A Beagle, the Tudors and a vase of sunflowers

Tuesday 24th February - While Ian is visiting home for the week I decided to make a trip to London. My main goal in visiting the city was to see the Darwin Exhibition at the Natural History Museum. It is the 200 year anniversary of Darwin's birth and their are events, shows and exhibits across the country to celebrate. The Exhibition at the Natural history museum focused on three aspects of Darwin's life: his two year voyage on the Beagle, his home life after the voyage and the publication and dissemination of his works. Overall it was an interesting and well executed exhibition. After I meandered around the rest of the museum which had a vast collection of skeletons, taxideremied and preserved animals and fossils. When I had had my fill of science I made my way to the National Portrait Gallery. I visited the Tudor gallery and visited the exhibitions on Henry VIII, which boasted some very unflattering etchings of the King and also an exhibition on Shakespeare and his circle. Before leaving I visited one of my favorite shops, the National Portrait Gallery shop and finally managed to lay my hands on the London wood block set. In my final hour in the city I wandered through the National Gallery where I saw the famous Van Gough Sunflowers, Seurat's the Bathers, Davinci's cartoon of the Madonna and Child among many other wonderful works. Despite the ominous clouds that surrounded Big Ben I made it back to Victoria Station and on the bus without getting wet. It was a long ride home but a very successful trip.

Signs of Spring

The past few days have been miraculously sunny and today it was even quite warm. Although we have had snow drops in bloom since January it finally is starting to feel like spring with the crocuses opening up and the daffodils budding. We can hear the birds singing when we wake up and I have even started tidying our balcony and planting seeds. Hopefully the weather will continue on like this and we will have a great summer.

Salisbury for the day

Sunday 15 February - After a fantastic Valentine's day spent mostly lounging around the flat and eating, Ian and I got up early on Sunday to make it to the train station to catch the 9:10 train to Salisbury. After a lovely ride through Bath and Bradford on Avon we arrived in Salisbury. We met up with our friends, Emma and Dave who had driven up from Fareham. We stopped for a coffee/hot chocolate and waited for the town to wake up. We made our way to the Cathedral and meandered around the grounds. The spire on the Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest in all Britain and is quite ornately tiled. We could hear the organ as it played for sunday services. We then walked back into town to explore some of the shops around the market square and find a pub for lunch. We had a very filling meal at the Coach and Horses and then did some more shopping. Emma and Dave drove home and Ian and I caught the 4:30 train home. Since the days are getting longer we were able to walk home at twilight.

Gloucester Road

Saturday 7 February - Although there was no snow this morning the sidewalks were still iced over and the roads a bit slushy with lots of puddles. After a leisurely breakfast and a few errands we meandered down to the infamous Gloucester road. Often considered the antithesis of Clifton village, Gloucester road is thought to be the new up and coming area of Bristol, home to young artists and entrepreneurs. We enjoyed meandering through the shops, some interesting architecture and queueing for some yummy bread and desserts at the local bakery. However, we both found the streets and sidewalks too bustling for a pleasant browse and didn't find any shops or restaurants that were particularly special. It was an interesting trip and now we appreciate living near the village and its tranquility even more.

More Snow

Friday 5 February - despite the quick melting of the first real snow we've seen in Bristol there was even more snow on Thursday and Friday morning. I decided Thursday morning to walk around in the fresh snow. It was fun to see everyone playing in the snow, sledding and building snowmen. The Parks and the bridge looked quite lovely in the coating of white. Friday morning had even more snow and Ian had a snow day from work. When I got out of work we took a long walk in the snow.

Snow Day

Monday 2 February - It was a surprise when I woke up this morning to see snow falling outside. While at work at Borders I could see the snow falling on and off all day but it didn't seem to be accumulating. However when I went for my evening run the ground was quite slippery and there was a definite dusting of white. By evening there was an small accumulation settled on the ground making the city look quite festive. It is funny to see how excited the residents get, despite the small amount of snow fall it is a novelty here to have snow.

El Puerto

Sunday 1 February - Our friend Ana invited us out for a Spanish themed evening. We met up with her Caryn and some of her friends at El Puerto, down by the floating harbor at El Puerto, a tapas bar. On Sundays the restaurant has a special on Paella. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria and seafood paella then settled in to watch the live music and flamenco dancing. The music was lively and the dancing was amazing. The dancer used a fan, castanets ad her hands in different dances while stomping away on stage. We had a lovely dinner and then faced the cold together to walk home.