Bristol and London
I left for the UK after work last Thursday. I left straight from my client, who are based at the airport, so it should have only taken about 10 minutes to get to the correct terminal. Of course, that was not the case. After waiting half an hour for a cab, one finally showed up. About 100m out of the parking lot, a guy tries to flag the cab....and the cabbie stopped and let him in. I protest, saying that I need to get to the airport and the guy says that's fine; they can drop me off first and then he can get dropped off. That in itself was annoying but when the guy we picked up started talking, it was intolerable. He would not shut up and he seemed a bit off. He then informed us that he had just come from having a brain scan..... seemed to make sense.
Anyway, the flight went very quickly. I "slept" uneasily most of the trip. Upon arrival I got a bus from heathrow to Bristol where Emma picked me up.
Her house is very cute. Inside it's nice and modern, but outside it's an old house. All the houses on the block were that way; it was very pretty.
I didn't get to have a rest; Emma had a full weekend planned. On the first night we went to a cider festival/horse races outside of Bath with a group of her friends. They are all really nice. They were all a bit disappointed with the cider festival part (there were not that many type to try) but the horse races were fun (I didn't win anything, but a few of the guys had some good luck). They made me try the cloudy cider- which was pretty potent but not too bad. The ciders were nice, but I was pretty cidered out after that. After the races Bristol's most famous band, the Wurzles, took the stage. The crowd seemed to know every song. Emma and here friends were pretty appalled by the crowd that the event attracted. They continually reassured me that people from Bristol were not nearly as ugly. The Wurzles were awful. They had one hit (about farming equipment) back in the 70s and they have been riding that fame ever since. To me, they sounded like the Wiggles; if one of their songs was not about drinking cider, I could have thought they were a children's act.
I hit a big wall around 9pm (having been awake for nearly 2 days) and we were home by 11. I didn't sleep well; I've had probably the worst jet leg of my life.
The second day we did touristy things in Bristol. We did a bit of shopping; there was a store that had really cute shoes for 2pounds a pair, so that was good. We also went to see "the bridge". The bridge (it's a suspension bridge from the 1800s which cars can drive over) is Bristol's biggest attraction. It was ok; there was a nice view from the centre. Bristol itself is a really pretty town and I really liked it. Everything is old, but well restored and it was nice to see.
Saturday night we had a big night out. Emma's friends met us once again and we went for a really nice Indian dinner and then out to a few different bars, before hitting a club. It was a fun night; one of the places had really cheap jäger bombs, so things picked up after that stop.
So Sunday morning was a bit of a slow start. Emma and I took the train to Bath around midday. All weekend, I kept hearing (from Emma and her friends) about how warm it was and how good the weather was....it was like 19 degrees and overcast. I was freezing. We had just had a conversation about the "warm weather" as we left the house. When we got on the train it was PACKED. The conductor came on and apologized for the crowds "the weather seems to have brought everyone out, so we are a little underprepared". I'm suddenly appreciating Vancouver summer a little more.
We got to Bath and went to a bath house. There was a roof top thermal pool, which was lovely. Nice views and the warm water was good for the hangover. After we met two of her friends (who had driven down for the day) and we walked around the town. It was a very cute place. Lots of pretty old buildings and little shops. Fudge seemed to be a local speciality. We had a nice meal outside in the balmy 20 degree weather and then I started feeling ill. It seems that the lack of sleep over 4 days may have caught up to me. I woke up Monday feeling miserable.
Monday morning I got a bus back to London. Traffic was pretty heavy so it took about 3 hours. It was not a fun trip; I was ill and the woman next to me had a baby on her lap that would not shut up. We got into Victoria station; I planned on taking the tube to my hostel, but I was too sick so I took a taxi. I love the taxis here. Firstly, they know where you are going without detailed directions. Also, the taxis are funny shaped and fit 6 people....I don't ever remember taking a London taxi before; probably because it's expensive.
I spent most of the day sleeping in the hostel. I woke up feeling a bit better and headed out to Covent Garden. I looked around the shops, and watched the street performers. There was one guy I did not like; I watched him for 20 minutes and I was very disappointed.....he kept building up how "dangerous" and amazing his show was, but then he didn't really do anything most of the time. Just dilly dellied doing his big trick (which was not that impressive or dangerous) by telling really crappy jokes and talking about how great his show is. It was a waste of time, but I had invested time in it, so I felt that I needed to see it through.
I then went to see the legally blond musical at the Savoy theatre. It was really good; over the top and cheesy, but good fun. I was thinking about seeing Billy Elliott instead, but given that was sick, I wanted something light/funny.
I had to be up early today (Tuesday) to get my flight to istanbul. I woke up violently ill. I threw up for a few hours, including in a garbage can at one of the tube stops. It was not pretty. I'm doing a bit better now, but looks like tonight (and maybe tomorrow) will be resting days. I need to shake this flu before I join up with my tour tomorrow night.
One thing I didn't really get to see while in Bristol was a Banksey. I saw one in passing as we drove by, but i never got the chance to go take a picture. Banksey is a mostly anonymous graffiti artist from Bristol who creates works of art on random buildings in the middle of the night. I don't think that his identity has been confirmed. Apparently if your house or property is targeted for his work it's actually a good thing as the value of the property will jump. There are a number of ones around town and in London and other major cities.
So that's it for the UK. Turkey next. Then Greece and Croatia.
Anyway, the flight went very quickly. I "slept" uneasily most of the trip. Upon arrival I got a bus from heathrow to Bristol where Emma picked me up.
Her house is very cute. Inside it's nice and modern, but outside it's an old house. All the houses on the block were that way; it was very pretty.
I didn't get to have a rest; Emma had a full weekend planned. On the first night we went to a cider festival/horse races outside of Bath with a group of her friends. They are all really nice. They were all a bit disappointed with the cider festival part (there were not that many type to try) but the horse races were fun (I didn't win anything, but a few of the guys had some good luck). They made me try the cloudy cider- which was pretty potent but not too bad. The ciders were nice, but I was pretty cidered out after that. After the races Bristol's most famous band, the Wurzles, took the stage. The crowd seemed to know every song. Emma and here friends were pretty appalled by the crowd that the event attracted. They continually reassured me that people from Bristol were not nearly as ugly. The Wurzles were awful. They had one hit (about farming equipment) back in the 70s and they have been riding that fame ever since. To me, they sounded like the Wiggles; if one of their songs was not about drinking cider, I could have thought they were a children's act.
I hit a big wall around 9pm (having been awake for nearly 2 days) and we were home by 11. I didn't sleep well; I've had probably the worst jet leg of my life.
The second day we did touristy things in Bristol. We did a bit of shopping; there was a store that had really cute shoes for 2pounds a pair, so that was good. We also went to see "the bridge". The bridge (it's a suspension bridge from the 1800s which cars can drive over) is Bristol's biggest attraction. It was ok; there was a nice view from the centre. Bristol itself is a really pretty town and I really liked it. Everything is old, but well restored and it was nice to see.
Saturday night we had a big night out. Emma's friends met us once again and we went for a really nice Indian dinner and then out to a few different bars, before hitting a club. It was a fun night; one of the places had really cheap jäger bombs, so things picked up after that stop.
So Sunday morning was a bit of a slow start. Emma and I took the train to Bath around midday. All weekend, I kept hearing (from Emma and her friends) about how warm it was and how good the weather was....it was like 19 degrees and overcast. I was freezing. We had just had a conversation about the "warm weather" as we left the house. When we got on the train it was PACKED. The conductor came on and apologized for the crowds "the weather seems to have brought everyone out, so we are a little underprepared". I'm suddenly appreciating Vancouver summer a little more.
We got to Bath and went to a bath house. There was a roof top thermal pool, which was lovely. Nice views and the warm water was good for the hangover. After we met two of her friends (who had driven down for the day) and we walked around the town. It was a very cute place. Lots of pretty old buildings and little shops. Fudge seemed to be a local speciality. We had a nice meal outside in the balmy 20 degree weather and then I started feeling ill. It seems that the lack of sleep over 4 days may have caught up to me. I woke up Monday feeling miserable.
Monday morning I got a bus back to London. Traffic was pretty heavy so it took about 3 hours. It was not a fun trip; I was ill and the woman next to me had a baby on her lap that would not shut up. We got into Victoria station; I planned on taking the tube to my hostel, but I was too sick so I took a taxi. I love the taxis here. Firstly, they know where you are going without detailed directions. Also, the taxis are funny shaped and fit 6 people....I don't ever remember taking a London taxi before; probably because it's expensive.
I spent most of the day sleeping in the hostel. I woke up feeling a bit better and headed out to Covent Garden. I looked around the shops, and watched the street performers. There was one guy I did not like; I watched him for 20 minutes and I was very disappointed.....he kept building up how "dangerous" and amazing his show was, but then he didn't really do anything most of the time. Just dilly dellied doing his big trick (which was not that impressive or dangerous) by telling really crappy jokes and talking about how great his show is. It was a waste of time, but I had invested time in it, so I felt that I needed to see it through.
I then went to see the legally blond musical at the Savoy theatre. It was really good; over the top and cheesy, but good fun. I was thinking about seeing Billy Elliott instead, but given that was sick, I wanted something light/funny.
I had to be up early today (Tuesday) to get my flight to istanbul. I woke up violently ill. I threw up for a few hours, including in a garbage can at one of the tube stops. It was not pretty. I'm doing a bit better now, but looks like tonight (and maybe tomorrow) will be resting days. I need to shake this flu before I join up with my tour tomorrow night.
One thing I didn't really get to see while in Bristol was a Banksey. I saw one in passing as we drove by, but i never got the chance to go take a picture. Banksey is a mostly anonymous graffiti artist from Bristol who creates works of art on random buildings in the middle of the night. I don't think that his identity has been confirmed. Apparently if your house or property is targeted for his work it's actually a good thing as the value of the property will jump. There are a number of ones around town and in London and other major cities.
So that's it for the UK. Turkey next. Then Greece and Croatia.
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