Bath

Last weekend was a bank holiday here in Britain so Dan and I took advantage of the day off and did a quick one night trip to Bath.  Bath has been on our list of must visit UK places for a while so we were glad to finally get out there.  Dan also had some Hilton points burning a hole in his pocket so we booked a pet friendly room and headed out there on the train.  Luckily, we had wonderful weather, so we spent lots of time exploring the parks with Henry.  Our first stop was Pulteney Bridge, which is built in the style of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, with shops and cafes all along it.

Our next stop was the first of many beautiful parks in Bath, Henrietta Park, before heading back to the bridge for a nice stroll along the River Avon.

Then we moved more into the center of town to check out Bath Abbey and stop for some locally made ice cream as we strolled the shopping streets.  The Abbey was beautiful inside and was similar to Westminster in that the floors were covered with grave markers to all that have been buried there.

We then made our way up the hill a bit to the Royal Crescent and Victoria Park.  Victoria was another gorgeous park and it was a perfect day for lying in the sun.

Royal Crescent:

 just licking some grass because my parents didn't bring me water:

Then we walked back along the river towards the city center again.  After that we had planned to visit the Thermae Baths, a spa fed by the thermal springs, but the queue to get in was a 90 minute wait, so we decided to save that for first thing in the morning.  Instead we grabbed a beer at The Porter, recommended by a friend of Maggie's.  Great spot with lots of craft beers.

After giving Henry some dinner and taking him for an evening walk, we headed out to dinner at the Real Italian Pizza Company.  Great pizza and wine (even better so because we were only charged for a glass of wine instead of a bottle, making it a really cheap meal!)

The next morning after taking Henry to another local park for a good run around, we stopped in at Cafe au Lait on the Pulteney Bridge for a delicious breakfast before heading to the thermal baths.  We enjoyed 2 hours soaking in the pools and relaxing in the steam rooms.  There were 4 steam rooms, each with a different scent: lotus flower, sandalwood, frankincense, and eucalyptus & mint.  The eucalyptus one smelled like a cough drop and was by far the best one (would be even better for someone with a head cold.)  There is also a rooftop pool with great views over the city.  After the baths we checked out of our hotel and spent a couple hours lounging in Victoria park before heading to the train station for our trip home.  Bath was an adorable city and a great mini-break.