Hey!

After a two-week hiatus, I am back! Easter break started two weeks ago and I decided to give myself some real down time. I spent my first week in England and my second week in Croatia. This blog will be about my first week.

Finally, I made it over to Bath. It is about a 3-hour drive north-west of Guildford. There is a train station that is very downtown as well if driving isn’t an option. I knew it was a historical town, but it wasn’t really what I thought it was going to be like. It was smaller than I thought and the siding of all the buildings was a beautiful crème color stone unlike the typical red brick you see in England.

We found a place to park and took a walk around their shopping area first. I have noticed that shopping centers in England have very similar if not exactly the same shops in every single place. That’s not my ideal, but there are always little shops on the side streets which are adorable.

After we took a wander through the shops, we went to the roman baths. With student discount I think it was about £15 each. It is a really nice museum. You start at the balcony looking over the main bath and loop around through the building reading about the other buildings that used to be a part of the spa and the history of the bath. I learnt that people used to write curses on lead sheets and throw them into the bath!

We then took a walk up a hill to find the famous royal crescent. They are just really nice apartment/condo building, but they are iconic to Bath. We had a fun time finding spikey seed balls and throwing them on the ground so they explode. We are very mature 😉

Finally, we went to the Pulteney bridge. It is very iconic once again! This time it is well known for its mini waterfall. Take a look!

After Bath, we took a quick 10 mile drive over to Bristol. That city was even more different than I expected. It was HUGE! It had a bit more over an American feel to it. There were big skyscrapers and a really pretty port. To be completely frank I went to Bristol for one reason only: the cat pub. You may have seen the Buzzfeed article about it. As soon as I heard there was a pub with cats in it, I was sold. I had to visit! It was the cutest place ever. It was tiny! Only about 20 people tops could be in it, but there were at least 10 cats lounging around. There were sleeping in boxes and playing with toys. I saw a man get a newspaper to read and a cat immediately come over to sleep on it. The man didn’t move the cat, he just let the cat sleep 🙂 Another person had been there three hours because a kitten had fallen asleep on her lap. I only stayed for one drink because we needed to get back to Guildford, but it was well worth the visit. The pub wasn’t touristy or overwhelming. It was just a nice English pub with cats that were born and raised there. I would definitely suggest visiting Bath and Bristol. Both are very interesting places.

That’s the summary of the new places I explored during my first week. After I went to Brighton and went up the new Brighton Ferris Wheel. Another great place to visit, but I’ve told you that before!

Holly