More Bath!

Allie tackles the full English Breakfast

Hello again from Bath! Allie and LT report to you from their hotel room after an exhausting, but fun, day. It started off with the two going downstairs for breakfast, where not only did they have a giant selection of yogurts, cereals, spreads, and juices laid out, but they also had multiple options for breakfast! Pup ordered scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, while Allie had a vegetarian breakfast: scrambled eggs, two tomatoes, baked beans, and two vegetarian sausages. Oh, and they both had tea (Obviously. This is England, after all.)

This B&B is so wonderfully quiet and relaxing.  The walls are all painted a soft, creamy off white, with matching curtains that are pale brown, punctuated by bands of pale white, yellow and turquoise.  We sat at brown wicker chairs and there was none of the hustle and bustle one usually gets at a traditional British B&B where it can be crowded and noisy.  

Bath Abbey

After breakfast, the two came back upstairs, got their stuff together, and went down the hill and into Bath so they could attend the free walking tour that the city provides for tourists, starting in the Bath Abbey churchyard. They arrived early, however, (9:50ish instead of ten-thirty) so the father-daughter duo decided to wander around the abbey for a bit before going out to the churchyard. The cathedral is very old and beautiful, and they had an art display set up around the church, showing these illuminated pages and embroidered images that this one artist had done over the past year, or something like that. After Allie finished running around and taking photographs of everything, the two went outside to join the group of tourists that had been steadily growing in the churchyard.

The British artist was Sue Symon and she had selected 33 quotations from the gospels of Mark, Mathew, and Luke and done a dyptich-- one side composed of intricate hand illuminated lettering and the other side composed of equally intricate artistic embroidery --to illustrate significant moments in the life of Christ.  These panels were arranged in chronological order down the left nave of the abbey. 

The "Circus"

Little did they know that the next two hours would fill them with an amusing, wonderfully encapsulated history of Bath from its founding by the Romans in 43 AD to the death of Jane Austen in 1826.  Meeting near the Bath Abbey, we followed Roger our guide as he took our group of about 30 from the various Roman Baths, over to Kingsmead (site of LT's and Allie's favorite restaurant Mezzaluna), past the Theater Royal, up the gravel walk (prominent in Jane Austen's "Persuasion") to offer a breath-taking view of the Royal Crescent--33 three-story Georgian houses spread in an arc around a huge semi-circular lawn.  Roger, a true Brit in his early fifties, who began the morning wearing a blue blazer, but who, sensing the growing heat of the day, soon took it off and held it over his shoulder, kept peppering us with British jokes and conversation as we moved next to the "Circus" a perfect circle of three-story Georgian houses, fed into by three roads.  At each point where we stopped, he would say, "Right now.... here we are at......."  Roger gracefully pointed out that each story of the houses featured a different style column--basic doric on the bottom, ionic on the second floor, and flowery corinthian on the top floor.  Thus the Circus was a sort of "outside-in" version of the Roman Colloseum.  So for two hours, Roger was our personal guide to the glories of Bath.  It made LT feel like he at last understood and appreciated this very beautiful city. 

Allie on the lawns beside the Royal Crescent.

By the end of the two hour tour, LT and Allie were brimming with knowledge about Bath and their only regret was that they both wished they'd brought along some sun screen.  The weather in Bath has been sunny and even hot.  We were grateful that our guide Roger had used "shady" places in the streets to stop our group and give us the details of the scene. 

LT consumes modest dinner.

At 12:30PM when the tour ended with loud applause for Roger, they adjourned to Mezzaluna for lunch.  Allie had three different peppers on crostini and gnocchi with spinach and cream and dolcelatte sauce.  LT had mozzarella cheese wrapped up in Parma ham and topped with green pesto and then sea bream in a cream sauce with potatoes and carrots.  They split a tiramisu which both felt they had earned after walking around Bath's streets for two hours.

After lunch, they bought tickets to the actual ancient Roman Baths.  Unfortunately, they were very crowded with tourists, so it was really had to enjoy much.  They did discover, however, that Bath was an extremely special place to the Romans and they spent a great deal of time and effort in building and improving it during the 400 years they were here.  Evidently, Bath is the only natural hot spring in Northern Europe.  For the Romans of this era, Aqua Sulis Minerva--Bath--was a combination luxury spa--swimming pool and exercise center--religious center--since Minerva was a goddess--and holistic healing center.

Allie in Bath's baths.

Just about to walk up the drive to our B&B

Spa-d out, at 3:00PM they visited M&S's food court, where each bought their favorite salads, to be acompanied by fruit, and in LT's case by smoked salmon, and 1/4 bottle of Beaujolais.  They lugged these necessaries up across the hot squares and terraces of lower Bath, turned right at the train station, walked under the viaduct, climbed the 25 steps, and continued hiking up the include of the Wells Road.  In 20 minutes, they had gained the corner of Hedgeway street where their B&B is located.  They spent the rest of the afternoon reading, surfing the internet, writing this blog, and congratulating themselves on cramming so much enjoyable activity into 6 hours.

When the sun began to set over Bath valley, they watched a DVD of Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" on their room's flatscreen TV.  Starring the ever dapper Cary Grant, demure and devious Eve Marie Saint, and the very urbane James Mason, this movie kept them very entertained until it was time to turn out all the lights.