Day 2 - Bath

Today we slept in a bit.  The jet lag didn't help us to wake up early.  The plan was to go to Bath and see the sights.  Bath is a Georgian city with lots of history.  It is famous to me through the works of Jane Austen, particularly "Persuasion."  The films made based on this novel were filmed on location and I was keen to see the places I had enjoyed on TV.

  We finally made it out the door to have breakfast at the hotel around 9:30 or 10:00.  The lady at the desk recommended that we use the park and ride in the north side of Bath which makes getting in and it of the city much simpler!  We took her advise and headed down the road towards Bath.  It took about half an hour to get there.  It was way out in the country and we drove past some beautiful countryside and horse farms and even a race track!  When we got to the park and ride a lot of people were already there so we felt we were on the right track.

For a reasonable rate, we were able to ride the double decker bus into the city center.  We didn't know which way to start walking as we weren't entirely sure where we were.  We soon came across a bank and Mom went in to change some money.  She wasn't thrilled about the exchange rate, but at least she had some cash.  As we started back down the street, we came across a great map set up on the side walk so you could get your bearings and figure out which direction to go.  I wanted to head towards the Circus which is an architectural landmark in Bath, but Mom saw that we were close to a bridge and wanted to go there first.  It's a good thing we did because the bridge we were heading for was the Pulteney Bridge which is where there was a beautiful sit of the river including a part of it that looks like steps.

We took lots of pictures and then headed for the Circus.  There were lots of shops and street performers along the way.  We didn't have to walk to far before arriving there.  It was surprisingly quiet there.  A few tourists and some construction workers who seemed to be working on one of the townhouses.  There is a group of very large trees that grow in the center of the circus.

 As I mentioned, this is an architectural circus which has nothing to do with lions and acrobats.  The townhouses are in three crescent groups with streets in between each group.  All together, they make a complete circle.

After walking all the way around and taking lots more pictures, we handed down to the Royal Crescent.  This architectural landmark was made by the same man who made the Circus.  These townhouses make a giant crescent as the name implies.  There were lots more people here including a man dressed in 19th century garb who was chatting up the visitors and giving them historical tidbits.  One such item was that the leaders of the American Revolution came to Bath and sat in one of the rooms in the Royal Crescent to discuss the war, presumably with British leaders.

 This is also a part of bath used in the making of the 2007 version of Persuasion.

  After taking pictures there, too, we decided lunch time was calling our names.  We had seen a restaurant advertised on a street sign right outside of it that some travel magazine had rated them their favorite place to eat in Bath.  So we walked back by it and looked at the menu.  It looked good so we went in and had a nice lunch.

 Mom and I shared the fish of the day, sole, and grandma had a savory cheesecake which looked just like a slice of cheesecake as we know it, but it was salty and had vegetables in it.  We all  liked our food and afterwards, we went on to find the Roman Baths.  On our way, we passed the Jane Austen Centre which was on the to-do list!

 We went in and bought tickets to tour the facility.

 First we were treated to a discourse on the Austen family tree and the history of Jane's life and how it influenced her writing.  That was very interesting and I quickly picked up on all the references to her works.  I guess our tour guide noticed this because she commented to me about my attention and that I was quoting things along with her!  Then we went down to the exhibit and saw letters of Jane's, costumes from that era for both men and women including the militia.

There was also paraphernalia from different films featuring Jane Austen or her works.  There was even a letter from Emma Thompson, donating pictures from the set of Sense and Sensibility.  We looked through all of that fairly quickly as we still wanted to see the Roman Baths as well as the Pump Room, and the Assembly Rooms.

We found the first two easily.  People were going in to take tours even though is was quarter to five.  We were told they closed at six and that one and a quarter hours was not enough to do it all justice, but if we didn't mind that, they would let us in.

 So we went in and saw all kinds of history on the building of the baths and Roman life in those days.  First we walked around the walkway that is over top of the bath and was added hundreds of years later after the bath was discovered and re-opened.

At that time, new statues of Roman emperors who had something to do with Bath were created and added to the top.

Then we went down into the exhibit that had archeological artifacts found when the bath was discovered and what it tells us about Roman life in Bath.

There was even a skeleton found in a lead-lined coffin.

Once we got to the actual bath, it was truly amazing to see.  Even without the 20-foot ceiling that used to be there it was impressive!

On one end, the hot spring water flowed into the bath, on the other end, it flowed out to the river.  I bent down and touched the water and it was nice and warm.  The color of the water now is rather green due to algae which was not a problem back when the Romans were using it as the sunlight was blocked by the sunlight.  One of the gentlemen who worked there was very kindly offering to take pictures for the visitors with their cameras and he obliged us as well.

Then, when he saw how carefully Grandma had to walk over the stone floor that was very uneven, he gallantly offered her his arm and escorted her to the exit.  Very charming!

Overall, it was a great experience.  By then, we were getting tired and a bit hungry, so Mom suggested that we stop in the Pump Room and have tea.  Since this is a placed I wanted to visit so badly, we all agreed and went inside.

 We were served a nice English tea where the leaves are in the water and the tea has to be poured out through a strainer.  Mom ordered a slice of Black Forest Cherry Cake and Cocoa.  I had scones with Devonshire Clotted Cream and Jam.  It was heavenly!  I got Grandma to try half of one scone which she loved!

There was a pianist playing soft classical music at one end.  The room is large with high ceilings.  There are great portraits of very important looking people on the walls.  On the opposite wall from where we were sitting there is a small fountain with spring water which I believe is the "pump" from which the room gets it's name.

Back in Jane Austen's day (and probably before and after as well) people could come to this room, fill a cup with the water from the pump, and drink.  It was reputed to be able to cure many rheumatic and other conditions.

The pump room - Persuasion - 2007

After our tea, we walked back to the bus stop and awaited our ride back to the park and ride.  On the way back to our hotel, we stopped to get fuel and we tried to find a store that would sell a power cable for my computer.  After MULTIPLE wrong turns that felt like endless round-a-bouts, we finally found the store.  It had closed an hour before.  So we went a short distance from there to eat something light at an Italian restauarant called Bella Italia and then back to our hotel and to bed.