Bath Weekend

We just spent a lovely weekend in Bath (home of Jane Austen, Roman ruins, spa, etc.), so a good amount of awesomeness. It is about 90 minutes on the train from London.

The city of Bath, and my very handsome husband there on the right.

We stayed at the Bath Waterside, I put my review up at Tripadvisor.com - don't expect a discussion of water pressure in the shower in my review. Why is it that all Americans seem to care about on that website is the freaking water pressure. It makes me crazy (obviously) - but I digress. The hotel was right on the Avon Canal so that was cool, except for the fact that the balcony door was blocked so you couldn't get out there to check out the canal. WTF! I would totally go back to Bath just to bike ride along the canal bike path, assuming it wasn't raining (which is a BIG assumption here). Plus, check this out: there are all these locks on the canal and cool boats. It was fun to watch and lazily take pictures of their efforts.

Looks like fun until about the 8th lock then you just want to sit and enjoy your damn cocktail.

We also went to the Thermae Spa for an afternoon. That place is divine, I am totally going back. We spent 2 hours in the steam rooms and the various pools they have. The rooftop pool is pretty cool, you get a great view of the whole city from there. You might be wondering why Dave is smiling amongst all those robed white people. Well, the fire alarm went off when we were getting ready to go. I was just putting my clothes back on after spa-ing, when they started evacuating the place. We were so lucky in our timing, we were getting dressed to leave anyway! All those poor people had to jump out of the water and run out in front on the spa. They looked like they were FREEZING, and I hate being cold pretty much more than anything in the world. So I guess we dodged that one. In order to avoid any potential risk of coldness, we got a drink at a pub.

There were a few cool pubs that we found in Bath, I can't remember the names but then there are not that many non-cool pubs. We had a notable dinner at the Marlborough Tavern, definitely recommended!

Here are a few pub shots:

Look they have an Amie-sized beer for my small liver.

Look how happy drinking makes us.

I am totally enjoying my time here, as I assumed I would. I think I was meant to be European. Though had I been born here, I probably would want to live in America..... I love the lack of waste overall in everything from energy to packaging, the way people sit in pubs without TVs blaring and just hang out, the smaller houses, not needing a car, nice long maternity leaves, etc. I just think they know how to live well. I mean - look at this photo, it is the TRAVEL BOOKS section in a tiny bookstore in Bath. The Borders in downtown PA is five times the size of that store and has like two rows of travel books. I know, there is no such thing as a utopia - but for now I will remain jaded and happy in my new home.