As Promised....Bath Part 1-Our Home

I must say that we had a true European Vacation with the rental car and all. We flew Ryan Air, which if you know anything about cheap European airlines, then not much explanation is needed. But, for those of you who think that the US has cheap airlines, in the sense, that they cost a fortune and you get squeezed into a miniature sized seat...this is NOT what I mean by cheap. Europe has a few airlines out there that cost hardly anything, but the plane is pretty bare. 

No carpeted floors.

No food.(unless you buy from there)

No drink (unless you buy from their menu).

No fancy boarding passes, no fancy gates, in fact nothing fancy at all. 

The one thing they did have was smokeless cigarettes that you could buy. But, I don't smoke, so I didn't try them....afraid that I'd get addicted, which I could totally see happening to me. And I have enough habits that drive me and the Hub crazy, so I don't need to add another one. =)  

Simple and clean.

I honestly felt like we were getting ready to board a bus or train as we stood in line to walk between two airplanes to board ours.  

Smooth flight. Next to the car rental place. We had rented a car online. We knew to get a larger car with 4-5 doors.  I had packed fairly light, considering that I was packing for:

1. a family of 5

2. winter and summer because the weather changes that drastically.

3. Matthea's needs (food and diapers)

But, if you look at the picture below you will see that we almost didn't have room. The stroller would not fit into the truck even without luggage, so it was laid across two carry on bags in front of the kids. Thankfully they are still little enough that putting their feet on the bags was not uncomfortable.

Our little rental car all packed up.

Our drive was about three hours long and it was not my favorite part.  But after we got off the freeway and rounded a few corners I got my first view of Bath. I was stunned by all the buildings that dotted the hillside. 

We lived on Great Pultney Road, just up from the City Centre. The road was lined on both sides of the street with huge stone buildings. It was like a fortress wall reaching to the sky with each door as an individual soldier saluting the pedestrians that strolled by. 

Great Pultney Road...#23 is my son.

Our flat was on the fourth floor with no elevator. I'm not complaining, just if you know Matthea's needs then having no elevator makes it a bit of a hassle, but doable. She got quite good at climbing up.

We lived at #16.
Meg recognized our door from the others because the paint was coming off of ours.
She called it "The broken door". 

Our flat was two bedroom, one bathroom, and completely furnished. The kitchen had a stove, fridge, and microwave. We had access to the washing machine and dryer. It really was just perfect for us.  

Our living room with a small fireplace that worked, but we never used it.

The view from our flat was great. Lots of green! From the living/dining room the flat overlooked a small park, Henrietta Park.  Past that we could look up at the hill lined with trees and more Gregorian style houses. The bedrooms overlooked Great Pultney. But if you stuck out your head and looked towards the City Centre, you could see the top of the Bath Abby.

The view from the dining room window. I LOVED the green!