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Weekend Bath-ed
Dec. 4th, 2007 07:35 amIt was a soggy weekend, although it was sunny and clear on Saturday morning when we left Paddington Station on a 2-hour westward train for Bath. The station's luggage check office ("left luggage") has a display window with examples of abandoned suitcases and a 6-foot tagged Paddington Bear... cute.
Arriving in Bath, which is beige-yellow from the local limestone used for most buildings. It gives the town a uniform, tidy, almost Disney-esque appearance, IMO. We checked into out 1756-vintage Georgian townhouse B&B (between the Circus and Royal Crescent) then headed back downhill to the abbey, catching a minibus tour that took us to Stonehenge and to Lacock, a small preserved village. At Stonehenge... there is a tunnel that takes one from the visitor center under the highway and thence to the ruins. As we emerged from the tunnel, the sunshine stopped... droplets began falling, and the wind picked up. By the time we were halfway around, we had gale-force winds and driving sleet mixed with freezing rain. When we crossed back later under the tunnel... it stopped. Weird. Along the way, we saw lots of hedgerows, thatched roofs and half-timbered cottages in rural villages. It was a lot of fun.
After the tour, we went back to our hotel, retrieved our swimsuits and went to the bath in Bath -- a modern spa next door to the ancient Roman one. It was a bit watered-down... less mineral smell, and not hot, but still pleasant. Gender-imbalanced, too... there were a few men there with partners, but most attendees were women in small groups. The ground floor was swimming pool sized... clumps of people... floating with styrofoam beams... warm water... I said to Pat "this feels rather like a PPP..."
Then Indian food and back to the B&B. Sunday morning, I found a nearby geocache, then we dropped off our bag at a hostel near the station and went back to see the Roman bath ruins. Returning to the train station, I followed instructions and put our bag on the shuttle bus.... Pat went to find a restroom... the bus filled up and left. With our bag. They called ahead and it was waiting for us at Swindon. Whew.
Despite a missed rail connection, we arrived back in London in time for a candlelit Lessons and Carols service at Westminster Abbey... ethereal, lovely, and again both the familiar and not-familiar bundled together. And then I spent the evening after dinner getting my material ready for today's meeting...
Arriving in Bath, which is beige-yellow from the local limestone used for most buildings. It gives the town a uniform, tidy, almost Disney-esque appearance, IMO. We checked into out 1756-vintage Georgian townhouse B&B (between the Circus and Royal Crescent) then headed back downhill to the abbey, catching a minibus tour that took us to Stonehenge and to Lacock, a small preserved village. At Stonehenge... there is a tunnel that takes one from the visitor center under the highway and thence to the ruins. As we emerged from the tunnel, the sunshine stopped... droplets began falling, and the wind picked up. By the time we were halfway around, we had gale-force winds and driving sleet mixed with freezing rain. When we crossed back later under the tunnel... it stopped. Weird. Along the way, we saw lots of hedgerows, thatched roofs and half-timbered cottages in rural villages. It was a lot of fun.
After the tour, we went back to our hotel, retrieved our swimsuits and went to the bath in Bath -- a modern spa next door to the ancient Roman one. It was a bit watered-down... less mineral smell, and not hot, but still pleasant. Gender-imbalanced, too... there were a few men there with partners, but most attendees were women in small groups. The ground floor was swimming pool sized... clumps of people... floating with styrofoam beams... warm water... I said to Pat "this feels rather like a PPP..."
Then Indian food and back to the B&B. Sunday morning, I found a nearby geocache, then we dropped off our bag at a hostel near the station and went back to see the Roman bath ruins. Returning to the train station, I followed instructions and put our bag on the shuttle bus.... Pat went to find a restroom... the bus filled up and left. With our bag. They called ahead and it was waiting for us at Swindon. Whew.
Despite a missed rail connection, we arrived back in London in time for a candlelit Lessons and Carols service at Westminster Abbey... ethereal, lovely, and again both the familiar and not-familiar bundled together. And then I spent the evening after dinner getting my material ready for today's meeting...
