The Adventures of A & M: Rule One for Adventures

Rule one for adventures is take every opportunity veer from the plans. Matt's last Kelly day and subsequent days off we decided to take a road trip and visit the capitol of Austentopia (Alexis speak for the world of Jane Austen), Bath. On our road trip we had just exited the M25 heading onto the M4 and over the hills we saw a majestic, ginormous, and breath taking castle. Immediately Matt and I said I want to go there!!! So we took a side trip to Windsor Castle.

Ty getting psyched to start our day of fun!

Me ready to heel click my way up the hill to the castle.

A neat flag by part of the outer walls of the castle.

Still walking up the hill to get to the entrance.

Isn't it grand?

The moat garden that the royal family frequent.

Posing by our tour guide (we're such tourists :))

In front of the quadrangle where they used to have jousting tournaments back in medieval times.

Matt is living the dream imagining he is a soldier guarding the castle (not very foreboding is he?) He is in front of the Norman gate where they have spots to pour out hot oil onto the possible enemy invaders.

Matt in front of the church that Henry VIII and Jane Seymour are buried.

You can't tell but the guard was making goofy eyes as well. They do have a sense of humor!

Windsor Castle was a blast! We spent way more time then we planned on but it was so worth it and we still had to rush through things. Did you know that Windsor Castle is Queen Elizabeth II's favorite castle and she often chooses to reside there? Unfortunately she was taking holiday in Scotland while we were there. The inside of the Castle is so magnificent as well unfortunately pictures inside our not allowed. As Matt and I were walking through the Castle we kept looking at each other and saying things like this is too good to be true! It is absolutely worth every penny.

We then headed to our destination of Bath and got there after all the exhibits were closed but there was a beautiful day and still sunny out. We decided to walk around the city and figure out where all the sights were.

The second day we went straight to the Roman Baths and did their whole tour. It comes with a free audio guide and we were so enthralled that we completely lost track of time. We didn't realize that we were only 3/4 of the way through and we'd been in there for over 2 hours! Matt's a big fan of Roman history and lets face it who isn't a little intrigued by them? After the baths we tasted the "healing" spring waters and saw the Pump room (if you read Jane Austen novels then you'll know what I'm talking about). Then we did some walking around and went to the Jane Austen Center. We had just missed the tour and so we did some shopping in their gift shop and I took a picture with an employee. We were starved so we went to lunch and then headed to Lacock.

Me in front of the river and Pultney Bridge.

A beautiful park you actually had to pay to enter. It was that nice!


Ty and I at the Royal Circus. For those who don't know much about them, they are a row of 18th century homes build in a gigantic circle. They are 5 stories tall, the top floor being the servants quarters and the the rest were used by the rich home owner. Today they are apartments, each one having there own floor. Some of the homes even had two stories below ground for a total of 6 floors.

Here is Matt in front of the Royal Crescent. These homes are a little more luxurious then the previous homes.

Can you believe it?

look how stinkin cut he is!

Family photo in front of the largest roman bath there! It is so amazing how hot the water is!!!!

Part of the admission is you get to try the over ten thousand year old (hot) water for yourself. It was so gross but of course if you challenge Matt he is not going to back down. He succeeded in drink the entire glass! I could only stand a sip!

Here is a view of one the side baths you cant really tell but there are some bubbles coming up in the middle.

This is a Roman drainage system from the Baths into the river. It was steaming really good again you cant really tell in the pic.

Sitting in front of the main bath.

Ty and I in front of the Bath Abbey door.

A look inside the Abbey in bath. If you look close you can see Ty and I sitting in one of the pews.

We went out to lunch at a place called Garfunkel's It was pretty good. The coolest thing was they brought out a balloon for Ty and it just made his Day!!!!!!