Bristol: Final Day

So, hunger this morning dictated that I get breakfast at the hotel, even though I had to pay. Again, didn't have a waffle, although had great fun watching a couple of young guys make a mess of the waffle iron..

Today was a day mainly of churches. Appropriately. Had noticed an ecclesiastical ruin at the back of the hotel - looked it up online and it turned out to be Temple Church, destroyed in the Blitz. This is a feature of Bristol, which was badly bombed. Anyway, the church is so named because it was founded by the Knights Templar. Gorgeous.

Then made my way to the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, just down the road. Lovely church, founded by local merchants and prayed in by them before voyages.

Wended my way into town. Had a ticket, from yesterday, good for sightseeing by bus or ferry, but didn't really feel like it, it was such a gorgeously sunny day. So hung around the centre for a while, in the sun, listening to the jazz buskers. Terrific place for busking, by the water, in the centre of things. Then headed to the tourist information. Turned out I had to pass a market to get there, and the first thing that greeted me was a group of acapella male singers singing some sea shanty about heading to South Australia. Which was not only accomplished, but highly appropriate for the setting. Bought me a vintage locket, got to tourist information and located a Rough Guide. At last! The only guidebook worth having..

Took myself off to the cathedral after. Honestly, not as nice as St Mary Redcliffe. Took myself for another late lunch, and had seriously the best Italian food I've ever had outside of Italy, in San Carlo. Not the cheapest, but my was it worth it! Only problem was, I had to consider the free meal I would have later. But this was the kind of food that never makes you feel too full, regardless how much you eat.. it was that good.

'Twas over lunch, perusing my new guidebook, that it occurred to me that I might not go to Bath tomorrow, being Georgian-ed out as I am, but might consider Wells, for the cathedral. So that's the new plan. See, that's the thing about the Rough Guides - they're inspirational.

Wandered back through Castle Park. Parks were the place to be today, in the sunshine. They were littered with sunbathers, skateboarders, cyclists. All I can say is, Bristol has been a revelation. One of those places where the quality of life matters. 5 stars.

Hardly anybody in the restaurant tonight, hah! Dunno what was on last night, but they obviously all cleared out this morning. Sadly, this meant I had to eat in the restaurant and, honestly, I wasn't mad about the food. If you do stay here, try and eat in the bar rather than the restaurant..

So. Wells tomorrow. I have to check out by 11, there's a bus at 11.35 gets me there at 12.26 or something. #376. And if I get the 5.20 back, I'll be back at 6.10, plenty of time to get my bag from the hotel and get on the 7.30 train to London. (Scintillating reading, I know. I say this to remind myself.)

PS Sorry about the lack of photos. There are actually lots, which have come out fairly ok, but owing to the quantity my idea was to put them on Facebook, and it seems the multi-uploader on Facebook is giving problems. Watch this space..