In August, I took my first trip overseas to England! We took an overnight flight (my first red eye) and arrived in London (Heathrow) late morning. I hardly slept on the plane, so I almost dozed off as we took the Great Western Railway to Bath.
In an effort to save money, we decided to walk from the train station in Bath to our AirBnB, which, after lugging our suitcases across the cobblestone city, we realized was located at the top a very large hill. It provided impressive views overlooking the city, but also a fun challenge to reach our flat.
Said flat was on the third floor of the building, and it was actually not “flat,” but instead a two-story apartment. But after several flights of stairs, we finally made it to what would our home for the next several days.
After settling into our AirBnb, we desperately wanted to sleep, but fought off the jet-lag for a couple more hours and walked to a nearby restaurant, Bill’s, for dinner. I ordered the burger they had on special that night, which was topped with mac and cheese! It was delicious and tasted refreshingly familiar on my first night abroad. I was also very impressed, when I mentioned my allergy to buckwheat, how diligent they were about ensuring my meal was safe and allergen-free. I would soon realize that this was a common trend across the whole city and even country.
After dinner, we went back to our AirBnB and crashed in our beds. In the morning, we walked to the Thermae Bath Spa to continue our relaxation and rejuvenation after our long journey. The main spa has two geothermic pools, which use the same naturally heated water as the Roman Baths across the street. One of the pools is on the rooftop, with views overlooking the city. The spa has a strict no-devices policy, so I wasn’t able to take photos during our time, but I snapped a couple outside and on my way out. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend that everyone spends a few hours in a local spa after any long flight.
After two hours of soaking in the pools and sitting in the steam rooms, we showered off and headed back out into the city in search of lunch. We walked past All Bar One and saw that they had a lunch special – a sandwich and glass of wine for only 9 pounds! We couldn’t pass it up. I enjoyed a ham and cheese toastie (such a cute name!) and a glass of rosé. And again, the staff was exceedingly accommodating with my allergy, spending several minutes checking ingredients lists to ensure that the bread was safe for me to eat. I was loving this place already.
After lunch, we walked back to the Roman Baths and took the official tour. There was so much history to learn about and of course, so many photo ops. It was interesting to learn about the varying purposes of different pools, some warm and some cold, and the healing properties of the water as it contains over 40 minerals. It’s also kind of crazy to think that the baths were used for public bathing. Men and women weren’t always permitted to bathe together, but they didn’t use bathing suits back then, and many of the bathers’ clothes was taken by thieves! Can you imagine?
We did a little shopping at the Roman Baths’ gift shop and a local market and then walked across the river to the Holbourne Museum and visited a few more shops. By this point, I was well over my step goal for the day and was feeling tired so we went back to our flat for a little downtime and a siesta.
A little before 8pm, we ventured back out for dinner at Turtle Bay, where I ordered a West Indian curry. I’d never had anything quite like it, but it was spicy and delicious.
After dinner, we spent the night in, playing a Jane Austen card game and practicing our (terrible) English accents.
The next morning, we went to brunch at The Ivy. I had a peach & elderflower iced tea, buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, lemon balm and a side of streaky bacon (I think they specify the “streaky” bacon to differentiate from ham/Canadian bacon?). The food was incredible and there were so many photo ops – even the bathroom was immaculate!
We did a little more shopping after brunch and then I went back to the AirBnB to unhurriedly do my hair and makeup for afternoon tea, while my friends went to the Fashion Museum and the Jane Austen Centre. (I can quickly get burned out on museums, so I didn’t mind having a bit of relaxing time to myself in the flat.)
When I was ready, we met up at the Circus (a ring of historic townhouses), and then walked to Sweet Little Things together for afternoon tea. We got the locations mixed up and the shop we went to wasn’t serving afternoon tea (the all-inclusive version with a tower of pastries and finger sandwiches), but we had a lovely experience all the same. My chai tea latte was gorgeous – I think it looked better than it tasted! From what I remember the chai tea there was less spiced and more milky than what I was used to in the US. No complaints though.
After we finished our tea, we walked to the other side of Bath that we hadn’t yet explored since arriving. We stumbled upon the Abbey Deli, which was the set of the Modiste in Bridgerton! We visited a handful of other shops as we walked to a bookstore, where I browsed books in the basement, while my friends looked at several old, historic prints.
Then we headed to the Bath Abbey for a quick self-guided tour before they closed for the evening prayer service. On the way, we were getting a bit hungry and made a quick stop for Cornish pasties. People say British food isn’t that good, but I enjoyed the pasty (and everything else I had tried so far)!
For our last dinner in Bath, we ate at Bosco Pizzeria and it was nice enough to sit outside on the patio. I ordered the simple, yet delicious Bosco pizza (essentially a Margherita). I remember I was thinking a lot about Scott during dinner as this day was our 4-year wedding anniversary and he was back home in Wisconsin.
It was also at this dinner that we were first charged for still water. We had heard that you had to pay for water in Europe, but up to this point, had only been charged for it when we ordered sparkling water. We realized the distinction you have to make is to specifically ask for tap water. If you say “still,” they will bring you a bottle of still water for the table. From then on, whoever made the mistake of forgetting to specify “tap” had to buy the water for the table. That night, I believe it was me.
The next morning, we got up a little early, I ate my leftover curry, and we did some last minute shopping at Rossiters and Persephone Books. Then we packed up our suitcases, checked out of our AirBnB, dragged our luggage back down the hill and across the city, caught a train to London Paddington, and began the next leg of our journey.
Exploren with Lauren 