i wasn't planning to head off to bath till saturday. however, when wanying and her friend popped by on wednesday to drop off some luggage, i learnt that she was travelling to bath next. so i decided to join her and bought tickets for the next morning's bus ride to bath. 9 hours later i was on the coach to bath.
the whole city of bath is a UNESCO world heritage site. previously occupied by the romans, the city of bath is rich in georgian architecture. and true to its name, the city is most famous for its roman baths. whilst waiting to link up with wanying, i walked around the city centre aimlessly before chancing upon the bath abbey.
the streets of bath
bath abbey
soon after, i linked up with wanying. since bath is located in a valley of sorts, with lots of surrounding hills, her host recommended we make our way up a hill to the south of bath to catch a panoramic view of the city. and so we began our urban trek up the hill.
the hill to the south
shakespeare avenue
the kind of gradient we had to ascent
our checkpoint
eventually we reached the top of the hill, panting slightly from our early morning walk. and this was what we saw, the panorama of bath.
the city of bath
we then headed down the hill to grab some lunch from the city center. as recommended by wanying's host, we got burgers from this burger shop (whose name i forgot), which half the locals thought made the best burgers around. it was abit expensive (around 5 quid for a double patty burger, takeaway), but tasty, filling and well worth the money. i'd rather pay 5 quid for this burger than the 7 quid for canterbury tales. we then headed for the free city tour, which was really the best deal of all. all of the city tour guides (there are about 60 of them in total) are volunteers, choosing to give the tour out of passion rather than commission. even though the service was provided free, standards were not compromised. our tour guide was professional and knowledgeable, very patient as well, and even brought additional stuff such as the ancient city map of bath and various drawings depicting ancient bath. coincidentally we met a singapoean family on the city tour as well.
bath street
theatre royale
ex-main entrance of theatre royale
L-R: comedy, (something), tragedy
exroyal crescent
the circus
our tour guide
after the city tour, we went to visit the roman baths. unfortunately we weren't allowed to bathe in it, which is just as well since i didn't bring my bathing stuff. irritatingly we were given audio guides, where we had to punch in numbers to listen to explanations of the various exhibits of the roman baths.
the audio guide, which i didn't like
the roman baths
after the tour, we decided to visit the abbey, which was just beside the roman baths. however, to our disappointment, we discovered the abbey was closed. luckily, we followed some dudes and found some side door to access the abbey's interior. there was a children's choir practising in the abbey, and the dudes we followed turned out to be musicians as well. in short, we were the only tourists inside the abbey at that time, which was really quite awkward, but hey we managed to see the abbey's interior with soothing background music.
the abbey facade at night
the abbey interior
one of the chapels
we then went to eat buns at sally lunn's, which were supposedly quite good (recommended by wikitravel). at the restaurant, we met the same singaporean family. after talking to them for a while, they offered to give us a ride to stonehenge the next day. so i abandoned my coach ride back to london, and decided to bunk in at wanying's host's place. fortunately he didn't mind. what was supposedly just a day trip turned into a 2 day 1 night trip. in return for his hospitality, we decided to cook dinner that evening.
the next day, we trekked about a mile plus to their guesthouse to catch a ride to stonehenge.
the sunrise over bath
stonehenge
the sheep farm across stonehenge
after which, i followed their car back to london while wanying and her friend travelled on to salisbury. i didn't really fancy the idea of finding my own transportation back to london from salisbury last minute.
so i arrived back into my room in the early afternoon. after a jog and a quick shower, there was no respite for my weary body as i headed out for dinner with my hall mates at bayswater, to celebrate the official end of the autumn term. had one of the best roasted duck rice and char siew at this chinese restaurant called gold mine. the duck was superbly roasted, crispy skin, tender meat and lots of fats. shiok. the char siew wasn't too bad as well.
following dinner, i headed off to pembridge hall to have drinks with some of the other chem eng exchange people till midnight, before the tube service ends. fortunately, i didn't stay far enough to warrant a tube journey home. however that meant i had to take a 30 min walk back to hall in my tipsy state. it was either the effect of the alcohol, or i was really walking much faster than usual. anyway i reached back my hall pretty quickly, and soon i was concussed on my bed, shagged from the previous 2 days of activities.
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