Adventures in Bath

On Sunday, we took a bus to the middle of Bath and then went into the Roman Baths. There was a museum first to learn about the history of the Romans, and then we got to see the actual baths. It consisted of one large pool and many other smaller pools of varying temperatures. Also, there was a temple to a Sun god. The baths were built by the Romans thousands of years ago and were used to bathe, swim and relax in. Next, we went shopping a little bit around Bath and then met again to head off to Wells.
We took a bus to Wells Cathedral which is famous for having a very large front of the cathedral. A choir was singing in the cathedral while we were there, and I was so amazed at how beautiful it sounded. The cathedral also had scissor arches in the middle to help hold up the central tower, something we have never seen before. The chapter house in Wells was also pretty cool in that it was on the second floor rather than the first. We then took a bus bath to Bath and decided to eat right away as a group. We went to Jamie's Italian Restaurant, where everyone had a fulfilling meal, dessert included. Then it was back to the hostel to pack our bags to travel to our final hostel, the YMCA in Bath.

Today, we ate breakfast and then took the bus downtown Bath with our packs. We walked up to the YMCA, which I promise is nothing like YMCA's at home. It is pretty much a residential building along with a restaurant attached and a lounge with a huge TV! It is located right in the middle of the city, so it has much better access to shopping. After dropping our bags at the hostel, we went back into Bath for some more shopping. Then we took a train to Winchester. Once there, Cassie gave us a tour of Winchester Cathedral both inside and out. She did a great job. Winchester was really large; it has the largest nave in Europe. It is very famous for having a gravestone and monument for Jane Austen. We finally got to go to the second story of a cathedral too. This cathedral had some very old illustrated manuscripts of the Bible. We also walked by the house where Jane Austen lived her last days, very close to the Cathedral. Then we went to the Winchester Bishop's Palace and headed back to the rail station for Bath. Once in Bath, some of us went out for pizza at Domino's, yes they have Domino's here. All of us are headed to London tomorrow on early trains, mine leaves at 6:13 am, so it's early to bed for me.

--Stephanie