While Jean and Jeff Stover were over we took a day trip to Bath, here's what we saw.
Our first stop was the gift shop outside the Bath Abbey to get free Wifi, a geocache, and a map to figure out what we would do for the day. Our second stop of the day was literally just around the corner.
Bath, as you may not have know, does have a large bath in the middle of town. It is the only area with hot springs in the UK. There are a few other geothermal springs, but the water comes out warm, not hot like at Bath. The Romans decided to build a large Bath and temple at the site and thus the town gained importance. The bath house and temple were buried under layers of silt and other buildings. The temple was re-discovered around 200 years ago and the complex now sees over 1 million visitors a year. The water is not safe to swim in or drink and is green because of algae that grows because the bath is open to the air.
They have, however, drilled new holes into the spring that allow for safe water to rise up and they offer it to drink for visitors. The mineral content of the water is around 3,000 ppm (average bottled water has between 300 and 500ppm).
For lunch we stopped at The Circus restaurant, ranked #4 in the UK list of 20 Secret Restaurants Foodies Love.
The royal crescent was an architectural wonder when it was built over 300 years ago. You may not be able to see it, but the building stretches on and on, forming an arc equivalent to a half a circle.
Before dinner we decided to walk to the river and see what there was to see. This bridge was interesting because there are small little shops along it that people sell their goods. One store was a coin store selling lots of old Roman coins.
The falls are interesting as they have obviously been man made. We enjoyed watching the birds slip off and fly back to their spot. We also saw they gave boat tours but no time for that, we had a hill to hike!
Some silly Stover had it in her mind that we should go visit another restaurant just outside of Bath and when we asked directions, we were informed it would be about a 10 minute walk from where we were. We decided to check out the city center some more before heading up the hill. Turns out the hill was quite large and we were too late to take a bus. We ended up walking about 45 minutes, getting lost, and backtracking before finally arriving at the Hare and Hounds (see below). Their boast was the view (see above). The food was nice as well and we were just ready to relax after an exhilarating hike.
After dinner we took a taxi back to the train station, boarded our train, and head back to London.
Our next few blog posts will include updates on school, hikes and day outings in London, and our upcoming trip to the Thirsty Meeple, a board game pub in Oxford.
Enjoy your summer and come back soon!
Brandon (& Emily)
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