Saturday

It seems to be summer here. Not spring, summer! It's so warm and humid! Today I ventured by bus from Fishponds (!!) (the name of area I'm staying in - how great?) to downtown Bristol. I walked aimlessly along the river, and I even took a tiny water taxi for 60p across to the other side. Then I sat along they 'quay' and read my book for a while. I ended up walking back across the river over a bridge (so, while the water taxi wasn't exactly necessary it was still very nice). It was probably about the equivalent of hanging out in the inner harbour of Victoria - lots of touristy restaurants/cafes and sooo many people, but it was such a gorgeous day. Actually too warm to wear a cardigan!

I forgot about my camera until later in the afternoon, when I came across this giant, hilly park right in the middle of downtown.

There is a pretty tower on top of the hill (Cabot Tower?), but it's covered in scaffolding at the moment so it didn't make for very interesting photos. I lay around under a apple-blossom tree for a long time - still feeling pretty jetlagged. The park was full of uni students lounging about -I think the locals are just as surprised as I am by the warm weather, so everyone was out in full force. There were a bunch of cute, narrow little houses nearby in all different colours with matching doors,

I'll have more pictures soon. Today was more of a 'get my bearings' sort of day than anything. I'm actually quite impressed I went anywhere considering how exhausted I am!

When I got back to my place in Fishponds I opened my window and lay down for a bit - and a bunch of birds (pigeons) decided to try landing on my window sill in order to eat the Ivy berries. I tried to shoo them away but they were pretty brave! So, I think I may have some friends to keep me company. Here is one little guy I caught off guard: