Wednesday, July 27, 2011
How could I forget???!!!
Perhaps our most devoted member of the group, Plastic Baby Jesus. He thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the SS Great Britain...more of his adventures to come.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tuesday in Bristol
Today we enjoyed a short walking tour of Bristol to get ourselves acquainted with the area we'd be working in. This included a walk past the cathedral where we'd sing later this week. We couldn't go in because of rehearsals for graduation ceremonies for the University.
The Bristol Cathedral Choir School is shares a history with other prestigious institutions in Britain for having a private school which supplies choristers to lead worship in the cathedral. There is only one in the United States - St. Thomas (Episcopal) in New York.
After the tour we split up to explore the city. A group of us decided to visit the SS Britain, the world's first ocean liner made from steel and propelled with screws. The ship has been restored and turned into a fantastically realistic museum.
We took a ferry ride to get to the ship.
We had a great tour of the hull underneath the water:
and a great view of the restored hull up top.
The inside of the ship featured some pretty realistic scenes of what life would be like for crew and passengers of all types - lots of fun.
After touring the ship we trekked off to find lunch at Lloyd's No. 1 Bar just across the water from the SS Great Britain, where we enjoyed fish and chips, mushy peas and Pimms - yum!
We spent more time exploring Bristol before returning to the hotel to rest up and have a brief rehearsal before dinner - we haven't sung together for almost 3 days! We are all looking forward to our concert at Bath Abbey tomorrow at 11:30. Our work begins soon!
The Bristol Cathedral Choir School is shares a history with other prestigious institutions in Britain for having a private school which supplies choristers to lead worship in the cathedral. There is only one in the United States - St. Thomas (Episcopal) in New York.
After the tour we split up to explore the city. A group of us decided to visit the SS Britain, the world's first ocean liner made from steel and propelled with screws. The ship has been restored and turned into a fantastically realistic museum.
We took a ferry ride to get to the ship.
We had a great tour of the hull underneath the water:
and a great view of the restored hull up top.
The inside of the ship featured some pretty realistic scenes of what life would be like for crew and passengers of all types - lots of fun.
After touring the ship we trekked off to find lunch at Lloyd's No. 1 Bar just across the water from the SS Great Britain, where we enjoyed fish and chips, mushy peas and Pimms - yum!
We spent more time exploring Bristol before returning to the hotel to rest up and have a brief rehearsal before dinner - we haven't sung together for almost 3 days! We are all looking forward to our concert at Bath Abbey tomorrow at 11:30. Our work begins soon!
Monday, July 25, 2011
We're landed in Bristol
After an interesting day of travel for many people, we have finally anchored ourselves in Bristol. I don't think any one's flight was actually on time! But we finally all met up at Heathrow around 9:45 and set off for Stonehenge. It was, perhaps, one of their busiest days. But the monument was still an astonishing thing to behold in the midst of an incredibly peaceful countryside. We enjoyed a slow-paced audio tour on a day where the weather was pretty much perfect (sorry, Clevelanders!). We had a quick lunch at Stonehenge while enjoying the local sheep grazing in the field and headed towards Bristol.
Gorgeous views of the countryside rolled by our windows as we wound through a few small towns before driving through the huge town of Bath, where we'll sing our first concert on Wednesday. Our wonderful tour guide, John, gave us a few teasers about the history of the town to whet our appetites for later this week - very interesting architecture, indeed.
We finally arrived in Bristol, and after some virtuosic maneuvering by our excellent driver, Alan, we checked into our hotel - The Grand by Thistle. Very comfortable, very European style rooms. That is code for small, but lovely. After dinner we have the evening to ourselves. I see a few pubs in our future! Tomorrow, we take a walking tour of Bath and enjoy some free time before our true work begins on Wednesday - music, music, music!
Gorgeous views of the countryside rolled by our windows as we wound through a few small towns before driving through the huge town of Bath, where we'll sing our first concert on Wednesday. Our wonderful tour guide, John, gave us a few teasers about the history of the town to whet our appetites for later this week - very interesting architecture, indeed.
We finally arrived in Bristol, and after some virtuosic maneuvering by our excellent driver, Alan, we checked into our hotel - The Grand by Thistle. Very comfortable, very European style rooms. That is code for small, but lovely. After dinner we have the evening to ourselves. I see a few pubs in our future! Tomorrow, we take a walking tour of Bath and enjoy some free time before our true work begins on Wednesday - music, music, music!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Welcome to our blog!
Welcome to our blog! We hope to chronicle our pilgrimage to Bristol Cathedral and points in between. Feel free to send a note as we share our stories with you.
We are currently waiting on the tarmac to take off - our plane is quite late! We met up with the second flight group briefly while waiting to board. Looking forward to fun times ahead!
We are currently waiting on the tarmac to take off - our plane is quite late! We met up with the second flight group briefly while waiting to board. Looking forward to fun times ahead!
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