Bath , UK — Alone with cameras in a city of golden stones and architectures (part 2)
17/6/2017
I always like walking off the beaten path, to see places that are less seen by others. Also to not be “too touristy”. It’s a shame that I only had half a day in Bath.
I walked the long way towards the Royal Crescent, on the way I waked pass The Circus not knowing it’s name at first. I thought “ It must be nice to live in such pretty houses”. The Circus is a circular roll of houses, built in the 18th century, by architect John Wood. Before there was a park in the middle of the circle, but now there is only a giant tree on top of the grass.
People were sitting on the grass and I thought I saw some youngster drinking too.
The warm summer sun shone onto the honey coloured bricks, reflected a warm hue, with the cloudless blue sky, I had a nostalgic, peaceful feeling walking on Bath’s street, it was a nice Saturday afternoon. I would even sit down at a cafe if the price wasn’t so expensive. (you see I spent all my money on photography)
The Royal Crescent was an elegantly stretched roll of houses, very similar to The Circus, except in a different shape. The Crescent and the “Ha-ha Wall” forms a crescent shape, hence the name.
The “Ha-ha Wall” was a short wall, with a sloping trench in front of it ,to prevent animals from walking onto the lawns in front of the Crescent and blocking the view. Guess the name came up when humans decided to stand on top of the wall and laughed at the animals trying to get past the wall and graze.
In front of the wall, lots of people were sun bathing, picnicking under the hot summer sun. For me I would rather sit under shelter and have my packed lunch. My host mum Christine (I lived in a host family) made me tuna sandwich with lettuce, pack of apple juice, bread with chocolate chips, and chocolate bar (she really does love her chocolate)
The Jane Austen Centre was located at Gay Street, a small, unnoticeable building. I actually walked pass it not knowing its existence before I looked at the map and found that I had walked pass it. The small size of the centre was understandable, as it was modified from the house where the famous writer and her family once lived during their stay in Bath.
Inside the centre, staff dressed in old fashioned clothing greeted us. The lady at the gift shop just sold me ticket turns out to be the guide for our guided tour in the house. She later explained the history of the Austen family history and the myths about Jane Austen’s appearance. Apparently quite a number of portraits of Jane Austen had been drawn, but which one is the one that is actually an accurate portray of her appearance is still in dispute. (think of it like the difference between original art work and fan-art)
It was almost time to leave so I decided to take a stroll along the river Avon in the nice warm Saturday afternoon. There was a park on the river bank, with people lying around, not really doing anything, it felt like a typical Saturday afternoon.
There are so many churches in the UK (or maybe it is ordinary in Europe to have this many churches). During my three weeks stay I visited more churches than I had than in my whole life.
In a distance I spotted the spire of a church. Intrigued, I decided to take a quick look before I go. It was called St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. An ordinary, rather small church with wooden tiles. Besides me and a handful of tourists are the staff there, didn’t know if it was just me that is very keen on seeing churches because there are little in Hong Kong, or the church is nothing special so there were not many visitors inside.
One interesting thing I found, was that there are bottled water labelled as “Holy Water”. As I was desperately in need of a bottle of water and I didn’t have any left. I took one and left some donations. I guess I should thank god then.
There were books where visitors had written down their wishes and prayers. As I flipped through the pages, prayers of sons, mothers, and friends from different countries were written in the book.
It was around 5pm, warm afternoon lights shone through the stained glass window, onto the children’s chairs and table. Colours of red, green and yellow were projected onto the furniture and the wooden floor.
At first glance the Pulteney Bridge reminds me of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. According to travel literature the Pulteney Bridge is one of the few bridges that have shops on both sides of the bridge. There are shops that sell vintage maps, a juice bar and various other shops. Too bad I didn’t have enough time to take a walk on the bridge.
When I think of Bath, I will always remember the golden stones, the warm afternoon light, the cloudless blue sky and the old buildings I’ve seen.
To be continued… (Next entry)
