We had a proper English breakfast in our hotel before setting out into the rain.
Hard to complain about a breakfast view like this.
And the toast came properly cooled in a toast rack.
Another good Persuasion reference, anyone remember who lived in Laura Place? We go through Laura Place to get into the city centre from our hotel.
We caught the 9:36 to get to Bristol for Alex's talk. The rain did not stop, and Bristol is great, but in a gritty industrial way. We walked from the train station to the harbor area, which is all redeveloped since the port shut down in the 1970s. Christy, this would feel very much like Hafencity!
In Queen's Square (named for Queen Anne, but with a statue of William III in the center) we saw this plaque. Not much explanation for Kosciuszko's visit. Then we saw this one, on the same house.
And it turns out they are connected.
Of course I need a photo of myself there.
And here is the entire house. Although it was not this house, but rather a house on this site, where the Americans established their consulate. And it was there that Kosciuszko came to visit his friends from his time fighting in the American Revolution. All history is world history. And that seems even more more true on some days!
This gets my vote for the most subtile marker for a bike lane.
Pero's bridge, named for a slave brought to Bristol. The city made plenty of money on the slave trade and the tobacco trade.
It turned out that the Pervasive Media Studio is in the building on the right, but we did not know that when we were walking around in the rain. I like the juxtaposition of the Cathedral, the 19th century industrial building, and the new @Bristol (a science museum/center).
The Planetarium is a popular school trip destination.
After walking around a bit, getting wetter and wetter, and then getting some directions, we found the door. When we were buzzed in we found a spiral staircase, and loud music started playing. It is some kind of art project.
Here is Alex giving the beginning of his talk. He blogs about the talk here. It was well received, there was some lively discussion afterward.
We were there quite a while, and when we emerged back outside the sun was shining.
Back in Queen's Square. We walked back to the station the way we had come, since we wanted to get back to Bath in time to see the Roman Baths before they closed. Of course there are plenty of cool things to see in Bristol, but that will have to wait for another trip.
The sunlight changes everything. We bought some sandwiches to go and kept going toward the station.
The Bristol train station is an amazing bit of Victorian building. The station opened as the western terminus of the Great Western Railway in 1840 (built by Brunel, like just about everything in Bristol). This photo shows the main entrance built in the 1870s expansion of the station.
We caught the 13:51 back to Bath.
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