Week Two: Bath & Wales

Hey friends! I’m writing you from our hotel in Bath, which is a lovely place situated right in the middle of town. Their breakfast room is absolutely the perfect place to write—there are windows overlooking the city, and because the sun sets so late here, it’s only about 8 a.m. and I can still see streaks of pink rising above the mountains and hillsides. I took this photo from one of the windows in the hallway:

Bath is absolutely gorgeous. It sits on top of a hill, so there are lots of slopes and curves which provide some pretty incredible views. Yesterday, we were given a lecture by Stephen Bird, a Bath native and esteemed archaeological expert. He gave us a bit of history about Bath and Roman Britain.

Then, we walked the short distance to the Guildhall, where we met the mayor of Bath, June. She was completely charming and extremely down to earth, and she actually has dyed her hair purple! It was really empowering to hear a bit of her story—how she loves helping people and doing her part to make the world a better place. The role of mayor in Bath is not a political position, but rather an honorary one. Madame Mayor served on the council for twelve years before running for the position. Each mayor only serves in the position for a year, then their term is up. We were even able to see her reception room, where Queen Elizabeth II, diplomats, and groups like ours have been received by the mayor on behalf of the city of Bath, and her visitor’s book, where Winston Churchill himself signed after a visit.

The afternoon was ours to explore, and a group of us went down to the Royal Crescent and the Circus. These rows of terraced houses were constructed using Georgian architecture, which was a style used between 1714 and 1830 in the United Kingdom. Johnny Depp owns property in this area! It was probably one of my favorite spots in the city.

I think I hit my first wall on this trip this week. It can be very taxing, constantly going out and doing things—especially for an introvert. While I’ve greatly enjoyed exploring castles and ruins, some of the moments I have enjoyed the most so far are going to hole-in-the-wall places with a smaller group of people and wandering around the city of Bath.

For example, the past couple of nights, some of us have gone to have tea and dinner in a tiny place called Sally Lunn’s. It sits in the oldest house in Bath, which has stood since 1482. Sally Lunn’s, I believe, has been around since 1630. We had the most delicious tea and Sally Lunn Buns, which are massive chunks of sweet bread as big as my hand. You can get any topping you like (I recommend the lemon curd, so zesty).

We also stumbled across an independent bookshop called Topping & Company right around the corner, and they were open super late (9 p.m. here, what a concept). It was inside this gorgeous columned building, and it had three stories and those tall, rolling ladders you see in movies. It was absolutely marvelous. I bought Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, which is set in the city Bath (she lived here for a time). Admittedly, despite my status as an English major and lover of literature, I’ve never read an Austen novel. Now seems like the perfect time to start!

Visiting Chepstow Castle was certainly a highlight of the week as well. I’ve never had the opportunity to run free inside a massive stone castle, considering we don’t exactly have many of those state-side. We were able to walk along the side of the castle, which dropped on a steep incline and overlooks the city of Chepstow in Wales. The castle has been extremely well-preserved, dating from the Norman era in 1067. We climbed steep turrets and towers, imagining what it might have been like to live someplace so magnificent six centuries ago (I even slipped down one of the narrow staircases and came back with a nasty bruise to prove it).

Tintern Abbey was simply stunning. While I will never forget the feeling of running through Chepstow’s ruins, the Abbey was a complete showstopper and a phenomenal way to end our day in Wales. Tintern was home to cloistered monks, dating from the 11th century onward. It’s less of a fully-functioning abbey and more so ruins. The abbey was abandoned when accusations of the Church becoming too powerful began spreading throughout England and Wales. The bishop was the last to leave Tintern, and no one really knows what happened to him.

Tintern Abbey has inspired many literary figures, such as William Wordsworth, who authored a poem in its honor:

These beauteous forms,

Through a long absence, have not been to me

As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:

But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din

Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,

Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;

And passing even into my purer mind

With tranquil restoration:—feelings too

Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,

As have no slight or trivial influence

On that best portion of a good man's life,

His little, nameless, unremembered, acts

Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,

To them I may have owed another gift,

Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,

In which the burthen of the mystery,

In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all this unintelligible world,

Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,

In which the affections gently lead us on,—

Until, the breath of this corporeal frame

And even the motion of our human blood

Almost suspended, we are laid asleep

In body, and become a living soul:

While with an eye made quiet by the power

Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,

We see into the life of things.

-From ”Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a tour. July 13, 1798”

In addition to these sites, we also were able to see the magnificent Roman Baths, whose natural thermal springs have been bubbling from beneath the surface since before the 12th century AD. People have flocked to Bath for centuries, as it acted as a resort town whose waters supposedly possessed healing qualities. Bathing was a very important ritual for the Romans who initially settled in Bath, spending several hours in the bathhouses; it was a social meeting space. We were also able to see some of the other bathing areas in the Roman Baths, like hot and cold rooms, that they once used. People came to the Roman Baths specifically to worship the Roman goddess Sulis Minerva. The Baths weren’t actually discovered until 1880 and weren’t excavated until 1981, which is amazing. We were walking on top of Roman history and didn’t even know it! Not to mention Edgar, the first-ever coronated king of England, was crowned in Bath Abbey in 973, which sits just a few meters from the Baths.

I really enjoyed Bath far more than I anticipated. I wasn’t really sure what to expect; I went in blind. We watched a few videos on Bath before the week, but it was far more stunning and historically-rich than I thought.

To know that I gazed down at Pulteney Bridge, the same place Hugh Jackman stood filming Les Miserables, and that I walked down Parade Street, where Jane Austen strolled and recorded in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, was surreal.

Standing on top of Bathwick Hill, overlooking the city ethereally glowing in the sunset, was a moment which can never be repeated in the same way anywhere else in the world.

Trying a famous Bath Bun in a little tea shop across the way from Bath Abbey made me feel like a true English lady.

Standing in the middle of The Circus, looking all around me at the identical townhomes lined pristinely in a row felt magical.

Surveying the vibrant emerald hills from the cobblestone lining the Royal Crescent was simply divine.

Walking along the thermal springs in the recovered Roman Baths was chilling, knowing those same hot springs have been bubbling up from below the surface since before the 12th century AD.

I hope you enjoyed reading my week two recap! We’re studying in Cambridge for the next couple of weeks before we set off for London!

Cheers!

Hannah Rose Rob