I've fallen in love

I love Bath. It is currently my favourite place in all the world. I went there last Tuesday and came back on Wednesday but I could very easily have settled down and lived there. Bath was everything I'd been hoping for in Britain and reassured me that I want to be here and I want to travel.

I caught the bus from Victoria Station at 8:00 on Tuesday, which meant that I had to leave Queensbury by 6, just to make sure I'd get there in time. We drove through some of the most beautiful countryside and it was fantastic to be away from the hustle and bustle of London. Bath itself is astonishingly beautiful - as the bus drove in ot the city, all I could see were huge sandstone houses built into the side of a hill. Because Bath is a heritage listed town all of the buildings have to be built from what they call "Bathstone" but we would call it sandstone. It's an old Roman town and looks like it hasn't changed a bit since it was first founded (though if you look closely you'll see that a lot of the beautiful sandstone buildings are actually an M&S or Sainsbury's).

I'd forgotten to get a map, or even directions between the bus station and my hostel (are we noticing a pattern here?) but gratefully realised that my trusty Lonely Planet had a map of the central part of Bath. I was far too early to check into my hostel so I headed off in the direction of the Roman Baths. As I stopped to try to figure out where I was, and where the Information Centre was, I looked up and realised I was standing outside it, and that the Baths were just across the square from where I was standing. The Baths and the Abbey occupy the same square in the centre of Bath and make quite an imposing site.

I booked a trip to Stonehenge at the Information Centre and then headed to the Roman Baths. They supply you with a free audio tour when you buy your ticket and Bill Bryson has recorded his thoughts at a few of the stops, which makes for an interesting perspective. The Baths themselves are great to look at, but they've also added a whole lot about the history of the town and the construction and reasons for the construction of the baths.

I checked out the Jane Austen Centre and to be honest I was a little underwhelmed. But at least it was somewhere out of the cold - Bath was freezing!! Even though it was so cold, I decided to take a tour in an open-topped bus (they have them everywhere here - they give you guided sightseeing tours) as I only had a few more hours in Bath as my trip to Stonehenge was going to take the rest of the day and I'd have to head back to London the following evening.

I also decided to check out one of the places recommended in my Lonely Planet and I'm so pleased I did. It was a pub called Porter's which served only vegetarian food and my vegie shepherd's pie was the best thing I'd eaten in ages.

I went to Stonehenge the next day, but that trip deserves another entry so I'll try to blog about it tomorrow.

Much love to all.

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