Saturday, March 5th, 2011: Bristol

We got up very early: 5:50 am to get on the road by 7 am so that we could get to Bristol. It was a good drive. Mom drove, Adam and I navigated. I felt it was a wonderful experience because it was not easy but it was not horrible and it gave Adam a taste of what its like to drive over here.

Upon arrival in Bristol, we took a tour of the city via the CitySighting tour group. It was an un-covered double decker bus. It was very windy and cold up there by Alexandra and I rode the whole way up there. (Ironic since I didn’t want to ride up top and Adam had agreed to with Alexandra).  I learned that Bristol made a good amount of money from the slave trade. It was part of the “slave trade triangle”: Bristol would send a ship to Africa full of cotton, wool or silk cloth. Then in Africa it would disembark the cloth and take on slaves and sail to North America; typically North or South Carolina. There it would drop off the slaves and pick up cotton (raw), tobacco (raw) and other products, which would ship back to Bristol. The cotton would be made into cloth and the tobacco in to tobacco products. Bristol has a strong history in making tobacco, particularly storing the tobacco before the tax was paid on it. We also learned that “spy holes” (peep holes) were placed in pubs around the harbor so that after the person had a few drinks, they could make sure that the “press gangs” were not around. The “press gangs” were in charge of “impressing the men into labor on a ship”. There was a pub that allowed a reporter to interview ship hands with regard to the slave trade. Edward Colton, who was a major profiteer of the slave trade, was embarrassed by the reports and eventually stopped slave trading. We saw the Clifton Suspension Bridge. We also saw where Wallace and Gromit are created.

After the tour, we had a quick bite to eat and then off to the @ Bristol (children’s science muesum). Alexandra and Brian loved it. Alexandra made a movie and emailed it to herself. She also learned how locks and hot air balloons work. We went to the Planetarium. Brian and I left ½ through the show. But Alexandra got to see the whole show. It was great. Then we had dinner in Bristol and off to the car park to find our way home. Getting back to the hotel was an adventure. It was dark and we made a incorrect turn at the very beginning. 20 miles out of our way, and stopping for directions once, we found our way back to the hotel. It was about 9 pm. Adam and Mom stayed up to map our was to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Aveabury for the next day.