First day in Bath and I am immediately struck with the absolute amusement of this glimmering city. Of course, glittering beauty can be quite expensive – more on that later! My train pulled into Bath Spa about half past noon, and I had some time to use before checking into my hostel. Luckily, my growing sense of spontaneity prompted me to pop down to the harbor and inquire about boat tours. To my delight, an hour on the River Avon (not to be confused with the River Avon which Stratford is Upon!) was quite reasonably priced and I boarded the skiff. A couple sitting just behind me provided my first point of amusement.
From one of the Northern counties, these people’s charming accents reflected their down-to-earth attitudes. Think the equivalent of a good ol’ Southern couple. They certainly kept me entertained! And, at the end of our boat tour, the lady asked for a picture with me – since I was a part of her Bath experience. Just cute! The tour itself was slightly droll, full of facts which were interesting enough to fill up half an hour’s time – but not quite scintillating enough for me to remember all the details! Our guide was a very calm sort of person who spoke in the same monotone voice; although, his commentary on the City of Bath was pretty funny in a strange way. “And on the left, right opposite the meat market, you’ll find some excellent public toilets.” He said quite seriously. “If anyone played with plasticine when they were a child, you’ll find the grave of the inventor in Bath Abbey.” And so on.
Bath, being a spa town, of course attracts many people who try to look younger than they are but fail quite miserably to be honest. Jane Austen said something about Bath having a “dreadful monstrosity of ugly women” and, while that is slightly too scathing, I wouldn’t wholly disagree! (More on Jane Austen’s Bath connections during my next post.) Another totally hilarious, eccentric "Bath moment" occurred as I was strolling down a very noisy street, with workmen jack-hammering and little kids screaming at the top of their lungs. Turns out, that street was called Quiet. I burst out laughing, unable to help myself!
The rest of my day was spent freely roaming the city. I found the Georgian Assembly Rooms and Royal Crescent, which was made famous in the film adaptations of Austen’s Persuasion. Alas, no matter how many times I frantically ran up and down the half-circle, Captain Wentworth never appeared. I was able to sit on the wee hill just in front of the Crescent and listen to lots of period music on my iPod. As you might expect, this was one day where I wished dearly to be with “the One.” But enough sap and more about Bath!
In my travels, I’ve become very clever at finding ways to eat cheaply. Unfortunately in Bath, where strolling through one of the parks even costs a pretty penny, my luck did not hold up. I found a little restaurant and, in retrospect, I should have just waited to eat and walked around a bit more. There isn’t really much to say about my meal alone other than the fact that it was too expensive and too bland. The fact that I was alone made the whole ordeal even more pathetically awkward, so I solved the dilemma with a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and a long walk after dinner. That seemed to work.
Thankfully, the evening didn’t end alone. My hostel has a rather cozy Chill Out Room. I stumbled up and, to my complete delight, found a room full of people. Three Aussies and one Canadian, they all were super friendly and we had such a great time. Also, a guy came in later who’s in town for an improvisation comedy performance tonight and tomorrow. We all went a bit overboard at the novelty of being in the room with a celebrity. Thankfully, this guy was really kind and gracious – inviting us all to the show tonight - I’m totally going to pop by. On the whole, today was a great day of excessive diversions. Jane Austen Centre and Stonehenge tomorrow!
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