Bath - Day 1

We travelled to Bath today. This is home to Roman Baths, and Jane Austen, the author. On the way we had a beautiful drive through the Cotswald Hills region and we happened to stop in an awesome little town called Tetbury. There was a set of steps that line a road dating back to medieval times. I took some pictures of the buildings on main street that look like it could have been the inspiration for JK Rowlingwhen she was describing Diagone Alley in Harry Potter! I can't wait to show the pictures to Ashley, my HP expert to get her opinion. Once we arrived in Bath, we walked to the city center to visit the Roman Baths that date back to 20 AD. nearly 2000 years ago. They were amazing and remarkably complete and among the finest in England. It was built here for the hot springs which feed it (46 degrees year round) and are the only ,hot springs in England. We also visited the Abbey which was built in 1499, and is the last of the great medieval churches in England. Next we walked down to the Pulteney Bridge. This bridge together with the Pointe Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy, are said to be the most beautiful bridges, as they both are built with the shops on the bridge. The Pulteney Bridge is also said to be the most romantic bridge in the world! I am sure it would be on a sunny day, but armed with umbrellas in the pouring rain, it was not very romantic to me. Speaking of the rain, we have had 5 out of 7 days. Then today's newspaper says, "Three months of rain will fall in just three days. Britain is set to be battered by hurricane force winds of 80 mph from lunchtime today. Concerns of severe flooding.". The article went on to say this is the worst rain in a century! Jim's umbrella finally broke tonight, so far mine is hanging in there even though it has turned inside out more time than Jim's! LOL. At least Jim and I continue our tradition of traveling to areas that have extreme weather conditions. Everyone tells us that just 2weeks ago they had quite a heat wave. Tomorrow we plan to drive into South Wales and visit another castle.