" 'I Have Equipped Myself Properly for Bath Already , You See' (pointing to a new umbrella) "

(Title borrowed from Jane Austen's Persuasion)

That title more or less sums up my trip to Bath. That, and that is was the one day it didn't rain in London.

I went with my three roommates, one of whom had been to Bath before, and two other girls. We were all very proud of getting ourselves up, making lunch, and being on the tube to Paddington Station before 8:00 am. We rolled into Bath a sleepy hour and a half later.

Our first order of business was to take a tour of the Royal Theater of Bath. We very much wanted to go, and the website had said that they only held tours at 11:00am on the first Wednesday and Saturday. We even took an earlier train to be there in time (Did I mention we got six college students out of the hostel by 7:50 am?) Turns out the tours are even more sporatic than that--the man at the desk couldn't even really tell us what dates they were, just that they happen sometimes, at 11:00am. Evidentally, they are run by volunteers and happen when the volunteers turn up to give them.

So, after poking around the theater a bit and wandering around the main drag Bath Street, spent the remaining 45 minutes until the appointed meet-up time in the Bath Abbey. The Bath Abbey was in many ways unlike any other church we've seen so far. Especially going on Good Friday, it was a great amalgamation of Medieval Memorial plaques and the Ladies Bible Study folding programs for the Easter mass. Tourists are everywhere (and they let you take pictures, which is very unusual) but there were also three men in clerical collars arranging flowers in floral foam. The Abbey is clearly able to balance being a church and being a tourist site, in a way that I have yet to see.

Shockingly enough one can only spend so long (about 45 minutes) looking at old tombstones (one more pictures, to the left, of a US senator who died in Bath in 1807). At noon, we emerged to find a very long line into the Roman Baths and rain. It seemed inefficient to eat lunch and not wait in line, so we took turn eating sandwiches and holding umbrellas.

We got into the Roman Bath's faster than the lines looked like we did (I wish I had a picture, it was an insane line). The museum was very cool. The Baths themselves are in ruins and the museum is build in, around, and containing them. The exhibit walks you through the process of excavating the baths, what the Baths were like in their prime, and then dumps you into the central courtyard. Dumps, figuratively. I can't really describe it well, so some pictures:

A model of the Bath complex at it's height and the water system

The head of a statue of Sulis Minerva. She was the part Celtic Brython, part Roman goddess to whom the temple parts are the Baths were dedicated. One part of worship involved etching curses backwards onto pieces of bronze and chucking them into one of the baths. Things like "Caesar stole my cloak, please burn his eyes out." (I'm paraphrasing, but not exaggerating). The hot spring source for all the water in the Baths. The orange is oxidized something, the foggyness of the picture is a combination of actual steam and poor photography skills. The Great Bath. Unfortunately no swimming allowed.

The ticket for the Roman Bathes included a not-quite-two-for-one offer, which essentially meant a 3 pound ticket to the Fashion Museum and Assembly Halls. Despite not being particularly fashiony people (and because it seemed silly to pay three pounds just to see a (spectacular) ballroom) we tramped off in the rain to the fashion museum.

The fashion museam claimes to have 400 years of fashion history represented. It includes such exhibits as nearly fifty years of "Dress of the Year" awards (see 1989, to the right) and the famed "little black dress" of Queen Victoria (to the left). Highlight, however, was not the impressive collection of gloves (including some dating back to the 1500s!), but the Assembly Halls. Labeled helpfully Ball Room, the Assembly Halls were where large dances were, and are-- we ran into a wedding, so we didn't get to stay long, held for the highest echelons of Bath society. Five of the six members of our group are in Social Dance club at Carleton- so naturally we waltzed. Are you getting this? I waltzed (admittedly, badly. I had to lead) in the Assembly Halls!! Like in Pride in Prejudice without the hoards of people or Colin Firth pouting in the corner!!I apologize for the dark picture, but you can see the important things (like the massive chandelier).

Having just waltzed in the Assembly Halls(!!!), the only place left to go was the Jane Austen Centre. It is not located on the property where Jane Austen lived, when she lived in Bath, but very close. And it was disappointingly, to use St. George's word about the Museum of London, kitschy. But the gift shop had a terrifyingly accessible "rare and out of print" books section, which included an 1835 edition of Mansfield Park. I didn't like Mansfield Park, so I bought postcards instead. (Also, it cost about 500 pounds.)

By this point it was 5:30, raining, and we only had about an hour and a half until our train left. We decided that between taking pictures of Georgian architecture and finding food, food was our priority. So we went off on a wild pub hunt. The first featured hot sandwiches for 2 pounds and two bouncers who looked like something straight out of the Godfather. But between an important football match and the hoards of tourists trying to get out of the rain, that was full. So were the next two. Finally we found one called the Pig and Fiddle (I wish I had pictures but my camera died) and proceeded to squeeze six people into a four-ish person booth. I had a grilled cheese sandwich to eat on the train, and wasn't starving so I just ordered some chips. These chips were not only the best fried potato of any kind I have had in my life, but they came on a plate about two inches deep and as big as my face. My mother sent my off to England alone and I end up eating chips for dinner. But it was a great way to end the day.

Love,
The Mouse