City of Bath: Aquae Sulis

Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"), the Latin name of a city that was first established by the Roman as a spa resort. This small town was located in the Roman province of Britannia, but today, it is known more as Bath, located in the English county of Somerset.

That was where I headed to, on the Sunday of my first week in this stranger country. As I have bought the train tickets the day earlier, I went straight on for my ride via the First Great Western train, a direct stop from Swindon to BathSpa.

Like always, I did some studies of the place I am visiting just couple days before and even managed to print out a little map of the city with some of famous attractions pointed out for my walking tours. Bath is just a small town and walking by far is the best option to enjoy the beautiful sceneries that this little town has to offer.

Directions for self guided walking tour

Upon arrival, I was welcome with a gorgeous sight of cherry blossom flowers. As the wind blows, tiny pinkish flower petals are scattered all over the walk way, making this the most composed image I have ever seen!

Picture (All Below) - Pretty sights of the cherry blossom flowers

As I walk along, I was greeted with more and more beautiful and colorful flowers accompanied with astonishing building architecture. The weather was a little chilly but somehow I enjoyed the cold wind blowing straight to my face throughout the whole walking trip.

 A public art called "King Bladud's Pigs in Bath"

Side view of Bath Abbey

Picture (Left) - Main entrance of Bath Abbey; (Right) - River Avon

The Circus - the best I could do for a 'panorama' view

The Royal Cresent - that's the furthest I can go to get this shot

Picture (Left) - Back alley; (Right) - Wild flowers by the wall fence

Again, time caught up with me without realizing especially when I was busy taking pictures at almost every corner of the town. My can feel my feet begin to sore and started to sense some hunger but I wanted to keep my tummy for tea time later, for a famous bun. So what is so special with this bun? Well, I had no clue either but all I know is that in all travel books I read, it is said that the visit to Bath is never complete without experiencing the world famous bun by Sally Lunn. Of course I would hate to miss the chance of tasting a famous bun!

 Bath's oldest house c.1482 - Home of the World famous Sally Lunn Bath Bun

Hence, I was in the hunt for something light to fill my hunger till I came across a small store selling tempting ice-creams. Oh….they all looks yummy. I definitely love to give this a try! And out I came with a two-scoop ice-cream wafer of Rasberry Pavlova and Turkish Delight flavor. They were extremely delicious but my delight was not for long. The wafer was so crispy that I somehow crushed them to pieces with just tiny squeeze and off they went down to ground *sob sob* There was a nice stranger that even offered to buy me a new cone, but I guessed I was too disappointed for a new one at that time. So all I did was to watch the pigeons enjoying my slowly melted ice-cream on the ground. The pigeons seems to be enjoying their dessert!

From David Thayer Ice-Cream shop

Ended to the ground

Enjoying some street performance while enjoying my ice-cream (not for long)

Still feeling a little down, I went on for the tour to Roman Bath Museum and it was an excellent choice that I never regretted. I did not anticipate such a small  place from outside would end up with such massive remains from the Romans down below the ground. All I could say is I was really impressed!

Picture (Left) - Roman Bath from
the outside; (Right) - A man from the Aquae Sulis, Roman Bath, lived and died nearly 2000 years ago. The tombstone shows him as he wished to be remembered, holding a scroll which reflect his learning and status in life

A light show on the ruins to recreate back the full picture of the olden days of Roman

The glittering in the pool are actually coins, the Romans makes wishes and threw coins and have their wish granted

Natural hot thermal out from the ground

The sacred pool used by the Romans

Ruins from the original building structure

After the tour, it was just the perfect time for tea break and none other than Sally Lunn I would want to be. I ordered the Sally Lunn's two course High Tea which comes with a thin round of Sally Lunn Bun topped with finest Scottish Smoked Salmon and half a toasted & buttered Sally Lunn Bun served with Tiptree Strawberry Jam and lots of local Clotted Cream, followed by world famous Sally Lunn Cream Tea…and mark my words, they were the best buns I ever tasted though I am not really the fans for the English version of cream tea (still prefer our Malaysian version of milk tea a.k.a teh tarik)

Sally Lunn Bun topped with finest Scottish Smoked Salmon

Sally Lunn Bun served with Tiptree Strawberry Jam and lots of local Clotted Cream

Cozy little place for dining

Sally Lunn's Museum with the original kitchen with its faggot oven, Georgian range and old baking utensils

With tummy filled, I took a stroll by the park namely Parade Garden overlooking to Pulteney Bridge that that crosses the River Avon. It is one of the most beautiful bridges with only four in the world lined by shops on both sides. Spectacular view!

 Pulteney Bridge

Parade Garden

Parade Garden

Finally, I ended my day trip to Bath with many great pictures and astonishing insight of the great Romans. What an experience!

Oxford: A dreaming spirals

Weekend came rather quick even I was pretty much lonely in this stranger little town…

I was pretty much occupied during the weekdays and had little time to plan for my weekend activities. But I figured that one of the many places not to be missed during my stay here are visits to Oxford and Bath. After all, these are the places that received many good compliments and are beautifully described by the locals.  

I was told that getting to Oxford and Bath from my temporary home of 2-weeks can be easily reached via the train service, First Great Western that connected almost every city in UK. So, Oxford went onto my top list of places to visit while Bath was my next destination the day followed.

It was a lovely day on Saturday morning as I head on to the train station in Swindon. I went straight to the ticket counter for train tickets to Oxford as well as next day ticket to Bath. Journey from Swindon to Oxford required transit at Didcot Parkway. However, to my unfortunate the train at Didcot Parkway was an hour delayed. It was then that I met 3 friendly Philippines but currently residing in UK. They are first time visitors to Oxford as I am too and somehow, we clique at almost instantly.

When the train finally came, we are all excited that we can continue our journey. We stick on together for a while before went on separate ways for our own sightseeing journey in Oxford, but promising to meet up again before we leave Oxford.

After separated with the 3 new found friends, I continued on my exploration alone.

Picture (Left) - Carfax Tower, the church clock is adorned by two "quarter boys", who hit the bells at every "quarter" of the hour; (Right) - Statue lady that look so real or should I say 'fake'?

Picture (Left) - Great day for a nice walk at the park; (Right) - The weather was nicely at 16°C that everyone is out to enjoy

 

At the entrance of Christ Church Meadows

View of Merton College from accross Christ Church Meadows

Picture (Left) - Entrance to Christ Church, one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England; (Right) - Christ Church Cathedral, the chapel of Christ Church which is also the largest college of the University of Oxford

Dead Man's Walk, the wall that separated Christ Church Meadow and Merton College

Picture (Left) - Christ Church Cathedral; (Right) Sundial

 

Picture (Left and Right) - Interior of Christ Church Cathedral

Stained glass window of Christ Church Cathedral

Choir busy practising for some event in the evening

Picture (Left) - Back lane of Merton College; (Right) - Merton Street

Busy street of High Street

Fascinated with the building structures and sceneries accompanied with the lovely weather, I walk and walk and snap (pictures) and snap without realizing that it was past the lunch hours, up until my stomach started growling. As I walked around hunting for a nice place to rest and also to fill my growling tummy, I stumbled upon an Italian restaurant. I actually passed by this same restaurant twice, but it still does not hit me till I stood there thinking if I should try out some Italian food. Then I finally realized that this is Jamie’s Italian by Jamie Oliver, the famous Naked Chef. Oh my….he has always been my idol! Of course I loved to try his food in one of his restaurant. So in I went…to fill my empty tummy and rest my aching feet.

Picture (Left) - Superly yummy mushroom ravioli at Jamie's Italian; (Right) - Nothing beats a nice cup of hot cappucino after the long walk

Satisfied with the meal, I continued on my exploration to few more landmarks before ending the day trip in Oxford for a little shopping spree. Again, I met up with the 3 friendly mates, joining them in their shopping before we finally wave goodbye. It was definitely an experience and a great day trip!

Picture (Left) - St. Mary the Virgin Church; (Right) - Spiral staircase to St. Mary the Virgin tower

The pathway only fits one at a time. I had to stand at the little space by the window while waiting for others to head down before I can go up!

Picture (Left) - Most photographed building in Oxford, Radcliff Camera; (Right) - Short from St. Mary the Virgin tower

Beautiful landscape from above

All Souls College, part of the scenes in Harry Potter movie

 View of Oxford City

 

The Divinity School - the first purpose built lecture hall dated almost 500 years ago. Two scenes from Harry Potter were shot in this hall: Hogwarts Infirmary (The Philosopher's Stone) and the ballroom dancing class (The Goblet's of Fire)

Amazing isn't it?

 Museum of History of Science

Entrance to Oxford Castle Unlocked

Hill of Oxford Castle Unlocked