The Nomadic Adventurers: Bristol day 1-a perfect day!

After a full night's sleep and a good breakfast we headed to downtown Bristol for a tour of the city on the Open Top Bus. Bristol was founded about 1200 years ago as a Saxon settlement. Once it became a city it was one of Britain's largest but now it is amongst the smaller ones. We just sat on the bus and let the guide tell us all about the city. The river Avon flows down the gorge and through the city. A famous suspension bridge spans the gorge. We saw an original Banksy graffiti art (see picture and description below) and learned the history of Bristol blue glass. We also saw Aardman Animations, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and other claymations.

We went to visit Steve's 85ear old mum and spent a couple of hours with her visiting. It was most delightful and she was the ultimate hostess. Though Angela and Steve were taking cake and drinks to help her out (they didn't want her to worry about entertaining us) she had a table full of cheese straws (which I LOVED), cheese biscuits (crackers to us) and cheese, Jaffe cakes (which are Steve's favorite)and carrot cake which Angela and Steve brought. She had china plates with napkins all set out and was the queen of hospitality. We left her around 5:00 and drove to the Hunter's Rest Inn which was originally built around 1750 and used as a hunting lodge for the Earl of Warwick. It is set in a beautiful countryside on Clutton Hill.

We entered in and sat near the log fire and ordered our food. I had my pint of diet coke and we all had different food to eat. Angela and Steve had ham, egg and chips, Jim had the pub special of Sea Bass on noodles and I had the ever standard Fish and Chips. While we were there many locals came into the pub with their dogs. Lollipop was a rescue yorkie mix who fell in love with me and I her. Maddie was a Doberman that didn't have the cropped ears or tail. She laid by the fire and both dogs were very well behaved. Another dog entered with her human and walked quietly past the others. I expected some sort of growling but they acted like this was normal and natural.

Our meal was delightful, our morning on the hop on hop off bus was informative but most of all meeting Steve's mum, Audrey, was the best. It has rained both days while here the change of weather has been great. It was an amazing day spent with our friends.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous "Suspension Bridge" over the gorge

Avon River and the gorge it created

Banksy is a pseudonymous United Kingdom-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. Wikipedia