Bristol

A better view of the river through Bristol
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Hi to All,

I'm in Bristol writing at the internet in Bristol Backpackers. I arrived here on Friday night at about 9pm. I packed my stuff up on Friday morning and then went straight from work to the Coach Station at Victoria, and caught the coach to Bristol! I decided to come to Bristol as I had read a little article in the TNT magazine about it being quite a nice place to visit, and it's not too far from London (2 1/2 hours by coach) and it's close to Bath, so this is, where I decided I would go for the weekend. In my last email I was saying about the necessity to get

Another little boat next to the ss Great Britain
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out of London every now and again, and since last weekend when I went to Oxford, I've become keen to venture around the UK a bit more. (I will give you an update on Oxford when I send the photos. I really enjoyed it, it was just for the day, but it was great!) I've felt heaps better since last weekend when I got out of London for a bit - I feel like I'm on holidays again! The whole work, tube, masses of people situation in London is great, don't get me wrong, but fighting people everywhere you go everyday can get tiresome I think, and it's nice to have a breather.

Beatrix Potter's Garden Exhibition
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. I arrived last night at the Bristol Backpackers where they have a bar downstairs open 'til 3am (a rare thing in UK where all pubs shut at 11pm - not that it's that exctiting, 'coz I'm off alcohol at the moment!). But I found myself sitting down there, in the basement, with 4 other Australians, two from Canberra would you believe! One of them is one of the managers of the Backpackers, and the other ones are living here long term. I was tired beyond belief by the time I went to bed last night after working all day and then catching the coach, with not many hours sleep the few nights before that, as I had my work Floor Night Out where we went bowling on Wednesday and then up late at the internet cafe booking my ticket for Friday and then packing, ready to go for Friday morning.

Bristol Backpackers
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So anyway, I got up reasonably early this morning and first went to have a squiz around St Nicholas Markets. Nice... I bought two bags for 5, bargain! Desperately in need of an evening bag (people kept telling me I have to get rid of that blue thing - but I like it! Not appropriate with all outfits, though, I know - whatever!) and a small backpack as it's my little blue bag which just doesn't hold enough or there is my big backpack that is part of my big big backpack which is just too large to carry around all day - like I don't need one that big for just day-to-day stuff.

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
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I then made my way to The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery where they've got an exhibition of Beatrix Potter's collection. That was cool! I loved those books when I was young - it was like a memory trip back in time. On the way I had a quick look inside the University of Bristol Wills Memorial Building - the architecture is amazing. The public are only allowed access to the front foyer, I was just being nosy, I just wanted to see what it was like inside. I'm glad I did go and have a look - definitely worth it! I also went into The Red Lodge, a 16th century house furnished in both Elizabethan and Georgian styles featuring this room called the Great Oak Room, considered to be one of the finest Elizabethan rooms in the West Country. After the museum I also visited The Georgian House which was originally owned by John Pinney in the 18th century, who was a Bristol sugar merchant. It had a funny feel about it, this one, and then up on the top floor I read about how he used slaves, not very nice at all. Not as impressive in looks as the Red Lodge either.

Cabot Tower from the bottom of Brandon Hill
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I then walked further on to Cabot Tower situated on the top of Brandon Hill, a lovely bit of nature reserve, and climbed the stairs of the tower. From there I was able to get a good look at the city of Bristol from a bird's eye view. Not the prettiest of cities, as I said, not like Oxford, but still very interesting, and the tower and the hill was really pretty. I sat in the beautiful sun for about half an hour on the hill which was just so lovely and peaceful. Then on towards the Suspension Bridge, where I passed three charity shops and bought one item from each! Great scores actually, I'm wearing a jumper I bought from one of them right now! Last night when I'd asked some locals where to find the backpackers, I'd asked them what they thought was worth me checking out while I was here, and one of the places was The Suspension Bridge. Also, at the backpackers I'd asked and they'd mentioned it. It was good, but maybe I'm not as easily impressed now that I've seen London and Oxford and really special places there, it's big and there's like a big gorge (I think that's what you'd call it) underneath, it's up high, pretty, you know, but not spectacular. You'll be able to judge for yourself anyway when I send you some pics. After passiing over the bridge though, I was really impressed by some of the houses in North Somerset, situated in really leafy gorgeous area, stand-alone houses, nice! I walked down through Leigh Woods which was just gorgeous. Unspoiled English forest - wow!! Now that was truly amazing. I love how green it is here.

Falafel Food Van Where I had dinner, and believe it or not, it was really really nice! ...
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Down along the River Avon, past the ss Great Britain, an original Captain Cook-style boat, I forget what you call those boats, but like the ships of The First Fleet - that sorta style! Sounds like not that much really now that I write it all, but it was a hell of a lot of walking I did today! Good - I need to lose the weight :) My legs are feeling it now! On my way home I visited the Tourist Information Centre and asked a few questions about Bath, I was thinking about walking there but it would take like 3 hours, so I've decided to take the train which only takes 12 minutes. In Bath, there isa couple of walks I'd like to do around there anyway, and if I'm still keen I can walk back to Bristol in the afternoon where I'm catching the coach back to London from. I stopped off on my walk home at Bordeaux Quay and had a falafel from Falafel King, this little food van on the side of the water. It was great! Really excellent business idea I thought, he looked like he was making a killing. Minimal overheads, easy to prepare, healthy (all vegetarian) - and it beats a burger van anyday (like the food actually looks appetizing).

Inside the Uni of Bristol Wills Memorial Bdg
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Soo... back in the backpackers. Gonna go to bed early tonight ready to get up early tomorrow and make the most of my day in Bath. Nightlife is really buzzing here in Bristol. Big pub culture, lots and lots of pubs and clubs. Last night it was like rave in the hostel, music absolutely blaring downstairs in the bar area... quite different from the hostel where I'm living in London! It's not disturbing though, 'coz the dorms are up on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors and the bar is in the basement.

Leigh Woods 1
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(that's where the Bristol info ends in the email I sent you guys)

Hmm..well the night didn't turn out as I said it would. Ailsa, the Aussie girl from Perth in the hostel was like, 'Come out with us', and I'm like 'Oh no thanks... been walking so much today, I'm too tired'. Then another girl from Canberra who had also arrived taht day cam and goes, 'Oh come on come one', so I was convinved. I went and quickly changed my from my tracky dacks into somehting more flattering and we went out to a club... can't remember what it was caled but it was quite cool. The music started off a bit slow and boring (kinda trance music) but we just stood around chatting and stuff really anyway. Ended up having a really really good night though. After staying there for a couple of hours we went back to the backpackers, down to the bar in the basement, and had our own little mini rave session, disco lights and all! The music was cool and I swear there was about 30 people in there dancing, some were getting up on the table, one Aussie girl Kim was going for the table dancing (also from Canberra!). Lots of fun! I took a few pics but they're a bit dark (of course wouldn't you know it, my memory card in my camera was full so I didn't take many). We ended up going to bed about 5.30 in the morning, so as you can expect, my plan to get up early and do the 20km walk didn't quite eventuate! But that's cool, the night was worth it.

Leigh Woods 2
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Mel, one of the girls I met (been living in Canberra for 8 years or so) was also there from London, so we swapped phone numbers and email to keep in contact and catch up back in London. I would love to go back to Bristol again, it was lotsa fun, and what a Canberra/Aussie reunion. I think I met 4 from Canberra in the end (the first ones Canberrians I've met on my trip overseas) and about 10 others from Aus.