rachel.blog

Bristol

We have come to Bristol for the weekend to see some friends.

Bristol is a very cool city. Where Edinburgh is perhaps a little too perfect, Bristol is a little rough around the edges in an endearing sort of way. A bit like Glasgow.

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There’s some good cycling infrastructure here too.

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Bristol is famous for its graffiti. The famous street artist, Banksy, was born here and you can take a self-guided tour to see some of his work. He’s a year older than I am and to save you the trouble of looking it up I’m 38. He is currently residing in New York and appears to be having lots of fun there. His art does not only include graffiti but also things like this truck he recently sent touring through the meat-packing district of New York.

I only saw a couple of his pieces here in Bristol because we are short on time and had a very important four-year-old birthday party to attend.

Here’s one on the side of a nightclub boat, the Thekla.

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A close-up.

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This one of the secret lover hanging naked from the window ledge is one of his most famous and my favourite.

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The blue spots of paint on it are not supposed to be there. It has been vandalised. This happens fairly often to Banksy’s works and every now and then they cleaned up and restored. Sometimes they get encased in perspex to protect them.

The following pics are from other graffiti artists in the city. I thought Newtown Graffiti might be interested to see them.

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Comments

18 responses to “Bristol”

  1. xbox2121 Avatar
    xbox2121

    Would you quit traveling so much, you are making me extremely envious 🙂

    Reply
  2. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Sorry, Bob. We’re just trying to make the most of our time here. When we return to Auckland the traveling will stop, sadly, :-(.

    Reply
    1. xbox2121 Avatar
      xbox2121

      I know you are Rachel, I would as well if I had the opportunity, sorry to hear your traveling will stop, yet I think you will find a way to go somewhere.

      Reply
  3. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    I am very hopeful, Bob. The thought of spending the rest of my life in Auckland is very depressing and not one I entertain at all. I would rather not live at all than live there.

    Reply
    1. xbox2121 Avatar
      xbox2121

      I would trade you in a heart beat for where you live and where I live. I don’t want to hear anymore of that crap Rachel about I would rather not live at all than live there. The grass always appears greener on the other side 🙂

      Reply
  4. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Ok, Bob. Although I have to say that the grass is pretty green here in the UK. 😉

    Reply
  5. eyegawker Avatar
    eyegawker

    I currently live in Bristol and the art scene is fantastic! Sad that I missed the moving installation of the sheep though

    Reply
  6. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Eyegawker,
    Bristol is a great city. Lucky you to live there! What was the sheep thing?

    Reply
  7. grahamatlinc Avatar
    grahamatlinc

    I hope that some new blog friends and the views that they offer will help a bit when you go back 🙂

    Reply
  8. Denise Avatar
    Denise

    I used to have a friend in Bristol. It is very pretty and has some lovely areas, but as you say some rougher parts too!

    Reply
  9. Bronwyn Avatar
    Bronwyn

    Keep up the travelogues, Rachel. Always enjoy them. By the way, was the party for Elizabeth’s great buddy? If so, how was the reunion?

    Reply
  10. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Thanks, Graham. This will all be but a distant memory in a year’s time.

    Reply
  11. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Denise,
    Did your friend like living in Bristol? I think it is a place I could quite happily live but it’s always hard to know unless you try.

    Reply
  12. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Bronwyn,
    Yes, it was the party for her best buddy. What a good memory you have! It has been almost a year since they’ve seen each other and it wasn’t clear that they actually recognised one another. They played and had a nice time together but I didn’t notice the same best buddy vibe that they used to have. I suspect they would need to see more of each other for that to develop again.

    Reply
  13. Sherri Avatar
    Sherri

    So great to see you visiting all these places during your time with us here in old Blighty Rachel! You were only one hour away from us in Bristol 🙂

    I don’t go there often, my husband knows it very well however. As does my eldest son who has a group of friends who live there.

    My highlight was visiting the SS Great Britain with my son when he was 3 years old so that shows you how long ago that was! Although we have visited friends there and love the vibe. We prefer Brighton though for vibe. Bristol is a great place to visit but I don’t think I’d like to live there, but then, I haven’t really explored it properly, having never had the need.

    Love the grafitti pics 🙂

    Reply
  14. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    I’m not actually sure where you live, Sherri? Somewhere near Bristol I now know!

    I wasn’t expecting to like Bristol so much. It’s an interesting place. I know ‘interesting’ is a boring word but I can’t think how else to describe it. Perhaps it’s better to say that the city has character. Any city that has lots of bike paths gets an extra 10 points too.

    I never made it to the SS Great Britain. There just wasn’t time. I’m sure I’ll go back one day though.

    Reply
  15. belsbror Avatar
    belsbror

    Cool place! 🙂
    Love the graffiti, too.

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      Yes, I loved all the graffiti too. Some of it was very clever.

      Reply

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