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European Adventure 2017
After a cooked breakfast at our lovely Britstop we made our way towards a park and ride for the city of Bath. When we got there we found, as often is the case, a height restriction to get in. It is so frustrating when this happens as it is so difficult to find parking for these machines and the places which should be ideal for us don't let us in. Anyway we found a sports ground close by and they let us park there free of charge and we walked back to the bus. Bath is a stunning city with its magnificent architecture, flowers everywhere and buskers in the open areas. We opted for a hop on hop off bus and the commentary was so good we stayed on all the way around. When we did get off we went and saw the place where Sally Lunn cakes were born and then wandered off to take in the baths. These were amazing and it was strange to think that the Romans actually walked and bathed here. It is lower that street level as it has been dug out since it's discovery and it's thermal waters flow at over 1,000,000 litres a day. Statues of Julius Caesar, Hadrian and other famous Romans who may have frequented these baths where standing over the waters. On the bus tour we passed a string of 30 homes each one worth over £10million but we couldn't get a close look at them as apparently they don't like having bus loads of people looking into their front rooms! Originally most of the very old houses in the city did not have toilets and we were shown where they had been added on to the back of houses either in stone or wood. These little boxes tacked on to the back of multi story buildings do look funny when you know what they are. Bath is also Jane Austin country and we passed by places that were mentioned in her books. We didn't go to the Jane Austin Centre which would have had a great deal more about her. Apparently when Queen Victoria visited Bath as a young 10 year old to open the gardens, she overheard a comment by a teenage girl that she had fat ankles and then the local media reported that she looked dowdy. She was livid and refused from that day on to visit Bath again. 66 years later, so the story goes as she was on a train passing through Bath on her way to somewhere else she instructed the train staff to close the blinds of the train so that she wouldn't have to see the people of Bath and they certainly wouldn't be able to catch a glimpse of their Queen!
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