OK, magically we are back, after a day of exploring. Our first impression, having arrived at night, has now been completely wiped out. The street where our hotel is, that seemed so forbidding, is now home base. Far from being a traffic laden boulevard, it actually is almost traffic free, as is all of central Bath, much unlike Oxford. Our place seems to share the neighbourhood with 4 million pound townhouses, and Jane Austen's (former!) flat is just around the corner.
Although cars are mostly out of the picture, the tourists seem a bit more of a bug. Its not that the swarms of them are any denser than in London or Oxford, but they seemed to block our way more today than normal. Even the open topped tour busses, clustered around the Abbey, always seemed to be in the photo. Of course, we are just shopping bag toting, shorts wearing, dopes like the rest of them, so we have no claim to any sort of annoyance.
Bath has fulfilled our expectations, a touch more for Dodie than for me. The reason for the difference is that while it is way beyond in WOW factor anything we have seen back home, it is on the surface slightly less WOW than Oxford. So if you truly do not know what you are looking at and have not read all the books set here, you are somewhat less WOWED.
With that said, here are the amazing things here, not findable even remotely on our home turf:
The town is dominated by two forms of architecture: Gothic abbey and churches, and Georgian multi-story residences (like ours), made from Bath stone, and often 300+ years old (like ours, though the toilet seems a bit newer). (p.s. Dodie says I am an ugly American because now I am grousing that the distance from the foot of our bed to the wall is so small that I have to queue to get by.)
The abbey, really a cathedral, features such amazing carved stone and stained glass that it is almost inconceivable ordinary craftsmen could have created such a thing, in any era,
The Roman baths exude ancient-ness. Attached to the bath building is the "Pump House", where people drank the healing waters. The room is highly elegant, and fashionable gatherings have been held there for centuries.
The Royal Crescent, a giant semi-circular Bath stone building can be seen. It figured in Jane Austen's social life. There is also the Assembly Rooms. According to Wikipedia "The Assembly Rooms formed the hub of fashionable Georgian society in the city. Citizens would gather in the rooms in the evening for balls and other public functions, or simply to play cards. Mothers and chaperones bringing their daughters to Bath for the social season, hoping to marry them off to a suitable husband, would take their charge to such events where, very quickly, one might meet all the eligible men currently in the City.
Scenes such as this feature in the novels of Jane Austen, who lived in Bath with her parents and sister from 1801 to 1805. Her two novels set in Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published in 1818 and both mention the Assembly Rooms"
Just down the street from "our house" is Laura Place, (and other streets), that figure in the novels of Georgette Heyer. Dodie had read them all!
Proximity to Stonehenge, Avebury, and other ancient sites. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain. We hopped a bus to Stonehenge, and were ticked to see that we had cycled almost right past Avebury yesterday and missed turning.
And finally there is Pulteney Bridge, over the Avon in the centre of town. It's unique, because there are (narrow!) shops on both sides.
By the way, we learned that "Avon" means "river" in Celtic. When the Romans came, the local story goes, they asked what the River was called. Thinking the dumb Romans were asking what the river was , they replied "river". Apparently there are seven river Avons in Britain.
With that background, have a look at how these sights appeared to us visually, and what we thought of some of them:
A Jubilee display. This is Jubilee weekend and the British TV is nothing but Queen coverage. Very little resistance to the monarchy is in evidence. I for one will be glad when we reach the French republic.
Sacred and profane - the abbey gift shop does have good quality relevant books, but also junk like this. There were a few people insie just sitting quietly in the pews. Either their feet hurt or they were absorbing some sacredness. Mostly the scene was tourists with cameras.
An audio narrative keyed to where you are standing around the circle is well done. It's like walking through a BBC documentary. Stonehenge is well managed, by the English Heritage Trust. English Heritage manages about 100 sites
