| Week Ending 17th September |
| "As the days dwindle down to a precious few" we find ourselves in a state of chaos and panic. There is so much that needs to be done and so much that we want to do before we leave. We came to England in four suitcases and two hand-carries. We've acquired stuff while we've been here and worn some stuff out. The question to be answered is can we get the genie back in the bottle? And, what do we do if it doesn't fit? The rules on what can be hand-carried have changed - restricting them to almost nothing and there are rumors that the rules may change again. The present rules allow an extra "checked bag" to compensate for what can't be hand-carried - which is good. But, they may go back to the old rules. We have been reviewing our "to-do list" while in England and trying to finish the things that are a "must." Our friends have seen our list and keep suggesting other things that we really should try to do before we leave. Tuesday, after recovering from Berlin, we took the city's sightseeing bus around Bristol. This is something you usually do to get acquainted with a new city, but somehow we have been putting it off. The bus passes by our flat about every hour and a half on weekdays and twice as often on weekends. The bus tour showed us places we had missed and gave us a different prospective on places familiar to us |
| We started our tour with Bristol's most familiar landmark, the Clifton Suspension Bridge designed by Brunel. We climbed up out of the gorge to an area known as "The Downs." This area was completely new to us because it can only be reached by car, walking or tour bus. This was a complete surprise because this is a huge open area park, with incredible views of the Avon Gorge and the very impressive homes of the really high-rent district. You can just barely see the bridge in the picture of the gorge - gives you some idea of the scale of the Downs park. |
| From the Downs we crossed Clifton and ended up at the "Clifton Triangle." The Triangle is very familiar to us because this is where we do our major shopping. From here we went down the hill to Centre, the hub of Bristol. Most of the buses either start or end their route here. |
| The revelation of the bus tour was that this area had been Bristol's main harbor and that the whole of the Centre is a huge bridge over the River Frome. The whole of Centre is riddled with passageways, tunnels and storage caves used when the area was a thriving harbor. Tuesday and Wednesday Nancy had a bad attack of allergies of some sort that started in Berlin. Her head was a running river, so to speak. She had planned to spend the night at Ruth's house Wednesday night so that they could get an early start to The Knitting and Stitching Show at Birmingham. The plan called for the two of them to drive to Gloucester and join a coach sponsored by a local group for the trip into Birmingham. The show was listed as a knitting and stitchery show, but Nancy believes it was more of crafts than knitting. While there was yarn there, it didn't seem to be the focus. Nancy was looking for local fiber for spinning, but the fiber was pretty nasty stuff or what many people are using for felting - not a good place to buy fiber. Ruth and Nancy enjoyed the show and came home with a few treasures (Nancy got some Collinette from their booth!). She got some Christmas presents for family and friends and ideas for future projects. She got home Thursday night about 9:00, and was able to recharge for a trip on Friday to the American Museum in Bath with John and Eve - runny nose and all. Friday morning we took the bus across town to John and Eve's house. The Bristol traffic in the morning is miserable and so we can get to them easier than they can get to us and back. We have finally figured out that we can take just about any bus running down Hotwells Road that is going to Bristol Centre (every ~8 minutes). From Bristol Centre we can get a schedule to almost anywhere in Bristol or England using www.traveline.org.uk , traveling by bus is "a piece of cake." The planned trip for the day was the American Museum just south of Bath about four miles. An expatriated American, Dallas Pratt, established the museum for those who wanted to learn about some of America's lifestyle and arts. The Museum is a series of rooms each featuring a time period from 1690 until the eve of the American Civil War. It was well done with authentic furniture and furnishings in the rooms. |
| To the south of the Manor is a complete replica of the gardens at George Washington's home in Mount Vernon and called it the "Mount Vernon Garden." There are plants that had been traded with the original owners of the property who were friends of 'ol George. Is this one of those "George Slept here" stories? |
| One of the more memorable artifacts within the museum is housed in the building called the Folk Art Gallery. There is a collection of cigar store Indians and weather vanes. The cigar store Indians are particularly of note because they have been so well preserved. The museum is careful to keep them oiled and feed them linseed oil regularly in their reservoirs (hidden in the top of their heads). Upon returning home to John and Eve's, we were treated to "some of The Finest Fish and Chips in all of England." After a nice visit with J&E we bused home in the dark. It was a graphic illustration of the changing of the seasons. Winter is coming fast. All in all it was a very nice couple of days. |
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| The picture is a little distorted. This is a panorama with the right edge pointing due north and the right edge pinting due west. Imagine that you can grab the two edges and form a 90 degree arc. |
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