Hertiage Tour

The Bristol City Tourism website has some free walking audio tours you can download, so I thought it would be fun one day to try one.

This is in the city centre. It's a statue of Poseidon, which represents the city's nautical history.

This was the alms house for the poor.

This is the city theater. It is the oldest working theater house in the country.

This is a mural in the City Gates. There are a lot of graffiti art like this around the city since the famous artist, Bansky, is from Bristol.

The is the Red Lodge. It was built in 1580 and has had several uses since then. It was a girls reform school in 1730 when the widow of Lord Byron bought it.

An old grandfather clock.

A fire place. I loved the decorated tiles around it.

Harpsichord.

I loved this fire place.

It has a small garden in the back. It was closed that day, so I wasn't able to walk around it.

A tudor-style bedroom. All the wood work, including the bed is original, although I don't the the draperies are original.

The grand staircase in the house.

The main living room.

It was a fun little tour and it was nice to discover more about Bristol's history.

Caerphilly Castle.

After we toured Gloucester, we raced over to Caerphilly to tour the castle there. We barely made it before they closed and begged to be let in with several promises that we would be quick. We were actually able to see most of the castle (we were really out of breath, though).

The entrance to the castle

Walking along the inside of the outer defense wall.

Part of a tower that is now in ruins.

The dinning room.

You can see that this room was once two stories. In the middle of the wall, you can see the supports for the old floor.

Gavin pounding on the doors to get out.

The back entrance to the castle.

It's set on a lake and has a moat around it. It's really pretty.

The catapults.

The city of Caerphilly.

The outer fence of the castle and the moat.

This picture was difficult to get. I was taking a picture of Gavin and a guy who was fishing with his buddies (and drinking a lot by the smell of him) offered to take our picture. He put himself in the most awkward position to take our picture and the first few had his leg or hand in the shot.

The whole castle.

There is a park surrounding the lake and someone had carved this out of a tree. At first, I thought it was a dragon, but it's a squirrel.

In Wales, all of the signs are in English and in Welsh.

There was the most beautiful sunset that night as we were heading home. I didn't get a great picture, but the colors were so intense.

Gloucester

Gavin and I took a day trip up to Gloucester to visit the Abbey that is there. Gloucester is about 90 minutes away from Bristol and is a fairly small town right next to the Welsh boarder.

The High Street. It was really crowded since it was a Saturday.

The Gloucester Abbey. It was built in about 1022 and dedicated to St. Peter. In 1540, Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey and it became a cathedral instead.

There was a sculpture exhibit going on that day. Some of them were really weird.

The cloisters. One of the Harry Potter films was filmed here. I think a couple of the later ones.

I love the intricate details in the ceiling.

The garden area by the cloisters.

Me and the turtle statue.

We're not exactly sure what this statue is, but it looked like a missile or a submarine.

Like in most cathedrals and abbeys, there are graves everywhere. I still haven't gotten used to walking over some one's grave like that.

This was my favorite sculpture in the Abbey. I loved the detail of the alter, as well.

This was used in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. They still use is in important ceremonies.

This is the grave of King Edward II

King Edward II. I heard that these sculptures on their coffins are usually carved from their death masks and are an accurate depiction of what the person looked like.

Inside the cathedral. I loved all of the stained glass everywhere.

It was a little awkward to be walking around and taking pictures because they were preparing for a baptism of a baby. They had that section roped off, but still. It was a little weird.

I loved this stained glass because it looks more like a drawing. I've never seen any like this before.

Robert, Duke of Normandy, who died while being held prisoner by his younger brother King Henry I.

One of the more interesting sculptures.

The choir benches.

Looking up at the ceiling. It still amazes me how tall these buildings are.

One of the side hallways along the main cathedral.