Upon feeling perky overnight at 3:30 am, I set my alarm for 7am this morning thinking I would get up and go on a short run. Alas, when the alarm sounded, I was deep in slow-wave sleep and woke up only long enough to dismiss the alarm and flip my pillow. I managed to get going by the B&B’s breakfast time (8:30am); breakfast was quite good with uncharacteristically (for Britain) strong coffee. More on this B&B below.
For not having really planned this day, it turned out pretty great. I decided to start by following a Jane Austen walking tour, created by the city of Bath and available online. It was easy to follow, informative, and rivaled any Rick Steves or other audio-walking-tour I’ve tried. Although it highlighted various Austen locations, it wasn’t overly-Jane and was of general interest to anyone, I’d think.
After the first stop, I found myself outside the entrance to Bath’s Roman Baths. It was still early in the day with no-one in line and, even though I had thought I’d skip this attraction, I decided to tour it after all. I’m really glad I did. It was totally fascinating and well-designed, enhanced with hazy video-ish ghosts of bathers superimposed within the various bathing rooms.
After resuming the walking tour, I ended up at The Royal Crescent (recently swarmed by go-ers to the annual Jane Austen festival earlier in September) where the house at #1 is set up as a museum, furnished and decorated as it would have been back in the day. I toured this as well (truncating some of the tedious audio accompaniment), then walked back into town where I toured the Bath Abbey, notable for its many restorations, including most recently starting in 2018 to fix the uneven floors and update the floor heating from gas (ugh) to heat from water coming from the nearby Roman Baths.
That took me to around 2:30 pm after which I had a late lunch, visited St John the Evangelist Church (which does not seem to be a major tourist draw), and visited a Marks & Spencer. I think that M&S is ubiquitous in the UK but I’d never seen one and visualized it as a Trader Joe's style grocery market. Not this one! It is a full-sized grocery store PLUS a full-sized department store. The women’s department devotes a huge amount of space to denim as well as to lingerie, and now I’m feeling the need for a new pair of jeans and some more underwear.
After all this, I worried that there’s nothing left to see in Bath, but there is, and my plan for tomorrow is to walk extensively on the other side of The Avon river.
Here are a few photos from today and, following that, a few comments about this B&B.
overhead urban art display outside Marks & Spencer
I’m staying at The Henry Guest House which is convenient to the train station as well as to the main tourist attractions in Bath. I was a little dismayed upon arrival because my room is on the 2nd floor (which would be the 3rd floor in the U.S.) and, of course, there is no elevator in this building that dates from 1726 (!) I hauled my suitcase up to my room which has been modernized but has some furnishings circa 1920. The floor is uneven and worrying.
However, now that I’ve been here a day, I recognize that really, the room is well outfitted with a large, modernized ensuite bathroom, king-sized bed, seating area, and tea/coffee service. It’s clean and freshly painted and equipped with a hair dryer, iron/board, fan, and wi-fi. The main room and the bathroom have defunct but picturesque fireplaces. I can’t think of anything lacking, and today’s breakfast was delicious. The room is not American-style in the least, but that’s kind of the point, right?
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