first, we were heading there in order to see some of the engineering feats of isambard kingdom brunel (don't say those Victorians didn't know how to name people). the two major ones that we saw were the clifton suspension bridge and the ss great britain. there was a whole series of random things throughout the city that burnel did but these in particular were pretty amazing.
second, while edinburgh was a quaint town which was very much in touch with its past both culturally and architecturally, bristol was a much more industrial city and therefore suffered a lot of damage during world war II. the result is that much of the city is now much more modern apartment complexes built during the 70s and 80s taking up the river front property that had been car parks and half-destroyed buildings following the war. basically, it seems to have a lot of identity issues that edinburgh didn't have to deal with. for example, bristol has the largest surviving georgian square in england (where the first american consolate was located) a few hundred yards away from a giant tacky condo building that was build 10 years ago but already has 2x4s holding up the balconies on half the units.
third, because it's on the west coast, bristol is hit with all the weather coming off the atlantic much sooner than london. and thus is a lot rainier and generally miserable.
finally, i spent most of the weekend sick with a cold (NOT swine flu) and in my bed. saturday was our first morning without having to set an alarm in like two weeks and i took full advantage, staying in bed until the languid hour of 10 am and then getting back in for an hour and a half at 11:30.
with that as a preface, here are some pictures from bristol:
the ss great britain, which was the largest iron ship with a propeller built at the time
the whole bottom is rusty so they have to keep it dry to prevent further deterioration so it's in a dry dock with a glass casing around it and dehumidifiers which is really cool because you can walk around all underneath it!
this is a view of the ship from within the dry dock, looking at the front of it. there are holes in it at some places where the rust has completely worn through the 150 year old iron. it didn't help that the boat spent probably 50 years of that time festooned off various islands. 
on board the boat, we experienced life like a passenger would. one of the cabins featured someone who had to be quarantined. me too. 
afterward, we headed to the park to try and see cabot tower but after hiking up a hill, we only discovered that it was closed for renovations. for all you cabot kids who might be reading this, john cabot is a big deal in bristol but i can't remember why exactly. something to do with fish trade in america in the 15th or 16th century and a wooden galleon named matthew. that's all i got for you. overall, bath is a much better place than bristol. this is generally attributed to the fact that bath wasn't really bombed during the blitz, which is a generally positive development for any city. there wasn't too much stuff related to the course there but we had a good time going to high tea in the roman baths and hanging out around the city. we even attempted to watch a cricket game but it's a horrible spectator sport for the uninitiated. noor has since enlightened me on the rules and i think that i might vaguely sort of understand what the goal may be now. perhaps.
waiting in line for high tea in the roman baths. jamie, the four year old son of both our professors, was getting bored. he and i became friends when i literally paid him all the one and two pence coins in my wallet. i said i would "keep him posted" if i got any more and he responded "ok! you better post them to me!" he was also playing with a toy of the saber-toothed tiger from ice age and anne, his mom, asked if he knew what "saber" meant. he answered "it means to eat something slowly so you enjoy it" even though he had actually defined "savor" we were all really impressed.
anyway, high tea is amazing. more scones and pastries than you can eat. actually. but we were so hungry we didn't exactly savor it.
romans were here. there were a lot of "when in rome..." jokes, which is unusual due to the fact that we were not, in fact, in rome.
us, by the river avon
cricket, which we could only determine to be "baseball's drunk cousin" half the words on the scoreboard literally mean nothing to me.
eventually we made our way to the royal crescent which we assume is where the rich/elite/royal people hung out. we were too tired to figure this out at this point, as proven by this photo.
waiting in line for high tea in the roman baths. jamie, the four year old son of both our professors, was getting bored. he and i became friends when i literally paid him all the one and two pence coins in my wallet. i said i would "keep him posted" if i got any more and he responded "ok! you better post them to me!" he was also playing with a toy of the saber-toothed tiger from ice age and anne, his mom, asked if he knew what "saber" meant. he answered "it means to eat something slowly so you enjoy it" even though he had actually defined "savor" we were all really impressed.anyway, high tea is amazing. more scones and pastries than you can eat. actually. but we were so hungry we didn't exactly savor it.
romans were here. there were a lot of "when in rome..." jokes, which is unusual due to the fact that we were not, in fact, in rome.
us, by the river avon
cricket, which we could only determine to be "baseball's drunk cousin" half the words on the scoreboard literally mean nothing to me. 
eventually we made our way to the royal crescent which we assume is where the rich/elite/royal people hung out. we were too tired to figure this out at this point, as proven by this photo.after an epic fight with the elements saturday night, this morning we headed back to relatively dry london. spent the train ride doing some awesome lsat prep. then most of the afternoon napping and doing reading. also got in a quick run and a group dinner.
tomorrow we're heading out bright and early to cambridge for darwin, picnicking, punting!
tomorrow we're heading out bright and early to cambridge for darwin, picnicking, punting!
