On Saturday we all met up at the train station to go to Bath. We had a bit of a panic getting there because our normal tube station was closed and we didn't realize it until we walked twenty minutes. We had to execute an alternative plan which involved hiking up a horribly deceitful hill, catching a bus, and switching tube lines to get to Paddington.
Anyway, after all this rush we found out the train had been cancelled. But we did eventually get on a train and arrived in Bath in good timing. We checked into the hotel and dropped bags off before heading into the town center. Sara had arranged for us to visit the Roman baths there for which the town is aptly named. Those were pretty amazing. There was a main central bath fed from the hot spring, as well as several cold plunge pools and cavern pools for swimming or relaxing.
Megan looking charming in front of the central bath.
Overview of the baths as it started to sprinkle.
We were supposed to visit the Abbey afterward, but there was a special service going on, so we did our tour of the city. We went up to the Royal Crescent and the Circus, two areas of historical richly invested development in bath.
Circus
One of the inlets from the Circus
Royal Crescent. I thought this view was prettier than the buildings behind us.
We also visited the Abbey. Two things of immediate note: the ceilings are amazing! Almost completely constructed with fan vaults. Secondly, they are undergoing a reconstruction effort to replace the deteriorating foundation work. They're going to insert special panels under the floors to take in the geothermal energy and heat the building, which is so cool! I wish my floors were heated....but I suppose we can't all have hot springs in our back yard.
We had some difficulties with the hotel because we discovered the third bed, my bed, was a cot. But I figured I would deal with it or crawl into bed with Rachael, because lets be honest, when has a twin bed ever stopped us? I finally caught up on Grey's Anatomy, which of course tore my heart out. The end came and I literally threw my hands up in frustration and knocked the glass shade off of the sconce on the wall behind us. I'm surprised I didn't break it. That was actually the second time I knocked into it. The first time I banged my head against it when I was settling down and trying to avoid hitting it. That sconce was in a really inconvenient place.
The following day we had a minibus pick us up so we could explore the Longleat Manor which is still owned and lived in by the family, so there were a lot of family photos on display throughout the house, which I really enjoyed seeing. It made the house actually seem like a home, which is an ambitious goal with those huge, over the top decorated palaces.
There was also a safari park on the property but unfortunately we did not get to go there. We did see some rhino grazing on our way out.
And lastly, for that trip anyway, we went to the town of Wells, which is pretty much a square and some outskirts and a massive cathedral in the center. The façade was dominated by sculptures of the hierarchy of heaven, which was kind of intimidating. The inside I really loved. There was a set of stairs from the main level of the cathedral up to this beautifully lofted circular room with picture windows lighting up the space. The rest was white. It felt more like a private space of worship. (I don't have any pictures here because you had to buy a photo permit) There was also a Cathedral cat named Louis! They actually had merchandise featuring him, which we found charming--this enormously impressive cathedral with its own orange tabby.
It was a long day of voyaging, somewhat reminiscent of our time in Ireland with the bus and the stops. After Wells we were picked up again and went back to Bath to catch the train, which was a narrow thing. We boarded and a few moments later the train departed back to London.
During this past week we've gone to class as usual. Since we've only had two class periods for each, it still feels like we're settling in, though its been two weeks. We have attended quite a few performances at this point. We saw Hamlet for our Shakespeare class and the main actor who played Hamlet came in to talk to our class. A lot of us geeked out at least on the inside. A few on the outside. He mentioned that he loved the soliloquies of Hamlet, but that he hated awkward eye contact with audience members so he tried his best to look between faces. However, during the performance he caught Rachael's eye on three separate occasions. She was quite flustered about it. Then she went off on tangents in her head about how he had pretty eyes and ridiculously long eyelashes which wasn't fair at all.
http://newdiorama.com/whats-on/hamlet
For our Theatre class, we saw Blurred Lines, a feminist revue (collage of artistic scenes including singing, dancing, poetry, and prose) inspired by the book "The Equality Illusion" by Kat Banyard. The title came from the song by Robin Thicke as a sort of satire.
http://theshed.nationaltheatre.org.uk/events/blurred-lines#.Uwfa1nniuP8
The other was called Rapture, Blister, Burn which was a more traditional styled play, also on the broad subject of feminism with a sort of Freaky Friday plot, a housewife switching roles with a career woman. I think it had quite a bit to say on the subject of fulfillment, and they discussed quite a bit of feminist theory within the context of the play which I enjoyed. However I think there were quite a few implied ideas which may or may not have been on purpose.
http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2014/rapture-blister-burn/
We've been kept in a strange state of business, where we'll have moments all crammed together that we need to rush around to achieve, and other longer periods of drowsy moments where we're not doing much of anything beyond running to the grocery store. Our lives are ruled by food! I've discovered the delight of nutella and pretzels. together. It's like magic. I am also really enjoying reading these Shakespeare plays. Hamlet was more intriguing than I thought it would be, especially his longer expulsions. You just hear so much about it, that it all starts to seem overdone, but it was quite refreshing to actually read the text straight from the source. And as Rachael said, the proposal scene in Henry V is just beyond amusing. I picked up the play text for Rapture, Blister, Burn because certain parts of it really spoke to me, and I wanted to be able to pick up the lines again and savor them at my leisure. And I can share them with others that I think would enjoy it too.
Tomorrow Megan and Rachael and I are bound for Oxford! We're quite excited but we have to wake up early. We tend to abuse trip leaders when they schedule things horrifically early, but having to make plans ourselves helps me realize that honestly, the earlier you start, the better off you usually are with time and money. Sigh...We're also hoping to catch cheap tickets to see Wicked on Monday. A performance just for us instead of class.
A side note for more British quirks: The three of us have noticed that its not uncommon for children, especially older children to call their parents by their first names! We all thought they were doing it to be cheeky, but its happened so frequently and Rachael saw it in a book as well, that we've concluded it must be a relatively normal thing.
Cultural oddities. They'll get you every time.
Love to all back home!
No comments:
Post a Comment