London Called

We have received an abundance of riches in terms of overseas travel this year.  We just got back from Europe, which is the second overseas trip that we have taken in the past six months!  This trip wasn't something we really planned on doing.  I was fortunate enough to have depositions in the Channel Islands, which got me a free trip to London, Guernsey, and Jersey.  Extending the trip to add a few days of fun and bring Jesse along for the ride seemed like a no brainer, so that's what we did.    

I have never been to London before, so it was fun to see all of the traditional sights.  We started off with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

Next, we took a cool audio tour of Westminster Cathedral, which Jesse calls a cemetery because there are so many historic figures we are buried there.

We also stopped at Buckingham Palace, where we saw the cool guards (from afar -- we did't want to provoke them!).  

Our last stop of the day was the Tate museum of modern art, where Jesse pondered exhibitions such as piles of blankets, a TV screen with a fuzzy picture of birds chirping in trees, and a glass of water on a shelf that the artist insisted was truly an oak tree.  We don't understand modern art.

One of the highlights of this trip for me was the day trip we took to Bath.  I am a big Jane Austen fan, and even though I didn't subject Jesse to the Jane Austen museum in Bath, it was cool seeing places where she lived and wrote about.  We arrived to the serenade of a talented opera singer in front of a lovely church.

The main attraction in Bath is the Roman baths, which are the oldest ruins that I have ever seen.

The museum also contained some sculptures from the temple to Medusa that used to exist right beside the baths.

One of the must-sees for me in Bath was the Pump room, which Jane Austen wrote a lot about in a couple of her books.  We had high tea there, which was delectable with scones, clotted cream, and jam in addition to finger sandwiches, lovely deserts, and, of course, tea.

As you can tell from the first picture, the water in the Roman baths are no longer fit for bathing!  However, a spa was built recently that uses the same (treated) natural mineral springs to fill a number of baths and steam rooms, where we relaxed for a few hours.  The highlight of the spa for me was the rooftop bath.  Not surprisingly, the weather in England was cold and wet.  The rooftop pool was very warm and provided a neat contrast to the cool weather.  It rained on us a little bit while we were there, which enabled us to see a lovely double rainbow over a picturesque landscape when the sun came out (sadly, no photography was allowed).

We'll update you on the rest of our tour of London soon!