DAY 86-88 - Bath

Ah Bath was a change of pace from Plymouth. A different feel in the air. Beautiful gardens and Georgian stone buildings. People milling around enjoying the shops and sights. There are musicians busking at most corners. That's right we are back in the tourist loop again.

We were staying in a hostel above a bar in a 6 bed girls dorm. Girls dorm because it is pink has mirrors, a hair drier and even more extravently hairstraighteners! Here we met Andie a Canadian Massage therapist in her 7th month of her 1 year trip - extreme compared to our small 3 and a bit months.

Our first night in Bath was just walking around the center of town, taking in the sights (particularly of shops that might be revisited the next day) we watched a guy playing a Hang Drum outside the Bath Abbey and Roman Baths.

The hang is made in Switzerland and is shaped like a UFO and is played by tapping points around the circumfernce causing a ringing sound. The different points are different tones in a scale. It has a mesmerising rhythmic kinda sound. (check out Wikipedia if you want to know more)
Then one of the most exciting moments of our visit happened... further around the square we were sitting,came a ringing bell and shouting. We listened carefully. Joy of joys the pasty shop down at the corner was closing for the night and was selling pasties for a pound!!!! Jess's dreams of getting everything and anything for pound, no matter how unrealistic it might be, was finally coming true.

Some might not realise this but Bath has very close conections with Jane Austen. Two of her six books are partly set in Bath and for a short while Jane herself lived in Bath. So we thought we better look into this. The Jane Austen House was a good place to start, a shop full of Jane Austen tourist stuff was very amusing, including I heart Darcy stickers and Darcy posters. Whitey tried to convince us that Darcy was actually Colin Firth but we corrected her quite quickly.

We went on the tour of the house, which wasn't actually a house she lived in but it is on the same street, close enough I guess. A Lady gave us 15min talk on Jane and her family which was.... informitive. We walked around the relatively small museum and tried to decide if it was really worth the money we had paid. Not really maybe more for the die hard Jane Austen fans.

We continued on our tourist jaunt when we came across the famed fashion museum found in the assembly rooms. The assembly rooms were the upper rooms built for balls and the such, in Jane Austen' time this is were Society socialised in the evenings. It has been repaired from damage in the wars but the chandeliers are original and very impressive. All that georgian architecture once again. You feel a bit like you were in a period drama walking around the beautiful rooms.

The fashion Museum was ok, its redeeming factor was its free audio guides and a display of 12 of Princess Dianas dresses. Including one she had worn to the Ballet when she was in New Zealand. The commentary talked about her wardrobe being a costume of a princess. She balanced the restrictions and pressures of being in the royal family with her own natural dress sense and style. It was also sad to see photos of her and listening about her struggles and triumphs knowing how had it ended for her.

Abby playing dress-ups

Fashion...apparently!

The next day it was a slow start. Rain was falling gently and persistently from the heavens. This didn't matter too much as some of the girls were partaking in a worthy NZ auction. But we did eventually venture out into the decievingly misty rain. Soon very wet we tried to escape to the mall only to find that it is an uncovered mall. So we dashed around some more to find some lunch.

After lunch we headed to the world heritage Roman Baths for which Bath is named after, along with the rest of the population of Bath! Initially when were discussing visiting the baths we were unsure whether we needed togs. After a stakeout outside the Baths we observed that nobody seemed to be carrying towels or bags that potentially held towels so we concluded there was no swimming. Though we hoped there would be foot dipping.

Unfortunately our hopes we not realised as the only touching of the waters of the spring was actaully drinking it. Or "taking the waters" which is what the springs were famous for in more recent times. The healing properties of the spring waters natural occuring minerals and metals were said by many to heal everything from gout, infertility to obestity. These "many people" were generally the ones trying to make as much money out of an opportunity as possible which they did. Now this Museum was definitely worth the money we paid. Free audio guide again and we followed slowly around the displays of Roman artifacts and heard stories about the people of the time. Then out to the steaming pools that are fed by a spring that is initally 64 degrees C, cooling to 47 by the time it reaches the pool. It is also the only natural occuring hot springs in England. The pavers around the pools are worn and uneven by the many feet that have past over them. The Baths and associated buildings have been hidden under ground for many years - it seems almost wrong that we can wander around on these ancient stones. Again the briefness of New Zealand's history was very apparent to us. The next stop is the Pump Room, again described in Jane Austen. It was for the people of society. The water was pumped up to the room to be taken at leisure whilst talking and making business conections and seeing who else was around. We also tried taking the waters. Unsuprisingly it was warm and metallic tasting not that appealing really.

After a quiet afternoon shopping and snoozing (by Abby to try and rid her self of two infected ears) Kath and Abby joined our roomie Andie for a quiz night in the bar below the hostel. Andie had also recruited John- scotish bomb disposal man in the army with way too much time on his hands and Ryan- american reduntant history teacher who had lived in some very dodgey flats (that rivalled even dunedin's infamous student flats!!) The quiz started with two rounds of particullarly obscure questions about inventions and fruit. another round of general questions and we were one behind the lead team going into the last round, the music round. With Kath and Ryan on our team we were in with a chance. A long wait to hear the results, the quiz master slowly handed back the sheets of paper starting with the lowest points. She was down to two, we were in with a chance, and then..... we won!!!! Won what exactly? Well a 75 pound bar tab to share.

The next morning we had time to kill before our train so we made use of the Mayors free guided walking tour. It was completely free! William our tour guide

talked us through the history of the bath in 7 mins and then showed us round the sites telling us amusing and quirky stories about the areas. An enjoyable and informative experience.