A trip to Bath....

After we had gotten over our jetlag somewhat, we decided to spend a day in Bath, 15 minutes from Bristol. We were expecting a very small country town and were very surprised when we arrived. It looked exactly as it would have done in Jane Austens' day (Bath and surrounds is where Austen based many of her books). The only differences were cars instead of carriages and the clothes being sold in the stores.

We spent a few hours just wandering around, going in and out of stores (including Gieves & Hawkes - in hindsight maybe we should have avoided that particular store ;-) ). After having lunch in a bar that served Bundy Rum, we visited the Assembly Rooms & the Fashion Museum, which had an incredible collection of clothes, some of which were hundreds of years old. Queen Victorias black dress was one of the highlights of the dresses on display. Finally, we worked our way up to The Circus & then the Botanical Gardens which were absolutely magnificent.

While in Bath a second time, we visited the Thermae Spa (www.thermaebathspa.com) It consisted of four levels of luxury. A rooftop spa with natural spring water heated to 45 degrees, which looked out over the rooftops & rolling hills of Bath was the first stop, followed by a steam room with 5 separate sections, each with its own essential oils filling the air. Of course we chose the Eucalyptus room. Then, after a quick afternoon snack (still in our swimmers & bathrobes) we headed down to the lower pool which had currents that gently moved you around while you floated away. It was incredibly relaxing, as you can imagine.

As it was getting late, we decided to head home. It took us 15 minutes on the motorway to get there in the morning but our GPS was a little bit special and decided that it would be better if we took the scenic route - nearly an hour in all. If we didn't need to get home to go out for dinner, it would have been lovely - we certainly saw a lot of the countryside due to that lost little GPS.....

Again look to Flickr for Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67250933@N08/sets/72157627601796148/