Day 8: Roman Baths & Other Ancient Marvels

To Bath we go! The City of Bath is VERY cool and I would LOVE to live there...right NEXT to Johnny Depp. Here is Lyle showing off all the Jane Austen stuff we saw. That's for you Lorna! He knows you love it. We didn't go on the Jane Austen tour, but we did see her house that she lived in (25 Gay street) and we did stop at the bookshop to see if there was any cool stuff. That basement staircase is where her servants would enter (separate than where the owners would enter).Again, my obsession with lanterns and lights. At least I know mom would appreciate these little ornamental things I love. That top left picture is of a ton of "flats" right next to one another. People live in these townhouse type homes AND Johnny Depp does own one as well. The view from these is pretty serene and although ordinary, each home is beautiful as well. We saw a door open on one of them and tried to take a peek as we walked by. Expensive art and furniture occupy each home I'm sure.
Ha...the sign above...just for you Lyle.

Our next destination was the Roman Baths. We took this audio tour and it was very interesting. I'm glad we did because I LOVE Roman history. Hello, Gladiator is my favorite movie of all time (next to Beauty & the Beast and Mary Poppins of course).

Below is a statue of Julius Cesar. Lyle looked up his skirt, so I made me kiss me after that. Ok, NO MORE kissing pictures ever, I promise.

Ew! Lyle and I tasted the "famous spa water" from the Roman Baths. It was warm and minerally and OBSCENELY DISGUSTING. Lyle drank the entire glass and I could BARELY swallow my tiny sip. I do NOT recommend this. The cathedral is shown here behind the museum.
Above left is the original oldest piece from the Roman Baths Ruins. Here I am also pretending to be in a modeling shoot at the Roman Baths. I forgot my bikini...oops. Oh, and I was showing off my prosthetic leg as well.

Again, here is the cathedral. Can't remember the name. To the right is the oldest house in Bath. It is now turned into a museum/shop. Below is where we ate our packed lunch that day. Don't worry, I made sure we got a little dessert after lunch...GELATO (i love this stuff...maybe I should actually go to italy where it's from). I ordered TRIFLE flavor (friends funny). I don't think I will ever taste something so delicious ever again because it was trifle flavor...there's no such flavor in the states as far as I'm aware. If not...EDUCATE me please!
Below is a cute green area...picnic type area I guess. There were blue and white striped lawn chairs to sit in (I'm sure at no cost) and to enjoy the area. SO SO SO fairytale like. I plan to have some of those in my garden someday. The pictures to the right were of a teapot shop we passed in a "bizarre" we walked through. This is for you Ashley! I wished I could have brought you home one but they were a LITTLE pricey.

The pictures to the left above were of a river running next to Bath. These little boats were in the river that you could rent and ride for a day. They were SO SO SO darling. They looked fake and only for looks, but not so. In fact, we bought a little model of one for our home as our one souvenir of the trip. I am so mad I didn't get a picture of them, but if you want to see what they looked like then I guess you'll have to follow us to New York to see it yourself in our apartment!
The final landmark was a wonder of the world. Stonehenge was pretty amazing. We didn't pay to go in the fence, but that was okay with me because the rope that they keep you behind is pretty close to the fence anyway so no skin off my nose. It evolved between 3,000 & 1,600 B.C.
The top right photo is of ancient burial mounds. They were off in the distance. I guess many many people are buried there thousands of years ago. You know how there are postcards of stonehenge? Well you see the postcard, you see the henge. I am glad I went and was there, but you can't get up close, you can't touch it. It was pretty cool to see it, but I honestly think it's cooler to be driving along the road and then BAM, you see Stonehenge in the distance. THAT is pretty cool.

Well we ended our trip with Fish N Chips from a market in Twyford. We brought it home and chowed down. They don't come wrapped in newspaper anymore because of some scare they got a few years ago about the ink getting in the fish. Now they come wrapped in white paper. Lyle really liked it...it was pretty good to me, but I'm not too into fried food at all in general.

All in all, we had a BRILLIANT time in London. We had a marvelous host and hostess. We enjoyed the countryside, local suburbia, and the foggy streets of London town. We took too many pictures and we ate yummy treats (even brought some home with us). We enjoyed NOT WORKING, but next vacation we think we will try to "relax" a little more IN THE SUN versus rainy and overcast weather. We DID have a day or two of good weather though! We enjoyed learning new phrases and words. The British really do have an entirely different language than us besides the difference in accents (they have MANY of those too). Lyle improved his Beatles Liverpool accent also (he will imitate on demand if you like). Next time we go to England (20 years or so from now) we are DEFINITELY hitting Liverpool (Beatlemania), Wimbledon (hopefully catch a match), Hyde Park, and Warick Castle. We will never forget this trip nor our first anniversary gift together. Thanks Kurt & Kathi for all you did for us...it was too much!

Back to life...across the pond.