London Trip, Day Four

we woke in bath to another rainy morning, and after a very hearty breakfast, we were nearly first in line at the ancient roman baths.


just next to the medieval abbey in the town center is the sprawling ancient grounds of the roman baths. built around a natural hot spring, the baths were more than just a pool. it was a large structure and property with temples and courtyards and multiple pool areas for bathing, relaxing, trading, and socializing. much of the ancient ruins have been preserved, and the tour was fascinating. i did not expect to learn so very much about the vast roman empire on this trip (believe me, more is to come, and it even came up at stonehenge: side note--excavations at stonehenge reveal evidence that the romans used stonehenge too, well after the disappearance of neolithic people).


check out this plumbing on the ancient pool deck:


so much old stonework


another important thing we learned: the kids LOVE self guided audio tours with the hand held devices. who knew? this makes museum visits WAY more fun. it's like a whole new world has been opened up to us!




after wrapping up our visit to bath with a drive by the iconic apartment building the royal crescent,



we drove northeast to oxford. our plans in oxford included: picnic and punting on the cherwell river, a stroll around christchurch campus (or one of the many picturesque little colleges in the university at oxford), and a visit to an adventure playground in oxford.

BUT. but the season and the weather prevented us from punting and picnicking, the traffic and the crowds prevented us from getting anywhere near the campuses without more planning and time, and the adventure playground was inexplicably closed.

we had a pretty good lunch at the cherwell boathouse and inspected the punts that would take us NOWHERE, 

then we drove around in some seriously crazy traffic in the university area, got lost, argued, felt stress, and tried to appreciate the architecture we were driving past (not pictured. my phone was so busy giving us the wrong directions and causing strife that i couldn't be bothered to photograph anything). finally we arrived at the playground, slogged our way down a muddy lane all the while promising an awesome playground, and found....a locked gate.

and so, with heavy hearts and two tired, angry and bored children, we started our drive back to cobham. of course, our drive was through london's end-of-day commute standstill, and the BBC told us about the days' terrorist attack on the westminster bridge. it was a rough end of day.

the one bright spot of the drive home? this incredible rainbow.


we were quite relieved to get back to cobham, back to family, and back to sunshine and pjs and trampolines.