Busy Bustling Bath

Temple Meads Train Station, Bristol
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Bath is a place I had long imagined, it's the historical setting for secret rendezvous, summer time romance and many fairy tale endings.  But did the magical place I had woven in my mind live up to the reality?

At first, not so much, walking past vodaphone shops, large chain stores and boys on skate boards tearing up the pavement.

But as we explored further and came across the pump room with musicians playing to patrons drinking tea, eating scones and socializing the day away, the perfect bath I'd imagined began to emerge.

People enjoying the Pump Room
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It seemed that everyone was in bath to have fun, do Christmas shopping, meet up with friends and enjoy the good food and social atmosphere.

We saw (pretty much just walked past) the Roman Baths, Jane Austen Centre, Royal Crescent, Avon River and many little streets and parks.   Bath is definitely a place we will return to, exploring all these places in more depth.

We went to Bath particularly to see the Christmas Markets, which we did see, from a distance.  The crowds of people were so thick that we couldn't actually get close to any of the stalls.  Thankfully for us we can try again next year and this time not the last weekend of the market!

"Can I get anymore out of this mug?"
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After we had walked a considerable distance and the temperature was beginning to drop, I decided it was time for a warming drink of hot chocolate.  We came across a small, friendly cafe called Hardy's and enjoyed a most delicious and satisfying hot chocolate.

We caught the train to and from Bath, it was a short and comfortable ride of about 15 mins.  As we live in North Bristol however, we had to take a bus and another train to get to the main station, bring our total trip to just over an hour, still not too bad.