Clifton Suspension Bridge

The bridge has been a symbol for Bristol for over 150 years and you will see it on many postcards and other memorabilia. Designed by Bristol resident, Isambard Kingdom Brunel the bridge spans 702 ft across the Avon Gorge. It was begun in 1831 but due to lack of funding it was not completed until 1859, after Brunel's death. The bridge is a lovely sight and I get a great view of it whenever I am going to or coming from classes at Bower Ashton. It is especially spectacular at night when it is illuminated by a number of blue and yellow lights which are reflected onto the Avon below.

St. Mary Redcliffe

This lovely church was praised by Queen Elizabeth I as "the fairest , goodliest and most famous in England". Building of the church began in 1280. It is located near the Avon, close to queen square, about a 20 minutes walk from the flat. Among the parishioners of the church were William Penn (whose father owned much of what is today Pennsylvania), William Canynges (five times mayor of Bristol,and the Cabots (discoverers of Newfoundland). The church has wonderful Gothic architecture, teeming with flying buttresses and abounding with gargoyles. On the inside the stained glass is quite spectacular.

Thanksgiving abroad

On saturday the 24th Ian and I celebrated Thanksgiving by co-hosting a dinner with our neighbors, who are from New York. There was a bit of a panic since when we got the turkey from our neighbors at 12 (it had been defrosting in their fridge since wednesday) it was still partly frozen. We thawed it as much as possible and put it in the oven. We also made lots of mashed potatoes, Ian backed a pumpkin pie and I made caramelized shallots. We had green beans and baby carrots as well. The neighbors made a tofurkey (as one of them is vegetarian) and stuffing and a pecan pie. We had invited Sam, a girl from my MA program and her significant other. Our neighbors invited a couple from new Zealand and a woman from California. The Turkey came out great and Ian did a wonderful job carving. Now we have lots of leftovers for the next few days.

On Sunday we stayed in and did a some school work. In the afternoon we did a tour of the bookshops: oxfam, blackwells and borders than went to the library and finally stopped and the Guild, a shop/gallery where I bought some cards/prints from a local artist who does mostly scenes of Bristol, so now we have something to hang on our walls.

Celebrating 6 Lovely Years

Saturday, November 17 - Ian and I celebrated our six year anniversary today. I woke up to pink tulips and almond pasteries for breakfast. We spent a good part of the day in the apartment doing some work but in the afternoon we went down to Broadmead to poke around the shops. We went to Debenham's, a British department store that is fairly posh and quite massive, I think they had five floors. We explored every floor then stopped at Wilkinson's for some art supplies and headed home. Once home we got down to the real celebration. We had champagne and exchanged presents then got ready for dinner. Our meal was at the Glassboat which is a boat actually on the water. It was quite lovely because we got to see the city lit up at night and all the lights and candles were reflected onto the glass to give the feeling of a very starry night. The food was delicious. Ian had prosciutto wrapped monkfish with savoy cabbage and I had duck breast with baby root vegetables and parsnip puree, we had a nice Chilean Merlot with the meal. After dinner we took a long path home and watched a movie at the apartment. A wonderful evening.

Bristol Zoological Gardens

One of my favorite places to visit when I have free time is the Bristol Zoo. Ian got me a membership to the zoo so I am free to go whenever I choose for as long as I like. It is a small zoo but it has a lot to offer. We have many favorites at the zoo. The seals are continually fighting with one another and always put on a good show. The penguins, of course, are quite cute. The meerkats are also quite entertaining and love to beg. The lemur exhibit is quite cool because it is an open space where visitors can walk around with the lemurs free to move about them. The gorillas are always interesting as well as the tapirs and okapi. Its a nice place to go and sketch or take photos and only about a 10 minute bike ride away.

Opera Night

Saturday 10 Novermber - We treated ourselves to a night at the Bristol Hippodrome and went to see La Cenerentola (Cindarella) performed by the Weslh National Opera. The production was created by the WNO and the Comediants, a theatre production team from Barcelona who produced the closing ceremony for the Barcelona Olympics. The costumes were colorful and candy-like (espcially the wigs which were yellow, pink, purple and cobalt blue) and the story was helped along by some comic mice. The Hippodrome is a very nice intimate theater, all in red and gold. It was a lovely evening, a lot of fun.

Bridgewater Carnival

Friday November 9 - Ian and I went on a BISC (Bristol International Student Center) trip to Bridgewater to see the annual procession of carnival floats. The event is part of the Guy Fawkes day celebrations. The exact origins of this particular festival are lost but the festival was officially recognised in 1881. The celebration includes a parade featuring floats with lots of lights and music as well as street performers and fireworks which are set off by hand by "squbbers" (unfortunatley we had to leave before the quibbing began). The floats were amazing some of them quite large (the max. length is 30.48 m) and one had difficulty making the wide turn at part of the route. Some of the larger floats used up to 30,000 light bulbs and you could feel the heat from all that energy as they passed. There were some floats which had moving parts and coreographed dancers while others had ellaborate sets on which all the members had to hold the same pose for the entire parade route. The procession was really fun to watch especially since the age range on the participants ran from about 7 to 70+. We will definitly try to go again next year.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4627684267898472761&hl=en

Guy Fawkes Celebration

On saturday the 3 of November Ian and I had fish 'n chips for dinner at the bottom of the Christmas steps then made our way up to the Clifton downs for the fireworks. The fireworks were part of the Guy Fawkes Day celebrations which also includes bonfires and burning effigies of Mr. Fawkes. Fireworks have been going off around us since friday night starting before 7 and lasting untill 10, mostly set of by differnet neighborhoods and individuals. The upcomming Bridgewater festival is also a part of the celebration.

Ashton Court

On Sunday the 4 of November Ian and I made our first excursion to Ashton Court. It is surprising that it is the first time I have been there since it neighbors the UWE campus and I can even see part of the grounds from the front entrance or the canteen. I have also seen the red deer in the deer park when riding my bike to campus. The weather being absolutely lovely we decided to seize the afternoon and made the 50 minute walk to Ashton Court. The grounds were extensive. We first walked around the manor itself and witnessed a wedding party getting ready for photos. We saw a hot air balloon hovering nearby and got a good view of most of the city. Then we did a tour of the wooded walks endng up in both the fallow and red deer parks. We got quite close to some of the red deer with their impressive antlers. We also took note of the golf course which is supposedly only 5 pounds including club rental. We walked home via the suspension bridge thus making a giant loop.