Wednesday, July 31, 2013 @ 6:46 PM in 2013 Europe
Day 35
I got up at 7:30 today so I could get an early start on walking around and exploring Bristol. I was originally thinking about walking down to Bath via the old railway path today but the forecast was calling for 70% chance of rain. Staying closer to buildings and the hostel seemed like the wiser choice.
The first place I visited was the Clifton area. In this section of town they have the suspension bridge, a giant park and an old observatory (which is now being sold to the highest bidder). It was a big gloomy during the 2 mile walk over there but I passed through some really nice areas of towns full of cafes and outdoor fresh food stalls.
There's a big tower on top of Brandon Hill here that's dedicated to John Cabot who set sail from Bristol and first landed in Canada. I walked around there an took a few pics but it started to rain. Being a little too early for lunch and not wanting to go into the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery before eating, I made the logical choice of going to a cafe and getting a cappuccino and waiting for the rain to die down.
In order to kill a little more time before lunch I walked down to the Town Hall, Bristol Cathedral and City Library. The area was really nice and the library looked like it was several hundred years old (a really cool exterior)!
For lunch, I found a place that was advertising cheap paninis that came with chips (fries) and a small salad. I went in and ordered a chicken fajita panini served with guacamole. It was delicious! And for less than 5 pounds it was a pretty good deal.
The Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery was free to enter and had a wide range of exhibits. I learned about local wildlife, ancient Egyptians, dinosaurs, minerals, fossils, and more. For some reason I thought they had an exhibit on Banksy (the graffiti artist) but they didn't. Not sure where I thought I saw that.
After leaving the museum, I went down to Queen Square when it started to rain again. That's when I saw that the St Mary Redcliffe church was free to enter. It would get me out of the rain and also let me see some really cool old church architecture. The stained glass and arched ceilings were really nice to see.
For some reason I started craving an omelette last night so on my way back to the hostel I swung by the St Nicholas outdoor market looking to buy some local cheese, eggs and sausage. Unfortunately everyone selling eggs had already left but I did get some local cheese and sausage. I went to the grocery and picked up some eggs.
I still had a few hours before dinner so I caught up on a little work and read for a while. I made my omelette (also threw in some orange bell pepper) and now I'm just hanging out in the lounge area at the hostel. I'll probably run out and grab some beer and bring it back.
Tomorrow I'm going to walk the 13 mile path from Bristol to Bath. I was in Bath a couple years ago with Eric and it was a really nice town. We only got to spend about an hour there before we had to be back on our tour bus though. The jury's still out if I should attempt to walk the path back or take a bus. I have a feeling I'll probably take a bus back to Bristol. 26+ miles in one day would be quite a lot!
Teaser photos:
Tags: daily journal, bristol, england
Posted from: England