:: Vela Dare ::

:: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 ::

:: Steam Ships and St. Veronica ::

Apparently Fall has arrived since I last ventured from the Hawthorns. Don't believe me? Check out Bristol Cathedral:


So, I'm afraid I pulled a bit of a Pee Wee today (for those of you who are not my parents here's the specific reference.) After a totally sleepless night I got dressed and headed out to my Maritime Archae. field trip to the SS Great Britain. The weather was pretty dreary and wet so I set out fully expecting to head straight home after the field trip. I figured if I was bothering to get myself through the cold and wet to see the ship/museum I might as well make the most of it instead of leaving a half hour later to make it back for my Medieval Theo. lecture. After all, I've got the seminar for that tomorrow and the prof knows that I had a field trip and that I was very sick. Anyway, after getting just a little lost on my way there (I took a slightly longer route than was absolutely necessary) I found the SS Great Britain.

For those of you not up on your British maritime history (and I do not blame you) the SS Great Britain was the first iron-hulled, steam-powered, ocean-going ship. It was also the largest EVER when it was built, as well as the first to employ cork-screw propulsion and rudder steering (together I mean.) It started as luxury liner that traveled to New York, Sydney and San Francisco and later served as a cargo ship, emmigrant clipper, troop carrying vessel, quarantine ship, and coal hulk- at one point when she was showing wear she was even converted into a windjammer. Oh and did I mention the Great Britain was built in 1843. That means she's 42 years older than Bryn Mawr. The Great Britain could have been Bryn Mawr's mom and then some.

Anyway the museum was really fantastic. My dad would have loved it, as I'm sure he will agree after seeing the pictures.
The whole area can be divided into 3 main exhibits:
1. a building with a lot of the original material that could not (though in some cases could) be fully restored and a pretty extensive collection of historic things from the varried stages of the Great Britain's service.
2. The fully restored SS Great Britain- brought back to Bristol in 1970 to the spot where she was built back in the 1800s. They've restored her to her "origina glory" as a world class ocean liner complete with (at times alarmingly life dummies.) They've done what I think is a great job of bringing her "back to life" (more or less authentically) all the cabins etc. have been refurnished have decorated to seem as though you were strolling through in the midst of a transoceanic journey. This includes fully furnished kitches, storerooms and bunks, the dummies as i've mentioned AND (my favorite) SMELLS! They also have very interesting audio programs you can listen to as you tour around. You can choose to learn from the stand point of a first-class passenger, a third-class passenger, a maritime archaeology, or Sinbad the ship's cat (for the kiddies.)
3. The final exhibit-- and the one that probably would have put my dad in the highest degree of maritime history heaven-- is a look at the ship from underwater (sort of.) They've created a large controlled-atmosphere room surrounding the hull just under the waterline with a glass ceiling upon which a few inches of the Avon actually flow. This is the site of the old dry dock and from here you can walk all the way around the ship-- allowing for amazing close up views of the iron hull, HUGE propellor and massive rudder. It's pretty amazing to be able to look up through the water and see the ship looming above. Can't say I wasn't just a little reminded of the LIttle Mermaid, haha.

After having finished the field trip, I headed back along the river to Clifton when I saw the most lovely sight-- the spire of St. Mary Redcliffe's Cathedral, where I'd been absolutely dying to visit and take pictures. I knew I should probably go home and sleep, but I wasn't feeling particularly tired after spotting the spire, and it was such a lovely weather for photography. I couldn't resist. I walked further along the river. Passing lots of very interesting looking boats, and pretty breathtaking views of the city, and SWANS! The swans were such a lovely surprise. I tried to take a picture but they wouldn't stay still for very long so I moved on. After walking a bit more, I suddenly found myself confronted with the stark beauty of St. Mary R's. It pops up so suddenly! The masonry has been cleaned much less recently than Bristol Cathedral, which is the way I like it! My camera was being finicky but I fought with it a bit until it gave in and decided to start working again. I started up the steps along the side of the grounds.

Talk about breath taking! The grass was so, so green in comparison to the grey sky, dark stone and rain-soaked trees. Just beautiful. Better than I could have possible remembered it being from those 20 seconds as we passed by in the bus two weeks ago. After taking a few more pictures of the exterior, I headed inside. There's a certain kind of slightly more understated beauty to St. Mary R's in comparison to Bristol Cathedral. A very nice man started talking to me about the church, but my voice was sufferring from the cold and damp and he was a little deaf so you can imagine how well that went. He seemed pleased to find out I was from so far away as Los Angeles though. I took a few more pictures inside, though not nearly so many as I wanted to. I ran out of room on my memory card (I really do need to upgrade) and I had to keep reminding myself that I could back and that I shouldn't delete any of my good SS Great Britain pictures. After wandering a bit inside I headed back out on my way home, stopping on the bridge I had to cross to take a picture of the church over the river and some lovely colorful row houses (so English!) Deeeefinitely started to feel the exhaustian/cold on the way back though and I was more than thrilled to be back in my nice warm bed room when I got home.

Still, I was anxious to see how my pictures turned out so I plugged in the memory card and loaded them onto the computer. The ones from the GB turned out nicely... perhaps not as nicely as I would have liked, but there are still some good ones. But I was *really* impressed with how well some of the pictures taken at St. Mary R's turned out. I think I may have found my new favorite place to take pictures. At least for a little while. There were so, so many more I could have taken. And to have them turn out so well! Even the stained glass, which is always so hard to capture. I decided that as it was a church this could be owed to the watchful eye of the patron saint of photography (since goodness knows there must be one.) There is of course, and it's St. Veronica... which I really should have guessed since she's the one with the veil and all. Haha, that makes her the patron saint of launderers and photographers. I am always so amused how that happens. Not unlike how Agatha is the patron saint of bell makers and bread bakers. Hehe.


[of course all the photos taken today have been added to the photo directory... enjoy!]

:: find earth and reap :: 8:03 PM :: [+] :: | ::

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