Sep 25 2009: Day trip to Bath

Sep 25, 2009 by Rochelle

Our first night in the hotel room had gone okay. It was really warm there and so I had some trouble sleeping. We also had electrical issues right off the bat and the hotel provided hair dryer was horrible. I blew out my hair straightener even with the adapter and converter. It was just a bit of a disaster. So for a couple of days my hair was terrible! It made me regret getting my short hair cut, because a straightening iron is definitely require for it!

So on Friday morning, we woke up and managed to become some what presentable. We made it downstairs for the buffet breakfast and enjoyed it. I knew that the breakfast was going to come in handy as our trip went on.

After that it was off to Paddington Station to catch our train to Bath. With little room to spare we arrived at the station, retrieved our tickets out of the automated kiosk and then scrambled to figure out what train we were supposed to board to Bath. We had to run down to platform 8, which was the last one and then we worried that this train to Bristol wasn’t actually going to stop at Bath. Thankfully, another passenger helped us. We had reserved seats, but we weren’t even in the right train car, and no one paid attention to reserved seats anyway.

My mom and sister on the train to Bath.

The next hour and half was splendid. Seeing the English countryside was lovely and it was so bright and sunny. I sat alone and listened to my iPod. It was one of my favorite moments of the trip.

We arrived in Bath at twenty past noon and stumbled our way out of the train station and into the heart of Bath. We walked around a bit and found ourselves going up Union street which was mostly closed for pedestrians. Lots of shops lined the streets and there were plenty of visitors just like us. The Georgian architecture was stunning, and there were flowers everywhere. It was beautiful.

Love the Georgian architecture.

Lunch was on our mind, so we wandered around and found an Italian restaurant called Strada that my mom was really interested in. We went for it and had a delightful lunch, and I had my first diet coke since leaving for London. It was my favorite part of the meal.

Check out my terrible hair.

After our lunch we visited the Jane Austen Center, which was just up the road. This was the reason why I wanted to go to Bath. I am a huge Jane Austen fan, and while we were visiting they were having the Jane Austen Festival. Lots of events were going on, and sadly we didn’t get to attend any of them. But we did visit the center and go on the tour and listen to a lecture about her. I also spent a ton of money in the gift shop and saw some participants in the festival wearing their regency garb. I could have spent the whole day there.

I love their spirit and excitement for the period.

We kept walking up the street and reached The Circus, which was basically some upscale housing in the shape of a circle that surrounded a circular park with giant trees. I got some amazing photographs of my mom and sister and they even snapped one of me.

Me and a very old tree.

We took the long way over to the Roman Baths. What an interesting exhibit. It was a bit pricey to get in, but seeing artifacts from the Roman empire blew my mind a bit. The bath itself was mildly interesting, but what I found better was the light. It was late afternoon and the sky turned blue and the sun came out. So I had a ton of fun taking photos.

One of my favorite pictures. Marissa at the Roman Baths.

After the Roman Baths, we scurried into Bath Abbey, which was just next door. It never ceases to amaze me how intricate, detailed, and gorgeous old churches are. And I always love the fact that it’s still in total operation. They were having choir practice.

Bath Abbey

The inside of the church was simply stunning, and I was oh so happy I had my DSLR camera and that I’m a better photographer, because I did a whole lot better taking photos in Bath Abbey than I did in Ireland at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Quite a church organ.

We left Bath Abbey at a quarter until six and spent some time in the square. The light was still beautiful.

Another angle of Bath Abbey.

Outside in the square there was an environmental display with a map of the world that people could walk on. It was fun to watch all the different people march across the planet. It brought everybody, adults and kids alike, a lot of joy. Even men in business suits were out there. It was a pleasant moment.

Walking across the world.

As the sun was setting we walked around the town more. I could keep going off about how gorgeous it was and all that, but there really aren’t enough descriptive words to describe Bath. It’s a city that I would go back to, time and time again.