Bristol Sojourn

Gloucester Railway Station

One more sleep until Dublin. Just back from an impromptu wander around Bristol.

Aunty Jean and her friend Judy were down from Carlisle celebrating Judy's 70th birthday. Dad and M were taking them to see Ghost, a new musical based on the 1990 film. It's one of my aunt's favourites.

Me and Aunty Jean at Carlisle Racecourse

Unfortunately, my dad has hurt his back and been consigned to the couch for a few weeks, so I stepped in as substitute. M met up with Jean and Judy in Bristol on Friday night, they did the sightseeing tour of Clifton Suspension Bridge, the cathedral and everything, then I took the train down from Gloucester to meet them Saturday afternoon.

View from hotel room of Temple Meads station
and dramatic sky

I really like Bristol town centre. It's very watery, right on the dockside with nice features.

Waterfall Steps

Lion's Head

Wobbly Water

Lots of Pretty Flowers

My, Poseidon. What a big trident you have...

Continuing the watery theme, we started with drinks at Under the Stars, a floating bar a bit like The Apple, which is a floating cider boat further up. Their website is currently down but I'll add it later.

Under the Stars

Then we headed to Graze, run by Bath Ales. Good fish and chips, and an impressive waiter who managed to remember the whole order without writing anything down, but could stand a little improvement: the vegy options were limited due to lack of availability, the toilets had no paper in them, it was a long wait for our drinks even though it was quiet, and the knife handles in the wall were a little bit creepy... Also, the cheese they use on their cheeseburgers is a very acquired taste. I'd only encountered it once before it Germany and it's extremely strong. You either love it, or, in my case, hate it, but probably wouldn't know until it arrived.

Bristol has just about every food known to wo/man, though. From Greek to Jamaican, there's a good site here for finding restaurants.

Chin Chin

Although it was a grey day, it added to the urban charm...

Double Rainbow Over Building Site

People In The Pavement

 Then we headed over to The Hippodrome for the show.

Unfortunately, we had to duck out halfway through as two of us weren't feeling very well (no, nothing to do with Graze). The first half was good, but there was heavy reliance on strobe lighting and media effects, possibly to mask the fact that there weren't any catchy tunes. Some of the effects were extremely clever, such as the point at which Sam becomes a ghost, and when he walks through a closed door, but a lot of it seemed to be a mixture of gobos, projection and scrim netting. Clever to watch, but hard on the eyes and a little less emotionally engaging than it could have been.

Though I did notice outside that Will Young is taking up the role of Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret, originally played in the film by Jennifer Grey's dad, Joel Grey. Jennifer, of course, having played Baby in Dirty Dancing, that other Patrick Swayze classic.

Joel Grey was absolutely definitive, but Will Young is pretty good as an actor. I can see it working.

Don't think any of us had a particularly good night's sleep, though M managed to sleep through the 4am party goers who continued their party all the way down the hotel corridor. 

Still, being close to the railway we did have this impressive view of an old steam train leaving the station in the early hours. Possibly The Royal Duchy?

Then it was off to a local pub for breakfast and a cuppa. Look: sausage, hash brown, egg, bacon and cheese all in one wrap! Good morning, indeed.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning this morning. We all caught the same train north, which took a diversion via Wales and up the side of the Severn, which is one of the most beautiful stretched of railway in Britain. You have the river on one side, and an impressive view of Chepstow Castle on the other. It was really nice to meet Judy for the first time, and, despite some of us not being on top form, we all had a really good time.

Leaving Bristol Temple Meads Station

We also had fun spotting Gromits. Every year, Bristol businesses purchase and decorate an animal. One year it was pigs, then lions, last year it was gorillas. They display them all around the town, then auction them off for charity at the end of the year. This year the theme was Gromit, from Wallace & Gromit, as Aardman Animations is based in Bristol