Bristol, England - December 28, 29 2006
My first stop on my little European vacation was to Bristol, England - the hometown of a friend from work, Jo Kelcey. She was very encouraging of taking this trip (I think she's got the travel bug in a big way) which I took to be an invitation to crash at her house.
I arrived at the Bristol bus station around noon on Dec 28 after the flight over to London from Montreal. My friend's mom lives about 15 minutes outside of Bristol in a town called Nailsea, which is very much like a North American suburb, having lots of nice middle-classish two or three bedroom homes and all the amenities that one would need (grocery stores, boutiques, cafes, etc). After getting a tour on foot of Jo's old stomping grounds I needed a nap. This is a common theme to my travels generally, but especially those where I leap over five time zones in an economy seat on Air Canada.
That evening we went out with a few of Jo's mates from high school. It was a nice mix of English and Canadian - we went for curry and I managed to get in a couple of pints at a Royal Oak (no shit, I am a creature of habit).
The next day started with a typical English "fry up," which Jo's mom prepared, consisting of sausage, bacon, potatos, and toast. It was filling. We went back into Bristol for a longer tour of the city in the late morning and walked around some of the various sites. Jo would downplay this tour I'm sure, but Bristol is actually quite lovely in an expected way - the old cathedral, the city civic building, the several streets of cool shops and restaurants are great. We also ascended the Chirstmas steps, which is a huge stairway just as it sounds. Apparently a certain Mr. Christmas (we're checking for verification of his name) was tired of climbing one particular hill and out of concern for his safety, and that of others, in the winter built a large stone staircase. We spent a fun evening in a bar with some of Jo's other friends from various places. I was happily surprised by the cost of such an evening. While it wasn't like happy hour at your local pub, I think we paid under $6 a pint.
Jo and her mom, bless them, got up at a ridiculous hour to get me to the bus the morning of the 30th I slept most of the way (thanks for the travel narcolepsy) and made it to Stanstead airport with no problems.
With that I was off to Stockholm for the next leg of my trip. More to report about that a bit later when there is no one burning holes into my skull for taking all this time on the internet.
Thanks to Jo, Madie, Rudi, and others who got this trip off to a great start. Peace.
I arrived at the Bristol bus station around noon on Dec 28 after the flight over to London from Montreal. My friend's mom lives about 15 minutes outside of Bristol in a town called Nailsea, which is very much like a North American suburb, having lots of nice middle-classish two or three bedroom homes and all the amenities that one would need (grocery stores, boutiques, cafes, etc). After getting a tour on foot of Jo's old stomping grounds I needed a nap. This is a common theme to my travels generally, but especially those where I leap over five time zones in an economy seat on Air Canada.
That evening we went out with a few of Jo's mates from high school. It was a nice mix of English and Canadian - we went for curry and I managed to get in a couple of pints at a Royal Oak (no shit, I am a creature of habit).
The next day started with a typical English "fry up," which Jo's mom prepared, consisting of sausage, bacon, potatos, and toast. It was filling. We went back into Bristol for a longer tour of the city in the late morning and walked around some of the various sites. Jo would downplay this tour I'm sure, but Bristol is actually quite lovely in an expected way - the old cathedral, the city civic building, the several streets of cool shops and restaurants are great. We also ascended the Chirstmas steps, which is a huge stairway just as it sounds. Apparently a certain Mr. Christmas (we're checking for verification of his name) was tired of climbing one particular hill and out of concern for his safety, and that of others, in the winter built a large stone staircase. We spent a fun evening in a bar with some of Jo's other friends from various places. I was happily surprised by the cost of such an evening. While it wasn't like happy hour at your local pub, I think we paid under $6 a pint.
Jo and her mom, bless them, got up at a ridiculous hour to get me to the bus the morning of the 30th I slept most of the way (thanks for the travel narcolepsy) and made it to Stanstead airport with no problems.
With that I was off to Stockholm for the next leg of my trip. More to report about that a bit later when there is no one burning holes into my skull for taking all this time on the internet.
Thanks to Jo, Madie, Rudi, and others who got this trip off to a great start. Peace.
posted by Ballzov at 2:55 AM
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