Bath-ing

My flatmate's mother is visiting, which is quite stressful. They argue with each other a lot, which offends my British sensibilities. On Tuesday night they were having an argument about what to do on Wednesday. They wanted to go to Bath, but train tickets were extraordinarily expensive, and the mother suggested that she rent a car. My flatmate freaked out because they are from America and as such drive automatic cars on the wrong side of the road. So she exclaimed that there was no way she was going to get into a 'stick shift' car that her mother was driving on British soil.

Gallantly, I stepped in and I accidentally agreed to drive to Bath.

God bless the boys at Enterprise in Hammersmith as they dealt with a rather insane French-American woman with good grace and humour, giving us an upgrade and 10% discount.

So, we all squeezed into our rental car - me, the mother, the flatmate and my boyfriend who had haplessly agreed to come along - and we set off for Bath.

About 2 hours later we arrived in Bath, parked up at the big car park (£1 an hour) and got out to explore the cleanest town in Britain.

If you've never been to Bath, then it's certainly worth a visit. It's more worth a visit if you have an interest in any of the following:

The Romans
Jane Austen
Georgian architecture
Thermal water
Spas
The history of public bathing

It's a beautiful town which breathes with its own history. Any TV or film adaptation of an Austen novel is always filmed here. Highlights are:

The Roman Baths (£10 entry) and the Pump Room.
Royal Crescent (£5 for museum)
The Circus
Thermae Bath Spa (sessions from £13)
Bath Abbey (suggested donation £2)