Bristol

This past weekend Chris and I went to Bristol for a nice escape from “the big smoke.” We went with our friends B and J, who both grew up there and we spent a lot of the weekend with B’s really wonderful family enjoying great hospitality, with many, many cups of tea. (Tea at breakfast! Tea at lunch! Tea in the afternoon! Tea after dinner! Tea after drinking! Tea upon arrival home at 3am! I kid you not.)

Anyhow, in between bouts of playing with B’s sister’s absolutely a-freaking-dorable, straight from a Gerber-baby commercial, 9-month-old baby boy, she asked me: “What’s your favorite part about living in England so far?” I hesitated for a while. What should I say? Should I be adoring and say everything? Facetious and say the weather? Knowing and say London isn’t like the rest of England so I don’t know? I eschewed all normal answers and replied “I love that all the laundry machines are in the kitchen. It’s so convenient.” Now for a good many, clearly obvious, reasons this was not the correct response. Clearly – given that we had just met – she was not acquainted with my enthusiastic domesticity. There was silence. I tried to recover. “I love the grocery stores too!”

Fail.

It’s hard being a stranger in a strange land. Not that England is in any way strange – I think it’s just one level of estrangement more than California is to Connecticut. But it’s just that here I’m always hyper-aware of being American. That makes me feel awkward, which makes me say ridiculous (see the above) things. Not that I didn’t mean said ridiculous things. I did and I do! I love having the laundry in the kitchen and I love the grocery stores here! I just would normally steer the conversation in a more general-interest kind of area. I know a few people (ahem, I mean women) who would love to discuss the finer points of washing-machine placement but I’m 100% positive that no one in that room in Bristol is a member of my, errr, exclusive group.

Bristol is a university town and the picture at top is the university tower. The panorama below is from the top of the hill - Bristol is a very hilly (and, as you can see, very pretty) city! Bristol also boasts a small but comprehensive and very kid-friendly museum with fine art AND dinosaur fossils AND mummies! There is also an aquarium, a beautiful suspension bridge across an immense gorge, lots of great shops & restaurants, a BEAUTIFUL & ancient cathedral, and last but not least, there are Banksy's all over the place! (And by all over the place, I mean on walls everywhere you turn.) Read more about Banksy - the anonymous graffiti artist & bandit - click here!