Weekend in Bath

Lena and I went to Bath this past weekend! Really good times all around. We left Norwich at 2:30, so we got to London around 4:45. We then had some time till our connecting train to Bath so we visited St. Paul's Cathedral. We arrived just moments before Evensong started so we listened to the choir boys sing for a few minutes, which was very nice. Then we blagged our way back onto the subway ("You mean we were only supposed to use these tickets to get from Liverpool Street to Paddington Stations? OOPS!"), grabbed some delicious bagels for dinner, and then caught the train for Bath. When we got there we found our way to our hostel, St. Christopher's Inn, which was right about a bar called Belushi's. They checked us in, the Australian guy behind the bar gave us each a free coke, and then we hung out in the Chill Out Room upstairs with two New Zealanders, an Australian and a Canadian for a while. It was cool to hear about their travels -- what they'd done, where they'd been, how long they'd been away from home. One of our roommates, also from Australia, had been in Bath for two months, working two jobs to save up enough money to start traveling again.

Next day we saw lots of cool Bath stuff, starting with the Roman Baths. It's really pretty there, and they've set up an excellent museum in the old buildings so you walk around and learn about the history of the place before going out and seeing the big bath. They tell you not to touch the water because it's untreated, but of course we did; it was slimy and smelly (and green) but nice and warm. The weird thing is that at the end of the tour they let you take a sip of the spring water as it comes out of a pretty fish fountain, so I don't know why we can drink it but not touch it. Maybe the fountain water is treated? Couldn't tell you. Anyway, Lena took some pictures of us in front of the bath so I'll share those when I get them, but for now here's one of the smelly green water and some people.

The big bath.

"The King's Spring," from whence we drank.

After the baths we looked around at some of the pretty buildings of Bath, including the Royal Crescent, Bath's prime real estate; and the Royal Circus, where, our guide was pleased to inform us, Nicolas Cage just bought an apartment for £4 million. Bully for him, I say. Later that night we went on a ghost tour around the city, which was really fun and creepy. All the ghosts the guy talked about were from Victorian times and stuff, and they had died in duels and hunting accidents and the like, so you know it's legit.

We also visited the Jane Austen Centre, where we had tea in Jane Austen's Tea Room. I don't even particularly like tea or Jane Austen, but even I had to admit that it was very classy and fun. We also met up for a while with Jenny and Carol, who both go to UCSD (and UEA, for the semester) and who were just passing through Bath on their way back from London.

Carol, me, a Victorian man, and Jenny outside the Jane Austen Centre.

My conclusion: Bath is a lovely city, and Lena is a lovely friend and travel companion. So that made for a lovely weekend.