Not knowing where to park, we just headed straight into the city. Luckily, there were several spots on the road right next to the Royal Crescent, which is just a little ways away from the city centre. Henry enjoyed playing on the grass for a few minutes, and he and Grandpa found a feather to play with!
The Royal Crescent is a poster child of Georgian architecture, displaying some of the most beautiful elements of the style in the world. It's quite beautiful, and very ritzy looking. I'd love to live there, actually. Especially since my address would be Royal Avenue!
We walked from the Royal Crescent down to the city centre and found a bench to eat lunch. Poor Henry was starving! As soon as he saw a pastry shop, he started jumping up and down and tried to run in there! We convinced him to eat his PB&J and a sandwich instead, which he was happy about since he got to chase a few pigeons while he ate.
The Roman Baths only had a few visitors when we arrived, which was quite nice. We got to enjoy all of the exhibits without horrible crowds. It's incredible how intact the Baths are, and with the museum around it, we were able to see the incredible Roman plumbing.
Henry really enjoyed running around and playing with the audio guide. He wouldn't put it down the whole time we were there, and was pretty sad when we had to return it at the end.
After the Roman Baths, we stopped in the Pump Room to take the waters. Derek and I both agree that the water tasted a lot better this time--they must have filtered the water a little bit. :) Henry wasn't sure about it; he only took a sip before he refused more. I had forgotten how beautiful the Pump Room was--the chandelier, the wall paneling, and the gorgeous Kings Spring where the water comes through.
Just outside the Roman Baths and the Pump Room, is the stunning Bath Abbey. With impressive fan vaults and stained glass, it was a nice place to sit down and relax for a while. The whole Abbey is built out of Bath Stone, a soft, but incredibly beautiful, white stone from the area. Tom really wanted a piece to take back, and inquired in the Abbey shop about where he could find some. The kind old ladies had no idea, so one suggested he chip a piece off the Abbey "they'll come and repair it," she said. (Of course we didn't do that, but we did fiend a piece that chipped off a wall on our way out of the city.)
On our way back to the car, we took a quick look at the Pulteney Bridge, one of only 4 bridges in the world that has shops on it. It's beautiful---just another spot in the city of Bath where I could sit and stay all day.
We probably could have stayed and wandered around for a few more hours, but we decided to call it a day and head back to our little house in Wells.
Ahhhhh looks so pretty. Jonathan and I are hoping to visit Bath next year. You'll have to give us pointers.
ReplyDeleteoh, I wish you guys could have come over while we were here--you could have stayed with us in Cambridge. But yes--Bath is amazing and gorgeous. I could have spent DAYS there.
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