A trip to Bristol 8 and 9 January.

My girlfriend and I decided to have a weekend off and visit a place we haven't been before. That place was Bristol. Of course the choice was not random. My girlfriend's sister was also going there from Spain to visit her husband. And having travelled around 3 hours we arrived in Bristol and found the quickest way to our hotel. We dropped the luggage and headed towards the center of the town with a map in the pocket. As I like to say now, Bristol turned out to be unexpectedly beautiful, diverse, modern and interesting. Huge churches, contemporary designed centre, historical sites, modern housing, shopping area, all in one. 

The Amphitheatre

Modern houses by the river Avon

Brunel SS Great Britain was the world's first ocean-going, propeller-driven iron ship, built and launched in Bristol in 1843.

A small Bridge in the central part of Bristol

One of the most interesting features of the city is the Millenium square. It's a stunning combination of water, glass, steel and lights. Put all that in a public square and you get a great place for everyone.

The whole central part of the city is a mixture of steel, glass, water and lights combined with different pavings all around the centre. Here are some examples:

I liked the Millenium square so much that we returned on the next day to take more pictures. We were very lucky to have a nice sunny day so here are some more photos:

After that we went to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. A huge bridge 74 m above the street and the river. 

Focus week 29 Nov - 3 Dec

We are back in business. Can't say that for the weather or for the public transport in London. With the second focus week commencing the weather above London went from bad to worse. Snow, ice, freezing temperatures, blocked transport, everything and everyone was affected. Anyway at the beginning of that week I still managed to find some time to improve my skills in Autocad and Photoshop of course. The photoshop I use often even for fun so I can say that I am quite advanced. Online tutorials are of constant help. As for Cad, well one of my classmates is more than advanced in Cad, he is a specialist. So I tend to ask him for help from time to time. I think that's enough with the software, there is always time for it because you don't have to go anywhere to learn it. You need a PC, internet and willingness to learn it. Of course if you imply your new skills in a current project it will be even better.

So! The last day of that week was 3-rd of december friday. After careful consideration and observation on the weather we decided to go to London to see the targets we have set to see. NLA and Sommerset House.

During the first focus week we were unable to find the NLA not realising that were so close to it. But now we did. And after more than an hour on the crowded tube and another 20 minutes walking in the cold weather we found ourselves in front of the New London Architecture. Filled with great expectations we entered and we saw right at the entrance the biggest model we've ever seen. Or at least if my memory doesn't lie to me that one was bigger than the model we saw in Barcelona. This model in NLA shows the extends of Central London all along the river Thames. It covers the area from Paddington in the west to the Royal docks in the east and from Battersea in the south to the King's Cross in the north. It also includes the Olympic site and series of new tall buildings. It's called The Pipers Central London Model and it's in scale 1:1500. Here are some pictures of it:

Waterloo Station + London Eye

Hyde Park

Canary Wharf

O2 Arena

That was really impressive. Also we saw some movies, articles, proposals of sites all around London and of course detailed information about the Olympic site. 

Furtermore inside the building we saw more models. Some made out only of wood. Others of plastic with different purposes.

One of the models was of a building and as far as I remember it was 1:200 scale. The level of detailing that building was astonishing. You could see  the stairs and people inside it. Bike racks and trees on the outside: