Yesterday, Adam had to meet someone in downtown Bristol (or city centre, in our new language) to work on a paper for school (or uni, in our new language). We decided to head into town a bit earlier than he needed to be there & we’d eat lunch then he could go to his meeting & I’d go into my office to finish up a few things I avoided working on last week. We ate at Magic Roll. It’s near my office and one of those cult following favorites that people fell in love with while they were in college and still have great memories of, like Fuzzy’s in Fort Worth or Harold’s (moment of silence for the closed BBQ) in Abilene. Since being introduced to it the second week at work, I’ve tended to go back anytime I ‘forget’ my sack lunch. I can’t really describe with words except to say it’s amazing. Chicken, cheese, tomato, avocado, chorizo, and peppered mayo on a large flour tortilla grilled like a burrito – what is better than that? Adam, however, had never been despite me discussing at home (a lot). I’m not sure what Adam ate; neither is he, if he’s honest. I was on about bite number four when I looked over at him licking his fingers clean. Apparently, we have a winner.
Adam went off to work on his paper & I walked down to my office. It was very strange to have the entire office to myself. It was me & the security guard in the building. After an hour or so, Adam called & said that he was finished with his paper. We have to take a detour in the story to learn some Bristol geography. Bristol, because we haven’t mentioned this in a good month or so, is hilly. Not the Abilene definition of hills, the Colorado definition of hills. There are lots of them. You don’t go anywhere in the city without walking up one. And I swear you walk up more than you walk down. I don’t know how that happens. Where Adam was when he called was absolutely at the bottom of the hill. Where we’d parked was about 1/3 of the way up, my office where I was was just a bit further up, and where we’d eaten lunch was nearly at the top. Adam had walked from the car to the top of the hill to eat lunch and all the way back down for his meeting. So when I said, ‘why don’t you meet me at my office & we’ll walk to the park,’ I could hear the thought of ‘because I’d have to walk up the hill again’ coming through. But, I charmed him (and offered to buy him an ice cream cone in the park – I’ll let you decide which one really motivated him) and he came back up the hill.
The view from my office is beautiful. It’s situated just outside a park. On a nice weekend, such as this one, it’s packed with people absorbing their vitamin D. This is actually the view from the front door of my office building.
Pretty cool, huh. The park is called Brandon Hill, and is considered to be Bristol's oldest park. At the top of the hill is Cabot Tower.
From the stories I’ve pieced together from things people have told us about the history of Bristol (aided a bit by some Google research), Brandon Hill was a strategic location during the English Civil War sieges in the 1640’s & 50’s. In the 1600’s Bristol was very important to the country in both wealth & prestige because of the access to the ports and shipping. At points during the battles occurring in Bristol both sides claimed the top of Brandon Hill as their own.
Cabot Tower was built between 1896 and 1898 in commemoration of John Cabot, 400 years after he sailed in the Matthew and landed in what later became Canada. When we first arrived in Bristol, the tower was shrouded in scaffolding. It had closed in November 2007 after bad cracks appeared in masonry around the viewing platforms. Four years and a little over £200,000 later, restoration has now been completed and Cabot Tower is open to visitors again.
So we climbed up. (We all know my love of tiny spiral staircases).
But, it’s worth it. Some great views from the top.
After climbing back down, we (got an ice cream cone – Adam has a very strong, yet selective memory – and) sat in the park with all the locals enjoying the very spring like day.
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