Mark and I just came back from the loveliest trip to England. We created memories that I will cherish forever. It was my first time leaving the country and as someone who has always yearned to see and experience new cultures and places this was a dream come true for me. We could not have done this without a whole lot of people’s support, and we are so grateful for that, especially my parents. It is no small feat to leave your family for eleven days, especially when you have a kiddo with a lot of medical complexities, but we did it!
Shortly after Mark and I were married, we dreamed that for our 10th anniversary we would go somewhere international. We have dreamed of it ever since. Then once our 10th anniversary was coming along, we were still experiencing COVID and traveling internationally just didn’t seem like a good idea. It was also at the peak of Lydie’s diagnosis process, and we were physically and emotionally spent. So, we went to Jackson Hole instead, which was wonderful in its own way.
BUT we still hoped for an international trip. As that time came closer to our 15th anniversary, we wondered if it was possible or even right for us to think about this dream. We had always thought we would go to Peru, but in January we decided that we were indeed going to go on a trip and decided on England!
I truly don’t think we could have packed more into ten days, but we loved every minute of it. We fell in love with England. I will always think of tall green hedges, secret garden doors, creamy architecture, stunning cathedrals, fascinating history, and experiencing it all with Mark.
So, this is going to be a doozy of a journal experience for me. Luckily, I journaled every day, but there is so much more detail I want to remember. All in all, we calculated that we took over 200,000 steps on our trip and I took over 2,100 pictures! Don’t worry, a very good chunk of those pictures won’t make it through to the end, but I have a whole lot I want to remember. Wishing myself good luck as I journal every moment of this wonderful experience.
Journey to London
We were grateful that we were able to book a direct flight to London. It was hard to say goodbye to our kids. Really hard. But we knew they were in good hands. We got there early and spent a long time at the airport (because I was worried, of course). But it was a breeze. Our flight left Denver at 5:30 PM and it took us nine hours to get to merry, old England. The flight went great and went by much faster than I expected. Mark and I ended up having the whole row to ourselves, which was nice to use the extra seat to hold our coats.
I couldn’t sleep at all but surprisingly felt pretty good. We landed in London around 9:45 and started to make our way through Heathrow Airport. We boarded a train to Paddington Station in London. It was very busy! We roamed around a little bit and had a smoothie and a muffin. Then we started to crash hard and were feeling very tired.
Luckily, we were on the move again though. We boarded another train west to Bath. I learned on this trip that trains make me want to instantly go to sleep! I must have been quite the sight for anyone around us as I was fighting sleep. Mark gave in and slept most of the way, but I was so worried we would miss our stop, I tried hard to fight it!
Bath Walking Tour
We got to Bath and dropped off our luggage and went into the historic part of the city. They had a wonderful free walking tour that the city does and we loved it. It was the perfect activity to keep us moving and walking and the information was engaging and gave us a good taste for the history of the area. It rained and misted almost the whole time we were on our walk, and I just embraced the fuzzy wet hair look (which you will see for most of the entire trip).
We walked around the outside of the Roman Baths, learned a lot about the Georgian architecture and stonework of Bath – I love this architecture of balance and beauty. This is where I fell in love with the secret garden doors and hedges. We walked along the Jane Austin gravel walk, up to the Royal Crescent, the Circus, the old Roman wall, and to a Royal Mineral Water Hospital that is supposedly haunted. Then we ended at the Bath Abbey which was beautiful. We loved the angels climbing the ladder up to heaven.
The Circus and Royal Crescent
I must spotlight the Royal Crescent. This is such an incredible work of architecture. They were built by John Wood the Younger who took the work of his father (who pioneered the Georgian style) and created this beautiful arc of buildings. It is a semicircle row of 30 townhouses that is over 500 feet long and 50 feet tall. It is lined with Ionic columns and is beautifully symmetrical. The only change in symmetry is at the very center where there is an arched window and two pairs of columns. Beautiful.
Then you walk down the street into the Circus. This is a circular housing complex created by John Wood the Elder. It has 30 symmetrical townhouses arranged in a perfect circle. In the middle are huge plane trees. Each residence has five stories, and they were large enough that the upper class could be carried in on their sedan chairs. Another incredible part of it was the frieze, the continuous band of sculpted reliefs, all along the townhomes. There are 525 different panels. It is incredible. Mark really loved the Circus.
Pulteney Bridge and Parade Gardens
After our walk, we went over to the Parade Gardens. These were stunning. They are a relaxing place to walk around. They have a bandstand, statues, and beautiful flowers. There are many statues, including the founder of Bath (and his pig) and one of Mozart (there is a Mozart festival that takes place in Bath every year). There is even an old Victorian pet cemetery!
Pulteney Bridge was also unique with shops on both sides. When you are on the bridge, you wouldn’t even know it was a bridge with how it is laid out with the shops. The greatest view was from the Parade Gardens. The bridge was built in 1774 and was built in the same Georgian style that was being done throughout the town.
We then picked up our luggage and walked to our B&B. We were on the attic floor and bless Mark’s heart for carrying our luggage up three flights of tight stairs. We had an awesome view though and loved it.
We didn’t let ourselves get too settled though and walked down to The Scallop Shell for dinner. We had our first real bit of English food and had the traditional fish and ships. It also came with mashed peas (which made us think of Lydie). It was all really good! Then we had some sticky pudding with clotted cream ice cream for dessert and that was delicious!
We went back to our room, called the kids, and were in bed by 8!
