Bristol, August 1, 2006 - Tuesday
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2006
1
8
Trip End
Aug 07, 2006
Bristol,
United Kingdom
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Except me.
When the bus arrived, I asked the driver to to tell us when we reach the nearest bust stop to the Bristol Temple Meads railway station, so we could get off
Bristol
. We planned to buy train tickets to London, and then use the rest of the time we had on disposal and take a look at Bristol centre.Just for the record, Bristol itself is a city some 170 km west of London. With an approximate population of just over 400 000, it is England's sixth most populous town. It received a royal charter as far back as 1155. For half a millennium it was the second or third largest English city, until the rapid rise of those like Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the later part of the 18th century. Personally, I had never visited it before, so naturally I was curious to see what it looked like.
For the first time in the UK after twenty one years, I would say I observed the area we were going through with as much interest as Su Yeon who had never been here before.
"Hey! You're in England!" I teased her and she laughed.
The driver notified us of the place to get off to best reach the railway station, just as he had promised. Once out in the street, clouds started tearing up and sun appeared, so everything appeared rather more friendly. Su Yeon still had long sleeves on, but you couldn't say it was that cold any more. If we had flown from the Mediterranean summer into a well-advanced English autumn, even if on August 1, then here in the city the time and weather rewound to the late summer.
Bristol Temple Meads railway station is said to be the oldest railway terminus in the world, and is regarded as one of the best Victorian station buildings. Seeing it, it was clear why. We entered the building, found ticket windows and asked two tickets to London.
"When are you coming back?" the lady asked us.
"We're not coming back at all," I answered.
"Hmmm," her face expression was almost apologetic. "Then it's 48 pounds apiece."
48 pounds! For just 170 kilometres to London Paddington! UK was really a world unto itself. And not necessarily always for the better. Of course, this was outrageously expensive. But also, we had no choice. We had come here, we had known it would be expensive, even if perhaps not to this extent, and had to go on to London, no matter what.
Having purchased the tickets, we wanted to carry out the rest of our Bristol sightseeing plan. But two things came in the way. First there were no luggage lockers within the station. Recent fear of terrorism and constant threats of terrorist attacks on British soil had done away with the lockers. Same with left-luggage offices. Of course, it changed the situation considerably. Both Su Yeon and I abruptly lost most of our enthusiasm for sightseeing if it meant turning into pack animals and carrying your backpack on your back all the time. So we had to reconsider.
Solution came naturally.
"I am hungry," she said. Of course, in such a case we had to first find a place where she would eat. It turned out it was not that difficult. Pretty close to the railway station itself, we ran across a café selling cakes, sandwiches and similar things. So we took our seats, I ordered a hot chocolate, Su Yeon had a snack and we had a nice chat with a very talkative waiter.
"Where are you from?" he asked the common question. We told him and he marched on:
"It's much cooler here today. Even yesterday it was way above thirty degrees. Seems you have taken away our summer," he winked.
Once Su Yeon was done, enough time had passed for it to make no sense going to the city centre any more. Although it was visible it was very near. But even if there had been more time, whoever would go with their backpacks on? On the other hand, there was still too much time left to brand the waiting for the train in the railway station the most attractive combination of all. But with every new minute, it grew more probable.
And so that's how it was eventually. Not too delighted at first, we went back to the station at last, and spent there the rest of our time until the boarding of the train for Paddington.
