Day 3: London to Bath

Early wake-up and key return this morning, 6:30am to be precise. Allyson (as usual) wanted to arrive extra early to our 8:15 bus to Bath. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and played the “find the silliest British street name on the map” game. Cockfoster was the clear winner. After some confusion and slight panic (mostly Allyson), we got on our bus and enjoyed the 3 hour trip to the charming city of Bath.

We made our way up to the Landsdown Cresent to stay with Tight family friends, the Heales. We were lucky enough to meet Simon (Mr. Heale) for an hour before he left on vacation to France. Now we have the magnificent 5-story home in the center of the crescent all to ourselves!

Note about the house: When the crescent was built, the United States was still a British colony. Talk about history!

We spent the afternoon wandering around Bath and checked out the Jane Austen Centre. Guess who was tempted by all of the “I Heart Mr. Darcy” souvenirs? Hint: it wasn’t Andrew…

Travel Blunder: When our bus to Bath hadn’t shown up by 8:15, Allyson started to get concerned. When another bus from the same company drove by and didn’t stop for us, Andrew was instructed (more like shrieked at) to run after it, backpack and all. This episode was more or less repeated each time a National Express bus drove by. Six busses later and we were on our way to Bath!

Culture Shock: While waiting for our bus to Bath, we saw a high-security English Primary School with separate doors for boys and girls. Maybe England hasn’t realized that cooties really aren’t that contagious.

Gourmet Moment: “Cream Tea” is a full meal, not just tea with cream in it. At the Jane Austen Museum we got a coupon for two cream teas for the price of one in their tearoom. Thinking this would be a quick, cheap, light afternoon refreshment we ordered two cream teas. A pot of tea and a bit of milk were brought out, but then the waiter said, “The cream teas will be right out”. Allyson says to Andrew, wide eyed, “Oh no, what have we gotten ourselves into?!”. The tea was followed by two large scones, a large tub of butter and a bowl of jelly, EACH! Our cheap snack ended up costing us £8. Woops.