Bristol

Uzy suggested we go to Bristol, a near-by city, yet in a completely different country… (England rather than Wales) where he would take us around on a tour. He claimed to prefer Bristol to Cardiff due to its higher cultural value and its nature - it has a large river going through its city centre. Cardiff has a river as well yet it’s not as an integral part as it is in Bristol where there are taxi boats and a similar feel at times to Venice. Ok, that is a huge exaggeration, but still, anything or an Italian connection.

Bristol turned out to be very cute. Very hilly, lots of small streets, many small piazzas with fountains and statues, a large cathedral which was closed due to some special ceremony (still went up to the door to look inside and waved at the attendees, they are quite shocked by this type of behaviour, its funny… - and I just spelled behavior Britishly!!!), many small pretty churches and museums. Britain’s largest suspension bridge built by the famed engineer Brunello (there’s a university in London named after him). It also claims to have a great music scene. Didn’t get to experience this, but maybe next time around. There is a good quantum chaos group there, so I am sure I’ll be visiting it somewhat often. Already talked to a couple of professors there who said I should come give a talk, so… interestingly though, Uzy didn’t tour with us as we missed the train. Well technically, we were literally 20 seconds late. But he didn’t wait. We then proceeded to miss the next train as well…. Ahh…. It was a strange turn of events. Anyhow.

Ok, back to Bristol. Its really cute and seemed to have a higher cultural value than Cardiff (it wasn’t bombed as much during WWII). Yet it turns out to be a somewhat controversial city. It was a major port city back in the days. Especially for ships going from Africa to the new colonies (i.e. the U.S.). Hmmm. What were those ships carrying, anyone remember their US history? Bananas? Nope. Corn? Maybe in the opposite direction. Did I hear it? Yeah, over there, in the cheap seats. Yipe, slaves. So lots of the money spent in the city’s cultural centers came from the slave trade. In fact, Fabien, the French Swiss who is joining Uzy’s group next year and is finishing his PhD in Bristol, told us that many of the statues are in fact of people who were quite involved in the slave trade and hence many want to take them down. Further, one of the main parts of city is called ‘blackboy hill’. No need for explanation there, I think…

So yeah, I prefer Cardiff. But I did have my first fish n chips for this trip, and it was quite good.