We booked rail tickets, but due to track work ended up being bussed from Cardiff to Bristol. Lovely at 7.30am. We got on to the train at Bristol Parkway, but ended up sitting backwards! Ah well.
We got in to Bath on time, about mid-morning. Once we sorted out where we were going to go, we were off! Our plan was to go to the Baths first, but we got distracted by a park – what you imagine a typical civic garden to look like.
Then we saw the Abbey.
Oh. My. Goodness. It is such a beautiful building! It's just stunning.
Kathy outside Bath Abbey
If Matt had a tail, it would have been wagging. It was just gorgeous from the outside,
but when we went inside we were just blown away. The fan ceiling is simply beautiful, and we can understand why it's got the reputation of being the best in England, if not in Europe. It looks so delicate, which belies the strength of the design. The stained glass windows are the best ones we've ever seen. A couple of them were so emotive. The old tombstones on the floor were really interesting, especially as people used to be buried underneath the Abbey, and the tombstones were incorporated in to the Abbey when it was renovated during Victorian times. Just as interesting were the plaques on the walls. There was one for Arthur Phillip, who as most Aussies will know was the Commander of the First Fleet and the first Governor of Australia. When we walked in to the Abbey the organist was practising. It was just incredible.
While we were at the Abbey we also visited the Abbey Museum, which went back to the earliest monastic period with the Saxons, through to the 16th century, the dissolution of the monasteries and the intervention of Elizabeth 1 to stop the Abbey being totally destroyed, right through to the Georgian hey-day of the city. It was pretty interesting, and included bits from the old Abbey buildings. There were bits of masonry from the old monastic buildings which had the remains of the paint which would have been on them in the Saxon and Norman times.
Next we headed over to the Roman Baths, but not before we watched a comedy duo who also did acrobatics (it was the first weekend of the Bath Comedy Festival). Oh my, they were fit – and strong – and buff. They were doing their routine in little more than speedos. Brrr.... There was 1 part of their act when one bloke sat on the other's back. Then the other one did a handstand – with his partner still sitting on his back!
Due to Kathy's excellent forward planning, and First Great Western's timely advertising email, our entry to the Baths was 2-for-1, saving us several squids. While we'd both been to the Baths in our younger days, we certainly didn't mind visiting it again. The Baths had undergone significant work over the last few years and were a lot more interactive than they used to be. We took advantage of the audio guides, but abandoned them after a while.
When we entered there was a mallard swimming around the large pool, which would have been quite warm on his legs.
Because it was such a beautiful day we took lots of photos outside (as you do) before going down in to the rest of the baths.
Roman Baths and Bath Abbey
Matt at the Roman Baths
Reflection in the pool
It was incredible to see the way in which the lime from the water had accumulated over the millennia on the outflows. Things we particularly were impressed about were the gorgon face with the snakes in his beard, like Medusa's hair,
some ring gems which had been found in a drainage channel which had been carved with scenes, animal figures, or images of gods (they weren't sure if they'd fallen out of rings or had been thrown away for luck), and steps up to where a temple had been. It was pretty amazing. Kathy was a little disappointed that the old Georgian pump room had been turned in to a restaurant, and as it was around lunch time we didn't bother to go in. The Baths were just amazing – we spent a fabulous couple of hours there.
After leaving the Baths we saw a busker, dressed in a bright pink suit. He was playing a violin. He was playing Beethoven's 5th! And was playing it well. It was very impressive.
After lunch at a place called the Landed Lion (where we had Landlord ale and Kathy had a local cider) we walked up to Royal Avenue, along Royal Circuit
curve of the buildings on Royal Circuit
Kathy walking along Royal Circuit
and around the Circus.
The Circus
It is such a beautiful area – the houses are just incredible. It was really lovely walking around looking at the buildings and enjoying the fine day. And the fine cars. And checking out the different way people have decorated their houses. The area has really lovely parks, and they are planted out in bright annuals.
On our way up to Royal Avenue we passed another busker. A harpist, playing a full sized harp.
You don't see that every day. Must be a bit tricky to get about with, though.
As we were walking around the Circus we were approached by a 1-legged beggar asking for 50p to buy a packet of crisps. So Matt gave him 50p. Then he hit us up again on the other side of the Circus! Dude – at least try to remember who you have and hadn't hit up. Kathy had seen him earlier hitting up people sitting outside some cafes which were nearby.
By this time we decided that we have to come back, so we also decided that discretion was the better part of evil, and found ourselves a pub to have a bit of a rest. We tried a place called Porters, and had a Barnstormer. Meh. After that we found a little place called the Big and Whistle – and discovered it was a rugby pub. Huzzah! On the TV was Bath v Harlequins, so we sat and watched for a while. We had a couple of drinks as well – Tunnel Vision, and Sly Fox. Just after half time we had to head off, to make sure we had enough time to get to the railway station for our trip home. But just above the gardens we passed earlier in the day we saw a crowd looking over the river – and hear a familiar sounding roar of a crowd. Just over the river, within sight of the Abbey was the rugby match!
So we stood and watched the game for a little while, before heading back to the railway station. To be honest, we couldn't see much – pretty much only from the 22 to the goal. Still, it was pretty cool.
Final view of Bath Abbey
The trip home was pretty much a replay of the trip out. Until we got to Bristol. There weren't enough buses to meet the train, so we had to wait for what felt like quite a while outside the most charming Bristol rail station. There were quite a few cranky people, but we were amused by a bunch of mildly pissed lads wanting to get to Bridgend. They were mixing vodka with orange juice, but had put in too much vodka (they were emptying out a bottle) – it was fairly undrinkable, but they were drinking it anyway. The bus took us as far as Newport, where we changed to another train. As we were going through the station there was a group of young chaps who were eyeing off Matt, and were itching for a fight – in fact they were going in to Cardiff just to do that. Why?!?!?
Anyway, we had a fantastic day, and will most definitely be going back!
