bristol, bath, and beyond

i sit, presently, the very wrong way round in an armchair in paris. i have not been here for long but it’s already very different from the uk.

my stay in bristol was very nice, but marked with a small, wriggling sense of a thing nearing its end. after my brief but pleasant lunch in cardiff, i hopped right on another train (this one also containing a very young, very screaming child) heading for bristol. i arrived once again into the rain, which cleared up quickly upon my check-in to possibly the coolest hostel on earth or water.

this is the kyle blue, an old boat turned SUPER classy hostel on the wharf. it seemed quite typical of bristol as a whole, really. very trendy and modern–maybe lacking some of the historical draw that brought me toward the uk in the first place, but certainly not without its own character.

the wharf is flanked by several clusters of houses, which put me immediately in mind of scandanavia.

everything was just very trendy.

almost… suspiciously trendy.

not that it was really hiding much. the big thing most people recognise about bristol is the clifton suspension bridge, which is, to be fair, a very nice suspension bridge, but not much more than that.

tucked up on top of the hill, however, are two more considerably more exciting ways of viewing it. the clifton observatory is no longer a functuoning observatory, but DOES contain one of only three camera obscura in the uk (n.b. i accidentally saw two out of three. i missed the one in wales. i will be coming for it next time.) as well as access to a deep, clautrophobic natural cave, to which stairs have been added. at the end of the cave is an outlook that sits in the rock halfway up the avon river valley, positioned in the very steep hillside almost directly over the roadway.

i was not about to walk on that grating. pretty unique experience, anyways.

also the bridge has a twitter account. bristol, man.

i spent a great amount of time just walking around the city. the wharf is incredibly picturesque, and the city centre just north is bustling and artsy. i went into a waterstones–a reliable source of wifi–and walked out with a copy of my favourite play, rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead. i sat in victoria park and considered perception and death and the law of probability and watched a seagull shuffle around on the head of a statue. it was appropriately absurd.

on my last full day in bristol, i took a day trip over to bath. bath was a very different sort of place, georgian and hushed even in its own chaos. it was decently loud, between the cars and the buskers and the tourist jabber, but it was still quiet, if that makes sense.

my first stop off the train was the roman baths, which were built over a bubbling natural hot spring in the first century CE, and which had been a place of worship for the celts for centuries before. the structure as it stands today was built from 1894-1897, and, just my luck! was undergoing renovations. i do not think i’ve gone a single day this whole trip without running into a sign ‘apologising for any inconvenience this may have caused.’ anyways.

the baths themselves were pretty fascinating to see, and some great supplementary exhibits were on display as well. it’s been very interesting to see so much roman history here, for two very different reasons. the language and the culture are obviously very dear to me, but it was also–maybe not surprising, but enlightening? refreshing?–to see them from the eyes of the peoples and places they conquered and disrupted. not a perspective you saw a whole lot of in high school latin classes.

i also had plenty of time to see bath abbey which sits right next door (above: very grand, very churchy) and the royal crescent, which sits a decent walk away (below: very georgian, very wide). honestly, i don’t know what to say about them other than the obvious ‘it’s neat. it’s pretty. it’s old.’ which is really should be a given at this point. those are three things i like very much in a building.

i returned to the centre of the city for high tea, which was served on the street just outside the baths and just off the abbey square. i listened to a busker argue, over his speakers, with a woman who seemed to be really enjoying screaming at the top of her lungs occasionally, just for a laugh. a bee was after my chicken sandwich. it was a beautiful tea.

while i was about before i headed back to bristol, i stopped in a topman to browse around. i found a pair of trousers that were just my size and very unlike anything i’ve ever really worn before, in that they were plaid and rather colourful. i tried them on and they fit spectacularly. i very nearly purchased them but got impatient and decided i would just grab my train back.

i arrived in bristol and walked to topman and purchased said trousers.

clearly, i have a little ways to go yet when it comes to decision making. i’m getting better, and yet…

the next morning was my last, and i spent it carting about all my things after checkout, reading in the square and visiting the aquarium and generally soaking in the sun, for it was a cool but wonderfully bright day. by 4:15 i was in the sky on my way to paris.