Europe Adventure: Day Three- Bath, England part three- Bath and our hotel

After we left Sally Lunn's, we walked over to the River Avon to walk to Pulteney bridge. 

The scenery was just so pretty.

There it is!

If you have seen the film version of Les Miserables, you may remember this bridge and part of the River Avon from a very important Javert (Russell Crowe) scene.

At this point there were still so many things we wanted to see but we knew we needed to get going to our hotel to check in. We walked back over near the Abbey and began to look for a bus back to the car park. We couldn't find one. We walked around for SO long trying to find the bus. Finally we saw one that looked the same and asked the driver. He gave us directions to where we needed to get the bus going back to the car park. 

We finally found it and rode back to our car. 

I was so nervous to start driving it again. 

I decided that it would be a good idea to drive around the car park for awhile so I could get used to the brakes before getting out on the real road with other drivers. I was circling over and over again and it wasn't getting any better. 

Then my mom said, "Is there a reason you are using your left foot on the brake?"

WHAT!?!

I looked down and realized that I really had been using my left foot on the brake and my right foot on the gas.

I started driving the correct way and suddenly.... the brakes were totally normal. 

Oh my gosh. 

I put the car in park and we both just sat there laughing for a few minutes. It still makes me laugh when I think about it. 

I have no idea why I did that. Something in my brain must have malfunctioned as soon as I started driving on the right side of the car. Who knows. But yeah, that was hilarious. 

I was so happy to realize that my car was not going to be lurching to a stop the entire time and I got back out on those roads. 

I was really nervous as I drove around but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

We had really wanted to see the Crescent and the Circus but didn't have time... and then on our way to the hotel we just happened to end up in the Circus roundabout!

I told my mom to just start taking pictures with my phone as I drove around it.

When we got out on the smaller road taking us out of the city I was even more nervous. The roads here are SO small. Every time a car came at me from the opposite direction I was sure we were going to run into each other. Well, I had no idea what I was going to be facing later. These roads were huge compared to some that I would later drive. 

I wasn't sure about the speed limit either. I wasn't seeing any signs with it posted. I later looked it up and found the speeds for different kinds of roads (not that I always drove according to them as I will talk about later). 

Soon we were turning up a VERY steep hill. So glad I didn't have a stick shift. And then pulling into the driveway of our hotel for the night. 

This was the view. 

We stayed at the Best Western Limpley Stoke Hotel

It was a beautiful hotel in a beautiful setting. 

Soon after checking in it began to get dark outside. 

This was the view from our window...

I had to get a picture of Jennifer Rain on the window sill.

There was a cute cat on the ground below our window that I made the mistake of talking to. It kept returning to the space under our window all night meowing at me. We were on the top floor so it couldn't get to us but it sure wanted to. I even dreamed that it had somehow got up there and climbed in during the night. 

When we were ready for dinner we went down the restaurant at our hotel. 

My mom had soup again. I can't remember what kind but I think it was a potato vegetable. Mom, do you remember? She also had a sandwich with it. 

I ordered the BLT sandwich. It came with salad and chips (crisps) but I didn't know that so I ordered fries (chips) as well. 

I think my mom enjoyed hers. I can't remember. 

My sandwich and salad were great. I didn't like the chips much so I only ate a couple of those and then had a couple of the fries that were pretty basic.

After dinner we went outside to take a little walk around the place but ended up only staying out there for a few minutes. It was very cold and very dark. 

I got this picture looking into the dining room from outside.

Then we went back up to our room to get ready for bed. 

The room was pretty small but it was very comfortable. 

I only bought one souvenir in Bath. 

Abi loves chocolate coins so I thought it would be funny to bring her this one from the Roman Baths. It is real chocolate and looks like a Roman coin. It was bigger than my hand.

She was so excited!

Next up: Day Four, Stonehenge!

Europe Adventure: Day Three- Bath, England part two- Roman Baths and Sally Lunn

After visiting the Abbey we walked across the street to visit the Roman Baths.

First you go into the lobby to buy tickets. You have to look up. The ceiling is beautiful!

After getting tickets you can pick up a free audio guide and then you go out onto the terrace. 

The terrace looks down onto the Great Bath. 

There are a bunch of Victorian statues of different people going all around the terrace. The statues were carved in 1894 for the opening of the Roman Baths in 1897. 

There's the Abbey across the way!

From there we went into the building and explored some of the displays. They had a lot of models, artifacts, and ruins of the original Roman architecture. 

It was very cool. 

Then we went out to the Great Bath. 

Our shoes and the bath.

The Great Bath is a little over 5 feet deep and has steps leading down to it on all four sides. It is lined with 45 sheets of lead and filled with hot water. 

We were told that it used to be covered. 

The Roman Baths were in use for over four hundred years!

It was so cool to be here. When you have seen a place in pictures for so long it really does feel surreal to visit it in person!

We then went back in to see even more. 

Inside there were heating and sauna type rooms and this circular cold plunge bath. 

After seeing all of the tour we went to the Pump room to "take the water". 

But unfortunately there was no one in there doing it at that time. 

There was a water spout in the museum where you could taste it but since I thought we would be able to do it in the Pump room, we didn't do it at that point. 

So, we didn't get to taste the water. But that's okay. I've heard it is pretty horrible. 

The Pump Room was really pretty. 

After we left I got a few pictures of the outside. 

After we were done visiting the Baths, we walked to Sally Lunn's.
I was really hoping to be able to have lunch here on our visit.
It was a late lunch but we were able to!

Sally Lunn was a refugee from France that began working for a baker in Bath in 1680. She introduced the baker to the French brioche bread. The bread that she would make was served at the breakfasts and teas. They became so successful that the baker was able to upgrade the kitchen oven. It became the famous "bun" of Bath. 

In the 1930's the recipe was discovered in a secret cupboard over the fireplace. 

The kitchen is no longer in the basement but the old kitchen is a museum that you can enter for free if you eat there. 

The bun has now become the famous "Sally Lunn Bun". 

This building is also the oldest house in Bath, built in 1482. 

Sally lived there in 1680.

We both ordered the Split Pea Soup with the half bun. 

My mom had hot chocolate with it and I had water. 

Both the soup and the bun were delicious. 

It was a great, warming lunch and we were so glad we were able to eat there. 

We went down to the little museum kitchen after eating. 

It was small and interesting. 

Next up: The rest of our time in Bath

Europe Adventure: Day Three- Bath, England part one- Bath Abbey

After tripping over my luggage, we made it on to the train to Bath. 

 The seats were similar to an airplane but a little more comfortable. 

We sat toward the back of the train so we were close to our luggage. 

I realized on this trip I must be a pretty paranoid/ non trusting person. I hated having my luggage out of my sight on trains. 

We took a picture as we got going through the countryside.

It was so beautiful along the way and we were so excited to be seeing the English countryside for the first time!

A chalk horse!

We were a bit late getting into Bath as our train had to stop for a while because there had been a fatality somewhere along the route with another train. We never knew all of the details of that. Finally they re-routed us and took us into Bath a different way. 

When we got into the station we went around back to wait for Enterprise to pick us up. 

They were waiting for us when we were supposed to get there and so they had already left. 

It took about a half an hour to come get us this time since they were doing other things at this point. 

We went with Enterprise this entire trip because my brother in law works for them and we were able to use his discount. I would highly recommend them even without the discount because we always had nice cars and good service. It wasn't always easy to drop the cars off (as you will see later) but overall we had a really good experience with them. 

Here is my mom waiting for them to pick us up. That's the back of the train station in the background. 

The river was right by us and there were pretty paths all along next to it. So pretty!

The guy got there to pick us up and was driving the car that would soon be mine!

He was really friendly and fun to chat with. 

The entire crew at the Enterprise was helpful and nice and soon we were on our way in our car. 

We were given a Toyota Auris hybrid. Pictures to come later. 

As I began to drive it I wasn't as freaked out about being on the "wrong" side as I was by how sensitive the brakes were. Every time I would touch the brakes the car would lurch to a stop so fast we would about die. 

When I came to a light and this happened, the car behind us almost hit us and I received a well deserved beep from behind. 

This would later become one of the funniest and most embarrassing stories of the trip. 

More on that in a later post.

We drove to a nearby Park and Ride car park. 

I am so glad we did this so I didn't have to worry about parking in the middle of Bath. 

But, I wish we had paid more attention to where it dropped us off. 

Tip: When you ride the park and ride, make sure you ask the driver where to catch the bus going back!

We used a map that I had printed out and brought along with us to find the Bath Abbey. 

We were getting into Bath a little later in the afternoon than originally planned so we knew we wouldn't be able to see everything on our list and needed to prioritize. 

Our first priority was Bath Abbey.

As we walked up to the Abbey we were amazed at how much bigger it looked in person. 

This was our first European cathedral experience and it was mind blowing. 

Everything is so big. 

Then we walked in and were overwhelmed. 

We sat down on a pew and just stared around us for a few minutes. 

There was a dad with his child that sat down next to me while I was sitting there and I couldn't help eavesdropping as he said to his son, "The first thing you want to do when you come into a cathedral is sit down here and then..." he took hold of both sides of his head and moved it so he was looking up, "look up!"

He was so right. 

Looking up was breathtaking. 

I tried to take a little video inside because pictures just don't do it justice at all. 

However, the video doesn't really do it justice either. 

It was so beautiful in there. 

I had to get a picture of all of the markers on the floor as well. 

We walked around looking at everything, trying to take it all in. 

I thought the man below in black was the Reverend so I looked up their clergy on their website to remember his name. But I couldn't find him anywhere. So I am not quite sure what his role is there. 

But while we were there he was walking around and talking to everyone that was visiting. 

He was very funny and friendly. 

The details in the cathedrals are awesome. I loved looking at all of the carvings. 

It was so beautiful.
When we came out of the abbey we got a few more pictures of the outside.

To see my post on Scones and Crackers that details some of the history of the Abbey go here.

Next up: The Roman Baths