#bathuk

April 18-21, 2019

I’ve been wanting to go to Bath for years and was really happy to have a short trip during the bank holiday. A $97.30 roundtrip train ticket (including tube) to Bath Spa and $20.07/night at the YMCA was all I needed to start my trip.

Just some quick (haha, actually it takes me forever to add) thoughts:

I loved visiting Bath Abbey, during Holy Week especially. God has been worshipped on this site since 675AD, which feels especially powerful to me, even if I am not as religious as I once was. You should try to get there when they open to book a tour of the tower. 

I purchased a discount ticket to visit The Roman Baths, Fashion Museum, and Victoria Art Gallery. If you’re in town so it makes sense to see the first one, but the last two were just alright and could have easily been missed, though I did enjoy seeing royal wear at the Fashion Museum.

The bookstores here are topnotch! Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and Topping & Company Booksellers were my favorite.

I had the best latte of my life at Colonna & Small’s. I still think about it!

Yeah, it’s pricey (£36 for two hours on a weekday) but I enjoyed relaxing in the roof pool and being in the steam rooms at Thermae Bath Spa. These experiences are really common in Asia and it was nice to have it in the UK.

It’s easy to and worth doing to walk around the town, especially to the Royal Crescent and Pulteney Weir.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum and having a drink at the Canary Gin and Wine Bar. 

I also booked Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock, Biddestone and Castle Combe visit with Lion Tours ($74.41). It’s worth the price to have someone get you out to Stonehenge early before the crowds, and the information they provide is fun and knowledgeable. 

I didn’t expect to be moved in any way --because I’ve been to big, old things before like the Great Wall-- but honestly, I really enjoyed seeing something people built 5,000 years ago, still standing. And, it's a beautiful drive out there from Bath.

I got lost in Avebury, also an ancient henge and stone circle, but with a very different feel from Stonehenge. Here the village (beautiful in its own right) has evolved in amongst the stones. I had a picnic by the stones and walked the nearby church + cemetery.

Visiting the Lacock village’s 13th century limewashed half-timbered and stone houses felt like being in Downton Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders, or Emma. I snuck into the Abbey that’s been featured in the Harry Potter films.