IT'S ALL ABOUT BATH

j's mom and brother are in town visiting for a few weeks and we've got a full agenda ahead with visiting scotland, ireland and all over england ... we've been sightseeing around lovely london for a few days and decided to take a day trip to the countryside ... i had the day off school so we headed to paddington station ... hopped a train and make the trip to the city of bath ... we hit the two main attractions ... the ancient roman bath house and bath abbey ... after we wandered the city streets, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves until dark and boarded the train back home

paddington station ...

the spot of many more journeys to come :)

the city of bath in full out fall mode

bath abbey

we paid a few pounds each to take a tour of the bell tower and climb to the top of the abbey for a view of the city ... the tour was a little disappointing because all it was about was how to ring bells and not much about the amazing history of this place ... i mean the first king of england was crowned here but it was all about the bells :)

beautiful views

next stop right beside the abbey ...

the roman bath house

but before touring the site ... a stop at a gift shop to bring home a cute little british doggie in the window

j's mom managed to snap a picture of me doing my photography thing ...

sneaky mom-in-law

next on the agenda ... wander aimlessly around the city and get lost on the city streets

a row of curved buildings just like our cartwright gardens block back in london

stay tuned for more travel stories as next weekend we are flying up to scotland to visit the city of edinburgh, taking a train to york for a few days and then training it back to london ... can't wait

cheers ~n

IN COURT

we wanted to see a new sight in london so we caught the tube to waterloo station and boarded a train headed west in london to the lovely hampton court ...

a quick cole's notes history lesson ... back in the tudor days cardinal wolsey built a magnificent palace for himself and king henry viii quickly annexed it for himself as his palaces were not as majestic ... he added onto it and at its peak in the tudor days it catered to about 800 people in king henry's court ... the stuart family (james i and charles i) and oliver cromwell also called the palace home ... charles ii built a new wing of the palace and william iii and mary ii added on to his design with a baroque palace ... they had plans to demolish the tudor portion but lack of funds (as with most building projects) stood in the way ... so we visited the tudor and baroque palaces that exist side by side along the thames in hampton court ... enjoy the tour we certainly did

the tudor portion on the grounds

clock court base of the tudor palace

astrological clock made for henry in 1540

wine cellar for the tudor court

one of the many parts of the tudor kitchen used to cook for 800 people a meal

fountain at the apartments and for special occasions wine would flow from it

every apartment in the tudor palace had its own fireplace ...

hence all the chimneys

beautiful gardens in the tudor portion

the new "addition" in baroque style

one of the grand staircases to the apartments

who wouldn't want a room decorated in weapons?

one of the throne rooms

a kingly bed ... not usually used for sleeping in

a hallway that housed the orange trees in the winter

just another courtyard to wander through

the pride of king william ... his gardens

and hunting grounds

seriously who wouldn't want to be a princess and live here?

cheers ~n