Adventures in England: A Beautiful Day in Bath

Today Tooley and I visited the beautiful town of Bath, England. Bath is about 2 hours south of Stratford-upon-Avon, just below the Cotswolds. We woke up early this morning to catch the train, but found out we would save twenty pounds if we took a later train. So, we took a little nap and then headed out. When we arrived in Bath, we went straight to the Roman Baths, which are the most popular attraction in the town. The Roman Baths were built between 65-75 A.D. as a temple to a Roman goddess (making them officially the oldest thing I've ever seen!), and are heated by warm springs in the ground. You can see them steam rising from the water. The Roman bath looks like, well, a big stone bathtub! The water used to be clear, but now it's a little green because of the algae. Tooley and I walked around the museum, which has remains of the original stone temple, including Roman coins and even jewelry. Then we went outside and stuck our hand in the water (even though you're not supposed to). It was nice and toasty, like a hot tub! The restaurant in the museum was giving out free samples of the water, so we tried some, but it was pretty gross - hot and salty because of the minerals. After we left the Roman Baths, we walked around the town. It's gorgeous! All of the buildings are made of beige stone, and it's more cheerful looking than some of the other towns which have gray stone buildings. Bath seems to be a very posh town! Jane Austen (author of Pride and Prejudice and Emma) is from Bath, and you can definitely see where she gets the inspiration for the settings in her books. The town is surrounded by green hills that have huge old houses built on them. For lunch, Tooley and I stopped at the Cadbury Cocoa House...yum! We had chocolate fondue for dessert, and it was fabulous. We walked around the town some more, and explored some of the shops. We stopped in the Bath Abbey, a magnificent old church near the Roman Baths. The Abbey was built in 1499, and it's enormous with beautiful stained glass windows. The weather was perfect for our trip - sunny with clear skies - but it was FREEZING! I do think I'm getting used to the cold weather, though! We had a wonderful trip, and I hope you enjoy the pictures!