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Published: November 15th 2017
Aquae Sulis ... The Romans identified the
goddess Aquae Sulis with their
goddessMinerva and encouraged her worship. The phenomenon of waters at Bath coming hot and furious out of the ground had explanation ... worship was the solution.
This blog is somewhat long. Bath was so wonderful. Definitely worth another visit. Have met a lovely couple in St. Ives who have invited me for a return and I will definitely be inviting them to dinner when I next arrive. The name 'Bath' does not seem to have quite enough elegance for such an elegant city.
The train journey from Cardiff via Bristol was an adventure in itself. Football fans were on their way to an afternoon game... the beer was flowing ..the voices were raised... the spirits were high... high also was the number of passengers squeezed into two train carriages. Quiet reigned when they all got off...stopping the train longer than usual because of their number.
The walk to Green Park House Accomodations was easy ... good thing no taxi was hired.... would have been a waste of money.
A plastic card opens all the doors including the laundry.
The space that I
Second of Two Ears of Corn
...the first ear was perfectwould occupy for the next three days is a perfect tiny Ikea-concept room. The renting of rooms to visitors helps support the student residences.
The first order of the day was breakfast. A walk to a very crowded and good Boston Tea Party corner restaurant proved that being … “ one the first cafés and something of an institution for local coffee connoisseurs" was a good choice. "It sits on the edge of a busy Bath square, in a perfect spot to watch the world go by. There are also lots of tables outside so that you can enjoy sumptuous views of all those gorgeous Georgian buildings.”
... http://www.bostonteaparty.co.uk/our_cafes/bath.php … there are twenty-one such cafes in the UK... at Banstables it is in an old wool mill.
Once having eaten breakfast at a table between four strangers the Bath Abby was on the list for this first day at Bath .
And what is the difference between an abby and cathedral? The guide in the Abby was asked. What I gleaned from the conversation which included many names, dates and the joining of another guide, was that a cathedral is a bishopric seat and an abby is
a parish church.
“ The
Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as
Bath Abbey, is an
Anglican parish church and a former
Benedictine monastery in
Bath. It contains war memorials for the local population and monuments to several notable people, in the form of wall and floor plaques and commemorative
stained glass. The church has two organs and a peal of ten bells. The west front includes sculptures of angels climbing to heaven on two stone ladders.” from Wiki
Lots of info especially the architecture at
..OK... missed the angels but read a lot of and pictured many of the superfluously worded inscriptions on tombstones inside the Abby on walls and floor.
A long walk up a gentle hill past Georgian mansions, turned into elegant flats, brought me to two semi-circles encompasing a round square adorned by an extraordinary tree...”The
Royal Crescent is a row of 30
terraced houses laid out in a sweeping
crescent in the city of
Bath, England. Designed by the architect
John Wood, the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of
Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a Grade
Dutch Bonnet Santa
...in one shop all things like unicorn and reindeer are made of natural fruits and veg and flowers. This Santa was made of dutch bonnet peppers...very hot I
listed building. Although some changes have been made to the various interiors over the years, the Geor gian stone façade remains much as it was when it was first built ... while the front is uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and
fenestration."Royal Crescent from a
hot air balloon, contrasting its uniform public front façade against its more architecturally varied private" backviews. from Wiki
Heritage buildings are graded l , ll*, ll .....
• "Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest, only 2.5%!o(MISSING)f listed buildings are Grade I
• Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest; 5.8%!o(MISSING)f listed buildings are Grade II*
• Grade II buildings are of special interest; 91.7%!o(MISSING)f all listed buildings are in this class and it is the most likely grade of listing for a home owner.
• from https://historicengland.org.uk/ ... this info is entered because the grading has been often heard in relation to many buildings visited ... always as a point of honour.
Many notable people have either lived or stayed in the Royal Crescent since it was first built over 240 years ago, and some are commemorated on
The Abby
... thru the arches of the Roman Baths special blue plaques attached to the relevant buildings. (the only name I recognize is William Wilberforce..cannot tell why but have heard of him)
Without difficulty the square where I had purchased two ears of corn earlier in the day was found ...there had been a fear they would be sold out ... and so they were.There were no corn cobs left ...just mine under the table...bought other veg and walked back to the Green Park...found a Polish Deli again as in Waterford...with real bread and fantastic sausage ...tanksbetogot!
Lovely to come back to the perfect little space. The stove (hob) was too temperamental to be reliably used... cooked eggs and the corn but was not able to get the thing turned on again the next two days.
The Roman Baths and Museum are entered thru an impressive building that had once been a magnificent Victorian reception hall. Free audio guides are offered in many languages. In the museum proper crowds huddle before a display listening to the audio description. The extent of the museum continous down to levels to the actual water of the bath. The bottom of the pool is lined with large sheets
of lead therefore making the stone rectangle waterproof. Lead pipes can be seen lying in grooves in the original 2000 year old laid stone floor. The water comes into the resevoir hot and steaming. Lead was also used for cutlery, drinking cups and pitchers. "When in ancient Rome, don’t drink as the Romans do. High-born Romans sipped beverages cooked in lead vessels and channeled spring water into their homes through lead pipes. Some historians argue that lead poisoning plagued the Roman elite with diseases such as gout and hastened the empire's fall." The tour guide was very interesting repeating the words that had been fed into the audio. The real stone and the
facsimiles have been set side by side ... 2000yrs to 200 yrs to present day renovations. It all seems to work and people flock to witness the scene, even in November. There are still such large number of visitors attending that it was difficult to get a shot of anything without having someones head,hand or feet in the shot.
Taking Putney Bridge I made my way to a small conclave of vendors who were flogging a wide variety of antiques....doorknobs to ivory fans...carpentary tools
to John Turner wanna-be paintings ... souvenir pottery bought by the case at an auction to silver services polished to high brilliance. I bought a small souvenir pottery vase with Land's End written on it ... I was heading in that direction ... just bought the souvenir beforehand....In the covered Market that is open all week long I visited Sew&Sew ro get some purple wool. The hat that I knit with wool bought in Scotland resulted in a b-o-r-i-n-g creation...it fit but had no umph!
Holburne House
“The heart of the present day Collection was formed by Sir Thomas William Holburne (1793-1874). As a second son, Thomas William first pursued a naval career. He ultimately inherited the Baronetcy in 1820 following the death of his elder brother, Francis, at the Battle of Bayonne in 1814.
In 1882 this collection of over 4,000 objects, pictures and books was bequeathed to the people of Bath by Holburne’s sister, Mary Anne Barbara Holburne. One of the Holburne’s main purposes is to preserve the things that have been entrusted to our care."http://www.holburne.org/the-collection/
The Collection if free to view. It was a very pleasant visit with intriguing treasures displayed
in a hodge-podge manner in numerous glass vitrines. The building itself is of interest as it lies at the culmination of a street flanked by georgian houses. As one approaches the street turns into a roundabout and then after the gates a wide path leading thru a garden still filled with rose bushes hanging on to the last buds of November.
Day Three
Time to remove those things weighing up the backpack. A visit to the Post Office was essential. All was put in a plastic bag and the search for the post office building began. When approaching someone for direction the first question to be asked was,"Do you live here?"even locals gave erroneous information. Finally on the right track a reward for the senseless wandering had to be rewarded. A shop selling a french delicacy called
Maison Georges Larnicol sold Savory Kouignettes with raspberry filling. This was a first ever encounter with this small tart. It has the look of flake pastery but is rather more like a yeast dough very liberally filled with butter and better eaten heated."
Les kouignettes are essentially the “cupcake” version of the Breton cake kouign amann. It’s a delicious,
flaky treat filled with either fruits or pistachio or chocolate. The dough takes quite some time to prepare, so it’s something that you’ll have to work on throughout the day while using the downtime to do other things, but it’s oh-so-worth-it." For the recipe visit.
Across the street from the Post Office...which was finally found ... is a church absolutely perfect ...St. Michael's Without ,,,
https://visitbath.co.uk/things-to-do/st-michaels-without-p1407393 ...I entered and stayed for quite some time...it was alive...it was friendly... there was music playing... a small shop sold Christmas cards... great coffeee and cake was served... people came and went and all was calm and relaxed and good.
Tearing myself away from the tranquility a visit to the Waitrose (grocery chain) toilet was imperative. Then the wander past shops decorated for Christmas, past street minstrals, thru the covered market, past the water rushing under Putney Bridge, down cobbled paths not taken before and alongside offices advertising excellent nanny service began. Without incident...i.e. not getting lost or confused ... the way was found back to Green Park.
It was going to be laundry night. Many students had the same idea ... on a friday night ...???
Packing was only slightly
easier after sending stuff by post ... maybe the pack I brought is too small ... at every closure the zips are stressed to the highest point ... in case of breakage the return will be in a green plastic bag ... NO LOL matter!
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