England Part 4: Bath

Bath is one of my favorite cities in all of England, second only to London. I love the limestone, the way the city sort of cascades down the hill, the chimneys, the river, the Abbey, the food, the shopping, the fact that Persuasion takes place here, the little back alleys and stairways, everything.

I found the street from the last scene in Persuasion, but didn't realize the shot was filmed was from the opposite end.

Roman Baths

Bath Abbey

See a virtual tour of the interior here.

On the West Front of Bath Abbey are some funny details. Two matching bearded figures are on either side of the doors. Iconoclasts destroyed Peter's head, so it was recarved out of his beard. There are also ladders with angels climbing up to heaven. And if you enlarge this photo you can see the one angel making his way down, too.

Where do you think these ladies are from? Because I'm willing to bet it's not England. France or Italy, maybe?

And there was the Bath Fashion Museum, which is housed in the same building as the Royal Assembly Rooms. The clothes were fabulous--everything from exaggerated panniers to flapper dresses to over-the-top McQueen. I may have also tried on a corset, hoop skirt, and bonnet. Wouldn't mind working there.

Circus

One highlights of Bath was the food. We ate at an excellent steak restaurant called Hudson's. We had afternoon tea at the Regency Tea Rooms above the Jane Austen Centre, and best of all, we ate at Sally Lunn's. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get out my camera until the last two bites were left. We started with a steak trencher--a thick beef stew with a Lunn bun to soak up the gravy. For dessert we had the cinnamon butter bun and the chocolate butter bun. I could have eaten there every day. Those Lunn buns were so light, so delectable. mmmmmmmmm

Sally Lunn's and the Regency Tea Rooms

I also stopped in the Fine Cheese Company where the cheese seller introduced me to "gow-dah" and a Winchester that was full of the crystallized little crunchies I love so much. In another of my favorite restaurants of the trip, Restaurant 11, they had antique shoe shiners at the window for decoration (in the shape of ducks and scottie dogs and other fun things). We went to the shop that owns those antiques the following day. It was an experience I'll never forget: walking into a room filled to the brim with stuff, the strong smell of cigarettes in the air, a little old lady with a very low voice in the back, and this cat carefully stepping over and around candlesticks and cricket bats and goblets to take a look at us.