Bath

On Sunday, S and I (and baby D) had a day out in Bath being tourists. We caught the train in, having been advised not to drive in the city (and when I saw the cobbled, narrow, twisty lanes, I was glad we had!).

The day was warm and sunny and the sky was blue and perfect - clearly trying to make it up to me for being so mediocre at Stourhead! We had planned to get on a sightseeing bus, but unfortunately as we exited the train station, we fell into the clutches of a terrible shop called Hotel Chocolat. After a few blissful minutes filling our arms with chocolate, we tacitly agreed to skip the bus, spend our bus money on chocolate, and just walk around Bath instead.

Highlights of Bath included the Roman Baths (unbelievably crowded, though it was pointed out to me later that schools had just broken up here, so it was the first weekend of the holidays; however, I gather that Bath is generally always pretty busy), the lovely Abbey whose organist appeared to be auditioning for the Phantom of the Opera (lots of loud crashy chords), the Royal Crescent (try as I may, my camera could not quite get it all into one shot), and of course, Hotel Chocolat, whose Sticky Toffee Pudding chocolates I highly recommend.

We sat in the park by the Royal Crescent and listened to the Bath Community Big Band for a bit, which was a lovely summery Sunday afternoon thing to do; and I reflected that these weeks in March/April in the UK have been the most summer I have had this year. Which is very sad.

There were a number of buskers out and about, and I discovered that my sister S finds Living Statues creepy and pointless. She was disproportionately pleased when we discovered one, off duty, wandering along the street, who suddenly paused and began rifling through a skip. It must have a been a slow day for tips!

Home we went to S's inlaws, to the most amazing roast meal and fantastic roast potatoes. Coming on top of the Hotel Chocolat blow-out, it's probably just as well we walked everywhere in Bath....