Bath and Dreary London.

just got back from a two day excursion to bath. picturesque little town that is. arrived in the early afternoon and decided to have an orientation picninc break before setting off to explore. thank you marks and spencer for the 99p taster packs of cheddar and chorizo and sally lunn's for the sally lunn bun (a local specialty, that's basically a fluffy brioche-y thing). i tried to pace myself with all the sights but it turns out that bath is quite small and i managed to fit in a gallery, the fashion museum (snuck in for free), the circus roundabout and victoria park all in the afternoon. random wandering completed the day before a gruelling climb up a giant hill to get to my secluded mansion hostel. funny place. lots of old ladies. sat on a big leather couch and watched a miss marple mystery with some grannies.

the next day i woke up early and sat in a field near the hostel and ate jaffa cakes while taking in some views. jaffa cakes are great. the field smelt kind of farm-y and it wasn't until lazing in the grass for a while that i realized that the field was also a grazing ground for cows. there was cow shit everywhere. not on me luckily. but it made me think of this children's book i used to love about a girl who keeps asking her mom to buy her new and better markers (culminating in the "super indellible never come off till your dead or maybe even later" colouring markers), so that she could draw apples that looked realer than apples and oranges that looked realer than oranges and cow plops that looked realer than cow plops. cow poo really is very ploppy. but i digress...i continued on my way down a tree covered path to an old graveyard, which was really cool. mushy, peaty grass, overturned tombstones and an old abandoned abbey. it was overcast that morning so the whole thing had a really romantic, eerie quality to it.

headed back in to town, ate a pasty for breakfast (been eating too many of those lately) and looked at this interesting photo exhibit taking place in the main square of town called "the earth from the air". It's made up of all these amazing aerial shots of different regions of the world that are suffering from various ecological issues, trying to raise awareness about sustainability and how we're desecrating the earth's natural resources and the like. it's a touring exhibition and the website is earthfromtheair.com if you want to check it out. saw bath abbey, pretty majestic (and free, which was nice change of pace) and the roman baths (pretty ho-hum and overpriced). drank some of the healing thermal spa water. it tasted like a dirty hot tub. climbed another ferocious hill then found another, much sunnier, cemetary to explore and nap in. and then off to catch the bus home.

hm. two days in a small town and that's my most thorough post yet.

back in london now. it's raining. spending the day trying to book flights and hostels for paris and berlin. any thoughts on hostels with a curfew. all the good ones seem to have them and i don't like it. thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

now (drum roll please) i am going to post photos! in a bit.