BATH

On this glorious Saturday morning, the last day of February, we headed off on a day trip to Bath! Jake, Kelley, & I hoped on a train at 9:30 this morning for the two hours train ride to Bath. Early but absolutely worth it. 

I'm all about the day trips lately. They're so easy by train here & the English countryside has amazing sights to behold. 

We started off the day with a yummy plate of garlic bread & another of pizza (not pictured... sorry!) But this made me think of Grandma's bread!! Looks yummy like my Lebanese pita. Spoiler - it was delicious! 

The restaurant even had a Hannah-sized door. 

The Stable - check it out if you're ever in Bath! They had delicious cider as well. 

The church where the first King of England was crowned! I'm a firm believer that once you see 1 or 2 churches in England, they're all pretty much the same... Not that I don't admire them, but I can live if I don't see a ton more this semester. I'll admit, it was pretty but not as great as Westminster or St. Paul's. 

Ahhhh then we ventured to the Roman Baths - aka the highlight of our trip.  We were so excited to go inside & really had no idea what to expect. It was sooooo worth it! Go, if you ever have the chance. 

They told us we were getting audio guides but they had visuals? I'm confused... The pictures on them were hysterical and I gave up using it about halfway through the tour. I'll just research all the history later on my own instead of holding a clunky, pre-historic cell phone looking device. 

First look at the Baths

Here you go - a bit of history. Because we've all learned how bad I am at recapping the history from our trips. 

The water didn't really look appealing for a bath but whatever floats your boat (that was a really great, unintended water joke)

Ahhh, great architecture and archways warm my heart 

There were sculptures of famous individuals all around the top of the baths, including many I had never heard of 

The hot spring! You can kind of see the steam rising from it

Another hot spring 

A steaming waterfall? Such an odd thing to see. 

Another glimpse

Kelley was super excited to be standing over the flowing spring water

Finally down to the first level with the baths

Me at the baths

Clearly afraid of falling in - it didn't look too clean & was a bit cold for a swim!

Such a gorgeous spot

Jake!

The ladies of the trip 

East baths were not as exciting

Flowing... orange water?

And lastly, a pretty tree

After about 8 hours spent in Bath, we headed home. We were well fed, happy, and talkative. Our crew had an absolute blast on this trip and have already determined we will be exploring more together. Our day was filled with cider, trains, pizza, burgers, gorgeous views, & laughter. All in all - a complete success! I would absolutely recommend this quaint city to anyone visiting England. Bath had all the charm you would expect in an English town but all of the delicious food you see here in London.

Bath, you'll forever have a piece of my heart. From your charming little river (not pictured) to your adorable little shops, you were exactly what I needed today. It was so nice to take a day away from the hustle & bustle of London to explore a quaint, gorgeous place. I am truly so blessed to be able to spend my weekends exploring places, such as this.

Hope you all had a great Saturday! (I know it's dinner time as this is being posted, so you still have a bit more of your day to go!)

Please feel free to leave comments & tell me what you would like to hear about in future posts!

Friday Photographs - Let's go exploring.

Friday has finally arrived! The day reserved for sleeping in (I was up yesterday at 6 for the sport conference - I deserved an extra few hours!) and exploring. And explore we did! 

We set off today with plans of adventuring to the Natural History Museum. I've heard rave reviews about it and figured it was time we check it out for ourselves, considering it is free and all! London, I love you for your plethora of free museums. It makes my broke college student heart happy. 

We got off at the South Kensington Tube station and exploring we went. Our stomachs began to rumble during the half an hour tube ride, considering it was around 12:30. So, we decided to stop for lunch at this darling little place, Love's Fresh Pasta & Pizza. All good adventures involve some sort of food, right? 

I'm a sucker for fresh herbs on the table. 

Look at that basil! 

Jake pondering all of the options. You order on Galaxy Tablets and then the food is brought to you. Customization at it's finest! After browsing, we both settled on pesto with chicken. Ahhh my favorite Italian dish. 

While we're on the topic of lunch, since when is orange Fanta yellow? I mean, it tastes DELICIOUS but the color really throws me off. 

Also, I'm a huge fan of free espresso after lunch. Just enough caffeine to get me through that horrible afternoon slump! 

Ah, beautiful. 

Off we went to the Natural History Museum. I pretty much felt like a Harry Potter superstar the entire time I was in this building. It was GORGEOUS. 

Ah so beautiful. 

Another picture of the beautiful design. Oh, and a dinosaur! 

Everyone loves a good dinosaur... right? 

Apparently, after some trees die they can form cool designs inside. That's my basic description as I can't really remember what is actually happening in this. I wish I remembered now... 

We obviously had to push ever. single. button inside the museum. Such an interactive place - perfect for the child inside me!

My hand is about the size of this dinosaur footprint! (Dinosaurs amaze me... can you tell?) Also, touching the objects on display is my favorite... So when you put dinosaurs and things you can touch together, you get happy Hannah. 

And apparently earthquake videos make for a focused Jake. He sat there for probably 10 minutes before getting up. Tsunamis for the win! 

I've only felt tiny earthquakes before. This earthquake simulator simulated the earthquake in Japan a few years ago. So cool! 

We got to ride an elevator through the earth. Random but pretty near regardless. 

Happy Hannah after a few hours spent in the museum! We didn't even finish all of us but wanted to do some exploring before the sun went down. 

Kensington, you're such a cute little residential/ museum area. I'm in love. 

Love my street vendors. & nuts with sugar. Yum! 

Apparently I have a thing for taking pictures of gates. Hello Kensington Gardens! Suppppperrrr beautiful to walk around! 

Memorial for Prince Albert. 

The shear height of the monument makes me look even smaller. 

For all you science readers... 

Here's Watt's statue. 

Just taking a walk on a gorgeous Spring (dare I say that word while you are all covered in snow?) day!

Honestly, this is the first reference to her that I have seen her. 

Jake & I took our time and enjoyed a stroll through the park. Complete with sitting here and just watching the birds. So peaceful.

Panorama

Saw another one of my palaces today. This is just my day home. 

Why so serious? But really, I find the way they phrase things here so endearing. 

One last view. Don't worry home, I'll be back. 

I hate window displays. They make me hungry & make me compulsively buy sweet desserts. Oh well. I haven't eaten my piece of cake yet but I can already tell it will be worth it. 

Seriously, cut down with the window displays. So tempting!

All in all, we had a gorgeous day here in London - much better weather than yours in the US, regardless of where you are! Tomorrow, we are off to Bath for more exploring. As the result of our super early train, tonight will be a Netflix and Kindle night... just the way I like it! 

Happy Friday all - it's the weekend again! I'll see you all in 10 weeks!