A = Driving yesterday was very trying.
B = Bristol is the worst driving city yet.
C = We want to see some things in Bristol.
A + B + C = Tourist bus.
Yes today we caught the big red, roofless, guided, tour bus. It took us all around Bristol and was the most cost effective way of seeing the two things we wanted to see.
We jumped on the bus a short walk from the hotel and were the only ones on it. We got the commentary all to ourselves. He did use the microphone, just for effect I suspect. A half hour of fascinating Bristolean storytelling. We had an expert driver to navigate the terrible knotty mess of roads and roadworks. We comfortably arrived at our first stop.
Brunel’s SS Great Britain.
B = Bristol is the worst driving city yet.
C = We want to see some things in Bristol.
A + B + C = Tourist bus.
Yes today we caught the big red, roofless, guided, tour bus. It took us all around Bristol and was the most cost effective way of seeing the two things we wanted to see.
We jumped on the bus a short walk from the hotel and were the only ones on it. We got the commentary all to ourselves. He did use the microphone, just for effect I suspect. A half hour of fascinating Bristolean storytelling. We had an expert driver to navigate the terrible knotty mess of roads and roadworks. We comfortably arrived at our first stop.
Brunel’s SS Great Britain.
| We have done an aviation museum in Edinburgh. In The Lakes we saw a motor museum. Out of Derby was the Tramways museum. Today was the turn of sea travel. You can find lots about this ship on line. It has an remarkable history. The rescue story from the Falkland Islands is well worth chasing up. Quite like the rescue of the Queen Adelaide from Glasgow. The museum around the ship was excellent. Such a well planned visiting experience. The ship was built to dash from UK to New York. Eventually it took Migrants to Melbourne. It did have stops in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and even Adelaide. So we had a link with migration. It died in the Falkland Islands. After 30 years in a bay at the southern end of the world it was rescued and hauled home. It now rests where it was built, a dry dock in Bristol. | The hop on hop off bus cruised past just a little late. We met the same driver for our next run. This was to visit the Brunel designed bridge across the Avon Gorge. The Clifton Suspension Bridge. OK… there are many stories about the design of the bridge. Who did what and when but Bristol seems to be Brunel town so we’ll call it his. This is another brilliant engineering feet. It opened in December 1864. We are astonished each day with engineering achievements from so long time ago. I also like how the UK like to see their achievements together. The last ever flight of Concorde flew over this bridge on its way to Filton. Youtube has vision of the flight - I looked. |
The hop on hop off bus was a great way to do highlights of Bristol. Tomorrow is back to driving. We talked lots today about the best way to see UK. We still believe the car is the best. Yesterday’s 15 minutes of anguish is worth it I guess. It gives us the freedom to see amazing things no hop on hop off bus can offer. But the bus was the right idea today.
We wondered why Bristol has been so hard for driving. We checked the population compared to Adelaide. It is half. Bristol is 566,000 people to Adelaide 1.2mill. The difference is the area of the city. Bristol is about 110 Sq Mi. Adelaide’s population fits into over 1250 sq mi.
So it is the population density that is our problem here not the number of people. Adelaide’s Population density is a bit over 1000 per Sq Mi. Bristol is 10 time that.
Now it makes sense.
Worth doing the comparison just to give some context. Also, Bristol has been here for 1100 years. Many of the streets go back many hundreds of years.
Hmm beginning to make sense I guess.
We wondered why Bristol has been so hard for driving. We checked the population compared to Adelaide. It is half. Bristol is 566,000 people to Adelaide 1.2mill. The difference is the area of the city. Bristol is about 110 Sq Mi. Adelaide’s population fits into over 1250 sq mi.
So it is the population density that is our problem here not the number of people. Adelaide’s Population density is a bit over 1000 per Sq Mi. Bristol is 10 time that.
Now it makes sense.
Worth doing the comparison just to give some context. Also, Bristol has been here for 1100 years. Many of the streets go back many hundreds of years.
Hmm beginning to make sense I guess.
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