Monday September 2nd Bath

Set out for a coffee and a pastry. Then on to visit the Roman Baths. The exhibit was amazing and informative. We really enjoyed the self paced tour. Dennis remembers his visit 51 years ago as simply looking over a banister rail at a green pool surrounded by sandstone blocks. Quite a bit more to see today. At the end of the tour we were given the opportunity to taste the healing spa water. 😵‍💫 We opted out. (think Lithia water in Ashland)

Afterwards, another coffee and to rest our feet. Then we took off up the (gradual) hill to see "the Circus" and the Royal crescent. Both are names given to housing developments of the 19th and 18th centuries respectively. Along the way we passed the Jane Austin museum and an acknowledgement to Mary Shelley (Frankenstein).

The Royal Crescent, which they started to build in 1767, is world renowned for its Georgian architecture. This was one of the reasons Bath was awarded the UNESCO heritage status. (Besides the Roman Baths) We were hoping to go through the Royal Crescent museum, but unfortunately it's closed on Mondays.

The Circus

Royal Crescent

We chose another direction down the hill and found this Georgian Garden. Dennis was happy.

Back into city center we headed for the Bath Abbey. There was a charge for entry (which we weren't too keen on...see Dennis's Facebook post). But there was an option where one could enter for prayer and reflection. We chose this and we're directed to a quiet little chapel (maybe sits 15) where we both had our morning devotions.

This was one of the small chapels inside the Abbey.

We came out of the Abbey to a trumpeter who was busking. Wonderful low key music with a taped aaccompaniment. Very relaxing. Also stopped in the old Guild house that now has a market inside. Dennis was able to get his dog "fix".

Then a walk along the Avon river on the side opposite of Bath. We then found a late lunch at our hotel. (they were holding our luggage for us). Followed by our next train trip to Wareham for a beach day tomorrow. Train delayed a bit, but we made it and are settled into a cute, and old (built in 1550) B & B.

Comments

Monday Sept 9th London

Today's adventure was the Tower of London. We started a bit early on the tube so we could grab a coffee prior to our entrance at 10. We joined the mass of bodies and entered the courtyard. Last night we watched a YouTube on the Tower. It was very informative and helped us grasp the history and the many renditions it has gone through. On Rick Steve's recommendation we went straight to the Crown Jewels building. Good call. Well done presentation of an amazing collection. We weren't allowed any photography inside this building. One display was for the party plates for a coronation party. A bit of a step up from paper or plastic; Solid gold, one which was a punch bowl for wine which holds 240 bottles of wine. Took a little coffee break and chatted with a lady from Georgia. Then back out to the courtyard where we stopped in the Fusilier (kind of like our cavalry) museum and walked some of the grounds. Took a walk through the medieval museum. Again, a wonderful p...

Pretrip practice

Hello my friends and family. This is just a practice "run" of posting on our Britain blog. I always have to relearn the steps. So.... we leave on Monday Aug 19th mid morning flying thru Seattle and then straight to London. We arrive Tues morning around 9:50 am London time (which is 8 hrs ahead -or about 1AM our time) A rough itinerary London Edinburgh Inverness Edinburgh York Keswick ( Lake district of England) Shrewsbury Swansea ( Wales) and on to Cardiff Bath Wareham ("Jurassic Coast - south west coast) Oxford Cotswold Oxford London If you only see this page, there should be links somewhere on the page to get you to the other postings

Inverness and the highlands

These 2 posts will cover our Friday and Saturday trip. Caught our "tour" bus at 9:15 with Trevor as our driver and guide. Heading north we crossed the river Forth at the firth (the mouth of the river) We rode through the countryside, stopping at Dunkeld for a comfort break and short walk and coffee. Cute Cathedral being repaired. Supposably the community was where Beatrice Potter was inspired. Dunkeld is on the Tay river which separates the highlands from the lowlands. Then onto Cairngorms National Park. We drove into the park which is like a state park at Loch (lake) Morlich. Interesting facts.There are over 34,300 locks (freshwater and sea water) in Scotland. And 282 "mountains" (anything over 3000 ft) and 142 distilleries. Then up to their "ski area" for a view of the loch from the top. This was the only time all day when we had a bit of misty rain. Otherwise it was clear with white clouds, cool and windy. Then onto Aviemore, where we had ...

Reilly Britain

Search This Blog