Bath. Last weekend of term, my flatmates and I decided to leave behind our essays and hop a bus for this fine historic city. Jane Austen lived here but hated it. I spent a day here and loved it. It's a fairly small city, but on this particular Saturday it was packed with people - shoppers, tourists, people giving out free hugs, a massive drum circle, and this guy: a "hang-playing hedge monkey." Yes. The instrument in his lap is called a "hang," and on it he plays the most beautiful haunting music.
Around the corner stands Bath Abbey - in this picture, you can just see, extending up on either side of the window, ladders on which angels are climbing up to heaven.
And the inside is graced with a lovely fan ceiling. It's so open and full of light.
The baths themselves, for which the city is named, were originally built almost 2000 years ago by the Romans, in conjunction with a large temple complex. They were subsequently forgotten and rebuilt in medieval times, and again in the 18th century, when Bath became a resort town for the rich and famous. Sadly, no one can swim in the pools any more, but they've done a lot of excavation work and have put on display a lot of the Roman-era artifacts associated with the original baths-temple complex.
Jennifer, Brooke, Kasumi, Priyanka, and I just above the largest pool.
Even though you can't swim in the water, you can drink it. It's disgusting - warm and sulfur-y and heavy. I don't recommend it, no matter what your ailment.
Next stop was the fashion museum - uninteresting and pretty sparse, except for the room where you can try on corsets and hoop skirts. They are surprisingly heavy, but fun nonetheless. This is Jennifer, me, Kasumi, and Brooke posing.
Bath is also famous for its architecture, dating from the 18th century when there was a population boom as rich families moved to the city to "partake of the waters." This is the Royal Crescent, probably the most beautiful apartment building in the city; it sits atop a hill and overlooks parkland and the sunset.
Then it was back on the bus, out of the countryside and to the city, to London (home!), to essay-writing...the final stretch.
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