Bristol, England
October 5th I hopped on a train at Paddington station in London and a hour and half later I arrived in Bristol. Simyra was having a lunch with the other guides and judges in Windsor and would arrive in Bristol later. Elly picked me up and took me to the offices for a tour. Elly is the production assistant for Grizzly Bear Productions who were filming out at camp this past summer and next summer for the Disney Nature movie to come out in 2014 titled Bears (same people that put out African Cats and Chimpanzee-check em out). I got a tour of their office and got to meet the directors and staff. I even got to watch the promo video they had compiled to show the Disney big wigs for approval. I was almost brought to tears it looked so good; I can't wait to see it on the big screen! We picked up Simyra later and then went to Gavin and Maggie's house, who were kindly hosting us during our brief stay. Gavin is an Emmy award winning cameraman (recently won for Frozen Planet and Human Planet) who has been out to camp filming many times and resides in Bristol. Their house was super cute and I loved it. That night we went out to eat with people from the office: assistants, directors, tech guys, etc.
Grizzly Productions Office
Matt, Helen, Me, Elly, Simyra, Dan, Gavin, Maggie, and Keith
Gavin and one of his Emmy's
The next day Gavin and Maggie showed us around town then Simyra and I explored on our own. We walked across the Clifton Suspension Bridge that Bristol is famous for.
Bridge over the Avon Gorge
Then we checked out some shops and I stumbled upon the Bristol Cider Shop. If you didn't know, I love cider- it's my thing, and in Bristol it's their thing too. A match made in heaven! Somerset is nearby and it is the home of cider so Bristol has ciders a plenty there.
I didn't get to try it though cause it was closed!
Then we were on a hunt for some wall murals and graffiti. I found out that the mysterious street artist Banksy is from Bristol and I got excited to find some of his work, but I only saw one of his pieces. The other murals we found were for a competition Bristol has every year.
Street art in Bristol
That night we went to see Wild Oats at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre - the oldest working theatre in England. The show was real funny and I'm glad we got to see it!
The next morning Gavin dropped us off at the train station and we boarded the 8 hour train to Scotland!
