It appears that once a year is about as good as I get in the blogging world. Mostly I feel like I keep everyone up-to-date via Facebook. But a long trip to Europe seems like a good excuse to give a more concise "travelogue" and share more photos. I'll do this in parts. First entry Bath and The Cotswolds!
We decided on England (Martin's choice) and Ireland (my choice) as our effort to break away from our usual snorkeling trips. We haven't been to Europe together since our trip to Holland, Belgium and France quite a few years ago. We wanted to take a vacation that could piggyback onto a trip out to Boston to see Nick graduate.
We headed out of LAX to Heathrow on Friday, May 3rd. We arrived fairly early in the day Saturday, May 4th and picked up our rental car and headed west to Bath. In planning our trip we really had to make some difficult decisions: Bath or York? York would mean a trip up to Hadrian's Wall and a cool Medieval city; Bath would mean a cool Georgian city and a trip also to Stonehenge and the Cotswolds. In the end we decided on Bath. We headed west and stayed off the main highway which gave us time to drive through small towns and see the countryside. The first sign that caught my eye was this one:
The countryside was wonderful and you will find that I use the following adjectives frequently in my travelogue: quaint, charming and picturesque. It was all that.
The first major stop on our drive to Bath was in Avebury. This is the site of a neolithic henge. It's actually two stone circles inside of one very large circle, all of which is situated upon a built up embankment (or henge). It's huge. And it's about 4600 years old. It's the largest stone circle in Europe. I loved that we could walk amid the stones and the embankment. Before you enter into the actual henge, you first see the processional stones, which march along the road or "avenue" leading up to the henge. As you look at some of the photos, you can clearly see the embankment. Imagine the labor to build this.
We finally arrived at our nice B&B in Bath called "The Dorian House." We had a fabulous view right out our window (see first photo below.) We ended up eating at a fun little restaurant called "Yak Yeti Yak" which served Nepalese food which we ate sitting on the floor (or rather reclining on pillows.) Tasty.
The next morning we were up and ready for our free volunteer guided tour of the city of Bath. They say if you scratch England, you find Rome and certainly that's what you find in Bath. The Romans created the bath there in about 60 AD. Anyone who reads English literature (and especially Jane Austen) has heard of Bath because it became a popular spa town during the Georgian era which resulted in some pretty gorgeous Georgian architecture, including the Royal Crescent. Bath became a World Heritage site in the 1980s. In addition to the walking tour and the tour of the Roman Baths, we also took a tour of the Fashion Museum there.
View from The Circus:
It was fun city to walk around in, but one day is really enough. The next day we were up for our drive through the Cotswolds. This is an area known for it's outstanding beauty in the sort of central/southwestern portion of England. Our first stop is a town called Chipping Campden. Most of these towns through the Cotswolds were huge centers of wool trade in the medieval era. This was my very favorite of our time in England and unfortunately not a single photo I took really evokes the feel of these towns. Imagine falling into a Thomas Kincade painting. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. (Charming, picturesque, quaint). Only old. Really, really old - like 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th century old. But still gorgeous. We drove through many towns including Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold, Snowshill, and Bibury.
For anyone thinking about going to England, please don't miss the Cotswolds!
We went back to Bath for our last night there and then bright and early left for London - via Stonehenge:
And this is where I will leave it for now. I'll post about London next!
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