A rather eventful Bristol

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Bigger Little note: I was in a rush last night because our internet time was running out, and I entirely forgot to mention we hiked to the West Kennet Longbarrow after our little adventure in Avebury. We walked a very muddy little footpath through someone's farmland - and there were sheeps everywhere! - I love sheep. We went past Silbury Hill, which is the largest manmade earthworks in Britain - it was just a giant hill, but nobody knows why it is there. Then we got to the Longbarrow, which is a burial chamber from the neolithic era (approx. 5000 years ago) - I was afraid there would still be skeletons in it, but I guess the archaeologists removed them. We went inside anyhow, but it wasn't very well lit. We didn't stay long. After this, we went back to Salisbury (listed below).
***End of Edit***

Little note: STILL having trouble finding a computer to upload photos on. The ones we've used so far have all had weird restrictions on them. When we find one, I'll just put them in the proper entries. I'll let you know.

So I guess we've a little catching up to do. The day after stonehenge, we went to Avebury, with that aussie we mentioned in the previous entry - we discovered her name, finally - it's Mikaila. She was really awesome, a highschool medieval history teacher from Sydney. We exchanged information when we left Salisbury. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

I thought Avebury was cooler than Stonehenge, but that was because it wasn't really a tourist attraction. Stonehenge had rope gates, and admissions, and a cafe and gift shop...Avebury was a bunch of giagantic neolithic stones in someone's (or a few someone's) backyard. And we could touch them and climb on them, as photos of Alex will show (I merely put my canadian flag around my neck like a cape and pretended to hold them up.) Alex was embarrassed. I think it was better than the other day when I wore it as a cape and jumped out of a phone booth like superman. He was really embarrassed then.

That night, we (as a collective being tired of eating british food) went out for thai curry. It was delicious! We ate at the Rai D'or (ray of gold) a tavern which has been standing since 1292 and was a brothel from the 1600s until it was banned in the 1860s or so - now, it's a thai curry restaurant...but it was sooooo good. Even Alex liked it. Just about anything beats deep fried or battered/pastried foods.

There. Caught up. Now onto the Bristol madness as I prefer to call it.

We got to Bristol at nighttime to find out the hotel we booked (because NO hostel or cheap place was available that night) was a £40 taxi ride out of town. The website said they were IN Bristol, but it was in Clevedon (similar to trying to book a hotel in Vancouver and finding out it's in Delta)...and the taxi driver had less of an idea of how to get there than us. So, I TRIED to cancel our reservations, and the taxi driver dropped us off at some new hotel in the city centre, and didn't charge us for all of the time in the taxi. That was nice.

Then, we booked the hotel, I found out I couldn't cancel my previous reservation, so I paid the £55 and sucked it up. When we got to our rooms (which were gorgeous, by the way) the bathroom light didn't work...so we complained (or rather, Alex complained, because I didn't care by this point) and we changed rooms. Then, we watched two episodes of CSI: New York (yay!) and didn't check out until noon. We've been getting up and leaving the hostels by 8-9 at the latest....our feet and backs are sore, and we're getting pretty tired. We do walk all day.

We immediately checked into our hostel (which we could book for the rest of the time here in Bristol), after dealing with another dumb taxi driver who didn't know where our hostel was, even though its within the city centre. It's...got character, to put it nicely. The carpets are really stained, and the place isn't very clean or nice, but it was cheap, and the YHA is closed for renovations until next year.

So far we've gone to the Christmas markets (which has some amazing french soap I'm going to have to buy before I leave) and the mall - the first city we've been in to have a mall - and we wandered around a bunch, and got into a fight that nearly made me hop on a train and leave Alex behind...but that's not really worth talking about. We're better. Today, we went on a day trip to Bath (and we didn't bike because try as we might, we couldn't find a rental place ANYWHERE), and saw the ancient roman baths (VERY VERY COOL) and wandered around a bunch more. I discovered today that pickle and pickles in the UK mean different things. I ordered a cheese and pickle sandwich, and got a cheese and pickled onion sandwich. I tried it. It wasn't gross, it was just...weird. I couldn't make myself eat it - it was just too weird tasting. I went someplace else and got a veggie burger (which was delicious)

When we got back to Bristol, we took a little ferry ride down the River Avon to the city centre. It was fun. Due to boredom at night, Alex bought a travel monopoly and a scrabble board. If we play chess any longer I might kill him. I don't play to win - I play to prolong my death. It drives me nuts.

Tomorrow, we're going to go to Glastonbury, which is where King Arthur and Guinevere are alleged to be buried. I'm excited. And then, after one more night here, not including tonight....we are off to Wales.

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Comments

[illumina]

Hi! Stumbled across this somehow! The cheese and pickled onion thing is odd. If you asked me for a cheese and pickle sandwich, I'd give you cheese and Branston pickle... now I'm not sure that's what you'd have in Canada, but it ain't pickled onion!

[a travelling toad]

If you were in Canada and asked for a cheese and pickle sandwich, you'd get a cheese and dill pickle (probably sliced thinly lengthwise) sandwich. Also - I'd make it more interesting by adding photos, but I've yet to use a computer that will actually allow it!