Mini Adventure to Bristol

I was sad that we hadn't had a family day out in a long while and so after suggesting we do so, my Mum, Brother and I decided to venture to Bristol; a city in the West of England that I hadn't been to before. It was my brothers suggestion that we visit this city, and whilst I wasn't best pleased at waking up at 6 for this adventure, I was excited to see a new place.

We started our day eating brunch at The Boston Tea party, whilst using various maps to plan our day. If you ever visit Bristol, I strongly recommend visiting this cafe. They do wonderful food and the place has such a nice vibe. I ordered my favourite - Pancakes, plus a Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake which was incredible. 

After this, I suggested that we visit the Bristol Museum and Gallery, which was at the top of the hill we were already on. Even though the museum was small, it had some real hidden gems, including the bones of 'sea monsters' and a large variety of British stuffed animals. My personal favourite was the skeleton of an extinct deer.

Next we ventured down to the Bristol Cathedral. It was beautiful. What I enjoyed most about this cathedral was it wasn't garish, or overdone. It was simple, and its beauty didn't come from its decorations. I also liked the monument towards World War Two, and the involvement the Cathedral had in this time. Also, unlike other traditional Cathedrals and old church buildings, it wasn't cold inside, which definitely made it even better! 

It was time to wonder towards the main shopping centre to do some sales shopping, but on our walk down various alleyways, we came across two amazing finds. The first one was a bookshop, entirely dedicated to travel. Those of you who know me know my love for travel and countries. This shop was full of maps to every single place you could think of, guidebooks, phrasebooks and travel gadgets. I could have easily spent hours in this little place, but our time in Bristol was running out. I bought a Nepali phrasebook - in preparation for my travels this upcoming Summer. 

The next amazing find was thanks to my brother. As we were wondering along the shopping hughstreet Tim led us suddenly left towards what looked like an old house straight out of the 18th century. What it actually turned out to be was John Wesleys' chapel - The first and oldest methodist church in the world. And it was incredible. Though appearing small and inconspicuous, inside it was large and open. We were told that the chapel easy fitted 1000 people in John Wesleys' time. At the back of the chapel, there was a steep staircase that led to  the upstairs rooms, including the room where John Wesley used to stay. In the middle of a busy modern Bristol high street, lay a beautiful old 18th century chapel - And I loved this. 
I sadly didn't get any pictures of the chapel itself, but I did get this photo of original engravings from John Wesley himself on an old window pane. 

At this point, it started to rain, and so we ran for cover in the main shopping centre and did some good old sales shopping (even though nothing I bought ended up being discounted). There is still much of Bristol I would still like to explore. During our wonderings from place to place, I enjoyed seeing the graffiti art amongst many buildings. I would love to go back and see more of this. We all agreed that a 2nd trip to Bristol would have to be done later on in the year, but at least for now I can now tick it off as a place I have visited! 

Happy New Year everyone. I'm now off to start learning Nepali and looking at one of my many maps I own...