Return to Bath

Things are happening faster than I can write about them!!

Wednesday Kristie and I took a day trip to Bath. It was nice to get away for a little bit from the routine (or my non-routine it seems) of Oxford. When I went to Bath with mom and dad I thought it was the most beautiful little town. So I was definitely excited to go back, especially since Kristie hasn't been yet. We took the train from Oxford, and changed rails at Didcot Parkway.

I love the train stations here. Especially the ones in smaller towns like Bath. They are exactly what I imagined them to be like if I were reading a novel involving trains or something. Less intimidating and busy than a subway...and even styled a bit in the little details of the architecture...I suppose its a good thing I enjoy sitting outside by the tracks because Kristie and I managed to miss our train to Bath from Didcot. No, we didn't arrive late. In fact, we were about 5 minutes early. We sat on a bench, Kristie bought some skittles (which were really cold strangely and almost broke our teeth)...and we just hung out. A train came that was headed to Bristol, we watched the people get on and off...watched the little men blow their whistles and shut the doors...and realized about 5 or 10 minutes after it left that this was the train we were to be on. If I knew my English geography better I would have realized that Bristol is just beyond Bath..so Bath would be a stop on the way their...but instead we had to wait another hour for the next train to Bath.

No problem really, as Kristie and I just talked the time away, occasionally interrupted by a non-stopping train whizzing and creating the most painful screeching noise. But eventually our train did come...and less than an hour later we were in the beautiful little town of Bath.

Our first stop was a Sweet Shop that Kristie fell in love with. It was so tiny, but old fashioned just like it would have looked a hundred years ago I think. The candy was displayed in Jars all around the room that the lady would have to shake out on to a scale. It was priced by weight...there were all sorts of sweets hanging from the ceiling as well. While we were there, a couple of school boys came in wearing their uniforms and ready to spend whatever pence they had on candy braceletys and gummy things...I, as a tourist, look at this daily visit as such a novelty. It was just really cool.

We basically just walked to where ever we could...making our way to the Royal Crescent...watching people lay around on the grass in the parks...We saw the greatest tree and stopped for pictures before heading to a bird aviary and then the botanical gardens where Kristie was followed around by a little old man walking his dog. The gardens just smelled of spring, and the roses there smelled exactly like what you would bottle up as "Rose" perfume rather than some cold refrigerator in Kroger. I just love the smell of roses.

We picked up dinner (sandwiches) at the grocery store and went for a walk along the river to eat them. Then we went to the Pump Room, which is right next to the Roman Baths for afternoon tea and scones. Eating in the Pump Room tops my list of favorite experiences of England. It was very proper...accompanied by classical piano ! It was just a beautiful room with the most delicious cream and scones- It was nice to spend some time with Kristie as well, and talk a bit about our Oxford experience and some of our expectations of returning home. It will be interesting to see certain changes in our lives that stick and some that we will lose rather quickly. I won't go in to those now...maybe another time.