Bath (Part Due) and The Cotswolds

A couple weekends ago, I took what I consider to be the most idyllic trip through the British countryside possible. In addition to a return trip to Bath (where my friend Dave has a house), we added on a day driving through the Cotswolds. Oh, and I ended up getting so carsick that I actually had to pay to throw up.....but we'll get to that in a minute. ;)

England does Christmas well. And the town of Bath is known for it's Christmas markets. Nevermind that Dave and his English aunt and uncle mercilessly made fun of us for wanting to go into the busy town with tons of tourists to see the markets. I still hadn't been to a lot of the charming British towns (Oxford, Windsor, The Cotswolds), so I convinced Dave to bring a heard of girls and we were set on going to the markets!  My friends Cadence and Allie joined on this trip (another case of friend-merging!), and it was pretty cool to see Bath all decorated for Christmas compared to our last trip in the summer.

See how excited Dave looks to be there! Cadence is in the middle and Allie is on the right.

I LOVE this stuff. I know it's cheesy. I. Don't. Care. Getting mulled wine and walking from stall to stall is so festive!

I also found my old buddy from the last trip! He hasn't moved in 6 months!!

I also particularly liked the clear naming of this inn. You know, the Old New Inn!?

One of my favorite things about Dave's place is that it's out in the middle of the countryside. I sort of love our "tradition" of waking up, making breakfast and just relaxing. We had some of the best breakfasts with a view both days!

Sunday we drove through "The Cotswolds". This is not a city (somehow I mistakenly thought it was), but a region of the British countryside made up of a bunch of small little towns with incredible names like Clapton-on-the-Hill, Bourton-on-the-Water, Moreton-on-Marsh, and the Upper and Lower Slaughters. I don't know why, but I found these names to be quite entertaining.

Some of the towns were so small that you blinked and drove through them. For example, I thought we were in Peti France, but next thing I know it said we were leaving Beverstone which in and of itself was only 15 houses! Throughout our drive, I was amazed by how much color was still on the trees in comparison to what I'm used to in the U.S. There were still green fields and orange and red leaves! I loved it!

Maybe not the greatest example of colorful trees, but look at the green grass in December!

I loved that we could stop at one town, jump out, grab a coffee, walk around for 45 minutes and jump back in the car.

Cadence was an excellent navigator using an actual printout atlas, which I'm pretty sure no one except my dad still owns! ;)

Our first stop was the town of Tetbury, which is apparently famed for it's Chipping Steps. http://www.cotswolds.info/places/tetbury.shtml

Cadence and Dave found a really TALL door....

We also encountered a very WISE sign I quite liked..

The next town was my favorite...

Everything about this town is exactly what you picture the Cotswolds to be. HOWEVER, I must tell you that after driving along windy, skinny roads while sitting in the backseat for two hours I was starting to get carsick. Next thing I know we're in the carpark at Bourton-on-the-Water ready to go walk around, and I'm hunched over the tire of our rental car. Not ideal. Solution? Go to the toilets on the edge of the carpark. Problem? It costs money to use this nicely-upkept public toilet. So in the end what did I do? Yep...you guessed it. I paid good British money to get into that stupid toilet so I could get rid of my carsickness. Sigh...

Resuming the story....Bourton-on-the-Water was simply the best. If you ever have the opportunity to go, you must! I'd love to spend longer there someday.

Mulled wine makes everything more fun!

We ended our trip driving back to London through Oxford. Unfortunately it was too dark to see much of the town. But we did find the cutest possible pub to get dinner at....complete with a Christmas tree, fireplace and board games. (I may or may not have gotten reprimanded for building the fire which apparently is not allowed by customers...)

All of my travels certainly have been amazing, and one of my favorite things about living here in London. But until you spend a day driving through the countryside, it's easy to forget how great a trip through the hills can be in comparison to the more elaborate trips I've taken. I definitely hope to return to The Cotswolds again!

No Hablo Espanol!

Last week Dan came to visit and we went on a 5 day trip to Spain. I'd never been to Spain, so after a lot of spreadsheets comparing the pros and cons of different locations... heehee.. we agreed on Spain. We went to Sevilla for 4 days and Barcelona for one. FYI - even thought it's spelled Seville, it's pronounced Sevilla, so that's how I'll be referencing it. (Everyone gets really confused about this if I don't explain!)

I actually remember in college when I took Italian for my language requirement that the first semester I would get super confused at times and accidentally say some things in Spanish because the two languages were so similar (I took Spanish in high school). Let's just say this entire trip was me accidentally speaking Italian instead of Spanish. Add on top of that the fact that some Spanish dialects (especially those who live in Barcelona) sound like they are speaking with a lisp (lithp), haha, and my ability to speak Spanish was ALL thrown off. I barely managed a "Grathias" here and there before cracking up. Dan was not so amused. ;)

So for Sevilla.... I'd be lying if I said we didn't have to adjust our plans for a romantic getaway some. Poor Dan got the worst stomach flu the second we got to Spain. Picture being in a foreign country whose food range includes: tapas with spicy and cream-based sauces, seafood and chorizo. Let's just say Dan did a lot of watching me eat. This is especially sad (for Dan) because I realized that I am obsessed with everything about tapas (which means I raved about it constantly). On top of the fact that they are delicious, they are small portions of a lot of food. Perfect for me who likes to try a little of everything (and usually force my friends to share their food with me so I can try everything)! I wish Americans would adopt this style of eating more!

What? You're not used to seeing this much jamon!?

Anyway, even though Sevilla was a bit chillier than either of us planned for, I must say there were a few things that made it absolutely awesome!

1. It was sunny every single day. All day. Every day. Nothing like London! We even watched the sunrise from our private rooftop terrace one morning! 

   

   View of the Cathedral from our terrace!

   

   This is the view of the other direction from our terrace! Pretty amazing! 

2. Tapas and wine are dirt cheap! Seriously. Like £2 glasses of wine and £2.50 tapas!
3. So much green space! Parks everywhere and an awesome running path along the water! 

   

   I went on a run along this path the first day and loved it!

   

   As the sun set over the path this is the view....

   

   This is how my run ended with sun setting over the river!

   

   Also this was the huge park on the edge of the old town that was so pretty!

4. Bikes and mopeds ride on the sidewalk!? I'm not sure why this was so exciting to me, but it was.
5. The orange trees! I want to go back when they are in bloom. They are so cool! 
   
   
   

   

   The city itself was so pretty and charming. It reminded me of Italy in so many ways, which is probably part of why I liked it so much. Here are a few of my favourite pictures from this part of the trip….

Plaza (which I kept wanting to call "piazza") Espana

Yes, I took a selfie. I was exploring alone!

Some pretty cool views of the cathedral!

In front of the "Tower of Gold"

I told you it was always sunny!

This was on our walk to the other side of the river - the Triana side. We had some awesome mussels and relaxed with this view!

They do the lockets here too! Unfortunately, we didn't have any with us. Here's hoping that doesn't mean we'll never return.

We also went and saw a Flamenco show that I thought was so cool! I wish we would've had more time to go see another!

 The last night in Sevilla was probably my favourite. We had (ahem, I had) some of the best and most unusual tapas of the entire trip capped off with us stumbling upon a local bar with a Spanish jazz band playing. Perfect evening!

Thanksgiving day we headed to Barcelona for a quick last day there!!!

Finally! A Spanish stamp on my passport!

Dan has already been, so we decided on Sevilla for most of the trip, but a final stop in Barcelona. Obviously our time there was limited so we only got to do a little bit, but the two best things were the neighbourhood - El Born - that we stayed in...

and hands down La Sagrada Familia. Honestly I could rave about this basilica for ages! For someone who lived in Italy for 4 months and basically visited every Catholic church ever built (ok, I exaggerate), I didn't think it would be easy to surprise me. However this church designed by Gaudi is literally the coolest thing I've ever seen! If you are EVER in Barcelona, GO! You must! It's incredible!!!

The exterior of the basilica. If you ever go, definitely opt for pre-purchased tickets! You skip a huuuuge line!

One of the three facades of the church.

This is the inside ceiling. The pillars are designed to look like trees in nature supporting the church.

The attention to color in this church was simply amazing! It all represented something, and the entire inside was illuminated beautifully!

This is Dan and I on our audio guide of the church!

This panorama is my best attempt at showing how incredible this church is!

Thanksgiving Day was started out at a local craft beer bar which brought out pinxtos while we were there. While they were delicious, they were actually vegan also. Sooo….no turkey for us. Then we did a bit of a tapas bar crawl and hit a couple more places out eating our way through the neighbourhood. Dan was feeling a little better by then, so he participated in about 1/4 of the eating as compared to me.

The rest of our last day we spent just walking through the main parts of the city. It was quite a contrast to Sevilla and I'm so glad we went, even for just a day.

Views from the top of a hotel we went to for drinks on the terrace.

Looking at the rooftop of La Sagrada Familia

The famous 'Ramblas" street.

Ending the trip on a good note! Forcing Dan to pose in pictures with me at Placa de Catalunya!