bath time

I'm in the UK again, and decided to go to Bath for my Saturday adventure. Bath, of course, is famous for its Roman baths and its history as THE place to see and be seen during the Victorian era. Some say that it's the best place to visit if you only have a limited amount of time but don't want to spend your entire vacation in London, and that may very well be true.

I started off at the Roman baths, which are conveniently located near the train station and across from Bath Abbey. Considering the fact that the baths are almost 2000 years old, it's not surprising that this is the social center of town. Anyway, someone was having their wedding ceremony inside, and I must say that's the coolest place I've ever seen for a wedding.





Notice the abbey in the background:


You can't actually use the baths now, but there is a separate facility for that. If I had some money to blow and more time in Bath, I'd consider trying them out. Anyway, the museum at the baths had a lot of Roman artifacts and information inside, and that was a treat for me, since I've long been fascinated by Roman history and culture.

When I was done there, I went over to the abbey:



The building was gothic in style, and architecturally similar to a few of the other cathedrals I've visited in the UK. Still very impressive, though.





While I was inside, the chaplain of the abbey, a woman, got up on one of the pulpits to provide a brief greeting to visitors and to pray. Considering the way I was taught to pray, I found the manner of prayer very strange--she never closed her eyes, and I'm pretty sure everything she read was from a prepared statement. That said, the sentiments were nice, and included references to Japan and Libya.

My next stop was the Jane Austen Centre:



The center is housed in a home that Jane Austen lived in for a short time. You're probably wondering why I would go there, since I've previously expressed a strong dislike for all things Jane Austen. Well, the guide book said it was one of the top attractions in town, so I thought I'd stop by. This turned out to be a mistake. The center is very small and doesn't have a lot inside. The introduction given by a tour guide was far more interesting than the vignettes that were set up inside, full of Victorian-era items, a few outfits, and some memorabilia from TV/movie productions of Austen books. I learned a lot more about the life and times of Jane Austen, but I can't say I actually cared any more after than I did before. And I'm pretty sure that even the hardcore fans, like my wife, would be underwhelmed as well.







When I was done there, I walked up to the Circus, which is the most expensive real estate in town, and has been since Victorian times. There's not a ton to do, other than look at nice homes built around a circle. That said, I wouldn't mind living there.





I then walked over to the Royal Crescent Hotel, which may be Bath's most famous landmark, in terms of something that people might recognize from movies/TV:





Again, not a ton to do here, but the structure is very impressive. I guess I'd take it.

From there, I walked through town and parks a bit more. The weather was pleasant and Bath is a very decent place to look at architecture and enjoy the outdoors.













After an hour or so, I walked back into the happening part of town and found Jamie's Italian. It had been mentioned in my guidebook and since I've only eaten in a celebrity restaurant a couple times before (the same restaurant--Bouchon Bistro, a Thomas Keller restaurant in Vegas), I thought I'd check it out. It's actually a chain of restaurants started by Jamie Oliver, the insufferable British chef/douche who advocates healthy/fresh meals for kids, among other things. The little lady has occasionally watched his shows and I've seen one or two episodes of his straight-up cooking show, and while the guy is annoying, his ideas are good. I felt a bit weird being in there by myself, but I had no pressing plans and was up for a good meal, so I ended up ordering four courses. Here's the first course:



It's an antipasti platter that included pistachio mortadella, spicy salami, prosciutto, uncured green olives (not bad, actually), a cured olive (not my favorite--they're always too salty), caper berries (pretty good--my first time), buffalo mozzarella, and pecorino cheese. It was pricey for what it was (I suppose everything in the UK is), but it was really good. My next course was fried polenta with rosemary. It was mild in flavor, but also very good. My main course was this:



It's pappardelle pasta (kind of like the sides of lasagna noodles, cut off into strips) with a braised rabbit ragu. Quite good, actually. I don't think rabbit will become my favorite meat anytime soon, but it was still pretty good. I finished off the meal with lemon curd cake topped with English raspberries. Again, quite good. All in all, I'd eat at Jamie's Italian again. All the food tasted very fresh, and the dishes were fairly creative.

My next stop was the Pulteney Bridge, one of the few bridges in the world that actually has shops built on top of the bridge. I guess I'd never really thought about that before, but it's kind of weird when you think about it. Here are the shops:



Looks just like the rest of the street. And here's the bridge itself from a different angle:



The Victorian Art Gallery was nearby and it was free, so I decided to stop by. It was very small, but I did see a few things inside that were interesting, like this weird painting of Charon ferrying the dead across the Styx:



I liked this painting if for no other reason than the fact that it seemed like a very lifelike portrait:


Another weird painting. Dead bride in her wedding dress? I wonder what inspired that.


My next stop was the Prior Park Landscape Garden. I should have taken a taxi there, because although it was slightly less than two miles, about half of that distance was uphill (Bath has seven hills in it, like many other famous cities). The walk was pleasant, if tiring.



The garden itself was nice and I'm glad I went. It was developed by the guy who built the original British post service. He made a fortune and decided to built a mansion and garden overlooking Bath, in order to "see and be seen".



Here's his shack:


And here's the view of Bath from just below the house:


Yeah, I think I'd take the house and the property. More images from the garden:









There were a few swans out and about, as well as some other birds. The swans struck me as very lazy birds. They barely moved or did anything the whole time I was there, including the 20 minutes I sat on a bench with my camera, waiting for them to flap their wings or do something interesting. Nope.



I wasn't in the mood to walk all the way back up to the entrance to the gardens, which was near the house, so I was ecstatic when I found an exit at the bottom of the hill. The walk back to town was a nice one.



While I was walking back, I noticed that a bunch of hot air balloons were in the air or taking off from town. I don't know if something special was going on, but the scene was kind of odd.



When I got back to town, I decided to just hang out on a bench for a while and watch the river flow. It was near sunset and still fairly warm, so it was nice. I sat for 30-45 minutes next to this scene:



I decided to walk back to the abbey to see if I could get some decent street photos. Here are some of the results:

Crazy lady (she flipped out when she noticed me taking pictures of people, so I took off shortly after she started yapping at the busker I was watching):




Cool area to busk, by the way. Here's the first flautist I've ever seen busking:




As is often the case in the UK, everything started closing at 5pm. I was tired from all the walking, so I decided to bag my plan to do some nighttime street photography and headed back to London. I watched a movie and slept a bit on the ride back, and all in all, it was a very good day.