Christmas Vacation

I'm off to Paris for the festivities (but will be back soon) so

I won't be able to post my daily photo for a couple of weeks

(maybe I'll try to post some from the archives though).

In the meantime, I wish everybody a wonderful Christmas!

Two Cars, One Night

Vyvyan Terrace by night... very cold!

High Spirits

A small group of musicians, a bunch of courageous

neighbours warmed with hot wine, and some merry Christmas songs

in hands (some people brought a flashlight so they could read

in the dark) or in heads for the regulars... all this in a small park by night

and you get quite a jolly Christmas atmosphere!

Victoria

The Victoria Rooms, designed by

Bristol architect Charles Dyer, were built in the first

half of the 19th century in the Greek Revival style.

This fine early Victorian classical building has seen many major events

from the ceremonial dinner celebrating the opening of the Clifton Suspension Bridge

to readings by Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde.

The building has belonged to the University of Bristol

since the 1920s and now houses the Music Department.

Lunchtime concerts are held throughout the year every Wednesday.

In front of the impressive building stands a statue of Edward VII in bronze,

by Henry Poole, dating from 1912.

The Cathedral

The Bristol Cathedral was founded as an abbey

in 1140 and became a cathedral in 1542.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

If you like "Wallace & Gromit", you might be interested to know

that they've been created by Nick Park here in Bristol.

Aardman, the company who produced all of the "Wallace & Gromit" films

(among other things like "Creature Comfort", "Rex the Runt" and "Angry Kid"),

was created in the 70's by Peter Lord and Dave Sproxton.

The Aardman Features studio (entrance pictured), located in an area

called Aztec West, is where the feature films have been made.

Slightly French

A nice touch of Frenchness on Park street.

The ambiance is very much like a real parisian Brasserie,

and the food is almost as good...

Keep It Clean

Bristol is a very clean city... People actually use the trash bins!
Besides, I've rarely found any suspicious substance
ornamenting the sidewalks, even though
I very often happen to see people walking their dogs.

Feeding the Pigeons

Popular Science

@t Bristol is a small version of the

"Cité des Sciences" of La Villette in Paris...

This Globe (that looks very much like the Geode) is not the entrance to

the Imax Theatre where you can see Movies in 3D (read comment).

The Science Centre offers a lot of

very interesting exhibitions with

a wide range of interactive activities!

At the moment you can visit a special exhibition

on "Wallace & Gromit" (more on this later)...

The Wild Life

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2005

is a competition organized by the Natural History Museum

in partnership with the BBC Wildlife Magazine.

It is open to amateur and professional photographers.

The exhibition showcases all the winning and

commended images and is currently taking place

at the City Museum of Bristol.

Here is my favorite picture from the 2005 competition.

Deer in Park

The nice thing about living in Bristol is that

you're still very close to Nature...

This morning, as I went to the University of West of England

(aka UWE) in Bower Ashton, I went up the hill

just behind it, and took this picture of a red deer.

In fact, a whole herd is living there, in a park, peacefully

grazing the last sprigs of fresh grass.

Also, in the background, you can see some of the

typical colorful terraces of Bristol.

Here another picture.

Autumn Leaves

The last leaves of Automn...

In the background, Christ Church

on Clifton Park (where I live)

The Village

A view of Clifton from the Suspension Bridge...

Bristol is an historic city but Clifton is much older.

From a survey ordered by William the Conqueror in

the 1080s, we learn that the entire parish of Clifton had a total

population of about 30 people.

The village grew bigger upon the hills

to finally merge with the city of Bristol which represents

today about 380 000 bristolians.

Bells Are Ringing

One of the characteristic features of Bristol is its mix

of traditional and modern architecture.

The Cathedral Church of Saints Peter & Paul

is not very far from where I live...

Thank God the bells don't ring every hour,

but only once on Sundays!

Every Dog Has Its Day

Gasferry Road is a small street on Bristol's harbourside.

I was there this morning for a meeting and because I was quite

early I decided to grab my camera...

I found this wall and I was ready to take the picture when

a dog entered the frame... coming from nowhere!

I really like when those things happen...

Catch me if you can

The Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

is not native to the British Isles.

It was introduced here from America about 100 years ago.

There are now an estimated 3 million grey squirrels in this country.

I took this picture in Victoria Square, a small park in Clifton...

Across the Bridge

The Clifton Suspension Bridge,

spanning the beautiful Avon Gorge,

is the symbol of the city of Bristol.

This amazingly engineered bridge was designed

by Isambard Brunel, who unfortunately died

five years before its completion in 1864.

This year marks the bicentenary of Brunel's birth (1806-1859),

arguably one of the greatest engineer of all time.

Here is another view of the Bridge.

Will It Snow for Christmas?

Today, Regent Street (in Clifton)

was closed for a very special event...

The annual Clifton Christmas Fair!

Sponsored by the "Save the Children" charity,

the atmosphere was very joyful, with a real father christmas

and real fake snow!!!

A Hatful of Rain

The West of England is wet... that's a fact

(The yearly average relative humidity is about 80%).

But I don't mind at all... This is part of Bristol's charm I guess!

Besides, I think it gives a special quality to light and colors .

By the way, this is another view of Park Street.

Heavy Traffic

I took this photo this morning on Park Street

on my way to work...

This is one of the main roads in the city centre.

Like every morning, traffic was quite heavy and I thought

maybe I should get a bicycle...

By the way, if you are interested in visiting Bristol, check out the City's website (below)

coming soon...

Starting tomorrow, December 1st, I'll start posting one photo a day from Bristol (UK).

Hope you will like this new blog!

Thanks to Eric (Paris Daily Photo) for the inspiration!

Cheers!