a beautiful old city that just oozes history from every crack...to think the Romans lazed around their baths here and the Victorians wandered down its cobbled streets...
the great pulteney street made that much long and that much wide for horse carriages to go through with ease in their day...the Roman baths themselves....squatting there, feeling the warm water...which was green in the pool but funnily enough, orange when it rushed through the channels...the relics...the stone coffins...Minerva's bust...ancient brooches....and the rain just adding to that otherworldly ambience.the gorgeous old Abbey which dominates the skyline....the ancient architecture...
Jane Austen's temporary residence at 24, Gay Street (not sure if it had any connotations)
she penned her Persuasion and Northanger Abbey here....my buried english lit. signals tingling all over...missed the tour of her centre, we reached late after all the wanderings...and the tea and scones with it.
the beautiful old trees just towering over us...leaves all overthe place...fall in all her beauty....and the rain...our rather wet open-top bus tour and the wind stinging us when the rain paused briefly.
its a pity that tho our desh has zillion times more of a historical heritage and treasures to be showcased in every corner, we do not have the sa
me respect that the europeans have for their past...go to any old ruin in Delhi, and the city has quite a few of them hidden in its bowels, and find graffitti, paan stains, violent etchings and public lavatory smells.....tragic and frustrating...
these guys not only preserve, document and showcase their past with excruciating love and pride, they also earn huge bucks off it...so its not only sentiments...
so, anyway, we had a fleeting brush with the past that we had only read about or seen NatGeo specials on...wondrous and poignant.
And the rain softly fell on the old houses and streets and the hazaar tourists like us happy but not completely satiated...
6 comments:
Hey Phoenix,
We visited Bath earlier this year too. It really is lovely. The Baths alone are worth the trip, aren't they? The Jane Austen centre, was good, they had a short talk about her, there's a film on her life and you get to see some paintings (the only sketch that she ever sat for, made by her sister Cassandra), and then a bunch of items that are from her time (but not necessarily used by her). It was OK, not spectacular.
Aw the tea and scones, absolutely lovely! Did you make it to Sally Lunn's? :-)
nice pic there..i have a pic in the forwards of vatican city ..simply beautiful!
check it out!
Nee - No, we missed the teashop too!...the oldest house in the city, isnt it?! we reached in the afternoon so couldnt see as much as we could. maybe next time. Yes, the Baths are just awesome!...worth the time, definitely. So thats what the JA tour was abt...figured as much. Not much of a miss, is it?! All in all a great time was had by all :-)
white forest - Thanks and will do!
As in the wife of Bath??? Really? Wowee... I was in London too today - just didn't feel like leaving the shopping heritage of Heathrow! ;)
You obviously had fun... I must visit Bath on my next UK trip! :)
hi phoenix,
lovely pics with lovely descriptions..
qsg - welcome back, bud! missed you some :-) yup, that wife of Bath only :-)) you must see it once...if you're in the mood for some history!
shruti - Thanks much! And nice of you to stop by :-)
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