SFC 2010 Bristol 2

Andy is justifiably proud of his beautiful city of Bristol. And he showed her off to us wonderfully well.

First thing, we headed across the street from the hotel to visit the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe.



Queen Elizabeth called St. Mary's "the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England."

That would be Queen Elizabeth the FIRST.

As Andy once said, "The United States OLD? In my country, we have PLUMBING older than your country."



I thought this was a nice testament to the church's age.







St. Mary's has some interesting features. My physics-geeky family was highly interested in the chaotic pendulum.







World Cup fever was all around Bristol.



Well, not everywhere.





We visited the ruins of St. Peter's Church...





...then stopped for coffee.





I thought the Alm's House was one of the prettiest buildings in Bristol.









Next we headed uphill (UPHILL...SERIOUSLY UPHILL!) toward Clifton and the bridge.





We had a bit of lunch and sat outside enjoying the perfect weather.





Andy had organized a private tour of the bridge, but before we did that, we headed to the to see the Camera Obscura.



In today's modern internet age, it's sometimes hard to remember that telescopes and such weren't always ordinary objects. It was fun climbing up to view the world from 360 degrees the way they did almost 200 years ago.



Then it was off to the bridge.



Try to imagine what a feat of engineering it was to build this sucker in 1836. It had never been done before.

One small thing I totally forgot. We all totally forgot.



AJ inherited my fear of open heights. He pushes the borders of acrophobic. I think you can tell by his body language.

He was a trooper, though. Walked across the whole bridge. Not complaining a bit.



It was a beautiful view, with the tide out.



As long as I didn't look down.


"No, Dad...I DEFINITELY do NOT want to look out at the harbor."



Alix was fine.



In a previous life, she probably was one of those steel workers who walk unteathered along skyscraper beams. SHOWOFF.

Hooray! Made it across.



But we still have to go back.

He's a good sport about all the ribbing he took.





Then it was back to the hotel for a quick change and it was time to meet up with John (who couldn't take so much time off as Andy) and we were ready for a little cocktail cruise!