Bristol

and bath and birmingham, but mostly bristol

Jordan and I stayed in Bristol for a week, mostly thanks to my cousin Sophie and her family for hosting us. We did so much in Bristol, probably thanks to the lack of dogs we had depending on us, and how close Sophie lived to the city center.

The first day we were in Bristol, Jordan and I started with the Banksy trail and made our way around the city using Banksy’s paintings as landmarks and guides. The first we saw was Mild Mild West, then Rose on a Mousetrap and then Queen Ziggy. Alongside Banksy, are many other street artists that make Bristol a lively and colorful place filled to the brim with accessible art for all to see.

Queen Ziggy was right by the city museum, where we had a nice long meander through before exploring more of the city. I really liked Bristol, I think it is one of the few places in England where I could actually see myself living. It is somehow very industrial, but then also classical, with a good mix of gothic architecture. It feels like any Sylvia Plath novel could take place here.

As the sun was setting, we found one last Banksy painting, Well Hung Lover, and then headed into the Bristol Cathedral across the street. The cathedral, as you may expect, was stunning. A nice surprise was that there was a children’s choir practicing for their Christmas concert that night, so we got to hear Christmas songs and the organ whilst exploring the cathedral, which as pretty magical.

The next day, Jordan and I actually went to Birmingham! One of the last cities in the UK, that we hadn’t visited yet. We took a surprisingly short bus from Bristol to Birmingham, then explored a bit of the city and finally settled in the library. The library in Birmingham was insane. I believe 11 floors of books and study spaces and it even had an open air garden on the seventh floor.

After the library we headed to the theatre where we watched the Book of Mormon, one of my favorite musical. I have been trying to get Jordan to like musicals and I think this one may have done it. It has such good music, harmonies, and its so funny, definitely a good starter musical, but it is certainly not PG-13 so don't say I didn’t warn you.

Post show, we tried out an asian food market that had all sorts of different south-east and east asian foods, so Jordan and I shared a plate of Korean fried chicken and some Pho.

The next day, we also headed out of Bristol, this time for Bath. The Georgian/Roman architecture here is stunning, and helped land the city UNESCO World Heritage status. More importantly though, much of the architecture is featured in Bridgerton!

We explored the streets for a while, got some fish and chips for lunch, then headed to the Roman Baths museum to learn a bit about the city’s history and namesake. It was super interesting to learn about the heated springs and how people believed the waters had healing powers. It reminded me of the Turkish Baths that Jordan and I visited in Harrogate, and how that used to be a healing area, people coming from all over to be healed by the waters. At the end of the tour, Jordan and I even got to taste some of the water! It was warm and had a gross taste, but Jordan swears it healed his ankle which had been hurting him all day.

When we got back to Bristol that evening, we went out for dinner with Sophie, Julien, and the kids at an incredible vegan mezzo place that I have not stopped thinking about since.

The next morning, Sophie drove us to a suburb of Bristol, where we were housesitting for a very old kitty. We spend most of that day just vegging on the couch or in bed, relaxing after a very busy week. We did made two outings to the massive Sainsbury’s across the street where I got some stuff to make dinners for the next few nights. The second outing was more of a dessert run, but we almost got locked in the store because they closed with us inside. They had turned off all the registers, I don’t think they knew we were in there because they seemed very surprised when we walked up to pay. Luckily they let us buy our sweets and head out.

The next day, we were invited to Sophie’s son, Theo’s, football match, so we headed there in the morning. Then Sophie had us over for lunch. Julien and Jordan played a game of chess (and still play together online) and then we walked around the city together! They showed us the city center, the docks and the M Shed (a Bristol museum). At the dock’s we followed part of the Treasure Island trail by accident, and saw some of the places included in the books including the pub “The Hole in the Wall,” where Jim first meets Long John Silver in the book, which was quite cool as I had read that book for the first time last month.

The last thing we did with Sophie and Julien that night was find the Girl with the Pearl Earring, another Banksy painting. It feels almost symbolic that we started our Bristol exploration and ended it on the same note, with Banksy, an iconic Bristolian.

The next morning, we headed off to Liverpool until Jordan’s mom arrived.

I really liked Bristol and I can’t wait to go back!

xx abby