A Day In Bath....

We drove through town on our way to the house and I got my first glimpse of Bath.  It is just as quaint and lovely as everyone told me it would be.  I'm looking forward to exploring. Once we got home we drug suitcases through the rain into the cozy house. The kids and Ryan help to "set up" my bed in the office.  Nathan pumps up my air mattress, helps me put the sheets and duvet on then both kids promptly begin to use it as a trampoline.  Fore seeing the way I may be awoken in the morning I remind them not to jump and squash me when I'm in it.  Nathan quickly says "No Sara, I will just come in and snuggle you in the morning...not jump!"  Seriously could this kid be any sweeter!!!  We settle in for the evening routine and head to bed a bit early...Big day of exploring tomorrow.  I only have one full free day here in Bath so I have to make the most of it and power through crazy tourist style.
In the morning I join Michelle on the nursery school drop off for Nathan and get a ride into town.  I met everyone at nursery since I will be taking him while the parents are out.  Then I am off and running...ok not really running but walking quickly towards  where my guided walking tour of the town.  So lets get started...My tour begins at the Abby Church.

The Abby

 This building is gorgeous.  It was built because of the dream of the designer.  It has some really interesting design details based on this dream like angels climbing up ladders along the 2 side pillars and the designers signature is done all with images depicting his name.  Right next to the Abby are the Roman Baths which is where the name of the town (Bath Spa) came from.  These baths are basically hot springs with 43 different natural minerals in them.  This was a major draw for the people to come to the city for the cleansing and healing elements to the spas. There is also a pump room right next door that you can purchase a drink of this mineral filled water that is supposed to be very good for you.  I have not had any yet but have heard that it is pretty rough going down....Maybe I'll brave it before I leave town.  We will just have to see.  Next our lovely tour guide Jean, who has been doing this tours for at least 10 years, walks us over to Victoria Park.  On the way she has some really great stories...too many to go into but my favorite was about the hanging Loo.  Their literally was a Loo hanging off the back of a building enclosed of course but it was just hanging out farther the the rest back of the building.  So back to the walk...we headed towards a beautiful gravel/pavement

Pavement or Gravel...Where are you?

walkway.  Jean continued to tell stories and the adopted second tour guide filled in where she felt Jean needed help.  It was funny...this lady had been on the tour so many times she knew it by heart.  The best part about it was she was dressed from head to toe, back pack included, in matchey-matchey Green and Grey (one of my favorite combos).  Even her son who she brought for his first visit to Bath was dressed in matching Green and Grey.  I loved it!!  Ok, back to talking about the path.  So this lovely path is gravel on both sides and pavement down the center which wasn't just for convenience it actually was where you would show your social standing.  High society walked on the pavement and lower class walked in the gravel.  Since Bath was such a social scene city anyone who was anyone would come out and walk along this path to be seen or try and see people.  This is also the path where Jane Austen would come out to " get her exercise".  She spoke of this in one of her books also.  As we reached the end of this pathway it opened up on to an impressive sight....The Royal Crescent.

The Royal Crescent 

   This building was built along the very first arched road built in Europe.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  Look it up to see the try grandeur or it.  It's quite impressive.  There also was another area we saw next which has the same arched feel but it is actually in a full circle.  It is called The Circus.  The building follows the beautiful arched look all the way around in a circle.  Check that one out on line too.  The walking tour then walked us back through town passing numerous medieval streets and old buildings.  Bath is known for its Georgian architecture which can be most easily identified by two main points.  First the windows...the go from largest at the bottom level to smallest at the top level.  This is partially because the servants quarters were at the top and they were the smallest rooms.  Second is the queen Anne front and Aunt Sally backs.  Basically this means the fronts of the building are beautiful hence the name Queen Anne front and the backs are just horrible looking, finished very rough and not done with any thought of the ascetic hence the Aunt Sally name...Everyone wants to see Queen Anne but no one really cares about boring Aunt Sally.  They were created like this to save money on designers and contractors.  Expensive to make the front then go cheap on the back.

Streets of Bath

After I finished the walking tour I went and had lunch in a local pub to rest my feet for a bit and regroup.  I decided to just walk  around some more through the streets of Bath and see where I ended up.  The whole town of Bath can be walked from end to end in about 30 minutes.  It reminded me of Coronado in that respect.  It also has a bit of the small town feel even though it is a really social city and has a great cultural and artistic scene.  As I walked I happened upon a great little shop that sold all local made items.  I popped in and shopped around.  I chatted with one of the owners for a while and found out that the basis of the shop it 3 designers went in together on one shop and they sell their own stuff there and also take in other designers as they feel a need should be met in the store.  She was really cool and wanted to check out my stuff.  She really liked my mens stuff and said they are looking at bringing a few pieces in....who knows.  I ended up leaving with some great jewelry and a business card.
The last thing I did on my power packed tour of Bath was a fashion museum.  I went in really excited and left a bit disappointed.  The historical pieces that they had were gorgeous but the new pieces left me wanting more.  There was one great Balenciaga piece but aside from that unimpressive.  There was a fun little section that people could try on historical type outfits like crazy

Wanna Play Dress-up?

heavy hoop skirts and tight corsets.  Or for the kids they had traditional outfits for them to wear.
Leaving the museum I stopped at a few more shops on my way to the bus stop so I could head back to the house.  When I arrived at the bus stop I was hit with an unexpected fact...the bus stops running at 6:30!  What...How can a bus stop running before the shops have closed!  I guess this is truly a small town and I had been in London for too long expecting busses to run till the wee hours of the morning.  Oh well, I grabbed a taxi and eventually made it back to the house and called it a night.  Kid Duty starts tomorrow!