I spent this past weekend in Bristol, which is in the southwest part of England, on the coast near the Welsh border. My friend Kristine is living there right now with her husband. Kristine and I kind of grew up together in Kimberley, as our moms taught together and were good friends. Kris and I also went to elementary school together for three years and have kept in touch over the years mostly through our parents, but have seen each other rarely. But there's something about knowing someone for most of your life that makes it okay to see each other every five years and then visit for a whole weekend and have it be easy and comfortable.
I had a great time hanging out with Kris this weekend, as well as her husband Chris (definitely some name confusion because I have always called Kristine Kris), and their little boy Cole. Chris works for Nokia and has been assigned temporarily to the office in Bristol. First it was going to be for six months, but now it could be a year... Kristine is on her maternity leave, so she's at home taking care of Cole, who's about nine months old and a cutie-pie!
On Saturday we drove to Stonehenge. What a cool sight to see... It's such an enduring image, and sometimes when you see those really iconic landmarks they can be disappointing, but I was fully satisfied with Stonehenge. We walked around it in a long slow circle and I liked how it changed so much depending on where you were standing, and how different it looked against different parts of the sky. We lucked out with the weather as it only started raining when we were leaving, when the massive hordes of tourists were arriving:)
On Sunday, Kristine, Cole, and I ventured out into Bristol to see some sights. It was quite cold and windy, but again, no rain. I quite liked Bristol, even though it's not exactly a pretty city, but it's one of those towns built on industry so it has a lot of character -- lots of boats and cranes, but like everywhere else in Europe, mingled with gorgeous cathedrals and churches.
On Monday, we went to Bath, which is just a 10-minute train ride away. If Bristol is a typical working class industry town, Bath is at the other end of the spectrum. It's a classically gorgeous Georgian town -- sort of what you might picture Jane Austen's England to look like. Jane Austen actually lived in Bath for periods of time and and we went into some assembly rooms that made me feel like I was on the set of Pride and Prejudice.
We visited the Roman baths, which were so cool, and were lucky enough to have a sunny afternoon so the creme coloured stone looked warm and glowing. The baths are just in front of the Bath Abbey, an absolutely massive Gothic church, which creates a really dramatic backdrop for the baths, where you can imagine Romans in togas hanging out by the sides of the pools.
Was a great weekend. I hope they stay in Bristol till at least the end of the year, so I can go back and visit again!
Pictures from the weekend are on my Flickr site.
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