Bath & Stonehenge

Off on another adventure...this time within the UK. We have heard how beautiful and charming Bath is so we decided to take a weekend away before some more crazy travel from Jason.

Upon breaking the news to the kids, we got the typical response of "I don't want to go see some stupid rocks and water." Not even telling Kaitlyn that the rocks were 2000 years older than Jesus could elicit excitement. Griffen's interested piqued however when he shared with his class our plans. His teacher told him the Romans used to bath in Bath-and since Griffen thinks teachers walk on water-he was good to go.

So Saturday morning we set off to Bath-a more rainy part of England. We took the advice of our tour book and used the Park & Ride and took the bus in-free parking and free fare for the kids. This part of England also has a few hills-unlike Cambridge-so the bus ride in on the double decker was fun. We ate lunch and then headed for the Roman and Medieval Baths. Admission price included self-guided audioguides and even had special audio for the kids. Kaitlyn half-heartedly listened to a few while Griffen went thru and listened to every single number. Jillian got fed up after an hour and wanted her stroller back for a nap.

The water in the main bath is bright green because the pipes carrying the water to the pool are lead as well as the pool having lead sheets lining the bottom. It is amazing to see how all this water was brought from the hot springs and the original in/out paths of the water are still in working order.


The exit of the baths leads you right out to the Abbey, the last great medieval church of England, a mere 500 years old. As we entered the attendant told us an orchestra was rehearsing for a concert but we were still welcome to wander around. So we got the added bonus of enjoying the acoustics of a beautiful Gothic church. We even spied a WWII era American Flag given as a gift to the church. (Being over here, we miss seeing the stars and stripes)

After the Abbey, we went in search of Sally Lunn's Old English Tea House for a cream tea. Sally Lunn's is purportedly the oldest house in Bath (late 15c) and they still use the original bun recipe from 1680.

We are not huge fans of the typical English B&B-overpiced, run down and not very family friendly, so we opted for the Premier Travel Inn in nearby Bristol. Just your basic hotel with attached restaurant, but clean and suitable for families. I researched a bit before we left and found a cathedral in Bristol for Mass on Sunday. It was the first one built in England post Vatican II with the altar close to the people (very similar to St. Mary's in San Francisco). And with impeccable timing it literally rained buckets on us as we ran in.

After mass, we drove to Stonehenge. I'm not sure what I expected. You can see the stones from the road and they are quite impressive once you get as near as you can get to them. It is now a conservation area and they are roped off at quite a distance. Lucky for us however, it was a windy, rainy day and we got great shots with no people in them.


There were actually a lot of Americans there and Jason and I noted how happy they were. The rest of the tourists just grumbled around and we ran into some very rude French people, but the Americans were just clearly happy to be there. Maybe the long vacations and easy access to all of Europe has made Europeans inappreciative.