A rainy Bath

Today didn’t exactly go as planned…

Our bus was supposed to leave at 8:00 this morning for Bath, but it was over an hour late because traffic was worse as a result of the Tube strike. We finally got on the road at 9:30 and we didn’t get there until after 1:30… The bus ride was horrible because of the traffic. It took us forever to get out of the city! Luckily I fell asleep for a while and Fred’s little daughter Lillianna was there to entertain us a little! She’s the most beautiful little girl I’ve ever seen in my life! She has darker skin, gorgeous curls, and big blue eyes. She’s two and she talks and talks and talks! She just sat on my lap and just grabbed my face and told me that she loved me---SO precious! When we finally got there we didn’t have time to do the longer walking tour of the city, unfortunately, so we had to get back on the bus to do a quicker driving tour. It was chilly and rainy and we were so sick of the bus that the tour wasn’t really that enjoyable. Although, I did get to see where Nicholas Cage lives and where Jane Austen used to live. Those were the highlights of the tour. Don’t get me wrong—Bath is gorgeous, but in the rain on a bus it wasn’t the best way to see it.

We did get to go into the Roman Baths though! On our way in, there was a man performing in the street. He had this instrument that looked like a UFO and the music that he was playing on it was absolutely gorgeous! It was so strange and so pretty that 5 of us put in £1 and bought a CD to share. He said that the instrument (can’t remember what it was called) was very rare and was first produced in 2002. The baths were SO cool! They, along with other Roman ruins, are 18 feet below the current city. It was just so neat to walk on the ancient stone and to see the hot springs bubbling up. The Romans thought that it was a sacred spring and people flocked to the baths for rejuvenation, retirement, and for their supposed healing powers. I loved seeing the carvings and the columns and statues. We got to see a lot, but apparently they haven’t even started digging up ¾ of what’s there!

After we got through the Baths it was pouring and freezing! Instead of walking around the city like we wanted to, we just ended up sitting in a pub called The Crystal Palace for a few hours while we waited on our bus back. We all had a drink or two and got some dinner before the long bus ride back. I tried a beer called 1664 and another drink called Blackthorn Cider. They were both really good—I’m trying not to order the same thing twice here! I got a plate of baked Camembert cheese with bread and sliced peppers—SO good! We dried off while we were there and got back on the bus for another few hours. Lillianna was just as cute as she was on the way there, and the ride wasn’t as long as before so it wasn’t that bad. It was so rainy all day long and I was so excited for Bath, but I left there a little disappointed. I’m still glad I went and got to see what I did, because it was absolutely gorgeous!

I’m doing my presentation tomorrow morning and I still haven’t really figured out what I’m going to say. I only have to talk for ten minutes, and I’m not exactly short-winded so I’m not even worried about it.

Hoping for some sunshine tomorrow,
Whitney