Bath with a visiting American

Last weekend I was excited to host my good University friend Savannah here in Bath during a whistle-stop tour in which she was visiting people across the country on a one-week trip from New York.

Obviously I wanted to make sure the best bit of her holiday was the part spent here in the lovely city of Bath, but she wasn’t going to make that easy for me having visited twice before and ‘done’ all the typical sights and museums.

Savannah and I in Bath

Its funny how having a visitor can make you look at things differently isn’t it? I was somewhat keen to stay away from the Christmas market, having felt that it was full of touristy tat and overpriced rubbish, but Savannah was keen so we had a look around and I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how many nice Christmas gifts we were able to get for a fairly reasonable price. I guess, though, that we were pretty lucky in missing the masses of crowds that generally make the market unbearable.

After a visit to the market we went to the Spa, which I was really keen to do having only been once before. Unfortunately Savannah had come to the UK via Reykjavik in Iceland, where she bathed in natural, open air hot springs, somewhat putting our baths to shame!

Sally Lunn's - where the welcome is always warm and the buns always tasty.

My newly negative feel about the baths was further exacerbated by a very crowded rooftop Royal Bath, lots of sand and dirt in the downstairs Minerva Bath, and a ridiculous locker system that seemed to be utterly confusing everyone. The lifts between floors were really slow so we ended up plodding up and down the stairs, freezing cold, trying to find the different pools. In all, it didn’t feel like an up-market, relaxing experience and I was pretty disappointed.

However Sally Lunn’s redeemed the day with a very warm welcome, a suitably old and impressive mini-museum, and lovely fresh cream teas. It was just what we needed as the day grew dark.

Our day was completed with a fun evening out, starting with cocktails at Door 34, followed by a visit to my favourite venue of the moment, the chic and lovely Opium where I got to introduce Savannah to some of my lovely Bath friends. All in all we had a great day – and as its now my turn I better get saving for my tickets to New York!