Anywho, yesterday happened and we passed out - though we woke up quite a few times individually and together during the night - Ari was right btw, the drunk people were entertaining. Woke up at 8 and felt fantastic - which 15 or so hours of sleep will do for me. Got up, got dressed, and went on walkabout.
We went to a place called The Jazz Cafe and shared a full English Breakfast - which contained; toast, beans, pile of mushrooms, 1 piece bacon, 1 sausage, an egg and half a tomato. We also had scones and a maple-pecan plait. And tea.
Wow... that reads like a lot more food than it was, promise. I had some beans and toast, and a scone, and most of the maple-pecan plait - while Ari had the remainder. We also had tea. TEA! Love tea.
After our jazzy breakfast, during which we glimpsed a man in full Regency dress - and can I mention how lovely it was to sit down for tea and breakfast with jazz happening? - we went back on walkabout. Today was a very grey day, but in a soothing - beautiful kind of way instead of a scary-dark kind of way. The sun was visible, but not out and about.
- Kinda loving hostels so far, just had a lovely conversation with two Argentinean women about travel, our hometowns and places to visit. -
So, sunwise at least, felt like home. We walked for the next few hours, found a community garden area which was soothing but also uplifting in that it was a FULLY functioning garden area that this community had come together to build and maintain. It also had some great views, and some of the allotments had been used to create outdoor lounging areas - which we took full advantage of.
Wandered out of the garden area and followed the mental yellow brick road (aka, went whichever way we felt like) and found some random park - where I attempted and failed to climb trees, and then found ANOTHER park where I attempted and succeeded to climb a tree. YAY! Trees!
After that continued the wandering and gawking at the beautiful architecture... until we once again met the man with the Regency clothes. Guess where heeeee was?
In front of The Jane Austen Centre! Which we proceeded to visit, and have tea in their Regency Tea Rooms - which was yum. (PS, food porn to follow) Had a lovely time there enjoying the atmosphere, and then moved on. Went up the street a little to find the actual house that Jane Austen lived in (which seems to be a Dental Surgeons now)... And then followed the road to the Circus - aka a circle of seemingly identical and yet quite interesting houses.
- Okay, REALLY loving hostels now. Just had a three hr+ conversation with one of the aforementioned Argentinean women, named Ariana. I sincerely hope she does make it to (and in) LA - and that we meet again. I LOVE conversations like the one I just had/participated it. Checking privilege, learning from another person in an active exchange of ideas... Not to mention that she may be the soulmate of a friend of mine :P -
Right - so. We walked by the Fashion Museum before we decided it was too expensive, plus we were running out of time... so then we stopped at an old telephone booth and posed it in :P.
Finally found the Thermae Bath Spa that we'd been somehow not finding throughout our wanders (its really not as in the center of things as it looks on a map), and OH GOODNESS. It's expensive (25lbs for 2 hrs soak) but totally worth it. And yes I realize that that is not the abbreviation for pounds but its what I got. Work with me. We walked in and had no line at all before us - walked up to the desk and rented towels and got our nifty bracelets. A word about the bracelets here - blue plastic bands and with grey disks on the tops - they ended up being what I think of as ridiculously high tech. I won't bore you with the details but they opened lockers in a way I'd never seen before - bought food for you - opened turnstiles... seriously nifty. We went up to the rooftop pool first - with a quick stop for look arounds at the other options.
Rooftop pool people... ROOFTOP POOL. With views onto the roofs and surrounding area - beautiful. Sadly, no photography allowed on that level so you won't get to really see it - but gorgeous. Spent a good 40 minutes there, and then went down a level to the steam rooms... which were interesting. Four self contained, circular, rooms with glass walls that each had differently scented/flavored steam in them - contained in a larger and less steamy room that also had a waterfall shower and foot baths. Couldn't spend as much time there as we would have liked to just because it was too hot/humid for the both of us. Down to the pool on the under street-level level - not quite correct to call it a underground area because it wasn't. This pool had 4 large pillars which were symmetrically asymmetrical (very large tops and much smaller bottoms) and a much stronger current than the rooftop pool.
Went back up to the rooftop pool and finished off our spa-ing there with meeting some lovely women that we talked to about visiting and places to go in America, and they told us about Brighton and London before we had to leave - all in all a too short meeting.
Headed out of the Spa, got some bandaids on the blisters attempting to happen on my feet (Seriously... should have brought another pair of shoes. Seriously), and then went to the Roman Baths - which were magnificent. Awe inspiring, breathtaking, beautiful, historical (wonder if that one's been heard before?)... I quite enjoyed them, and the audio tour was tops.
After about an hour and a half at the Roman Baths (and realizing that we DID want to go to the Fashion Museum and just weren't going to be able to swing it timewise) - we wandered back out onto the street... where apparently it had rained. We missed it by being mostly underground - quite a good thing by the looks of the ground and the people around us. It had been very windy and somewhat sprinkly when we were at the Spa but the water on the ground suggested actual rain.
Found LUSH - had fun talking to the ladies there and bought a few things. We asked for a recommendation for a low to middle priced place for a nice dinner - and they recommended Jamie's Italian (a Jamie Oliver restaurant) which we proceeded to quite quickly!
Had a fabulous - FABULOUS meal. Admittedly a midsize splurge for us - but we've declared one really nice meal per town/city, and this was the only REAL meal we'd had today. Had, as far as I remember:
Bruschetta, Polenta Chips, Buffalo and ricotta cheese ravioli with a lemon and sage sauce, prosciutto, pear, pine nut and pecorino romano salad, lemon curd tart with pistachios and a raspberry and ameretto brownie with fresh raspberries.
Yes, we are aware that our tastes in food are ridiculous but for that amount, and quality, of food the price was EXTREMELY reasonable. The service alone was worth half the bill - our waitress was fantastic and helpful - and all the staff seemed to be of the same caliber. Walking through the kitchen was quite fun as well - seeing all the food and the ingredients - I had a seriously hard time choosing my food because it all sounded /smelled/looked amazing. Jamie Oliver maaaaan... He knows his stuff.
After that crazyamazingfantasticridiculously delicious food - we tried to get to a drugstore but by that time it seems everything was closed. Weird, as it was only 6:30 or so... but apparently everything opens late-ish and closes early right now.
We got safely back to the Hostel and headed to the Chill Out room at the very top to call banks, and parents, and so I could write up our days adventures - a task that took significantly longer for very good reasons (see Ariana, above) but is now complete.
And now, dear family and friend members?
It is time for bed.
Off to Salisbury (Stonehenge!) and then London tomorrow!
