Days 7 to 9 – Travel, Bath, and Oxford

I have been hopelessly remiss in updating this blog with the rest of my trip. I could not manage to update this for the rest of the time we were in England because we had far too much packed into our schedule. I am hoping to get the rest of the trip posted before the new year. I know it has been an extremely long time since this trip but here’s hoping I can remember enough to entertain you.

The seventh day of our adventure was entirely devoted to travel. We made the decision to go from Cork to Bath in one day. We both agreed we would definitely do this differently the next time. We took a train from Cork to Dublin and then hopped on the ferry to Holyhead. I definitely recommend taking the ferry over, it was beautiful and relaxing and if you wished to brave the wind you could go up top and enjoy the water passing by. Both of our phones were dying on the way so I don’t have good pictures of the crossing but here’s what I got.

Not much I know. From Holyhead we got right on a train and attempted to make our way to Bath. This meant we got on about four different trains and because there was a major delay we ended up missing the last train from Bristol to Bath and had to take a taxi instead. It was an unbelievably exhausting day! By the time we got to Bath it was past midnight. We went straight to bed, which is a shame because it was a Friday night and there was definitely festivities going on but when you are tuckered out you need sleep. My recommendation (and what we should have done) is taking a stop somewhere in Wales. We passed through the Welsh countryside in the train and it was beautiful. We both agreed that we would have really enjoyed spending some time there and then the travel would not have been as daunting.

Our eighth day was split between Bath and Oxford. In the morning we explored the absolutely gorgeous city of Bath. As we were walking though the city I could really picture myself there. It was a lovely meld of city and peaceful country. Seriously it was breathtaking!

A bit blurry but gorgeous!

The abbey was extraordinary.

All that green!

Look at the street! It’s so pretty!

This was a park right by the place we stayed

Another angle of the Abbey

It was an absolutely lovely day!

We had two goals while we were in Bath. We wanted to go to the Jane Austen Centre, which was a really nice treat. It was smaller than I was expecting but it had some very cool memorabilia from the movies. They also have a regency tea room which I highly recommend. We had a lovely meal and it was a great experience to have tea in Bath.

The entrance to the centre. We ended up being in town for the Jane Austen Festival so there were tons of people dressed up in full regency attire.

They have a life-sized wax figure of Jane Austen which was a bit creepy I will admit.

The menu. This is my trying to take fancy pictures.

Mandatory pic with my tea.

Isn’t she lovely!

Look at this spread. And it was DELICIOUS!

We unexpectedly ended up being in Bath during the annual Jane Austen Festival which was a lovely experience. When we were walking through the streets we would just see people dressed in full regency attire. I got very excited and really wanted to join them but I did not have proper outfits. Next time I shall pack a formal dress or some such thing.

Our last stop before we left was the Roman Baths which was extraordinary. If you are in Bath you should definitely go see them. The amount of history and the way they are preserved astounds you. They provide audio devices which I highly encourage taking full advantage of. They allow you to take your time and really learn more about the things you are interested in. We both took time in certain rooms that resonated with us and I learned so much. I have a thirst for knowledge and it was definitely satisfied through this excursion.

Look at the view!

The Bath!

They have a projector that fills in what the completed structure would look like and it shifts through semi-different designs which was very cool.

I love this underground waterfall.

It is amazing how warm the water is. They say you aren’t supposed to put your hand in but hey I’m a rebel!

I absolutely adored Bath! I will definitely be returning and hopefully able to spend some more time in this beautiful place. Hmmm….maybe I will apply to the university there…

We caught a train to Oxford in the afternoon. We had to make one connection but it was a very easy journey. We got to the city in the late afternoon/early evening and made the trek to our hotel which was part of the University. It was a very nice place but we were on the third floor and there are no elevators. Oh, also did I mention that my suitcase had broken in Galway and by this point I was pretty much dragging it around with me? The cobblestones in Oxford almost destroyed my arms! We went to a cute pub that night that had absolutely delicious food and we were planning on going out on the town after but I was under the weather so we ended up staying in. I’m still disappointed that we missed the Saturday night opportunity, but that’s life! The next morning we explored the city a bit, unfortunately because it was Sunday we couldn’t really go in anywhere. We also walked through a section of street where they were filming something set in the 1960s which was really cool to witness so there was that.

This is the pub we went to Saturday night. We almost walked right passed it because it was down an alley but definitely recommend it. It’s called The Crown.

Oxford has some incredible buildings.

This is where they were filming. The man in the centre was part of the crew and they were holding pedestrian traffic while they filmed a car coming down the street.

Another lovely building.

Doesn’t it look like Hogwarts?

The streets in Oxford are really wonderful. It feels like you are in an entirely different time.

More beautiful buildings. I wish I remembered what they all were…

All in all Oxford was truly beautiful but a let down after being in Bath. As my cousin said when I was talking to him about it, if I had gone to Oxford first it would have been a very different reaction and I probably would have fallen in love with it.

Once we explored Oxford we picked up our things from the hotel and headed to the train station and were on our way to Surrey. That will be part of the next update. Hopefully I will get to it very soon.

Again I am disappointed in myself for how delayed this blog post was.

Until next time!

~Sara D’Agostino