Bristol and Cornwall

Bristol

Brightly coloured houses above the harbour

Invariably when I mention Bristol to travelers I meet they will report either that they have heard good things about it or that it is one of their favourite places. I have been a couple of times before (since my friend Delia moved there from London in 2011 - that date is roughly correct I believe). This trip I was fortunate in that I got to accompany Delia to Cornwall to visit a friend of hers (more about that below) and also got to help Delia set up her exhibition in The Crypt of St. John on the Wall.

Bristol Street Art

Bristol is the reported birthplace of Banksy but not being one to cough up dough for an official tour I am afraid you will have to be satisfied with the following photos of probably NOT Banksy art.

I think this is an alien of some kind

Girl with the pearl earring - note the cunning use of an alarm company wall sign as the pearl

Charming lion with a friendly mouse

Bristol Wandering Highlights

As with all the places I travel I enjoyed random discoveries that I stumbled upon while wandering around Bristol including the photos shown below.

Memorial to a famous cricketer on a shopping centre building

                             

House with a thatched roof

Dragon and street art

House gnome (gargoyle?)

Maybe this is where Victorians filled their water bottles?

Another highlight - of a culinary bent - was my introduction (via Delia) to Baba Ganoush Kitchen (also known as Jerusalem Falafel). Delicious and economically priced food. Here is a photo of the falafel salad that I took with me on the bus from Bristol to London - priced at just £2.50 this is only a partial view - it also had 3 more falafel which I had eaten on the trip down, this was being eaten to fortify me before getting on the bus for the long trip from London to Bielefeld (which turned out to be 15.5 hours though not all of that on the bus).

Falafel salad with tahini dressing and bread - yum

Cornwall

A few days after arriving in Bristol Delia and I left for Cornwall to stay at the home of her friend Elizabeth. What a treat this was to enjoy the beauty of Cornwall in such luxurious accommodations (certainly more than I would be able to afford on my travel budget). In Cornwall we visited beautiful, historic churches, took in the glorious scenery and ate some delightful meals (both at home and in restaurants). It was a gorgeous respite from the faster pace of Bristol (and of course London). Here are some snaps of churches and the scenery.

Delightful window in one of the churches we visited (unfortunately can't remember which one)

Tintangel

Dramatic rock formation - you can see the sandy beach through the hole in the rock

Back to Bristol

On the Monday (September 2) Delia and I returned to Bristol to get ready for her exhibition (Fearless Symmetry which ran from September 7-September 22). This exhibition saw Delia display her fabulous Tarkovsky tribute window which is an impressive 150 by 150 cm. The photo below is by Delia capturing it in the crypt where it looked very fine indeed.

The Tarkovsky Window - by Delia Whitbread

Side Trips from Bristol

Wells

On Delia's advice I made a couple of side trips between when we came back from Cornwall and when the exhibition opened while Delia was busy setting up the exhibit in ways that didn't require my help. The trip to Wells was to see the fabulous 12th century cathedral which is considered the first built in the Gothic style in England.

It is just a short bus ride (around 70 minutes) from Bristol and an all day ticket (that will also allow you to use city buses in Bristol) is just £6.50 (as of September 2019). The cathedral is simply gorgeous and free tours happen frequently during the day led by volunteer guides. The pictures below really don't do it justice - make sure and go if you have the chance (and if cathedrals are your thing).

Detail outside the cathedral in the town itself

Archway in the town of Wells itself

The facade of Wells Cathedral

View of the Cathedral facade from the pleasant cafe that had good coffee and desserts

The famous scissor arches inside Wells cathedral

Gorgeous stone work 

The cathedral is full of lovely little details like this figure

The so-called Jesse window - just spectacular, you need to see it in person with the sun streaming through it

A closer view of the Jesse window

A stained glass detail

The quire

Severn Beach

The other side trip I made was to Severn Beach - which is a bit of a misnomer as although at low tide there might be a muddy and pebbly beach it is hardly what most of us think of when the word is mentioned. This excursion was made on the lovely little train line where a day long return ticket cost just £2. I visited Severn Beach to do a bit of birdwatching and certainly wasn't disappointed. The major area to see birds is a cluster of swampy pools that are some walk away from the station - this is the area called the Pilning Wetland. Although binoculars were adequate the birds cannot be approached very closely and a spotting scope would be better. There may be other spots reachable by car that are more suited to getting up close. I don't have any pictures from Severn Beach as frankly the estuary itself was quite dull looking and the birds were too far away for decent photos.

I stayed just a few days into the exhibition and on Monday, September 9, 2019, I boarded a bus for London's Victoria Coach Station (yet again) where, a couple of hours after arriving I would board yet another bus, this time to Bielefeld, Germany. I had decided, wherever possible, to take the bus over flying to try and reduce my carbon footprint during this trip.

Getting There and the First Few Days in London

Today I am actually indoors at my hostel in Vilnius, Lithuania as it is raining quite hard outside and I thought this would be a good day to do some posting of photos and present some evidence that I am actually on holiday somewhere and not just hiding out in my apartment pretending to be travelling.

                                            Chamberlain Street that is not the one I live on :-)

In the Beginning...

This trip featured something new for me - I travelled from Victoria Airport rather than using some other means of transportation over to Vancouver and leaving from there. On the one hand this was somewhat easier (particularly since I left at an hour that was conducive to getting to the Victoria Airport without getting up at the crack of dawn) but on the other hand I may not appreciate it so much when I am dealing with the 3 hour or so layover in Vancouver on the way back. But still - it is such a privilege to be able to travel at all - when so many do not have the means to do so - I am grateful.

I got an okay deal on the flight from Westjet - around $1100 Canadian return to Gatwick. One does have to take ones own food these days however as anything bigger than a pack of peanuts/pretzels or beyond juice, soda, coffee or tea must be paid for.

The flight to the UK was fine - I selected the seats just behind the bulkhead that separates business/premium/whatever the heck you call it these days from economy which has lots of leg room. I also used the easy bus website to secure a cheap (£1.99) bus ride to Victoria Coach Station. This ticket had the added advantage of being valid 60 minutes either side of the reserved time which is very helpful since one can never predict when you're going to breeze through customs and be out early or you'll be delayed and need some extra wiggle room time wise. Similarly when I fly back from Vilnius (Friday, October 4) I will use them again - for £2.29 this time - to get from Stansted to Victoria Coach Station.

London, Round 1 (August 21-27)

Since I arrived around 10:00 am on August 21st and knew that my hostel bed would not be ready until the afternoon I instead walked the mile or so (admittedly not much fun with the big suitcase) to the Vidal Sassoon Academy where I was able to get a haircut for £13. This left me with a head of hair much more suited to the hot weather and easier to let go days without washing.

I then set off walking again reaching my hostel sometime around 4pm I think (the haircut, done by a rather timid student, took a LONG time) but it was quite relaxing to sit in the chair and be fussed around. I then went out for something to eat (I think) and was in bed early and fairly well over my jet lag by the next day.

London didn't really involve any fabulous excursions just my usual kind of rambling around and looking at stuff (buildings, people, the Thames, shop windows). Maija and I did try to 'do' the Notting Hill Carnival but that was a bit of a bust as we were either too later or too early and saw no fabulously costumed dancers on parade. The highlight of that day was definitely the great value Indian vegetarian buffet (£6.95).

It was really quite hot - which seems like a distant memory now in Vilnius where it is raining quite hard and it is about 15 degrees C - and I ended up having to buy some cheap socks at the pound shop because I was getting blisters from my sweaty toes rubbing against each other.

One highlight of London was discovering the Barbican (I had always known about it but didn't realize until this trip that it has a whole area - called Level G - where you can sit for as long as you like without buying anything and use the free wifi and have access to coffee and bathrooms). I spent quite a bit of time there between wandering around forays.

I remained in London until the morning of August 27th when I caught the MegaBus (another bargain - particularly if you book ahead, cost me less than £6 to go from London to Bristol) to Bristol.