Breaking news!!!

First time I see a little parcel of blue sky since the first days! And night is coming soon...

Severn Beach

Yesterday I rode my bike and headed towards Wales. In fact, I stopped just in front of it, and followed the bank, but didn't cross the Severn.

Here I stopped, at the end of this land, at the sight of another. I stand on the platform which was the end of the rail line, until 1886, when a tunnel was dug under the sea.

On the other side, you can see Wales. In the background, one of the two bridges which allow you to cross, and in the foreground the side of England, that I couldn't call a beach.

So there I walked, along the channel side. And I would like to share with you some bits of this coloured landscape.

  

Friday Gorilla!

The safari goes on!

This week, I found one in a shop of maps, in the city center. Its name is Maporilla!

But this is a special one, because it was made after the exhibition. And as you can see, a drawing lots is organized, in which Maporilla is the first prize.

And, little bonus, here are some small replicas of famous gorillas.

 

On the left, Elvis was the most famous and the most loved of them.

The blue one doesn't refer to Klein, but to Bristol Blue Glass: when Porto came in barrels to Bristol, first English port on the route, il was put into blue glass bottles, and then sent in the whole country.

And on the right, the balloons are a reference to a specificity of Bristol.

Clifton Bridge

Over the Avon, on the west of Bristol, is Clifton suspension bridge. It was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a XIXth century civil engineer, who seems well known and well loved in England. He made himself famous by building several bridges around the country, ships, and the Great Western Railway, which links Bristol to London.

Here is the bridge, 214 metres long, and 76 metres over the high mark of the Avon (it seems that the level of this river varies a lot).

Because of economical issues, the construction had to be stopped, so that when Brunel died, it was still unfinished. Then the Institution of Civil Engineers decided to raise new funds and to finish it, as a memorial to Brunel.

Note that in the time it was built, the bridge was obviously not designed for car traffic, but only for pedestrians and horses. However it's so well constructed that it can handle cars. Yet drivers must pay 50p to cross, I guess it's for helping with the maintenance.

Fish and chips!

At last I could taste fish and chips! Well, that's no big deal, but it's one of the few things you can only find in England. I wanted to try every time I came, and never did.

It's just a fried fish (most often cod, but also haddock, or shrimps, or...) with chips. Big thick chips! With salt and vinegar, like in the North (no ketchup, it's not an american fast food!).

Yum yum! Look at that!

And just because I liked the play of words of the shop...

They are very common shops, you can find them in every street. It's rather expensive just for fish and potatoes, but well, not more than a macdo, and at least at the end you have your fill of it!

Friday Gorilla!

All around Bristol, last summer, were dozens of gorillas...

You surely now the cows in Praha, the lions in Lyon, or the bears in Montréal. Well, last year, to celebrate its 175th anniversary, and to raise funds to help a local charity, the zoo of Bristol launched "Wow! Gorillas". They asked many artists to paint some full-scale plastic gorillas, and arranged them around the city center.

[for more infos, click on the logo]

But it was last summer... at the end, the gorillas were auctioned, and spread out in Bristol and away. Only remain booklets and little sculptures, for sale in some shops.

But it appears that a few of them are still visible. It's not only a myth, I saw some of them. And now, for you, I am going to track down and hunt the remaining gorillas of Bristol!

The moonwalker, the scuba diver and the teddy bear

 Here in Bristol is a famous street artist : Banksy.

They are very proud of him (well, they are also proud of Wallace and Gromit...).

You can see his paintings when walking around the city. But unless you know them, or you can recognize his style, it's difficult to see them, among the large number of wall paintings and graffitis coloring the city. It's like if Banksy had given everyone the desire and the right to paint the walls of Bristol.

For now, here are some of Banksy's pieces of art.

The first one is an astronaut carrying bags from Lidl. He's around 8 or 9 feet high (2m50, 2m70), and walking on the wall of the Full Moon Café, in Moon street!

 

These two blokes are rioters, in Colston street, and on the side of the boat (the Thekla, which is a nightclub), there is a small figure looking like a scuba diver. But it's really far away, and it's hard to see him.

I love this one! The guy hangs in Park street, a very busy road. I saw it on my first tour in Bristol, but didn't know it was from Banksy.

And finally, maybe the most famous of them: the rioter teddy bear! Mild Mild West, on Stokes Croft.

Ashley Vale

Would you like to visit Ashley Vale? It is a little valley hidden in an outer district of Bristol. You can find it behind a tunnel under a railway. It is surrounded by hills, and woods.

Easter eggs, mint sauce and black tea

Sunday English breakfast this morning!
With sunday English sun shining...

and some chocolate eggs for my housemates, but it seems they didn't even notice them...

I learned some about Easter customs.

Here in England, as in France, children seek chocolate eggs hidden in the garden.
And we have a long week-end, because not only Easter Monday is holiday, but Good Friday too!

But in Poland (one of my housemates is Polish), kids go to the church with a basket full of eggs (real, hard boiled, and painted) and sausages, and other things, and the priest blesses it. Then every family share the meal together.

On Monday, they flush each other with water. It's called "wet Monday".

In Spain (at least in Valencia), there is another tradition with hard boiled eggs: you break it on each other's head, and then eat it. And you eat some kind of long sausage, Longaniza de Pascua.

If you want to share your own Easter tradition, please go on!

Well, as I said, I was invited tonight for Easter supper, in an English family, in a real English house, with a bow-window, and everyting! As said Sue, it's the best way to get familiar with local culture. To hear the accent, to know the habits, to taste the food... By the way, I have to tell you something about lamb with mint sauce: stop laughing at it, that's delicious.

I had really good time, even if it's hard to follow a conversation where everyone is talking at the same time... But I love British way of speaking. At least the one they had in here. Even when we're talking about something casual, it seems like if it's precious! Delightful!

And for sure, after the dinner, we went in the living room for a cup of tea.

So now let's talk a little about this most famous tradition, which is for us like a definition of british people: tea.

First of all, no, englishmen don't always make their tea directly from leaves, like an ancestral tradition. They use teabags, as everyone.

But if you ask for a tea, don't expect to get a cup of clear colored water. Your mug will be full of a cloudy beverage: indeed, they will naturally pour milk in your tea. It seems that it is the standard. In the family where I was invited, when I asked for a tea "black" (without milk), it sounded like an unnatural request. Even if they knew french people drank it like that, they told me they founded black tea awful, too strong.

And even after having discussed at length french and english habits, about milk, sugar, lemon, biscuits dunked or not dunked into the tea, the girl who prepared it brought me a normal cup of tea: with milk.

To end this day as it started, they gave me an Easter egg. Here it is, I think you don't know it in France (at least I didn't): a creme egg. Chocolate fill in with creme, to make it look like a real egg, with white and yellow parts. Well... it's good, though a little too sweet.

Service of Light and hot cocoa

Christ is risen! Rejoice! People of Easter, let His joy and life be in your heart!

The other day, on my way back from work, I was looking for an Easter vigil. What a concentration of churches in this city! Every hundred yards, you walk into a church, a chapel, or a former church. They have so many of them that I even saw one which was converted into an auction room!
Well, over all these methodist, baptist, evangelistic churches (and some other), I finally found one where a service was done on saturday. So I decided to go there. By luck the only church where a vigil was led was also the nearest from my home.


So there I was yesterday night, to wait and prepare the Resurrection of Christ.
After two hours of silent and free preparation and prayer, the Service of Light starts outside. The new fire burns, and the Easter Candle is lit to it.
Then we enter the empty, silent, and unlit church. As the processions walks down the nave, we progressively lighten the darkness, by lighting the candles we carry.
Arrived to the chancel, we celebrate Christ arisen! At that point, we celebrate His resurrection, by singing, and making as much noise as possible, with rattles and firecrackers!
Then we turn back. Remember that you've come to go back, and testify of your faith!
In the back of the church, the minister bless us with water, and we renew our baptismal promises.
Then we get out, and let our joy spread, in fireworks and hot cocoa!

There I met Sue, a kind woman who talked with me, seeing I came for the first time. We talked a little, and no more than five minutes later, she invited me to share Easter lamb with her family, and a couple of friends. What a delightful hospitality, when I think I was afraid to be alone for Easter!

First little tour in Bristol

I will take you for a little visit of the city, if you want. Just a few things, what I saw when I went down in the center on Monday. Notice the sun: I haven't seen it any more since then.
By the way, "down" in the center isn't just a phrase: you surely know I always ride on my roller blades, well, I tried, and I thing I'll have to give up. This city is full of perfidious steep hills!

Here is Bristol harbour. it seems like an old industrial port. I heard that Bristol was a base for navy, but I doubt it was in the city center.

Near the harbour are all the bars and pubs. Nice place to sit, drink, chat, or just read...

And here is the Cathedral of Bristol. I haven't visited it yet. But it stands in a nice place, where you surely can have a picnic or something.

Next to the cathedral is the central library. An old library, like you can only dream of! With dark wooden sheds and desks, ancient books and maps, and a room dedicated to family history in Bristol...

 

 Just in front of the cathedral is Bristol City Council. The church and the cityhall, like in every small villages...

  

The unicorns, on the top of the roof, and guarding the arms of the city.

And finally, this is the tower of Wills, one part of the University of Bristol. But the inside is only authorized to students.

Fading away...

What a wonderful way to leave your country. By boat. By the sea.

I'm seeing the coast fainting away. And the towers, and the churches of Calais, all that well-known landscape, vanishing in the distance.

All around me, the sea is falling into the sky. I'm seeing the ends of the world. And boats, circling the horizon, like the guardians of its edges.

But far from the prow, English cliffs of limestone are emerging. A thin white strip fading in the infinity. Then growing stronger, and clearer.

Behind me, behind the boat, the large glints of the sun are lightening the sea. It's like if the sun itself was pushing our ship forwards.

What a wonderful way to leave your country!