English countryside, Bath, stardate 20.07.08

---

Our first venture into the English countryside was a day trip to Bath with fellow Melbournites Dannielle and Rob. After a somewhat rocky start to the morning with Dannielle and Rob almost missing the train, and then about a 40 minute delay halfway through the trip, we got to Bath late Sunday morning.

The morning started off with a brisk wind, but thankfully after our pub lunch the sun decided to come out. Now, when I thought Bath, I thought of this as a major tourist spot people visit and there must be a few things to do. However, the main thing people really go to see is the Roman Baths and wonder the streets of the world heritage site.

It is a beautiful town, very picturesque, but maybe I had too-high expectations of the Romans Baths. It was very busy being a weekend with a heap of tourists around, so that didn't help, but we were each given a little audio guide to take around with us which was informative but, might I say, BORING! And I'm normally into history, but the place didn't really hold a lot of interest for me. Much of the old Roman temples have been destroyed and the building was built around the ruins and spring, and were patched and plastered around on the walls. It felt a tad try-hard, but maybe I wasn't in the tourist mood at that point, so Dan and I made a relatively quick exit and lost the boys in a throng of tourists. I did try the 'free glass of spring water' right at the end. Now, I'm sure its really good for you, but YUCK! P'uh, no thanks, they can keep that to themselves!

After making our escape, we made our way up to the Fashion Museum which we had bought a combined ticket with the Baths. The museum was purported to house over 2,000 items from medieval times to present, but the boys decided to head to the pub for some weird reason while we explored without them. Our exploration took about 15 minutes. Most of the 'fashion' was from the 20th century which we could pretty much see on a daily basis walking down the street and very little from the early centuries which would have interested me a tad more. After that I'm glad we didn't go to the Jane Austen Centre which apparently isn't quite worth it either as she spent only a few months in Bath and is a slightly desperate excuse to have another tourist attraction in Bath.

I think I'm sounding a tad harsh about Bath, but it really is a lovely little town - just avoid the tourist spots which are overpriced and for no real good reason. The bridge is very cute - the sister bridge of the Ponte Vecchio in Venice (though not as prestigious) as is the park in the middle of town and the gorgeous 400 year old Abbey in the centre of town.

All in all, a lovely little day trip to my first English village this year.

---

Photos

Forever friends
This reminded me of the Forever Friends bears in the little park - very cute.

The Abbey
The Bath Abbey, over 400 years old

Tourists
Dannielle and Rob giving their best impersonations of tourists and their cameras...

Outside the pub
Outside the pub with Dannielle

Roman Baths
Natural spring below - its nautrallly green due the reflected algae. And no, the water I sipped was not green.

Audio guide tourists
Doing our dutiful best to listen to the audio guides, even Bill whats-his-face couldn't make it interesting.