Monday 9 August 2010

A Spa Town in August

IMG_5919 After a couple days in Oxford, Kevin and I rode the 60 some odd miles to Bath, in Somerset. Bath is known for its two main periods of popularity, the Roman invasion and its re-discovery during the Georgian and Victorian periods as a holiday destination, serving as a fascination for Georgian architects.

SAM_3520 We arrived in Bath late, easily found our wonderful guest house, and ventured out to introduce ourselves to the town. Just a few minutes walk and we came across one of Bath’s most prominent landmarks, its Abbey. Bath Abbey was beautiful in the sunset twilight. Although it appeared like a typical large abbey found throughout  England, its interesting carvings on its front facade featured IMG_5958angels climbing a latter to heaven. When we returned the next day I was excited to look inside. Here I learned that Edgar was crowned within the Abbey. Now this may not excite most people (who is Edgar, ect…) but I had a little happy history moment, remembering that Edgar was the first King of England, uniting Northumbria and Mercia. Queen Elizabeth visited the Abbey in 1973 to commemorate 1,000 years of the monarchy. Of course this commemoration was commemorated with a commemorative plaque.

What I enjoyed of Bath Abbey was not only its beauty and historical significance but also the entire SAM_3531experience as it was not cumbersome. At other grand religious buildings (read: St. Paul’s Cathedral; York Minster) visitors pay large sums of money to be herded around, unable to see much of anything given large crowds and camera-happy masses. It is refreshing to be asked for a small sum of money while chatting with friendly volunteers (I find when the admission is low you always give an extra donation regardless due to the inviting atmosphere). Volunteers were available throughout the church should visitors have any questions, guide pamphlets were provided, and the crypts accessible. We’ve had similar comfortable experiences at Durham and Edinburgh.

SAM_3538While touring the Abbey and enjoying the fabulous art installation comprised of illuminated manuscripts and needlepoint, we were intercepted by an elderly gentleman in search of someone to whom to tell his boyhood Bath experiences. This continued my lifelong trend of being inviting to random wandering old people who like to talk about their past. I don’t know if I have a certain kind of face or what, but elderly people see me in a crowd and flock. He had lived through two Nazi bombing raids on Bath, his own neighborhood church demolished in the process.

SAM_3558 After a nice walk we came across the Circus and the Royal Crescent. Both were designs of Georgian architects. Bath was a spa town, first during the Roman period (although the natural springs were used by local groups for spiritual purposes) as a SAM_3561sacred healing center in England and later as a fashionable holiday destination. Due to the boom of visitors during the Georgian period, architects found many building projects in Bath.  The Crescent is considered the greatest example of Georgian architecture in all of Britain, but I won’t lie and say it was awe inspiring. It was a bunch of tall, typical Georgian houses shaped into a crescent. Yes, when taking into account the stylistic and mathematical implications of building such a semi-circle in the 18th century it is impressive. But in the current day and age it seemed simply like a nice backdrop behind the Victoria Park, where one can take in a picnic or a quick game of football.

IMG_5775 After a bit more of a walk we found the Jazz Cafe, which I highly recommend. I happily enjoyed a mezze platter which included a very tasty beetroot and walnut dip, while Kevin was overjoyed to find a locally brewed beer which was actually served cold and tasted of America. After such a delightful meal we continued the sense of relaxation with a calm boat tour down the Avon. Amongst the highlights of the tour was Bathampton, a tiny village outside of Bath whose churchyard features the burials of the inventor of Plasticine, Britain’s version of play-dough, and Walter Sickert, the main suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders.

IMG_5776 We soon became freezing, as the British weather is highly unpredictable (the only thing one seems to be able to predict is that one should, at all times, pack a sweater, a thicker sweater, an umbrella, and a sun hat). We shivered the last twenty minutes of the trip before escaping to our guest house for more layers. Spotting a vegetarian pub earlier in the day, we headed in that direction, expecting it to be a unique dining experience. And it was. Typical British pub food but with all vegetarian and/or vegan options, fantastic.

SAM_3588 The next morning we left our guesthouse early in order to catch our tour van to Stonehenge. About an hour from Bath, tour companies operate three hour tours from Bath to the famous ancient site. The countryside was beautiful and fulfilled my need to see the Cotswolds at least once while living in England. As we drove through typical villages, complete with examples of thatched roofs, we passed a Victorian answer to ancient hill figures, a large chalk horse carved into a hillside.

IMG_5813 At last we viewed Stonehenge. Coming around a turn in the highway, it seemed surreal that we were viewing the real structure. I think it is an image too infused into our lives to take it seriously upon your first view. Also the general irritation with museum and historic site visitors had reached its zenith during our visit to Stonehenge, being ushered through by English Heritage staff, wading through hundreds of people all slowly revolving around the stone structures, all taking pictures of every little thing in that empty field. I plan on discussing this issue further in a subsequent post.

SAM_3591 But back to my impressions of Stonehenge. The audio tour, which comes with your admission price, was well done. How else are they to interpret such a thing? Visitors are not allowed near the stones, interpretive signs would be difficult as so many visitors would crowd them, needing replacement often. Costumed interpreters would be difficult as there is not yet a full consensus on what the stones are, who used them, and for what purpose. Also I feel such interpretation would cheapen the experience. Thus the audio guide fulfilled its purpose of providing general interpretation and could be easily translated as during our visit we noticed the international pull of the site.

IMG_5871 Seeing such an iconic site (which exists a certain way in your own mind based on its use in textbooks, television, movies, and novels) is always an odd experience as it never seems based in reality due to the fact that it can never match completely your preconceptions. It’s like seeing the Coliseum or the Eiffel Tower. It is impressive, but seeing it in reality always makes it less of something. Smaller, possible, tangible. In one word, real, and less of a fantasy.

IMG_5949 Leaving Stonehenge we were both hit with a wave of warm sleepiness, lulled by the rocking of the van. A nap seemed necessary and inevitable, but first we had to power through as we sill had not visited the main attraction in Bath, the baths. The Roman Baths are hot springs, the only of their kind in IMG_5887 Britain, and were first used by Celtic groups before being discovered and developed by the invading Romans. They constructed a temple as the baths were seen to have spiritual uses. The baths included different treatment rooms, hot baths and cool plunges, similar to a modern spa experience. After the Romans left the bath waters continued to be used and spas developed from the 16th century to today.

The museum, although expensive, does a good job at interpreting the IMG_5922Roman bathing experience, generally through the use of an audio guide. Exhibitions include artifacts discovered during excavations of the baths, the most interesting, I found, being curse tablets. Bathers, many of whom had their clothing stolen while bathing, wrote curses towards the thieves on small pieces of metal, throwing them into the sacred waters. Once again we found ourselves squeezed into small spaces with far too many visitors, all taking asinine photos of objects that, once home, they will not remember. Spacing visitors is an important aspect of crowd control apparently not employed by this particular institution.

IMG_5927IMG_5945 After another pleasant walk through Bath, visiting the Victoria Park and Royal Crescent once more, and after a much deserved rest, we enjoyed a farewell dinner at a tapas restaurant before crashing early as our 6:45am bus ride loomed the next morning. Once again travel can not simply be simple, but the cheapest means of travel back to Sheffield (which, mind you is about a  three and a half hour car ride) meant taking a bus three hours to London (which is 97 miles away), a quick tube ride, and a two and a half hour train ride north to Sheffield. Although this trip went seamlessly I could have done without the badly behaved children, the screaming babies, and the two men on either side of me having loud and never-ending phone conversations. At least Sheffield remained as we left it, cold and rainy with a side of sweeping winds.

1 comment:

  1. I'm reading quite a bit on the pitfalls of mass transit...so are you no longer proposing its use here in the good ole U S of A? I can see it now...thousands of miles being put on your jeeps!!!!!!!
    Thanks for the tour of Bath! Always interesting stuff to read. I especially like Stonehenge...say hello to Jamie and Claire for me!
    love,
    mom Domm

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