Two weeks in the UK and we had only ventured out of London once, for our trip to Oxford. Since the nightly rates at the hostel we have been at jump up when it gets to weekends, we thought it would be a great chance to have a long weekend and see a bit more of what England has to offer. Here's what we got up to when we visited the towns of Bath and Bristol:
BATH:
Only 2.5 hours away from London on a bus, Bath is a beautiful little town that showcases the antiquities of England: it's full of Georgian- style architecture that looks really quaint, especially when surrounded by the autumn leaves; there's a little bakery or a cafe selling cream teas on just about every street;and there's a pub in the main square that was so full on Saturday afternoon that despite the cold temperatures, people were filling the streets with beers in hand outside this tiny little place. The town is famous for two main things- the Roman Baths that the town is named after (the main train station is even called "Bath Spa"), and the fact that Jane Austen set two of her novels in this little town. Funnily enough, we didn't go for these main attractions -the roman baths didn't really catch our attention all that much, and we had heard that the Jane Austen centre was a pretty average display (and I figured that since I read 'Persuasion' in year 11 English, I learnt enough abut Austen that I didn't feel the need to pay to visit an average display). And despite the fact that your average tourist in Bath is looking a bit on the silver around the hairline, we still managed to have a nice two nights in the town.
The first day we arrived in the afternoon and checked into St Christopher's hostel. Since they only had 1 night's availability when we booked, we had to move to the YMCA the next night (curse the village people, I couldn't stop singing in my head "it's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A" every time we went there). Turns out moving was a blessing- St Christopher's is above a bar that plays music so loud that I could feel our bunk bed vibrating. After dumping our bags (mine is much lighter now since I visited the post office the other day and sent 4kg of stuff home... It should be there in ONLY 56 days), we spent the afternoon having a little wander around the town, which didn't take too long because the centre of Bath is all in walking distance.
That night we treated ourselves to a little night out at Jamie Oliver's Italian. We had been wanting to go to the one in London but we hadn't got around to it, and so when we realised there was one in Bath we jumped at the chance fora date night. I had this amazing 'honeycomb cannelloni 3-way', which was basically tubes of cannelloni filled with either creamy pumpkin, spinach & ricotta or roasted eggplant, all arranged to look like honeycomb. Cue the obligatory food photo: (I'm getting good at taking little sneaky ones of these now).
The next day was filled with a morning of organising our lives with some free wifi at a bar, as well as a trip to visit Stonehenge. We booked a trip to Morocco that morning, which we got for a really good deal because the company (Travel Talk) were offering 2 for 1 deals, and we only had to pay £10 deposit. So come January 19th, we are off to Africa! Then we had a little walk through the main streets that were really lively since it as a Saturday, with buskers everywhere, and the cafes had people lining up out the doors to get their cups of tea- if that doesn't remind me that I'm in England then I don't think anything will. The temperatures had really dropped that day and although the sun was actually out (a real rarity), it was only like 6 degrees in the middle of the day.
Then it was time to hop on our afternoon tour to see Stonehenge aboard a little purple bus. While at first we were skeptical about going on a tour we realised that for a 3 hour return trip, it couldn't be beaten, especially since the tourist office told us that going by public transport wasn't really an option. And lucky for us the bus was full of a group of international students so it didn't feel like we had joined the old people's day trip.A quick 55 minute journey and we had arrived at the famous stones, and all I can say is wow.
Stonehenge sent chills down my spine, in more ways than one... Firstly because it was amazing to see something that has existed for thousands upon thousands of years and was built even before the pyramids, and that I've known about for years and then actually got to see it for real.... And secondly because it was actually FREEZING. It's in this big open field, and since Bath temperatures were low to begin with (we heard there were Arctic breezes in the area that weekend), coupled with some strong winds from the open field, the effect was this wind that chilled you to the bone. Don't be fooled by the blue skies in the pictures, smiling for photos actually made our teeth feel cold. I admit, I am actually a little scared for winter now! But it was worth it to see Stonehenge.
We returned to Bath and the first thing we did was find a hot chocolate to defrost a little bit. That night we had dinner at a pub called the Porter, renowned for its cheap vegetarian menu. I had a spud with chilli beans and lentils with sour cream and salad... Delicious and budget-friendly. The pub itself was really cool and had some alternative music playing, and a little underground bar that all added to the atmosphere. It was too bad all the cold weather and strong winds has brought out my cold again, and so it was an early ( by that I mean before 1am) night... Theres no such thing as an early night these days.
The next morning we did our last little bit of walking around the town where there were some really picturesque sights:
And we saw the bit called the Royal Circus (which looked familiar from school days, so I'm thinking they used it as a setting for the movie version of Jane Austen's Persuasion?).
We finished off our time in Bath in this little cafe overlooking the river, sharing some scones with jam and clotted cream.. Really, was there any other way we could have ended our trip?
BRISTOL
From Bath, the town of Bristol was only about an hour away on the public bus. Bristol is what I would call more of a 'living city' rather than a 'tourist city', but for us that was exactly what we were after: Bristol is known for its culture scene, the kind of place where street art is encouraged (Banksy is originally from Bristol and his works around the city are now tourist attractions in their own right) and also its alternative music. Sadly it was a Sunday/Monday night when we visited so we didn't really get to to experience the best of the music scene, but it was still a pretty cool place to be.
We stayed at a place called the Rock n Bowl hostel, which was right above a bowling bar. It was in this really big old building that was super spread out, and while it was right in the centre of town and had the perk of cheap bowling downstairs, it felt like it was too big and most of the time people sat on their laptops. Luckily it had a big tv which was perfect for our arrival. We got to the hostel in the afternoon when it was pouring down rain, and since it wasn't really exploring weather and I was feeling stuffy with a cold, we had a nice relaxing afternoon watching tv in the common room. Sometimes it feels like a real treat to sit and watch some tv.
That night we were planning to check out the bar called Apple, which was on the harbour and was famous for selling different varieties of apple cider. Before heading out, Mike got talking to a Spanish guy named Samuel who is in the UK for a few months to practice his English. Once he found out Mike could play guitar he started to teach him La Flamenco- typical Spanish guitar at its best. He was picking it up really quickly and Samuel was very impressed, and it was about then that I really appreciated how Mike's guitar playing comes in handy for meeting new people. After the impromptu jam we invited Samuel to the bar with us so he could practice his English some more. Apple was this cool little place that had some laid back music and and a big warm fire on a deck overlooking the harbour, and I got a nice big mug of warm mulled cider (good for a sore throat, right??). That night was one of those moments of travel that I love the most- when the fact hits you that you are sitting in a cool little in England, exchanging stories about your country with someone from across the world and learning just how different cultures can be.
The next morning we had the very first sleep in we had in ages (lately we have been getting up to make 10am check out every day)- it's the small things that are feeling luxurious lately. We then spent the day touring the city. We did our own little tour of street art and the Banksy graffiti around the city, and saw some of his cool works:
The best of the street art was in area called Stokes Croft, which was labelled as the centre of culture in Bristol, and although everything was covered in graffiti it had this arty vibe and didn't just feel like derelict buildings with spray paint on them like we get at home.
The rest of the day we just walked around the streets, looking at all the cute little shops and cafes that were dotted all over the place. There was one street in particular, Park Street, which had some really nice shops, and I managed to find this pair of boots for winter which I was pretty proud about... Finally have something to wear other than my volleys. We had a little Tesco picnic in this pretty park called College Green (the supermarkets here have such a range of good, cheap ready made sandwiches, salads and wraps that we joked that by the time we finish, we will have eaten our way through the entire range of Tesco).
We finished off our touring by a couple of games of bowling at the lanes beneath our hostel, since we got a special deal for £2 games. Mike won the first round, but Iet the record show that I won the second game :).
That night we ate dinner at a place that didn't have the most appealing name- the Slug and Lettuce- but they had 50% off food on Mondays, and we figured for food so cheap, we wouldn't be able to cook for those prices. So for £5.95 we both got good meals..I had cottage pie (closest thing I have had that reminds me of mum's Shepards Pie!). We finished off the night watching a few local solo acts play at this place called Mr Wolfs, and had a nice relaxing end to our time in Bristol.
The next day it was time to return to London after our little English long weekend, just in time to see Tame Impala play that night. Next up: our time in the Netherlands.
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