The great thing about a bus tour is that it keeps you high and dry during the everpresent rain showers! We feel so fortunate to have escaped the devastating flooding in Oxfordshire and Glouscestershire and are keeping those thousands of people displaced from their homes in our prayers.
Yesterday after breakfast we boarded the bus for a tour of the different areas of the city of Bristol. Over a thousand years of history has seen this city in many incarnations, from a major import/export site, to an industrial hub, and now to a financial and service industries mecca. One of the greatest men in the history of Britain, Isambard Kingdom Brunell (click HERE for more about this great pioneer), supervised the construction of the Great Western Railway and the "symbol of Bristol", the Suspension Bridge:
We also drove through the Clifton area, site of some magnificent aristocratic homes, and past many landmarks we'll try to spend more time with on some of our free periods. The smaller ship in this photo is a replica of John Cabot's ship, the Matthew, that sailed from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497, and the larger ship is Brunel's "ss Great Britain". (Click here for it's website.)
Then we were off to the church for rehearsal and our first evensong service. Here we are loading our vestments into the choir room, warming up in the choir stalls, and having a first go at the organ:
Then off for dinner, and perhaps a nightcap at an historic pub: The Duke. Do you notice who's portrait has replaced the Duke of Wellington?
That's right! It's Duke ELLINGTON!
Thanks for checking in - see you tomorrow!
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