Today, Monica and I took a day-trip to Bath (so named because of the Roman baths that were built there). We'd bought a train ticket a few days earlier for £38. Although the train was scheduled to leave at 10, we set out earlier in case there were any tube troubles, but everything was running on time and we got to Paddington without any difficulties.
While we were waiting for the train, I had a Krispy Kreme donut for £1.10. That's kind of an expensive donut, now that I think of it. :-)
It's about an hour train ride from London to Bath, passing through several smaller centres. We got a look at some of the English countryside - some small towns with similar brick row housing and the church spire standing above everything else. The countryside is quite densely populated in comparison to Canada - you can walk from one town to the next. Everything was very green, and the farms are separated by hedgerows. We saw a few fields of canola (trust people from Saskatchewan to recognize that!).
All in all, everything was going swimmingly. And then the train came to a halt. And sat there for a while. The conductor said it would be a few minutes. And then he said, it would be soon. And then he said we'd get going as soon as possible, once they found out what the problem was. The problem was apparently some animals on the track ahead. Well, go out there and shoo them off! They didn't specify what kind of animals - but they don't have bears, so how bad could it be? Shoo! Shoo! Anyway, after about 20 minutes delay, the train started back up again.
Once we arrived at Bath, Monica decided we'd better go to the Roman Baths first, as there were already quite a few tourists milling about. We walked past the very imposing Bath Abbey to the Roman Baths. When we arrived, we had to hurry to get in ahead of the massive tourgroup of small children. £10 to get in. The current structures (stone columns and upper walkways) are built over and around the original Roman buildings; however, the bathing pools themselves are still there, and all of the stonework down by the pools was done by the Romans. The tour leads you around an upper balcony surrounding the main bath, then in through the building where you can see artifacts, and in some places, the original Roman supports and flagstones. You eventually come out by the main baths, although you aren't allowed to go in.
Hordes of tourists. Monica was particularly unimpressed with the French teenagers (who were quite irritating). Neil and Geraldine later told us that the Roman Baths are now one of the top tourist attractions in the country.
Then off to the Pump Room for lunch. It is a very beautiful room, built in the 1800s, I believe, and a relatively expensive restaurant. The better to keep unruly children away... My lunch of Smoked Salmon Carbonera, with a Chocolate Sponge cake for dessert, cost £20. Monica made a few dire comments about "hemmoraging money." Get used to it, baby!
Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention: the waters at Bath are supposed to have healing properties. In the 1800s, people would come to Bath to drink the water there, and if that didn't cure them, well, then nothing would! So Monica insisted I buy some of the famous water. They brought me a glass with my lunch, and I immediately exclaim, "It's warm!" Like Bath-water warm. HAHAHAHAH! (Sorry.) Anyway, duh - yes, it's warm - it's from a hot spring, you idiot.
I drank the water. It kind of tastes like hot iron. Kind of yucky. Monica laughs and laughs. She drank the water last time. She knows it tastes bad. I drank most of the glass, then let her take the rest. She said it was as bad as she remembered, then started to get an allergic reaction. Drink it and live forever... or die immediately.
After lunch, we walked up to see The Circus, which was where all of the "polite society" resided (aka "rich people"), and it's probably still that kind of neighbourhood. It's a large circular court, with a small park in the centre and three identical buildings curving around it. Almost all of the housing in Bath is row housing - a lot of white or tan stone, usually three or four stories high, with basement suites (where the servants would live, of course). Most of the buildings are very uniform, done in the same kind of stone, and they run all the way along these winding streets on the hills. The Circle was on a bit of a plateau, above the lesser-incomed rabble.
Nearby were the Bath Assembly Rooms and the Museum of Costume. The Assembly Rooms are simply large ornate halls (with huge crystal chandeliers) that people would rent for balls or social events. The staff were in the process of setting one up for a reception, so it looks like you can still rent them.
The Museum of Costume had a great collection of clothing. Our favourite part, however, was an interactive exhibit where they let you try on some corsets. (They added modern buckles to the back so that you could cheat and put them on quickly.) I apparently found the only one that would fit Monica or I, and managed to put it on. Monica was left to forage among the very large and very small sizes. When she found an only slightly too small size, we tried to put that one on her. I am kneeling on the floor, pulling as hard as I can, yelling "Don't breathe", while she sucks in and we both try not to laugh. Finally, I got it fastened. (I think I displaced her kidney in the process, but whatever.) Whew. Monica can't breathe. I'm sure the whole museum heard us laughing. A kind stranger takes our picture.
After the Museum of Costume, we wandered down a few streets and found the Jane Austen centre and decided to go in. The tour guide admitted that "Jane Austen lived in Bath. Jane Austen hated Bath, and eventually escaped to live in Southampton with her brother." However, a lot of her stories do reference Bath, particularly 'Persuasion' and 'Northanger Abbey'. Other than the speech, there wasn't much to see. You wandered around the rest of the house, and there were a few exhibits, and a little film. Monica thought it was way overpriced at £6.
We'd seen a church spire way up in the hills, and decided to head uphill to see if we could get a good view of the city. Up and up - reminded me of going to Sacre Couer in Paris. Doesn't matter which streets you take, you just keep heading uphill. It was a warm sunny day, and we were toiling uphill, and I was beginning to wish that I'd worn shorts. Every now and again, you'd reach an open area, and get a great view of the city lining the hills below. We got to the church, wandered through the garden, and decided that was far enough, so we headed back down.
We followed a number of winding streets downward - much easier - and thankfully, a cooler wind had started blowing. We stepped out near another court, and on the slope just below there were sheep and goats grazing - definitely had to stop and take pictures of that!
However, as we were making our way downhill, we were eventually getting off track, and were definitely outside of the tourist areas. What was our first clue? The gas stations and computer repair shops instead of the "Fine Souvenirs of Bath". A local interrupted Monica and I to give us some directions before we "had a row". :-) Eventually, we got back on track, but - alas! - Bath is like Broadway Avenue. It closes at 5 p.m. Pooey. We window-shopped a bit (probably all we could afford, anyway), and couldn't even find a place to eat except a Cafe in the train station. Caught our train back to London at 6:12, and fortunately this time no one had left their cow on the train tracks.
How to end this lovely day of walking? I decided to have a bath. (Hee hee!) They have a lovely clawfoot bath tub here. And, much to my amusement, I discovered that the bathroom scale weighs you in "stone". I am much lighter in stone than I am in pounds. Whee!
While we were waiting for the train, I had a Krispy Kreme donut for £1.10. That's kind of an expensive donut, now that I think of it. :-)
It's about an hour train ride from London to Bath, passing through several smaller centres. We got a look at some of the English countryside - some small towns with similar brick row housing and the church spire standing above everything else. The countryside is quite densely populated in comparison to Canada - you can walk from one town to the next. Everything was very green, and the farms are separated by hedgerows. We saw a few fields of canola (trust people from Saskatchewan to recognize that!).
All in all, everything was going swimmingly. And then the train came to a halt. And sat there for a while. The conductor said it would be a few minutes. And then he said, it would be soon. And then he said we'd get going as soon as possible, once they found out what the problem was. The problem was apparently some animals on the track ahead. Well, go out there and shoo them off! They didn't specify what kind of animals - but they don't have bears, so how bad could it be? Shoo! Shoo! Anyway, after about 20 minutes delay, the train started back up again.
Once we arrived at Bath, Monica decided we'd better go to the Roman Baths first, as there were already quite a few tourists milling about. We walked past the very imposing Bath Abbey to the Roman Baths. When we arrived, we had to hurry to get in ahead of the massive tourgroup of small children. £10 to get in. The current structures (stone columns and upper walkways) are built over and around the original Roman buildings; however, the bathing pools themselves are still there, and all of the stonework down by the pools was done by the Romans. The tour leads you around an upper balcony surrounding the main bath, then in through the building where you can see artifacts, and in some places, the original Roman supports and flagstones. You eventually come out by the main baths, although you aren't allowed to go in.
Hordes of tourists. Monica was particularly unimpressed with the French teenagers (who were quite irritating). Neil and Geraldine later told us that the Roman Baths are now one of the top tourist attractions in the country.
Then off to the Pump Room for lunch. It is a very beautiful room, built in the 1800s, I believe, and a relatively expensive restaurant. The better to keep unruly children away... My lunch of Smoked Salmon Carbonera, with a Chocolate Sponge cake for dessert, cost £20. Monica made a few dire comments about "hemmoraging money." Get used to it, baby!
Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention: the waters at Bath are supposed to have healing properties. In the 1800s, people would come to Bath to drink the water there, and if that didn't cure them, well, then nothing would! So Monica insisted I buy some of the famous water. They brought me a glass with my lunch, and I immediately exclaim, "It's warm!" Like Bath-water warm. HAHAHAHAH! (Sorry.) Anyway, duh - yes, it's warm - it's from a hot spring, you idiot.
I drank the water. It kind of tastes like hot iron. Kind of yucky. Monica laughs and laughs. She drank the water last time. She knows it tastes bad. I drank most of the glass, then let her take the rest. She said it was as bad as she remembered, then started to get an allergic reaction. Drink it and live forever... or die immediately.
After lunch, we walked up to see The Circus, which was where all of the "polite society" resided (aka "rich people"), and it's probably still that kind of neighbourhood. It's a large circular court, with a small park in the centre and three identical buildings curving around it. Almost all of the housing in Bath is row housing - a lot of white or tan stone, usually three or four stories high, with basement suites (where the servants would live, of course). Most of the buildings are very uniform, done in the same kind of stone, and they run all the way along these winding streets on the hills. The Circle was on a bit of a plateau, above the lesser-incomed rabble.
Nearby were the Bath Assembly Rooms and the Museum of Costume. The Assembly Rooms are simply large ornate halls (with huge crystal chandeliers) that people would rent for balls or social events. The staff were in the process of setting one up for a reception, so it looks like you can still rent them.
The Museum of Costume had a great collection of clothing. Our favourite part, however, was an interactive exhibit where they let you try on some corsets. (They added modern buckles to the back so that you could cheat and put them on quickly.) I apparently found the only one that would fit Monica or I, and managed to put it on. Monica was left to forage among the very large and very small sizes. When she found an only slightly too small size, we tried to put that one on her. I am kneeling on the floor, pulling as hard as I can, yelling "Don't breathe", while she sucks in and we both try not to laugh. Finally, I got it fastened. (I think I displaced her kidney in the process, but whatever.) Whew. Monica can't breathe. I'm sure the whole museum heard us laughing. A kind stranger takes our picture.
After the Museum of Costume, we wandered down a few streets and found the Jane Austen centre and decided to go in. The tour guide admitted that "Jane Austen lived in Bath. Jane Austen hated Bath, and eventually escaped to live in Southampton with her brother." However, a lot of her stories do reference Bath, particularly 'Persuasion' and 'Northanger Abbey'. Other than the speech, there wasn't much to see. You wandered around the rest of the house, and there were a few exhibits, and a little film. Monica thought it was way overpriced at £6.
We'd seen a church spire way up in the hills, and decided to head uphill to see if we could get a good view of the city. Up and up - reminded me of going to Sacre Couer in Paris. Doesn't matter which streets you take, you just keep heading uphill. It was a warm sunny day, and we were toiling uphill, and I was beginning to wish that I'd worn shorts. Every now and again, you'd reach an open area, and get a great view of the city lining the hills below. We got to the church, wandered through the garden, and decided that was far enough, so we headed back down.
We followed a number of winding streets downward - much easier - and thankfully, a cooler wind had started blowing. We stepped out near another court, and on the slope just below there were sheep and goats grazing - definitely had to stop and take pictures of that!
However, as we were making our way downhill, we were eventually getting off track, and were definitely outside of the tourist areas. What was our first clue? The gas stations and computer repair shops instead of the "Fine Souvenirs of Bath". A local interrupted Monica and I to give us some directions before we "had a row". :-) Eventually, we got back on track, but - alas! - Bath is like Broadway Avenue. It closes at 5 p.m. Pooey. We window-shopped a bit (probably all we could afford, anyway), and couldn't even find a place to eat except a Cafe in the train station. Caught our train back to London at 6:12, and fortunately this time no one had left their cow on the train tracks.
How to end this lovely day of walking? I decided to have a bath. (Hee hee!) They have a lovely clawfoot bath tub here. And, much to my amusement, I discovered that the bathroom scale weighs you in "stone". I am much lighter in stone than I am in pounds. Whee!
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