Trip update: YORK
Bath has been utterly lovely. We never actually did the tour of the Roman baths that the city is named after, because it was expensive and there was plenty else to do there, but we had a great time anyway.
After the exhausting flight and a quick trip through customs (flying into Gatwick early in the morning is the way to go!), and figuring out the (very expensive) trains, we got into Bath. The city is absolutely beautiful--most of the buildings were built before 1800, and as someone who has lived most of my life in a city where 90% of the buildings were built after 1970, it has been a feast for my eyes.
At the center of the city is a breathtaking huge abbey built in 1700. The winding streets are filled with shops and people, as Bath is a shopping and tourism capital. The river Avon winds around the perimeter of town.
We took some time to feel our exhaustion, grab a snack, and have a nice cup of English tea (SO DELICIOUS!). We also talked at length to the girl who worked at the tea shop; a uni student and a total sweetheart who I exchanged Skype names with :) After that, we made our way to our B&B. Our first two nights were spent in a completely gorgeous B&B nestled in the countryside about a 10 minute bus ride outside of the city centre.
We rested most of the remainder of the day.
The next morning, mom and I woke up bright and early at around 5am (what's up, jetlag?) and decided to go for a stroll to a little town nearby that mom had walked to the night before. Walking through the country in the early morning fog was lovely.
However, on our way back, we took a different path and ended up lost very far away from our B&B! After wandering using my mom's great sense of direction for about an hour, we finally got back, having quite a laugh about it. We were served a lovely English breakfast and ate with other couples staying there.
We got back into town in time to catch a 2-hour free walking tour. It was FANTASTIC--we learned a lot of trivia and history about the city, and our guide was ridiculously knowledgeable. Usually history bores me a little, and I find it hard to pay attention...but when the history of the things you're learning about is right in front of you, it's a whole different story. This bodes well for the rest of the trip, I think!
After that we went and had a cream tea at a shop on the famous Pulteney Bridge...mmmm.
We spent a little bit of time in a free art museum as well as laying on the grass in the sun before taking a short boat ride down the river. In the last 5 minutes of the ride, they take you right into the heart of the weir, making for some great pictures:
Next we went to explore the huge Abbey in the center of the city and listened to a choir sing the evensong. The acoustics were fantastic!! Then we had dinner at a pub near our B&B, which was good! I also tried a cider ale, which I didn't like very much, while my mom had some wine. Next time I'll just go with the house ale, because that's sure to be good. We walked to another pub close by after that and shared another glass of wine in a beautiful garden, joking that we were going on our own mini pub crawl :P
The next day we had another yummy brekkie, packed, and made our way to the University of Bath where we'd be staying that night in the dorms. Then we went back into town and after some asking around found we could rent bikes to ride along the canal. This was by far our favorite part of our time in Bath. We biked for a good hour and a half down the tranquil River Avon, whose banks are populated by narrow house boats, most of which were eccentrically decorated. We saw lots of people passing by on their own boats and kayaks and saw more of the breathtaking countryside. It was wonderful.
After that we had our first sit-down dinner at a restaurant and then went on a comedy walk called "Bizarre Bath". That was also extremely funny and very hilarious. Our "tour" guide was a great comedian that had us laughing every minute, and we walked around the city while he did various strange things and told us funny stories, cracking jokes all the way with dry British wit. At one point he chained up a stuffed rabbit, stuck it into a rucksack, and threw it into the river, telling us the rabbit was deft at escapology. Sure enough, a minute later the poor stuffed rabbit floated up to the surface!! We couldn't figure out how he did that one!
At a later point in the night, after more hilarity and some audience participation, he asked for a ring or piece of jewelry from someone in the audience. I offered up a ring I bought in Bath to put on my ring finger, which was feeling empty without Riley's ring on it (I left at home so I wouldn't lose it!) He tied it to one of two purple balloons he'd been carrying around all night while telling us "history" about the Roman baths in the city (it was supposed to be demonstrating how Romans picked up their belongings from the bottom of the baths, or something) and of course he let the balloon go. I'd been pretty much expecting this, but he acted very shocked and upset and cracked some jokes about it while I bantered back with him. A few minutes later, from around the corner came the very same stuffed rabbit that had been thrown in the river, dry and driving a little remote control car and carrying a parcel. What was in the parcel? My ring of course :) That was just one of the highlights of the evening, and I got it all on video! :D
Top recommendations in Bath:
* The free walking tour around the city
* Renting bikes or kayaks on the canal
* "Bizarre Bath" comedy walk
As far as culture shock goes, I haven't had much of it. Having a lot of knowledge of English culture, there wasn't much that surprised me or that was hard to understand (besides the crazy train system) and being here has quickly begun to feel like home to me. I'm quickly learning the #1 rule of England: be polite and don't make a fuss...not that hard to follow!
