We had one more day in Bath before returning to Cambridge. It was much more crowded in the City Centre! I guess plenty of people come in for the day, and for the weekend. Once we were a little away from the center things were fine.
The view from our basement room. Notice the nice bright sunlight!
The light is terrible in this photo, but I loved this shop. It has tourist stuff, postcards, etc, on the left, but the right side is all dollhouse stuff. I would never have left this store when I was a kid!
This store is on Walcot Street. I love the idea that since Jane Austen's day there has probably been a ladies hat store somewhere in the area!
We went to Topping and Company on Friday, but I did not take a photo. It really is an outstanding bookshop!
Our first stop of the morning was the Jane Austen Center.
They have taken a house on Gay Street, much like one Jane Austen lived in when she was in Bath, and turned it into a museum.
There is not much information about Austen in the really interesting bits of her life, since most of what we knows comes from her letters to her sister, and in the times she was with her sister there are, of course, no letters.
Alex has already blogged about the museum, and his summary is brilliant, so I will quote it, rather than write my own (once the academic, always the academic):
We spent part of the morning at the Jane Austen Centre, a house converted into a museum for Jane Austen fans. Though these days, it's really devoted to that version of Jane Austen that's filtered through the movies; so much so that Austen herself (as well as all her other characters) are in danger of being upstaged by Mr. Darcy-- in particular the Colin Firth version of Mr. Darcy. Actually, most of the museum is about Austen and Bath in her time; it's more the gift shop that has turned into the House of Firth. (The "I [Heart] Mr Darcy" bumper stickers and tote bags) nearly sent my wife over the edge.)
Bath's relationship to Jane Austen is emblematic of the mix of honest and commercialism that at their best English historical sites manage to strike. The message can be reduced to, "Jane Austen reluctantly came to his city with her elderly parents, and over the next five years, endured the loss of her beloved father, the decline of her family's status, constant marginalization in a city obsessed with wealth and fashion, and a creative drought that represents an incalculable loss given her short life. Don't forget to visit the gift shop!"
For the rest of Alex' account of our days in Bath, click here.
One of the best things was a copy of Emma Thompson's acceptance at the Golden Globes for the Sense and Sensibility screenplay. There is video on Youtube here. Go watch it. Really, it is better than anything I will write here.
The fellow greeting people at the front door really did do a good Mr. Bennet act, but the frozen mannequin rather spoiled his lively act.
Jane Austen often sent her characters to the Assembly Rooms, and so that was our next stop. The Assembly Rooms are the same ones Jane would have been too, and they are fantastic.
There was a couple there discussing using the rooms for their wedding. That is going to be a nice reception!
While we were not quite dressed for the occasion, we enjoyed looking around.
Our next stop was the Fashion Museum in the basement of the Assembly Rooms. I remember visiting it when it was called the Costume Museum (I think that was the 1980 trip) and I liked it then. Now that it is the Fashion Museum, I am not so impressed. They had an exhibit of wedding dresses (celebrating the Royal Wedding this year). Some of them were very strange, and there was no analysis, just names and dates.
The 19th century room, "behind the scenes" was more interesting, because it was about how fashions changed by decade, and about how they store and conserve the costumes. But men apparently did not have fashion through most of the century, there was only one male costume and a few men's hats and shoes.
And the 20th century was all about fancy designers and the "dress of the year." There were a few men's outfits, but the exhibit was high on crazy fashion and low on analysis and historical context. Sigh.
This is a very big hat.
We were past ready for lunch, so we stopped at the Pig and Fiddle, and it was even warm enough to eat outside, with the heat lamps they had going, which was good, since there were no tables inside.
We wandered away from the crowds, and did some window shopping on Walcot Street, and back into the center to see if we could get in to Sally Lunn's for the traditional Sally Lunn Bun, but there was a big line, so we walked about a block to a lovely tea place in a hotel, where there were plenty of empty tables and we could enjoy our tea and scones in peace. Then we split up, me for some shops, and Alex to take more photos. He puts them up on Flickr, his page is here.
We met up at a bookshop before heading back to the hotel to collect our bag. We walked across the river to see the city from the other side.
Plenty to take pictures of here.
The Bath Abbey in the distance from across the River Avon.
Alex even put the camera down from his face so I could take his photo.
And he posed again, this time with the Pultenay Bridge as a background.
We found our seats on the very full train to London (with some very loud Rugby players sitting just behind us) and then made the Tube journey from Paddington to King's Cross in time to buy dinner at the Upper Crust, our favorite sandwich place at King's Cross, and hop on the 18:06 for Cambridge. Our bikes were waiting for us at the station, and we rode home. The bag basically fits in my bike basket, but as it had gotten a bit more full (one big heavy book, and a few other things) it was a bit harder to ride. We went slowly, and I got off to go over curbs, and it all worked fine. What a lovely weekend.
...you might make a Jane Austen fan out of me yet (...well, not quite yet!!)
Posted by: Honor Spitz | March 21, 2011 at 04:49 PM
Love the picture of Alex and as always love his prose ... he is a great writer. Not that you aren't my friend, but really it is a talent. And in such a handsome package :)
Posted by: Christy Story | March 25, 2011 at 03:48 PM