History, give or take a little...

I woke in the very fancy English townhome known as Pulteney House.  It is literally a "Town Home."  A home in town.  The wealthy would have country estates and a home in town.  I stayed "downstairs."  If you are a Downton fan, you'd know immediately that this would be the servants area.  My room was likely a sleeping room or possibly a larger work room as it was just inside the side entrance-not up the grand staircase in the foyer.  Today, it is a nice bedroom with an en suite.  If you ever get to Bath I highly recommend Pulteney house. They also serve a very lovely breakfast. 

I'm not sure what it is about me and rain, but once again as I started to set out on foot for the city, it started to rain cats and dogs.  I waited the bloody storm out (a mere 10 minutes) and walked to town in clear, but brisk skies. The rest of the morning was regal in Bath.  Bath was first "founded" by the Romans who harnessed the natural warm spring waters, but the spring was later lost to disrepair and flooding and only rediscovered 150 years ago or so.  Unfortunately, I ran out of time to take the tour of the actual Bath as the queue was astonishingly long. The waters from the springs have long been said to cure anything and even impregnanted a queen with a male child-hence the Queens bath.  Unfortunately, that King and queen were later over-thrown. 

However, I did get to go to Bath Abbey. There have been three religious buildings on the sight of Bath Abbey; a Saxon monastery, a Norman church ,  and the present day Abbey.  The first King of England was crowned in Bath Abbey in 973 AD. 

The current building was started in 1499 but stood as a carcass until the reign of Queen Elizabeth (the first, not the current one) who provided the money to finish the building but declared that Bath could have only one parish (it had five at the time) and that it would be called Bath Abbey. The building itself is a  beautiful upright Gothic style and has 52 stained glass windows-reportedly, one for each day of the week. I was able to go into the Abbey early for morning prayer.  

That also allowed me to snap a few pictures before the hoards of people came through.  You can also climb to the top of the top of the Abbey tower but in the Intermintent downpours and the 212 steps, I opted to take the Mayor's walking tour instead. 

The walking tour took 2 and a quarter hours and I got the majority of my Fitbit goal accomplished in that time.  I also saw pretty much everything in the city and learned a lot of interesting, although not necessarily true, "history."  The city, was once fortified by an encompassing wall. The whole of the city was remarkably small-you could walk the outside wall in 12 minutes.  The Abbey sits off to the side, and there is a kings bath in the drawing but the guide spoke of the Queens baths nearby-which I never could quite figure out if they were an off-shoot or a different spring from the Roman baths.  

Much later, in Victorian times, Jane Austen frequented Bath and parts of the city show up in her stories.  I have to admit I haven't read much of them, but none the less it was a fun bit of trivial history to learn. We also learned about Victorian manners, dinner protocol and well-other issues such as the "necessary houses", chamber pots, and the Victorian version of the honey wagon. I sh*t you, not! 

Bath has the fifth highest housing costs in GB, and the houses in this little did day-called the circus (don't know why-it's just a giant round about) range from £4.6 MM to government subsidized. Interestingly, they are all listed as historically significant, having been around for a long time and designed by a famous architect.  Yet, some are government subsidized housing-which is a bit like section 8 housing but without the social stigma, I am told.  The homes vary, of course, inside-the more expensive one had an indoor pool and 7 bathrooms while (whilst-if your British) the smaller was a two bed room, one bath and sadly-no pool.  

The other famous landmark of Bath is the bridge that was built with private funds and included shops on the bridge.  It's highlighted in all the literature, but really didn't seem to be a highlight of the tour.  It's a pretty bridge none the less and with all the rain the area has had, the river was flooding its banks.  

And with that, the afternoon had snuck up on me so I retrieved my luggage back at Pulteney house, and just as I was leaving-can you guess?  YES!  It rained again!  When I return home, you may want to consider building an ark.  It seems I have magical powers or I will be having a dream soon that encourages me to take in animals two at a time.  

Much to my amazement, I made it from Bath to Paddington on the Great Western Train, from Paddington to Edgewater on the circle line to change to the Hammersmith &City line to St Pancreas to get on the Eurostar with plenty of time to Spare.  I'm still pinching myself and waiting to find out I boarded the wrong train altogether and have ended up in Florence instead of Paris. However, look at the loo in the Eurostar!  It's so funny!  It's a Crapper!