Day 22: Bath, England

June 25, 2013

After our full and exciting day yesterday we spent a fairly low-key day in Bath today. We slept in and headed to the Jane Austen center a little before noon. There we were able to see how Bath influenced Jane Austen's writings, specifically of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. We learned more about her life and what Bath society was really like during those times. I read the fiction books and hadn't really given much thought to the fact that Bath society really was like what Austen portrayed with people showing off their wealth, being concerned about dances and finding husbands. It was a simple exhibit, but I enjoyed it (It was obviously my idea, but Clayton didn't hate it).

There was only one sketch of Jane done by her sister and the family had agreed that it didn't look like her.
This picture was done by an artist who was a FBI sketch artist using descriptions and details from Jane's family and friends 

Afterwards, we headed to an area known as the Circle and another area known as Royal Crescent. These areas were built when there were many more people coming to Bath during the 18th century. They were owned by wealthy people and were often just their seasonal home. No. 1 Royal Crescent was once a Georgian home on this famous street, but has now been turned into a museum. We were able to see the home as it would have been in the 18th century. All of the furnishings were from that time period and we were able to see how the people lived and also their servants downstairs. It was interesting, but didn't have as much information in it as we were hoping.

The houses in the Circle

Trees in the middle of the Circle

No. 1 Royal Crescent (the house turned into a museum)

Royal Crescent

We had planned for those two museums to take the day, but they were both smaller and less time consuming than we thought. We moseyed into Victoria Park in front of the Royal Crescent homes and came upon an awesome mini-golf course. It is the most beautiful one I have ever seen! It was also well done with drains, tunnels, and obstacles for the balls. It was a fun course and as usual Clayton won by 3 (I led the whole game until I choked on hole 15).

During mini-golf, my camera jammed up and wouldn't turn off or on and the lens wouldn't collapse. We tried to fix it, but it seems that something is jammed in it preventing the lens from moving. At least we are at the end of the trip I suppose. After mini-golf, it was only 4 so we decided to go on and see the Abbey so we wouldn't have to rush to see it in the morning before our train to London.. It was a beautiful Abbey with a beautiful fan ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows.

The ceiling

Near the Abbey is the Sally Lunn house. It is the oldest house in Bath and was the residence of Sally Lunn, a French refugee, about 300 years ago. Sally Lunn baked large rich bread that became a popular delicacy in Georgian England. Its special taste and lightness mean that it can be eaten with a savory main meal or for a sweet snack or dessert (We had it for both). We were going to just go see the house before going somewhere else to find supper, but it turned out they had a nice deal going on for supper so we had supper at the Sally Lunn house. We had the bread toasted with garlis butter for an appetizer and then we had it served with Milk Jam (a carmal sauce) and Ivy House clotted cream (some sort of buttery, milky thick cream) for dessert. It was delicious both ways!

The outside of the house

The bun (mine with salad, his with soup) toasted with garlic butter

Their food was delicious too. Clayton had grilled lamb and I had grilled chicken.

The bun toasted with Milk Jam and Ivy House Clotted Cream for dessert

Since the town shuts down at 6 pm, there wasn't much to do when we finished our supper around 7pm so we went back to our hostel room for a bit. Around 9 we went down to the bar and had some hot chocolate and watched the end of a cricket match and a whole rugby match. Rugby was interesting to watch. We were about as confused when we ended as we were when we started.
Tomorrow we head back to London in the morning before flying out of Heathrow at 12:15pm on Thursday. Goodnight from Bath, England!