Bath

Bath is only a 20 minute drive away from Kilmersdon. Before we went to Bath, we'd found information about the park & ride options. Basically you park your car somewhere outside the city center and a bus takes you to the city center. You only pay for the bus ride, parking is free as long as you use the bus. We have no idea how they check that though. There is no way you can tell if people actually get on the bus, because they take the bus ticket with them and you only use the payment machine if you aren't using the bus. Or at least, that's what we figured. We didn't see people do anything special other than park their car and go on the bus, so I suppose we're okay (the signs also didn't say anything else). Maybe in the Netherlands we over-explain things, because everything is spelled out. That does have it's advantages, because I feel more certain in cases like these. 

The guided tour we'd booked was given by an uni student who is actually from Spain. Her English was excellent, but it does feel different if someone isn't a native or a long-time resident of the place. She's told us lots of interesting things, but it did feel a bit like just dishing out the information, no real emotion attached, which is part of what can make a tour not just interesting but great, if there is passion. Like at the Shakespeare Globe: we were riveted by what the guide told us, we were hanging onto every word, not so much now. She was nice, she was fun, but we weren't captivated. Bath is beautiful though and the tour also led us to places we otherwise wouldn't have seen, with lots of interesting details. 

After the tour we visited the Roman Baths. For me, it was the second time going there. The first visit must have made quite an impression, because there were very few things I'd forgotten. The funny thing is that sometimes a place looks a whole lot smaller when you go back to it. In my memory we walked around the place for hours and hours (which I know isn't quite true, I think it was about two hours total). It remains an impressive place, especially the site of the spring and the water rushing through the overflow. During the tour, our guide told us the story of how in 800 Bc prince Bladud got leprosy and became a swine herd. He noticed how the skin of the pigs improved by wallowing in the warm mud near the river Avon. After using the mud himself, he was cured of leprosy, became a Prince again and shortly after that he founded the city of Bath. To commemorate this, you can find a lot of imagery of acorns across the city (pigs like acorns). The story probably isn't true, but it is a fun story. I know for a fact the Romans considered springs places where the gods dwell, especially at places where there is hot water. So it's no surprise they've built a temple and other things around this spring. The ingenuity they used was nothing short of amazing (as long as you overlook the fact that they had slaves). 

By now, we were getting pretty tired. So, it was a good thing we'd booked an Afternoon Tea ('the Jane Austen Experience) at The Pump Room. We really wanted to have an afternoon tea somewhere, and where better to do this than at the place where Jane Austen herself also visited? In preparation I've read Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both were written in Bath and more or less take places there (the former more so than the latter). By reading these books, I knew what they meant by 'taking the waters'. Sadly, you no longer can do this by the fountain in The Pump Room, it is out of commission at the moment. Luckily we'd already 'taken the waters' at the Roman Baths (although, luckily.... it doesn't taste all that good hahaha). The afternoon tea was lovely. We've tried our hardest, but couldn't eat all. They were kind enough to bring us a small box so we could that the rest home. The classical music being played live make the experience even better. We felt so fancy! You could almost imagine this was what it must have felt like all those years ago (if you ignore some of the other guests wearing baseball caps, eating like barbarians or only looking at their phones).