Bath, England

So Viv and I took our first weekend trip away, to Bath, England. Its a unique, old city with buildings made from the local limestone quarry. Its known for its hot spring, which the Romans created into bath spas. There is a splendid Abbey in the center of the city's courtyard and the city had unique Georgian stone crescents. The city is set about 100 miles west of London, in the Somerset countryside.

We took the train to Bath, it took about 1 1/2 hours to get there and upon arriving to the city, we walked to our hotel. We stayed at a cute English style hotel, you know the type..creeky uneven floors, ceilings so low you couldn't wear 2" heels, doors that you had to duck through, bathrooms with faucets that you didn't know how to use, and of course showers that were dark, had lousy water pressure, and made you hit your head if you stood up straight while washing yourself...like I said, a cute English hotel.We were really lucky about our hotels location, basically right in the middle of the tinny town. After dropping off our suitcases and hitting our heads on the ceiling, we walked around the town, in search of a bite to eat. We went straight for 'The Circus.'

The Circus is basically a street in Bath, a round street, with huge trees in the center of it. It is the masterpiece of John Wood 'the elder'. It has striking architecture and although nobody knows why johnny boy designed it this way, its lovely to walk through. So lovely, that Nicolas Cage bought a home on the street...and he paid 4 million pounds a few years ago, so if you do the math, a few years ago, Nic paid 8 million US bucks for his Circus! I wanted to knock on his door, but knew he was away filming in Singapore, thanks USWeekly. So Viv and I decided to have a drink and some marinated olives around the corner from Nic's cheep pad.

After drinks and olives, we headed out to dinner, umbrella open because of the nasty drizzle that never wanted to go away for more then 30minutes, and after a day of travel, olives and curry, we called it a night.

Saturday the sun was shinny and the clouds were white, not gray with rain, thats rare in England. First thing on our list, Starbucks....second thing on our list, the Roman Baths. Just a few streets away from our cute English hotel, the Roman baths were full with tourist. They are England's only hot spring, and the Romans built a magnificent temple and bathing complex that still flows with natural hot water. Its amazing as you walk though this place, just to think that the Romans walked were I was walking, on these ancient stone pavements. The spring, the temple the entire bath is beautifully preserved and the museum does a terrific job interpretating the ruins that aren't all intact. You felt like you could really see how they used this place, how they bathed and used the waters to heal ailments. The tour was great and afterward, we decided to be 'those people', the peeps who go on those double-decker buses and have the nerdy headsets on while the tour guide tells us to look left, then right.

The bus really was a good idea, Viv's idea of course. We really got a feel for the town and learned all kinds of fun facts, aka Nic Cage. We saw Jane Austins place, saw were the Vikings put up walls, saw the lady's house who wrote Frankenstein, learned how Queen Victoria used to visit the baths because it made her skin feel better (she had psoriasis and she only bathed 4 times a year, gross, maybe that's why she has psoriasis?!) we saw Solsbury Hill, aka Peter Gabriel's hit song by that title (he grew up a town away) and crossed 1 of only 3 bridges in the world that has shops on both sides of it (the other two are in Italy; Florence, Venice) After our brains were full of Bath knowledge, we needed a snack, so we headed back to the cute English hotel and had afternoon tea.

Well, I don't really recall much after that...you see I got bloody sick! While Viv and I munched on scones, I felt dizzy and nauseous, so I went back to the room and preceded to be sick the entire night. Poor Viv, he had to be on his own the rest of the day, doing a little more sightseeing on his own, then dinner by himself...I would have much rather been with him, then on the bathroom floor of the cute English hotel.

By the Morning, I was fine. Sunday morning we woke up extra early, due to the fact we had both been in bed by 9pm Saturday night. We woke up to find the entire town still asleep. The local Starbucks wasn't even open yet. Viv and I took advantage of being one of the few people up and got some amazing pictures of the Abbey in the center of town without any tourist in the frame. Then we took a walk up to the 'The Royal Crescent'

The Royal Crescent is one of the worlds best known landmarks. Built between 1767 and 1775 and designed by John Wood, 'the younger'. The crescent contains some 30 houses, one is now the most exclusive hotel in Bath, The Royal Crescent Hotel. We will stay there when we win the lottery. We did get a chance to walk through the lobby of the hotel and into the garden...holy nice-ness..I now understand, just by the courtyard garden why the cheapest room at this joint starts at 400.00 pounds, that's almost $800 US bucks!

After the big Crescent adventure, Viv and I had basically seen the entire town and done all the tourist things. We finished up with lunch at Jamie Olivers, who is one of my mothers favorite celeb chefs, so I made it a point to go to his restaurant. I had delish porage, aka, oat meal topped with honey and nuts. Viv had a typical English breakfast, cold beans, fatty bacon/ham, tomatoes and eggs, a real mans meal. Before we knew it we were back on the train headed home.

If anyone has the chance to visit London, I highly recommend a trip to Bath. Just a short train ride away, its a world away from the hassle and bussel of city life. Its a beautiful and unforgettable place to visit.

Now, next stop.... Dublin!

Pictures left to right:

Part of "The Circus" Nic's pad is in this strip.

Bath in all its Glory. Thats the bridge with shops on both side of the street; 1 of 3 in the world.

The Royal Cresecent. The uber exclusive ritzy hotel is in the dead center.

Me at the Roman Baths with the citys Abby in the background.

Viv at the Roman Bath's, notice how lovely the water looked...makes me want to jump in!