Aishwarya & I took a much needed short vacation the last weekend. Took the friday off, caught a train early morning, our early morning – 10:00 am from Paddington to Bath Spa. This time Aishwarya planned everything so I was just there without any plans along for the ride. It was a nice, relaxing, planning-free vacation for me.
We reached Bath at 12:30, just 2.5 hours away from London, definitely making it a strong day-trip contender for one of our day offs. The train route is pretty scenic like all national rail journeys from London. Fields filled with sheeps and horses on the way, tracks sidelined with wild-flowers and sprinkles of small towns in between. This time we pre-booked the train seats as well, so both of us had window-seats for the whole journey. We were greeted with a beautiful city arranged neatly on an upwards slope as we got down from the train. We went to brunch right after that to Cosy Club, a nice cozy restaurant a short walk away from the station. A couple of cocktails, a sandwich and a burger later we were on with the first part of the trip – Prior Park Landscape Garden.
We just had our backpacks with us so we decided to carry them with us and walk to Prior Park. We met an old lady on our way there that warned us of the uphill climb, and she was spot-on. But we forgot about the climb once we reached there. The park was at the peak of Autumn, with a pond in the centre, the Palladian Bridge on the pond and a really old beautiful College building on one side of the park. The header image of this post is that of Palladian Bridge and the College building behind it. There are also a bunch of small cottages and tiny stone structures throughout the trek. But the highlight of the trek were 2 ducks that followed us and rubbed against us as if they were cats. They even followed us once we crossed the path and started towards the bridge, they swam for a bit and waddled the steep climb from the pond to reach us. It was funny and adorable, and made us miss our cat Holly, who stayed back in London.
After completing the main circular trek around the bridge, we went to the in-park cafe to get a cup of coffee. Saw a little robin perched on the fence around the cafe. Then towards the exit - the one towards the Bath Skyline. Since it was getting a bit dark we got straight to the bus station using a shortcut which was a muddy road surrounded by trees and streams, felt like a short adventure.
Aishwarya sketched the house with the Ralph Allen Drive sign on it while we waited for the bus to city centre. We bought a couple of supplies - milk for tea, some sweets and a map of the city once we reached the city centre. Then we were off to our AirBnB, another uphill walk, which was totally worth it, cause we were staying in this victorian house on the third floor that looked over the city. Aishwarya made tea, we sipped it watching our first sunset in Bath from the three windows that allowed us to take it all in, rested for a while and then off to dinner at Pintxo de Bath, a good Spanish place where we had some good wine, cheese, patatas bravas, crab croquettes, and chicken wings. We walked to our AirBnb much relaxed, and ready to call it a day. To my surprise we were able to get back without using a map.
After a good nights sleep (although the Victorian house was creaking throughout the night), we were off to an early start. We had Roman Baths and Abbey planned for the morning. First we had breakfast at The Green Bird Cafe and then a short walk to the Roman Baths. The statues of the Roman Emperors surrounding the Baths with the Abbey in the background make for a very paintable view. The hot waters of the bath take up a warm teal colour reflecting the architecture around it, making it look all too beautiful. The stories of the roman everyday lives around the baths on the audio-guide made me feel that the Romans had a lot of right ideas about a lot of things – the social clubs, the order of the hot and cold baths and the massages, exercises and games thereafter. I pictured myself as a Roman citizen on a Sunday taking a bath and relaxing there before heading to a nearby Colloseum to bet on the ongoing games. Back to the trip - In the museum there were coins and curses excavated from a nearby ruins of a temple, and lots of artefacts and stories of the might of the Roman Empire. After the Baths we went to the Abbey, which was a short tour. Once you have seen a couple of Abbeys they all just blend together. The more interesting part of the Abbey were the plaques on the wall mentioning people who lived and died in the 1700s & 1800s – some of them lived way into their 70s, and some even touched their 80s. I am glad a lot more people today get to spend that amount of time on earth, and not just a top few. The illustrations around the history of the Abbey in the basement museum were quite amazing. We learned of more reasons to hate Henry VIII, and found some fascinating details about the lives of monks who served in the Abbey.
After the morning tour of the Roman Baths and the Abbey, we explored the city centre a little more to see what were our options for lunch. We picked a random restaurant and had a sandwich and a coffee there after which we began the secound part of the plan – Pulteney Bridge & the Royal Cresent.
We walked straight towards Pulteney Bridge post lunch. The V shaped weir pointing towards the Birdge, and the Gold trees on the opposite side makes the whole view quite scenic. I was so glad we chose to come to Bath in Autumn, the trees do really look amazing – which compelled us to cross the bridge and go for the river walk that took us from beneath those trees along the river Avon. After our walk we went to Bath Stamp & Coin Shop on the Pulteney Bridge. They had a great collection of stamps and mosaic tiles. I used to collect stamps when I was a teenager, so I enjoyed browsing their collection and remembering the simpler times. We grabbed a pouch of mosaic tiles as sovienier for us, and moved on.
After that the next spot was the Royal Cresent. Octoberfest events were in full swing and we saw a bunch of people dressed up for it to the way there. Royal Cresent turned out to be a chill spot to relax for a while, sitting in the garden, at the focal point of the cresent taking in the view. From there we walked back to our AirBnB, relaxed a little and then to dinner. We headed to Sanremo - The Italian Restaurant. The food and wine were DIVINE, the staff was super friendly. It was the best Carbonara I have ever had, and the Amalfi Sundae with a Limoncello shot was the cherry on the top. Couldn't have ended our trip on a better note! We planned to go there for lunch the next day, but then in the morning we instead opted for a light breakfast at a nearby cafe before heading to Mr B's Emporium Bookshop to spend the remaining time exploring books before catching the train back to Paddington, London to be reunited with our apartment and Holly.
I recall joking to Aishwarya a few times on the trip that we should take a couple of months off and stay here. While leaving our AirBnB the lock on our door got jammed and it felt as if the old house & the city wished us to stay with them a bit longer.