Days 9 to 12- Bath and many other day trips from there

We have spent the last four days in Bath with a lot of free time. It's been pretty chill so I'm going to post them all together.

Day 9

Monday morning we left our sketchy hotel and walked into the nearby town of Crickhowell to do some shopping. Up until this point, we haven't really stopped anywhere to get to see some local shops so it was fun to walk the one block of town and see what they had to offer.

In the afternoon we drove about 2 hours to Bath and checked into our hotel. After dropping our bags in the room, Salina and I walked around town for a few hours. Bath is a very walkable town because everything is mostly close together. It's also just pretty to walk through because the sun makes all the limestone building glow and there are buskers playing on almost every corner. It really gives you the feeling of being the main character in a movie.

We had dinner at a local place, it wasn't very memorable so I don't even remember the name of it. I got macaroni and cheese, everyone else got pizza. While we were sitting there a huge seagull landed on our table, stole Emily's garlic bread and flew away! We all just sat there in shock lol. I can confidently say I've never had that happen before.

Day 10

Tuesday morning we went on a walking tour of the city. We followed our tour guide Terry around the city for two hours as he shared the history of the city as well as some other cool facts. Did you know that Bath is a protected city so you cannot make any changes to the inside or outside of your home without permission. Also, every single building in bath is required to be built out of bath stone so that it all matches.

In the afternoon we went with Susanna to the Jane Austen Center where we got to meet Colonel Branden and he taught us about Austen's life and family. Then we went down into the exhibit where we met Elizabeth Bennett and played some dress up with Mr. Darcy. It was a very cool experience. Afterwards we went back to our hotel and worked on homework for a while before going to bed. I honestly don't think I ate dinner this day.

Day 11

Wednesday morning we went to Stourhead Home and Gardens. This is where the proposal scene from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie was filmed, so naturally we went to that pavilion first calling it "the proposal pavilion". I walked around the lake and sat on a bench to paint for a while and then made my way back to the bus. We only had a few hours there so I didn't make it up to see the house.

When we got back into town a group of us went to tour the Roman baths. It was SO COOL. They have built this structure around all of the ruins of the original building so that you can get an idea of how everything was laid out. Two of the larger pools are still there. You can't go in them (nor would you want to) because its totally green and not clean water at all but its beautiful to walk around. It is really cool to think that in the very place where I was standing, there were once Romans standing there too.

For dinner I went with our professor and a few others to the Lamb and the Lion. I had a chicken burger and an apple pear cider, both of which were very good. Then Amy and I stopped and a dessert place called Heavenly Desserts for brownies and gelato. It was exactly what I needed to help me get my homework turned in on time.

Day 12

This morning we took the bus to Stonehenge. It is one of those places that is cool because of the mystery behind why it was built. Otherwise "its just a pile of big rocks" as Chad (our profs husband) put it. I mean its cool, and I'm glad I saw it, but I wouldn't make another trip back. The coolest part about it is that some of the rocks (the bluestone) for it were brought down from the west side of Wales, almost 200 miles away. That's a long way to bring large rocks with no equipment or vehicles of any type. 😅

We got back in the afternoon and decided we wanted to try afternoon tea here but we didn't realize you have to reserve that a day in advance so we went to a pizza place and got desserts after instead. After dinner I've just been at the hotel working on homework and getting ready to watch Pride and Prejudice while I pack my things. We leave for London tomorrow, where we will finish out the last two days of our trip.

Tomorrow I am touring the house that was owned by Jane Austen's brother where she would have spent a lot of tine growing up. I'm very excited!