Bath

Our second week of spring break was mostly spent in Bath and Stratford-Upon-Avon. Bath is a gorgeous city. It lies in the bottom of a very pretty valley. Most of Bath's buildings are made from sandstone and of either Roman or Georgian architecture. It was built by the Romans in AD 43 as a spa resort so it doesn't have the same feel as any of the other cities we have visited in the UK. It didn't really feel like we were in England, and the fact that is was warm and sunny the entire two days we were there only further helped the sensation.

The first day there we went on a Jane Austen tour, visited the Roman Baths, and went inside Bath Abbey. Jane Austen lived in Bath for a while, and a few of her books take place there. The tour was pretty much about what the city would have been like back in her day and where different events for Jane Austen and the characters occurred. Though I respect her as a writer, I have never read any of her books; so the tour was kind of confusing. By the end of the tour, I had no idea as to whether the places being pointed out to me were associated with real or fictional people.

The Roman Baths (above) were really cool. It is the only hot spring in Britain and the Romans used it to create a temple and bathing facility. Visiting the bathes were completely different than what we had been seeing and the way they set up the structure is interesting. They even had a sauna and everything. I enjoyed it. Bath Abbey is pretty much right next to the Roman Baths. It looks like all the other cathedrals: beautiful and detailed. We came on Palm Sunday and we happened to come at a time they had a 15 minute afternoon service so we joined in. It wasn't anything big at all but nice to recognize Palm Sunday in some way.

The next day, we walked up to Prior Park Landscape Gardens, a park on the edge of town. It was a bit of a walk, mostly up a steep hill; but we found it with little problem. Walking up the hill was worth it though. The park had an amazing view of the city. We spent the morning there just soaking in the sun and fresh air and taking pictures of the view. When back in town walked around the shops a little and saw the King's Circus and the Royal Crescent. They are two of Bath's most known building complexes (Georgian architecture) built in the 1700s. What is cool about these structures is that one forms a perfect circle and the other forms a perfect half-circle. The next morning, we got back on yet another train and headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon.