Brunel's Bristol

So if you're British you probably have an idea of who Isambard Kingdom Brunel is, but if you are an American like me you have probably never heard of this person, who although not British voted the 2nd "Greatest Britain" of all time.  Brunel was a visionary nineteenth century engineer.  A resident of Bristol for part of his life, he totally shaped the landscape of the city.  So Wednesday I went on a tour with my class of the landscape he created.  We began at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which was just a five minute walk from my student house.  (I have to say that I hadn't been there before at least not walking... I just didn't realize how close it was.  Now that I do I totally plan on taking at least one photograph of it each month.  Above Clifton Gorge, it is such a beautiful landmark.  And I live here.  Wow.  

The next part of the journey was taken as a ferry tour of the Bristol City docks, part of which were engineered by Brunel using hydraulic power.  The photo below is of the S.S. Great Britain, a ship Brunel designed and oversaw the building in a dry dock in Bristol.  It actually sunk in New Zealand, I think, and then was raised and restored in the original dry dock where it was originally built.  Now its just a tourist attraction.   The afternoon lecture was spent in the University archives looking at Brunel's plans, diaries, calculation books, ect.  

I ended my day with an evening of short films with the Bristol Rotary Club.  Oddly enough the films shown were originally created to attract shipping companies and tourists to Bristol in the 1950s and 1960s.  Actually really rare pieces of history... and really fun to watch.  On the way home, my Rotary host for the evening, David, drove me by the Clifton Suspension Bridge so I could see it all lit up.  (I'm so sorry I didn't have my camera with me because the view was breathtaking.  I'll have to venture out with some friends to get the photo some day soon.)  It was so nice to get such a full history of Bristol all in one day.  

Just, Margaret