My last blog was episode 666........aaargh! So I felt it best to post another episode quickly!!!!!!!!
Bristol was Brrrrrrrrilliant.
What has that got to do with the price of fish? I hear you ask.......well, nothing really.
It was just that while we were away in Weston the other week, one of the days out was to Bristol.
I have never been to Bristol before, so I was looking forward to it...especially as we had the services of a Blue Badge Guide for a tour around the city......this was at extra cost, but I have to say it was worth every penny.
Terry, was very knowledgeable about the history of the city, and his Somerset burr was very pleasant to listen to.
It was a beautiful sunny day.....the only one of the week we were away, but gosh it was chilly......the wind really whistled round your Trossachs.
This was especially true when we were up on the downs....yes, that does sound daft.....how can you be up on the downs.....don't ask me, I don't know.
Many of the travellers on our coach couldn't wait to get to Bristol and hit the shops......well, it was only a week to Christmas Eve......but we were quite happy to be ferried around the places of interest.
Broad Quays......this used to be the main harbour many years ago.......where coffee, tobacco, cocoa and tea were unloaded and made ready to be sold.......this was in the time of masted sailing vessels.
Bristol was built on trade....everything about it reflects that.......seven bonded warehouses where the customs men would levy duty on the goods being brought in.......Wine merchants used to have their huge mansions built on the cliffs overlooking the Avon...they would watch for their ships coming up the river and then hurry to the quayside to make sure the wares were unloaded safely....and to take some of the goods back home to their palatial residences.
Alas, there is nothing left of this harbour anymore.
The area is paved now, and the only nod to the fact that it was once waterside are the modern water features that decorate the place.
Bristol was a place of engineering too.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel worked from Bristol........he designed the SS Great Britain.
His dream was that this great steamship would do the journeys of the masted vessels in a fraction of the time.......enhancing Bristols ability for trade.....but the geography of the place meant that the ship could not get up the Avon into the harbour. so the great steamship sailed mainly from Liverpool.
Templemeads station was designed by Brunel too......as was the Clifton Suspension bridge.
Brunel never saw the bridge he designed, built( there were wranglings over the design, the contract and the finance, nothing much changes does it?).......He died in 1859, and the bridge was finished in 1864.
Brunel also had a hand in the Great Western Railway.
Prior to the building of the railway, it could take as much as three days to get from London to Bristol......again, the railways enhanced trading in the cities.
Bristol has a magnificent Cathedral dating from the 12th century......and also a beautiful church called St Mary's Redcliffe. St Mary's was a favourite church of Elizabeth the first....she called it 'fairest most goodliest parish church in all England'
I cannot tell you if it is true as I didn't get a chance to see inside the church.
I could have listened to the history of the city all day.......I wish history could have been taught like this when I was at school....it surely would have made much more impact on me....or is it perhaps that I now like old things because I am an old thing? No, on second thoughts, don't answer that!
All too soon our guided tour was at an end........and we spilled off the coach onto the bright cold street.
I asked Ma where she wanted to go......she told me to go and take pictures.
She was happy to sit in the weak December sun with a cup of hot chocolate, some biscuits and a banana.
I was like a dog at a fair. I didn't know in which direction to run first.
There were so many things that I would have liked to have seen.....far too many for just a two hour visit.
I took pictures of the water features on Broad Quays.
I tried to capture(photographically) the porticoed church of St Mary on the Quays, but was thwarted by the buses that parked right in front of this majestic building, spoiling the view.
I rushed up the hill to the Cathedral.......took pictures of the Central library with its lemony Bath Sandstone bricks.......went into the cathedral and snapped away at the beauty inside, the stained galss windows, the vaulted ceilings, the statues, the pictures.
I was conscious that it was a cold day and I felt I should get back to Ma and we should explore more of the city together.
I pushed Ma up the hill towards the Corn Exchange and the St Nicholas Markets.......there were craft stalls all over the place and stalls selling roasted chestnuts, hot soup and baked potatoes.
There were crowds of people doing their Christmas shopping....it all added to the exhilarating feel to the city.
I absolutely loved it.........it was just a great pity that our stay was to be such a short one.
All too soon it was time to head back to the pick up point. Ma worried that I would not know how to get back to the Broad Quays....but my inbuilt compass didn't fail me and we were back in time to get a hot coffee.......and for me to snap a picture of the statue of John Wesley.......at the place where he preached......the New Rooms.
We got back on the coach to the fading of the day.
I was tired, but pleasantly so.........an hours ride would see us back at the hotel.
Bristol was Brrrrrrrrilliant.
What has that got to do with the price of fish? I hear you ask.......well, nothing really.
It was just that while we were away in Weston the other week, one of the days out was to Bristol.
I have never been to Bristol before, so I was looking forward to it...especially as we had the services of a Blue Badge Guide for a tour around the city......this was at extra cost, but I have to say it was worth every penny.
Terry, was very knowledgeable about the history of the city, and his Somerset burr was very pleasant to listen to.
It was a beautiful sunny day.....the only one of the week we were away, but gosh it was chilly......the wind really whistled round your Trossachs.
This was especially true when we were up on the downs....yes, that does sound daft.....how can you be up on the downs.....don't ask me, I don't know.
Many of the travellers on our coach couldn't wait to get to Bristol and hit the shops......well, it was only a week to Christmas Eve......but we were quite happy to be ferried around the places of interest.
Broad Quays......this used to be the main harbour many years ago.......where coffee, tobacco, cocoa and tea were unloaded and made ready to be sold.......this was in the time of masted sailing vessels.
Bristol was built on trade....everything about it reflects that.......seven bonded warehouses where the customs men would levy duty on the goods being brought in.......Wine merchants used to have their huge mansions built on the cliffs overlooking the Avon...they would watch for their ships coming up the river and then hurry to the quayside to make sure the wares were unloaded safely....and to take some of the goods back home to their palatial residences.
Alas, there is nothing left of this harbour anymore.
The area is paved now, and the only nod to the fact that it was once waterside are the modern water features that decorate the place.
Bristol was a place of engineering too.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel worked from Bristol........he designed the SS Great Britain.
His dream was that this great steamship would do the journeys of the masted vessels in a fraction of the time.......enhancing Bristols ability for trade.....but the geography of the place meant that the ship could not get up the Avon into the harbour. so the great steamship sailed mainly from Liverpool.
Templemeads station was designed by Brunel too......as was the Clifton Suspension bridge.
Brunel never saw the bridge he designed, built( there were wranglings over the design, the contract and the finance, nothing much changes does it?).......He died in 1859, and the bridge was finished in 1864.
Brunel also had a hand in the Great Western Railway.
Prior to the building of the railway, it could take as much as three days to get from London to Bristol......again, the railways enhanced trading in the cities.
Bristol has a magnificent Cathedral dating from the 12th century......and also a beautiful church called St Mary's Redcliffe. St Mary's was a favourite church of Elizabeth the first....she called it 'fairest most goodliest parish church in all England'
I cannot tell you if it is true as I didn't get a chance to see inside the church.
I could have listened to the history of the city all day.......I wish history could have been taught like this when I was at school....it surely would have made much more impact on me....or is it perhaps that I now like old things because I am an old thing? No, on second thoughts, don't answer that!
All too soon our guided tour was at an end........and we spilled off the coach onto the bright cold street.
I asked Ma where she wanted to go......she told me to go and take pictures.
She was happy to sit in the weak December sun with a cup of hot chocolate, some biscuits and a banana.
I was like a dog at a fair. I didn't know in which direction to run first.
There were so many things that I would have liked to have seen.....far too many for just a two hour visit.
I took pictures of the water features on Broad Quays.
I tried to capture(photographically) the porticoed church of St Mary on the Quays, but was thwarted by the buses that parked right in front of this majestic building, spoiling the view.
I rushed up the hill to the Cathedral.......took pictures of the Central library with its lemony Bath Sandstone bricks.......went into the cathedral and snapped away at the beauty inside, the stained galss windows, the vaulted ceilings, the statues, the pictures.
I was conscious that it was a cold day and I felt I should get back to Ma and we should explore more of the city together.
I pushed Ma up the hill towards the Corn Exchange and the St Nicholas Markets.......there were craft stalls all over the place and stalls selling roasted chestnuts, hot soup and baked potatoes.
There were crowds of people doing their Christmas shopping....it all added to the exhilarating feel to the city.
I absolutely loved it.........it was just a great pity that our stay was to be such a short one.
All too soon it was time to head back to the pick up point. Ma worried that I would not know how to get back to the Broad Quays....but my inbuilt compass didn't fail me and we were back in time to get a hot coffee.......and for me to snap a picture of the statue of John Wesley.......at the place where he preached......the New Rooms.
We got back on the coach to the fading of the day.
I was tired, but pleasantly so.........an hours ride would see us back at the hotel.
Attachments
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