Walking Bristol

Up to the 1970s Bristol could boast little in the way of free-standing sculptures and statues. It also had a poor record of keeping those it did possess.  So many of the ‘older’ sculptures fell into disrepair or were taken by thieves / art collectors (because, who wouldn’t want an 8ft statue of Queen Victoria for their back garden?).  In 1978, the Bristol Ramblers Group (a citizens group to promote walking, protect the rights of way, campaign for access to open country and defend the beauty of the countryside) started noticing the significant deterioration of the public art of Bristol and went about to protect and restore them.  The city eventually joined on board and now there are hundreds of outdoor, public sculptures throughout the center of Bristol.

Last weekend, Adam & I did one of the Ramblers self-guided tours tour taking us past about 30 public statues and sculptures (don’t worry, I’ve just pulled out 6 of my favorite photos).  Many I pass on a daily basis as I walk to work and have either never known about or never noticed. 

Ginger was quite excited when we told her what we were doing that day & made sure to keep an eye out for statues the whole way into town.

One of our favorite new discoveries is Beetle sculpture.  It was installed in 2000 for the opening of the square area it sits in. The large insect is based on a rhinoceros beetle, a scarabaeid, with one or more horns, which can support up to 850 times its own weight.  I didn’t let the girls climb on it to test the support factor.

In the same square is the Aquarena Water Sculpture, also built in 2000, by William Pye.  It is a continuous flowing water feature with stainless steel columns and black marble pools of water cascading into each other…or the biggest drinking bowl ever.

Ginger, the ever friendly one of the group, went right up to inspect ‘Bill and Bob dogs playing in pool’.  She says it’s how she best likes terriers, bronzed and stuck in a puddle.

Absolutely beautiful and bit hidden from view are the Three Kings of Cologne from 1967 by Ernest Pascoe in the early sixteenth century niches of the Chapel adjoining Fosters Almshouses.

Finally, we happened upon the Portland stone figures of a farmer and a coal miner from circa 1903. To me, these were in amazing condition for being outside in the rain for over 100 years!

The Powell B&B

Friends at work are amazed at how many people have come to visit us this summer.  We tell them it’s because we have awesome friends who love to travel and want to see us.  They usually respond with the fact that we also provide free accommodation for people’s vacations.  Though we are continuing to believe the former, who is staying at our bed & breakfast is part of the regular tea break conversation in the office.

Well, some recent visitors included the Ewin’s & the Bailey’s.  Bill & Debra were the small group leaders at our church when we first moved to Bedford and remain close friends and prayer warriors for us.  We’re also so grateful they’ve introduced us to their children some of whom also visited earlier this year.  Bill & Debra’s plan to visit has had us the most worried of any of our visitors.  See, they didn’t buy plane tickets.  They non-reved from Dallas to London.  (And they made it!)

Jenn and I lived down the hall from each other our freshman year at ACU and even though she ditched us for that other school (A&M), we’re still glad that she’s stayed in our lives.  I knew that she & Ben had been planning a European adventure of their own for some time now and we couldn’t have been more excited when they decided they had time to come out to Bristol to visit us as part of their very short & intense trip.

The Ewin’s arrived first after spending a few days in London.  I coincidently had some meetings in London one day while they were there so I got to also meet them for dinner.  Remember the Moroccan restaurant, Leon that I’ve raved about previously.  They have backed me up on this – it’s a keeper.  You need to try this place next time you’re in London. 

Anyway, when they arrived, we got to take them all around Bristol.  They passed the Suspension Bridge Quiz and we even got to watch the bridge swing to let some boats into the lock at the harbor.  After that excitement we picnic lunched in the park and lazily walked down the hill … shopping a bit as we went.

We also made sure they had the full English pub experience and took them down to the local in our neighborhood.

Not to be outdone in tour guide skills, Daisy & Ginger volunteered to take Bill on a walk in their park to show off all the hills and paths through the trees.  (They however did not pick the sunny warm day to do their tour that we had!)

Saturday evening, the Bailey’s joined us so Sunday the six of us caravanned to Stonehenge.  For those keeping score at home, this is trip number four for the Powell’s – don’t bother getting the audio guide, Adam will recite it to you!  In all seriousness, though, we really enjoy going to places with all the people who come visit and it still amuses us a bit when each new person sees the stones pop up over the horizon.

We even had time for a picnic prior to heading to the tour of Bath.  Sorry to tell you, I've run out of fun facts on Bath.  You've also seen all my pictures of the Abbey, the Baths & the fudge shoppe (although we do now have loyalty cards to the fudge shoppe...apparently we've been there a couple of times too).  

I wish we could have had another week with each of you here, but we’re so glad  you chose to spend some of your vacation time with us!

Olympic Recap

2012 will go down as a historic year in the United Kingdom for many reasons (not just that the Powell’s live here). The Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee as only the second royal to ever reside on the throne for at least 60 years (Queen Victoria was the other). The Shard was completed and now stands as the tallest building in all of Europe at 1,016 feet high.  And the Olympics and Paralympics came to London creating an epic summer of sport.

One of the more fascinating things to watch this past year has been the regular updates on all things Olympic. Leading up to the games there were daily stories covering the Olympic torch as it made its way around the country. We even got to see it as it came through Bristol. There was constant coverage on the ticket scheme that left several million citizens decrying about their inability to purchase tickets to events. As the opening ceremony got closer news broke that the company hired to provide security (coincidently the same firm who does security for Amanda’s office building) had failed to provide enough properly trained individuals to ensure the safety of athletes and fans alike. In the week leading up to the games, temperatures in the UK soared to an unheard of 80-85* which caused problems on the railway lines as they became too hot for the trains to run.  And there was rampant speculation as to what the opening ceremony would be and how it would portray the nation to the rest of the world. Not to mention a running debate on how Team GB could be expected to perform at a home Olympics.

All of this made for highly entertaining television but I must say with about a week to go we were all pretty well ready for the speculation to end and the games to begin. And begin they did! The opening ceremony did an excellent job of capturing the British mentality and then displaying it for the entire world to see. From the opening pastoral scene depicting Glastonbury Tor to the rise of the Industrial Revolution the ceremony imparted a spirit of inner strength and determination that is decidedly British in its attitudes towards work and progress. The ceremony even managed to poke some fun at the countries own sensibilities towards the Monarchy as the Queen was accompanied by the world most famous secret agent 007. In fact people around here still react in a state of disbelief whenever we mention that part of the Ceremony.   Mr. Bean (aka Rowan Atkinson) made an appearance that was quintessential of British humor. There was the odd tribute to the NHS which has truly become a national institution across the UK and then there was the music, I’m not entirely sure how to describe the music scene on this side of the pond but if you paid any attention to the music being played throughout the ceremony it pretty well fits what’s played on the radio every day.

The progression of nations was pretty similar to that of every other Olympics I’ve ever watched but the most greatly anticipated event of the night for me was the lighting of the torch. Every opening ceremony I make a point of hanging around long enough to see the torch being lit, always in hopes that some country will top the 1992 Barcelona torch lighting in which Antonio Rebollo shot a flaming arrow from inside the stadium over the torch which is constructed outside the stadium and more than a hundred feet above him. It was an amazing shot and has been seared into my memory from the moment I saw it. Lillehammer’s torch entrance in ‘94 was impressive as was the sheer precision of the event surrounding Beijing in 2008 but none have yet to beat Barcelona. I was hopefully that London would finally manage a more amazing lighting spectacle. Unfortunately it, like most things British, was a far more subdued and considered torch lighting than that of Barcelona. However the actual caldron itself was easily the most uniquely beautiful Olympic cauldron’s ever seen and more than made up for the lack of lighting pyrotechnics.

The first week of the games actually coincided with our summer trip to Scotland so we didn’t see as much live as we had hoped. Thankfully the BBC was up to the task. I haven’t heard much about how the Olympic coverage was back home but having been forced to watch previous Games broadcast by NBC, I can’t imagine it was anywhere close to as comprehensive as what the BBC pulled off. The BBC established 24 individual channels strictly devoted to covering every event live with commentary.  And, with all things BBC, there were absolutely no commercials.  It was entirely amazing. So when we got home from our trip to Scotland our DVR was overflowing with swimming prelims, semi finals and finals, canoe slalom, and (most importantly) beach volleyball.  The second week of the Olympics was must watch TV in the evenings as Team GB began to flex some underappreciated muscle in athletics, rowing, cycling and sailing. Going into the Games many were openly questioning whether Team GB could come remotely close to their medal totals in Beijing but by the time the games were done they had finished fourth in the overall medal count and third in the Gold medal count.

Which brings me to a rather peculiar difference between coverage hear and coverage in the states. Back home the medal count generally focuses on the total medals won and the tables rank each team in that order. The coverage over hear takes a different approach by ranking nations according to the number of Gold’s that are one. So in the US the medal count shows the US in first, China in second and the Russia in third with Great Britain nearly 20 total medals back in forth. However, the ranks in the UK have the US in first, China in second and Great Britain in third with the Russia being 5 gold medals down and finishing in fourth. Apparently the home town team really wanted to finish the games on the podium.

Another difference between coverage here and coverage in the states are the events that are promoted. Swimming, Gymnastics and Track and Field have made up a majority of the stateside coverage for years while coverage over here substituted Gymnastics with Rowing and Cycling. Of course they have a few contemporary track and field heroes’ now in Jessica Ennis (gold medal in the heptathlon) and Mo Farah (gold medal in the 5000m and 10000m) to help encourage others young athletes to become interested in track and field as well.

As is the norm the Olympics ended with the medal ceremony for the marathon followed by the closing ceremony. I didn’t find the closing ceremony to be as entertaining as the opening ceremony was but it remained a fitting celebration of British pop culture and was in line with the overall feel of the games. Overall the general feeling here is that the London 2012 Olympics were a resounding success and to be completely honest I am in absolute agreement. Yet for as proud as everyone is about the Olympics they are equally pleased with the record setting attendance figures for the Paralympics. They have truly put forth a remarkable effort to support both Games so well and I am definitely pleased that Amanda and I got to witness the Games from their perspective.  

A Young Invasion

You know how some people come into your life and you can’t remember the time before they were there because their experiences are so similar to your experiences?  We’re so blessed to have some great friends that fit that mold.

When Beth & Garrett decided to come over, they told us they wanted a relaxing week where they could take in the English countryside and feel a bit of the British lifestyle.  We took those instructions and promptly ignored them.  Their week here ended up being one of the most intense sightseeing weeks ever.  I’m just glad I didn’t have to fly 12 hours after it & go to work the following day!

Our first day together started as any other day in England – with a bit of rain and a snail on the driveway.

Once the showers passed, we headed out to Bath.  It was an absolutely beautiful day for a walking tour of the city and a cream tea in the afternoon. 

Garrett also toured the Roman Baths while Beth, Adam & I toured the fudge shoppe next door.  Both came with free samples at the end.  Garrett’s was of the mineral water that tastes a bit of sulfur and old Roman’s bathing.  Ours was chocolate orange handmade fudge.  We totally won.

In the evening we went up to our local pub for the weekly quiz night.  The pub quiz is a very big thing over here.  Nearly every pub will have one on a specified evening each week.  Quizzes will vary wildly in difficulty and level of humor.  Typically, there are 5-10 rounds with 10 or so questions in each round.  The Quizmaster runs the whole show and will announce the questions to the various teams.  Teams are typically friends or colleagues who have to come up with a creative team name each week.  We selected ‘The loud American’s’.  Maybe not creative, but factually correct.  Each round will have a specified topic (ie. Sports, Geography, In the news) and there are also picture and music rounds where you try to work out an distorted image or garbled song.  All very entertaining & very, very English-centric.  Our lack of knowledge of British history hampered us a bit (or, perhaps, it was the bottle of wine combined with the lack of food – who knew they closed the kitchen at the pub for quiz night!) and we came in last place.  By a significant margin.

Day two started with a tour of Cheddar and Wells.  Cheddar is beautiful.  Has gorgeous walks along the top of the gorge with views of the surrounding countryside.  Or, you can just go eat cheese & ice cream.  Good Somerset cows in Cheddar.

In the evening, we did a Cider Tasting.  Cider is extremely popular in this part of the UK but I can’t seem to get the hang of drinking it.  It is a carbonated, fermented alcoholic apple juice.  At office happy hours and such, colleagues give me ciders to try.  I’ve hated nearly all of them.  Adam & I had found a coupon for this cider tasting and had wanted to see if it could help us find something we like.  Luckily, Beth & Garrett are up to exploring as well.  And even better, Garrett has now discovered a new hobby…scrumpy cider.  Scrumpy cider is the unfiltered, cloudier cider often made from apples at the end of the season that are on the verge of going bad already.  According to our tasting guide (who also makes his own cider) you can make scrumpy cider in your garage with just some apples, sugar, yeast & a couple of 5 gallon buckets.  Not that I don’t trust you, Garrett, but I don’t think I’ll be drinking anything you ferment in a Home Depot bucket anytime soon.

Wednesday was a walk through Bristol and lunch in the park.  Our streak of amazing weather continued and we also stumbled upon a new great viewing location for the suspension bridge.  Warning to all future visitors, the Bristol walking tour just expanded by one stop!

Beth may have also been a bit excited to see Cary Grant.

That evening, I was going to make some soup for dinner.  Garrett offered to help.  I have an awful time with onions – I cannot dice them without welling up, so I asked if he minded chopping the onions for the soup.  He agreed and then quickly disappeared – only to reemerge about 5 minutes later with a pair of goggles which he’d brought from home.  He proceeded to wear said goggles while chopping up the onions.  Why he’d brought goggles from Texas I still question, but it sure made for an entertaining evening.

What trip to the UK would be complete without a visit to Stonehenge?  People at work think I’m going for the world record of number of times photographed infront of Stonehenge in two years.  Well, in that case.  Add one more to my tally!

Friday, our final day together, we headed across the bridge to Wales. 

Beth found Aberdulais Falls in a guide book we had at the house, so we thought we’d check it out.  Power has been drawn from the waterfall at the site since 1584, when it first provided energy used in the manufacture of copper, using ore imported from Cornwall. The copper-works ceased to operate early in the 17th century, and the site was later used for corn-milling and later as a tinplate works.  The area is undergoing extensive renovation but even through the construction, the waterfalls are beautiful now.

Then the day got strange.  Garrett smooched with a cow…

and Beth had baked beans on her baked potato.

Luckily, Adam & I were the source of all reason.

Well, kinda.

Unfortunately, Saturday morning came and we had to drive them to the coach station to send them on their way back to Texas (via Heathrow airport).  Miss you both!  Can’t wait for our next trip.  What are you guys up for?  New Zealand? Argentina? Morocco?