Bristol: Birthplace of Wallace & Grommit

I didn't know this before I went to Bristol, but I learned that Aardman, the creators of Wallace & Grommit, are based in Bristol. Apparently because of their success, Bristol has attracted a total of 50 animation studios and is the hotbed of animation in the UK. Who knew?

Besides that, Bristol has three other prominent features: The Floating Harbour, The SS Great Britian and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The Floating Harbour makes Bristol the "Venice of the North." You can get all over town via ferries and water taxies. See the picture below. Yes, that's a swan about to get run over by the ferry. I assure you, though, that the swan got out of the way.


The SS Great Britain was the first iron hulled steamship ever built to feature a screw propeller. Essentially it was a passenger liner that failed at it's main task due to design flaws and inexplicable navigational errors by its captain. The ship made only two round trips to New York. However, after being refit, she made a long history of service running the England to Australia passage. The SS Great Britain, however, is another museum that I didn't actually visit. The museum wants 11.95 pounds for admission. Why would I pay 12 pounds to see the inside of a ship, when I can see the outside for free? Some these places need to get real with their pricing.


The Clifton Suspension Bridge was a fantastic sight. It's simply a suspension bridge that crosses the Avon Gorge at Clifton, but it's a beautiful sight.



Finally, I'll give you my favorite experience in Bristol. On Saturday night, I took a co-worker's advice and went over to the Hotel du Vin just to have a drink. The hotel was upper crust, but I didn't feel out of place in my t-shirt and jeans. The bar area was designed in a rustic fashion and they were playing Michael Bublé. I ordered a bottle of Gem, an amber ale brewed in Bath. I'm not particularly a fan of Bublé but something about the combination of the location, the ale, and the music was uber relaxing. I didn't take any pictures; I'm keeping this memory to myself. If you get a chance to hang out at the Hotel du Vin, however, I'd highly recommend it.

Bath: Jane Austen's Most Hated Playground

I got off the train in Bath and I had no idea what to expect. I knew that there was a Jane Austen museum in town and old Roman bath house, but not much else. What I discovered was that Bath was the place for the elite to hobnob in the 18th century and into the 19th century.

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and grew up during the heyday of Bath's high society. Though she was raised out in the country, she'd often visit family and friends in Bath, where the gatherings at the Upper Assembly Halls and the society inspired much of her writing.

I've only read Pride and Prejudice and Emma, two of the books where the characters only visit the city and most of the story takes place out in the country, so I didn't know that Bath was such a big feature of her writing. I learned that Northanger Abbey and Persuasion took place almost exclusively in the city of Bath. So, in the gift shop, I picked up a special edition of Persuasion and plan on reading in the near future while my memories of Bath are still fresh in my head. In Persuasion Austen apparently shows her distaste for the city and the social climbers, which contrasts to the image she paints in Northanger Abbey. Persuasion was written after she'd lived in Bath.

The hot springs that rise from below provide the city with natural hot spring mineral baths. The baths are obviously where the city gets it's name from. At the time, the population believed that the mineral baths could cure all that ails you. In fact, there's a building in town (no longer in use for it's intended purpose) that was called the Royal Mineral Water Hospital. Here's a picture of the King's and Queen's Bath. You can see where the original water level was if you note the shade change from orange to cream in the picture below.


Here's a picture of the Royal Crescent. If you were the creme de la creme, you could afford a flat in the Royal Crescent or The Circus, both of which are close to the prestigious Upper Assembly Halls. Since Bath grew so fast during the 1700's, most of the city is filled with these Georgian style houses. On a sunny day, they make the hillsides glow.


Most of these Georgian houses would also have Georgian gardens in the backyard. Here is a picture of a Georgian garden. Note that there isn't any grass. This is because the lawn mower hadn't been invented yet. Thus, they'd use gravel in their gardens and the gardener would even the gravel with one of these gravel rollers.


The city lost most of it's luster during the Regency era when the ruling monarch decided that the seawater at Brighton was better for people's health than the mineral waters at Bath. Soon Brighton became the resort of choice and Bath's status began to slide. However, it appears as though the upper crust hasn't completely vacated the city.


Bath was an absolutely wonderful experience. If you happen to be in the area, I strongly urge you to stop for a day. However, I will warn you that it is a tourist trap. The price to do anything touristy is jacked up. In fact, I decided against going on the Roman Baths tour because they wanted 11.50 pounds (roughly $17.00) to look at a pool similar to the one that I took a picture of for free . . .

Snowdonia

". . . when you are on your own you start to look at nature, and to love it." - Erich Maria Remarque

In an earlier blog where I reviewed All Quiet on the Western Front I pulled this quote from the book. It's a true statement and has a lot of meaning to me. During the many weekends that I spend alone in Ireland, I try to get out and see something - nature specifically. It's a way to distract me from thinking about how much I miss Beth and RJ. Last weekend, I was very distracted by the beauty of North Wales. It was gorgeous. I don't think I can properly describe how magical and beautiful the area is, so I'll just show you pictures.

The Roman Fortress at Caernafon


Swallow Falls near Betws-y-Coed


The Snowdonia Mountain Railroad
It takes you to the peak of Mount Snowdon (1085 meters)
A wonderful view if there aren't any clouds. I got clouds.


Some Perspective - That's Mount Snowdon in the clouds at the top right of the picture below.


Sunset over Mount Snowdon after hiking halfway up it along The Miner's Track.


Castle Dolbadarn

Liverpool: Beatles, Soccer, Cathedral, and Nightlife

Wow, what a weekend! Once I got past the pain of Ryan Air's boarding policies, I settled in and started enjoying myself. I visited Beatles museums, a monstrous cathedral, the highest peak in Wales, a few football (soccer) stadiums, a castle or two, and a few bars along the way. In addition, I had another run-in with the evil volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. The story is long enough that I'm going to break it into two parts: Liverpool & Snowdonia.

Liverpool

After landing in Liverpool, my colleague took me to THE most important attraction in the city: Ansfield Stadium, the home of Liverpool FC. There is also a shrine to the Hillsborough 96, the unfortunate 96 people who died at Hillsborough stadium in a 1989 FA Cup semi-final match against Nottingham Forest FC. Often misunderstood as an event of hooliganism, the cause of this tragedy was in fact due to the police trying to control the crowd at the expense of their safety. The deaths all occurred prior to the match starting as the crush of fans tried to get into the stadium. All 96 people who died were Liverpool FC supporters. R.I.P - The Hillsborough 96


Now that we got that depressing bit out of the way. On to something a little more fun: Friday. I started Friday out with a trip to two Beatles museums. The Beatles Story and The Beatles Story - Pier Head. One admission gets you into both museums. I learned quite a bit about the Fab 4 that I didn't know, including that Stuart Sutcliffe was the fifth Beatle (who left the band early on to pursue his art career, but died shortly after. He was not alive to experience the regret of leaving the band. Additionally, I learned that Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best as the drummer. These may be known to your average Beatle-ologist, but it was unbeknown to me, your average Gen-Xer who barely remembers holding vigil for John Lennon in elementary school.

The Pier Head exhibition really hit me hard as it was sponsored by Cynthia Lennon (John Lennon's ex-wife) and Julian Lennon (John and Cynthia's son). In this exhibit were quite a few pieces of John Lennon memorabilia. What hit me hard were the correspondence displayed like love letters from John to Cynthia from the road and a postcard from Julian to his father which simply read: "Lover from Julian to Daddy." My eyes got a little wet as I thought dearly of my family at home. Here are a couple more pictures:



I then visited one of the largest cathedrals in the world: Liverpool Cathedral. This was an unexpected find for me. I had walked all around Liverpool taking pictures of the different buildings and enjoying the scenery. When my colleague met me, he didn't know what to show me because I'd walked all over town and seen it all. He finally walked me up to Liverpool Cathedral, which I passed on because it was a little of of the way (I also didn't know that it was one of the largest cathedrals in the world - I just thought it was closer than it looked). When we got there, I was in awe of the immensity of the building. The cafe and gift shop in the sanctuary is a nice touch.


Finally, I ended my first day with a night on the town, where I believe that a scouser (that is the nickname for people from Liverpool) was hitting on me. He kept coming over by me and putting his arm around me. I couldn't understand a freakin' thing he said over the music and through his scouser accent. I got out of there as quick as I could. I did see a good show at the Cavern Club, which is famous for being one of the Beatles favorite venues.


Next: On to Snowdonia!