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After our visit to London (see previous post), we decided to hop on a coach and head west to the city of Bath. On the way, Robin and I caught our first glimps of the English countryside. That first real slate-cottage thrill!

Bath is grand, and layered with Roman history, yet charming and serene at the same time. It is a gateway to the English countryside, and when you gaze out to the little houses spilling across the hills, you can just begin to see the overlap of the Cotswolds. The Georgian style buldings that can be seen everywhere in Bath were once stained black from coal fires. In recent years the buildings have been cleaned to reveal that milky stone that Bath was famous for.  The Roman baths, though no longer in use are an important part of a visit to the city. The museum has done a wonderful job preserving ancient crumbling rooms below ground level, and you can wonder amongst them, a catching a glimpse of the hot springs gushing along as abundant as ever. In the shopping areas of Bath, you can find oodles of fudgeries, Cornish pasty shops, and corner cafes, trinket shops and English souvenirs a plenty. Bath is a great place to stay especially if your planning on some day-trips to Stonehenge, and the village of Lacock (which we will post about soon).

Full Gallery: City of Bath (46 photos)

A few highlights:

We did have a fun adventure one evening, we had been given a tip that inexpensive and tasty dinners were to be found in many local pubs. So, Robin and I wandered until we found one with a couple of available chairs, and sat down. We both had a beautiful roast chicken dinner, Robin had some ale, and I had a Blackthorn Cider. Before long Robin said, “I don’t want to alarm you, but did you realize you are the only girl in this whole place?” Yes, indeed I had noticed that all around me men were glued to the “Football” game. Well, when our dinners were done, a friendly inebriated young man came up to us, said that he was hungry, and then asked if he could have a go at our leftovers (of which there were none- just the bones really.) It took a moment before we realized that this poor soul wasn’t joking, and then he turned around apparently too embarrassed to speak to us any longer. We did feel a little bad, but the man could have bought food instead of booze. Well, there is no shortage of adventures to be had in English pubs, and neither is there any shortage of chips.

Full Gallery: City of Bath (46 photos)

We would love to hear your comments,

Liz