Hi everyone!
As most of you probably know, Chris and I are into week four of our seven week adventure, so I thought it was time for an update. Before we left London, Chris was in Ontario for a three week visit and my dad came to London. We had lots of adventures together while he was in England, including a trip to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford.
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge
Oxford
Tower Bridge going up
Tower of London
Greenwich
We toured the Cutty Sark at Greenwich, a former merchant ship that primarily brought tea to England from India and China
St Paul’s Cathedral from Millennium Bridge
Dr. Who currency at the British Museum. (This one’s for Paola.)
The Hardy Tree, in St. Pancras cemetery. Thomas Hardy, the novelist, was working laying railway track. Part of his job was to relocated headstones. He planted a tree and heaped the headstones around it, and now the tree and stones have grown together.
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Chris had a great time in Canada, seeing family and friends and attending weddings. On the 24th of September, we vacated our flat and started our adventure. Although one might say our adventure started on the 23rd, when our Interrail passes delivery failed to show up. Long story short, i no longer recommend DHL and we had to get up extra early to make the hour-long trip with all our luggage to the DHL depot in the middle of nowhere, London. After DHL we headed to Paddington station to catch our train to Bath.
The day we arrived in Bath, we didn’t do much. We had lunch and then checked into our lovely BnB. We had a nap and then went to a restaurant called The Boater for a great dinner. A quick walk around near the restaurant and we headed back to the BnB.
Our second day, we did a two hour walking tour, then had lunch at a place that came highly recommended, called Thai Balcony (it was a Thai restaurant…with balconies). After lunch we took a boat trip down the river Avon to Bathampton and back. A quick walk around one of Bath’s stunning parks and it was back to the BnB for the night.
Day three we had arranged a package deal to see the Roman baths, two hours at a spa, and afternoon tea at the fancy shmancy Pump Room restaurant. The Roman baths were really cool, and our two hours at the spa were excellent. We got to enjoy a rooftop pool with views over the city, five aromatherapy saunas, and an indoor whirlpool. All of the pools were filled with hot spring water. Tea consisted of champagne, tea, salmon finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and like eight different desserts. It was incredible, and the interior was a gold ball room. It was really cool.
But then we had to head to the train station to catch our train to Swansea, where we had our first train troubles: We had tickets for 5:45 pm, but we thought it was 5:45 pm from Bath. Turned out it was 5:45 from Bristol, and we had to get from Bath to Bristol. Needless to say we missed our train in Bristol (but only by minutes!). Luckily the next train going to Swansea was only about 20 minutes later and the nice train manager let us get on in with no problems. We arrived in Swansea to a delicious home-cooked meal by Chris’ family friend Lucy, and I got to meet her wonderful husband and daughters.
Here are some pictures from Bath:
Our first train, from London Paddington to Bath Spa
The Avon, after dinner our first night
One of three Roman baths, all connected by a colonnade
Part of the wall the Romans built around the city – most of it’s gone now
A hanging toilet – when toilets first hit the scene, they were added onto the backs of houses like this
The Royal Crescent, 30 attached Georgian homes that have been left largely untouched. Click the picture for more info on The Royal Crescent
The Circus, a circle of Georgian homes, again largely untouched. Click the photo for more info
Where Admiral Phillip, essentially the founder of Australia (New South Wales), lived and died
Bathampton
The Roman Baths
So as I said, our first night in Swansea started off excellently with fantastic food and company. The next day (Saturday) Lucy, her husband Nigel, and her daughters Phoebe and Zoe, and Phoebe’s boyfriend Tom, went to a Welsh market and then to Aberdulais Falls. Aberdulais Falls is the site of an old tin mill that’s in the process of being preserved by the National Trust. It’s a gorgeous piece of history tucked into nature.
On Sunday Lucy, Nigel, Zoe, Chris and I went to Rhossili Bay, a beach on the Welsh coast about an hour from Swansea. I seem to have some great love for oceans and mountains (probably for obvious reasons – like they’re lacking in my neck of the woods, my part of Canada). It was so beautiful and relaxing, I’m so glad we got to go there. We were there at low tide and the patterns left in the sand by the water going out were gorgeous. Chris and Zoe flew kites. There’s also a rock formation called the Worm’s Head, you can go out to the end of the formation during low tide, but if you stay too long you can get stranded when the tide comes back in.
Aberdulais Falls (click the last photo for more info)
Rhossili Bay
While that’s only the first two places were visited, I’m going to leave it there for now. Since the airline lost our luggage on our most recent journey I had some time to start this post, but luggage has been found and it’s time for new adventures. Next time: our 15 hour journey from Swansea to Berlin, which did not go off without a hitch.
Love Meg
P.S. For those who don’t already know, we’ll be back in Canada on the 14th of November!
P.P.S.: We’re having a great time, we’ve had awesome weather and a whole lot of fun.
Bags of Milk 