cathedral is a beautiful building. I'm not sure how it survived in WW2, but it is a magnificent structure up on a hill overlooking downtown Bristol.
Bristol is also very much a University town, and there are areas that feel it. With cute outdoor Coffee Houses, to tons of bookstores, and a youthful culture.
With most of the shipping now moved outside of Bristol, the old warehouse district is undergoing a major transformation into a new cultural hub for Bristol. Tons and tons of new construction from shops, to restaurants, to new housing are moving in.
Bentley found this art installation with a swimming dog particularly confusing.
Bristol is also home to Aardman Animation, which make the Wallace and Gromit films as well as a ton of commercials here in the UK. Their presence is felt throughout the warehouse district, where they are headquartered.
I understand their main production facility is located further out from downtown, but it was still fun to see their business offices.
We went to visit the Clifton Suspension Bridge that was designed by Brunel. It connects the 2 sides of the Avon River in a most dramatic fashion. Completed in 1864, 5 years after Brunel's death, as a memorial to the famous engineer.
The bridge originally had a strong Egyptian motif which was a popular style at the time. You can still see hints of it in the bridge.
For lunch/dinner, we went to the Grain Barge. It is a floating pub, that serves beer from the Bristol Brewery, and some amazing food.
I tried 1/2 pints of the three beers they had on tap, and had a wonderful Chicken and Leek Pie with a Creamy Gravy - Absolutely delicious.
I'd recommend eating here if ever you are in Bristol. It is both unique, reasonable, and good. We were so stuffed after this that we didn't plan to eat dinner.
That evening we went to the "Tobacco Factory Theater", a local theater which puts on plays. They were performing Richard II, one of Shakespeare's historical plays. I'd never seen or heard of it, so I was intrigued. The theater is in one of the old Tobacco Warehouses, from which it derives its name. Jon, an avid smoker, got a kick out of a sign forbidding smoking inside the tobacco warehouse.
The play was excellent, and I would also highly recommend going if you are in Bristol.
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