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.

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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

Sunday Sept 8th London

We decided to visit the Churchill War rooms today. We figured out the tube (the underground) and traveled to the Westminster area. Met some folks from Ohio while standing in line waiting for our entry time. One of the gentlemen served at Kodiak in the navy. He and Dennis had a great "military in Alaska" chat. The War rooms and museum were great. The war museum was almost overwhelming with the amount of information displayed Clementine Churchill's room underground Afterwards we walked around the Parliment square garden adding photos of Big Bend, Westminster Cathedral,Westminster Bridge, the Parliment building and ALL the tourists. The clouds had cleared and it was beautiful. (Last nights forecast for today had been up to 75% chance of rain!) We sat at the park and then strolled up Whitehall street up to Trafalgar square...

Friday September 6th. The Cotswolds

Today we booked a tour of the Cotswolds. Cot inferring small and wolds connected to the sheep trade. The area is full of rolling green hills with villages and small towns nestled among the hills. The entire area is home to only about 170,000 people. Thats about one person per 2 sheep in the region. The first village we visited, Snowshill, had a population of 184. It had a church, a pub and a telephone. (Joke from our driver Steve). In order not to bore you with little details here is an overview. Several of the other towns would have more like 3000 to 5000 population. We visited Chipping Campden, Bourton on the Water, Stow on the Wold, Bibury and started at Moreton in Marsh. We drove through Dover's hill, Broadway, Great Barrington, Ablington, Winson Village and Coln St. Dennis. Old original market in Chipping Campden A majority of villages hav...

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