I see London, I see Bath...and Windsor!

Totally slacking on the blog lately, I know.

We spent 5 days in London and it was FREEZING.  I will use this as my excuse for our abnormal laziness, because we spent a lot of time actually just at home. Well, at my uncle’s house, researching for our trip and also about life when we return….so much to think about!  We actually ended up being in England during the very rare time which occurs less than a handful of times per year, when it snows.  It was windy and painfully cold, but nevertheless beautiful.   Given that I have family in London, I’ve been there a few times, and Matt and I actually came here almost 5 years ago.  During our first trip, we covered most of the tourist attractions, when the sun actually came out.  So this time, we decided to take advantage of some of the other free museums (awesome thing about the UK, most museums are free), and just stroll around as long as we could before our fingers and toes went numb.  We walked through the beautiful Kensington Gardens, where we watched birds ice skate, explored the British Museum where they have the actual Rosetta Stone, and checked out more dinosaur fossils at the Natural History Museum.  Next door, the Victoria and Albert Museum had some pretty awesome photography exhibitions and a cool mix of displays.  We ate some more delicious veggie burgers at Patty and Bun, a cool little restaurant in Soho.  But most of all, we spent some time with my family, which we both really enjoyed.  Three of my mom’s brothers live in England, as well as three more of my cousins.  It’s such a pleasure to be able to see them, since such an occasion happens every few years. 

My uncle took us on a day trip to Windsor, a beautiful little English town with the famous Windsor Palace.  We strolled around, had some delicious coffee, and my favorite was walking along the river.  A little stand next to the river sells bags of bird food, and of COURSE I couldn’t resist, so I walked along and fed the geese and ducks.  Pretty soon, I felt like some kind of animal cult leader because I am pretty sure every bird in Windsor was trailing behind me. Cutest thing ever. 

Our final destination in England was Bath. Admittedly this was not the right time of year to visit but the famous Roman Baths were pretty spectacular nonetheless.  The first shrine at the site of the hot springs was built by Celts somewhere around 836 BC.  Eventually the site was invaded by Romans, and a temple was constructed around 60-70 AD as a bathing complex which was built over the next 300 years. The hot springs still exist, with water percolating down through limestone wayyyyy below the ground, raising it’s temperature to between 147 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to over 200 degrees. Under pressure, the heated water rises to the surface along  faults in the limestone.  Crazy. The best food we had in all of England was at a little restaurant in Bath called The Circus. Incredible food, actually.

Oh, and it’s official that the beer in the UK was totally NOT impressive, but perhaps we should disclaim that statement with the fact that we DID just come from Germany, land of amazing beer.  We are blissfully happy in Spain right now, my dream country to visit which has certainly lived up to my expectations so far!!  Cheers!

Row of snowy museums in London

Missing one more bald uncle who took the photo :)  The lovely family!

My British following

Windsor Palace

Matt and my cousin Sufi having a snow fight :)

Rosetta Stone

Kensington Gardens, beautiful!

Figuring out this travel thing.....

Love the buildings in this town

Snow falling at my uncles!!!

Roman baths in Bath

Bath!