Berlin and Beyond: Beautiful Bath: "A Masterpiece of Human Creative Genius"

Bath is deserving of its own blog post, for sure.

I have long wanted to go to Bath--pretty much since I first read about it in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. Another one of her novels, Persuasian, is also set partly in Bath. Basically, I was enthralled by her depictions of balls every evening in the Pump and Assembly rooms. Later on, the historian in me was drawn in by the ancient Roman baths at the site. Suffice it to say, when I first decided to come to the UK this summer as part of my European sojourn, I knew that Bath would be one of my first destinations.

I went to Bath way back in July, and spent two nights in the city. The trip was the first use of my Britrail pass. It's about two hours away from London by train. I stayed at an airbnb place about a half-hour walk from the city centre--this gorgeous, four or five storey Georgian townhouse with grand views overlooking the hills surrounding the city. I spent my days wandering the beautiful streets, with their famed Georgian limestone buildings. The thing about these Georgian townhouses, I learned, is that the key was on external sameness--so long as everything appeared uniform and symmetrical from the outside, no one cared what the buildings were actually like inside. Bath's famed architect father-son duo, the John Woods (Elder and Younger), designed some of the most wonderful streets in the city, including the famed Royal Crescent and Royal Circus, but their focus was on the exteriors of these buildings, which certainly do not disappoint.

The place I stayed in, about a 30-minute walk from the town centre. My room was on the very top.

The amazing view from my window.

The Royal Circus.

The Royal Crescent.

As for the interiors, I went inside one of them, No. 1 Royal Crescent, which once belonged to Henry Sandford, a rich white English guy, basically, who lived in the home fro, 1776 to 1796. His home has since been turned into a museum, and furnished as it was when he lived there. No photos were permitted inside, but it was a luxurious Georgian mansion. Imagine every film or TV production of Jane Austen's works, picture the houses of the wealthy heroes, and that's pretty much what the interior of No. 1 Royal Crescent was like.

No. 1 Royal Crescent Musem.

In addition to visiting that museum, I also went on a free three-hour walking tour of the town, which took me to the Pump Room and Assembly Rooms of Jane Austen's world (although, today the Pump Room is a restaurant), along with several other sites around the lovely, lovely town. I was blessed with good weather for my time in Bath--it was sunny and warm but not quite as hot as it had been for most of my time in the UK up to that point. It was just wonderful being able to walk around the city and learn about its history as a den of iniquity for England's rich and poor, who touched elbows at the gambling tables of this spa town. At its height, Bath was basically the Las Vegas of England.

Bath Cathedral, with the Roman Baths and Pump Room on the right-hand side.

Pump Room.

Roman Baths.

The entire city of Bath is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so that's got to tell you something. Here is some general Bath loveliness:

I love that: "a masterpiece of human creative genius"

That little sun is a marker indicating that this house was insured. It basically meant that if it caught on fire, the insurers would come around and try to put the fire out--if your house didn't have such a marker on it, tough luck.

The Gravel Walk, leading to the Royal Crescent. Also, the scene of Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth's reconciliation in Persuasion.

One of the gardens of the grand townhouses backing onto the Gravel Walk has been made into a public garden, landscaped in the Georgian style.

The Assembly Rooms!

Inside.

Doesn't that lion look a bit nervous to you?

After the walking tour, I paid a visit to the Jane Austen Centre of Bath, which was one of the highlights of trip, if only for the Mr. Darcy portrait in the Regency Tearoom in the centre:

The Jane Austen Centre. Jane Austen lived in Bath for five or six years. She didn't particularly like it there, as her father died during their stay and the family fell fairly quickly into near poverty. She did not live in this particular house, but one a few houses down. She did not write anything while she was in Bath except for a failed novel, which probably says a lot about how she was feeling during that time.

Bathrooms.

Mr. Darcy and I in the Regency Tea Room.

Having some time to kill after my tea with Mr. Darcy, I decided to follow a suggestion from my tour guide from earlier, and I walked up a bit out of the city centre up a very steep and looooong hill to Lansdown Crescent, a very pretty crescent that, although less grand than the Royal Crescent, was prettier and felt more real, somehow.

Coming down from Lansdown Crescent in the early evening light, I made my way to the Roman Baths. During the summers, the Roman Baths are open until 10pm. They light torches around the pool and it's all very atmospheric. I stayed until about 9pm before heading out to grab a late dinner. I was very impressed by the place. It's a great museum, with lots of information about Roman life in Bath, and plenty of impressive ruins to explore. Bath in Roman times was seen as an extremely important healing site, and people from across the far flung Roman Empire came to take the waters.

Roman Baths, as seen from the Pump Room.

Main part of the baths.

Bath Cathedral in the background.

They had people walking around in togas but not saying anything--basically pretending you weren't there. It was weird. This guy was supposed to be some kind of priest, I think.

The statues are not Roman originals. A couple hundred years ago, the Brits discovered the ruins of the Roman bath and excavated it, turning it back into a working spa. Today, it's purely a museum.

Some of the run-off from the hot spring.

At the end of the museum, you can drink some of the spring water, filtered to make it potable. With something like 43 different minerals in it, it tastes nasty, although it's supposedly very good for you. I only managed a tiny sip.

The Roman Baths are not a working spa--in fact, because the water is direct from the hot springs and is not treated at all, they don't even want you to touch the water. But there is a modern spa down the road that takes their water from the same ancient hot spring. I treated myself to a couple of hours there, taking in the waters--perhaps not quite as Jane Austen may have done in her day, as the modern spa I went to had one of its pools on the roof overlooking Bath Cathedral and the roofs of the Roman Baths. Not such a bad way to unwind after a day of sightseeing, really.