Today was a long day. Again. I got up at 6:30am--actually I woke up at 6am and did not really get back to sleep before the alarm went off. (ugh.) Nicole and I (Anne didn't come 'cause she's sick) :( got to Paddington Station in time and our group caught the 9am train to Bath Spa. It was a pretty quick train ride--only an hour and a half. Once we got there we started seeing things right away. (We also started shivering right away because it was COLD.) Bath Abbey is very impressive and interesting to look at. Its inner design draws from nature, which is really cool. After that, and before we continued our tour, we all scattered to have lunch. I had packed a lunch, but I went with some other girls and sat for a bit. (Beth and I shared a hot chocolate with very tasty whipped cream. mmmmm.) Then we met with everyone to get back to touring. Our big group split into two smaller groups and I went with the one that visited the Roman Baths first. We had an audio tour. The place was SO interesting. There's so much history and clues left to what it would have been like to be there back then. I could see how it was thought to be a mystical place of healing--it looked magical. Oh! And one of the best parts was that... the SUN came out! Yay! It exists and it's warm! :) After we finished with that, Martin took us on a tour and explained the Georgian part of the town of Bath. We saw lots of very cool (and impressive) architectural accomplishments from the time period and Martin explained their significance as we went.
After that, the official part of the day was over (it was about 4pm by then) and we spent about an hour just walking around and viewing Bath's shops. At one point we heard an accordion player play (and sing) a Beatles' song--and this time I remember what it was! (Michelle) I was happy. :) Then Beth, Jessica, and I had a very nice (and relatively cheap!) dinner at The Huntsmen. (I had a hamburger with chips.) Then we got some ice cream and made our way back to the train station. It's a good thing Bath is so small, because it was dark and cold again by then and it would not have been nice to wander about for too long. I fell asleep for some of the ride back and I was very thankful that our tube ride home wasn't too long. (Although some guys speaking another language--maybe Russian?--took Nicole and my pictures on the tube. :P Nicole thought they might have been drunk.) Anyway, now I'm home and tired, so good night!
(P.S. Collapsible bicycles are very cool. And useful looking, too.)
This is a view of one of the Roman Baths (with the Abbey in the background).
This is me in awe of the Baths. (Can you see the steam rising from this one?)
So... did you take a bath?
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your adventures. It occurred to me that you are really capable (of course I knew that!). Think about it: you are in a new situation, taking classes, exploring, adjusting to a new culture (albeit, Anglo/Western), etc. That takes a very strong personality, adventurous spirit and a capable mind. Congratulations! I hope you pace yourself and can "recharge your batteries" on the weekend. I would not want you to get sick and have to miss your adventure story {:-)}.
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding so quickly to my request about the books you are reading. Cousin Brittany e-mailed me asking for some British author recommendations. Good timing, heh? In addition to the authors your are reading I recommended Koestler, Conrad, Greene, James, Shakespear (of course!), Wodehouse (does he count?), Stevenson and a few others.
Finally, my protective Grandfatherly self cringed a bit when you wrote about the possible drunk blokes (a bit of English there, heh) on the tube. Sigh!
Love ya, Poppy L
Those baths look so cool. They look green.
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