Day 25: Who can ever be tired of Bath?

When I first learned that this month-long library class would include a 5-day mini-break, I immediately started thinking of things I might like to do with that time. I toyed around with the idea of heading to Paris, specifically to spend a lot of time in the gardens at Versailles. The prospect of getting to and from Paris, however, especially from the starting point of Edinburgh, was a bit much; too much time traveling, not enough time doing things.

Then I thought of Bath because, well, I just love Bath. Also, from there it would be easier to do a day trip or two as I wanted. A good book club friend even gave me some recommendations of places to go and things to see on said day trips. I had them pencilled in on my calendar and everything.

And then... I just kept loving Bath too much, I suppose. I got to thinking about two things on Saturday night, when I was deciding what to do with my Sunday. 1) Sunday would be my last day of this trip that doesn't have some educational claim to it, and so relaxation might be very nice indeed. 2) For the same amount it would cost me to go to Cardiff--take the train to Cardiff, bus to the museum I wanted to see, pay to get into the museum, take a bus back to the train station, and another train back to Bath--I could spend four luxurious hours at the spa and have loads of free time as well. Such considerations.

Sunday I stayed in Bath. I enjoyed another hot breakfast at the hotel before walking around the city a bit prior to mass. The mass I attended was accompanied by a French choir (the mass itself was in English!), adding a really interesting feel to attending religious service in a significantly old stone church. I continued this brief French thing through lunch at a patisserie, where I had a really tasty croque monsieur.

Then it was to the baths: Thermae Bath Spa again, this time for four hours instead of two. The weather was beautiful for the rooftop pool, with fluffy white clouds cruising along the bright blue sky. My fingers may have been quite prune-y by the time I was done, but I was definitely relaxed.

I grabbed a gelato--cherry, freshly made!--on my way back toward the cricket grounds, where I wanted to try to expand my understanding of the game by watching another match.


A very nice young Englishman named Victor, who has been living in Australia, was kind enough to explain some of the finer points of the game to me. I now know what a "duck" is, what constitutes a hat trick for a bowler, and the names of some of the fielding positions, for example. The match ended up being really exciting at the end--Bath won by 1 wicket in 44 overs (I know what that means!!!), exciting the home crowd. I may have to see about catching a match while I'm still in London this week.

After such a relaxing day, I am ready to take on the final, busy week of this library program!