Bath

     It’s been a week of travel and it's time to catch up a little--a short blog now and a longer one later about our four days in London over the weekend. On Wednesday the 21^st, we rented a car and drove to Bath, detouring through some southern Cotswold towns on the way. For those waiting to hear of my driving skills:  It all went ok, but it’s not something I’m going to brag about and it’s not something I plan to do on a weekly basis. Left side of the road, ok; stick shift, fine; Oxford’s narrow street full of bikes at night, not good. But everyone is still alive. If we can take trains and buses, that’s a better way of travel—for all concerned.

     It was a rainy day in Bath, so we didn’t walk as much as we expected. The Jane Austen self-tour, for example, will wait for another time. Bath is very much a tourist town, primarily centered around the ancient Roman baths. But it is also a bustling town of daily local commerce. Between the ancient and modern, however, there is lots of evidence throughout the town of the late 18^th and early 19^th century, when I think Bath may have had its greatest days, Georgian architecture and the Regency period. The place is full of big beautiful town homes, most notably the Royal Crescent, built just about the time some American colonists were getting restless and wanting more independence.

     For me, there is an interesting contrast between these places and the buildings of Boston, Philadelphia or even Williamsburg (I know the latter are reproductions) from the period.  England was the world power—the British Empire—and it shows in this arch of grand houses high on a hill with a great green space before them. Sure, I’m projecting, but there is an imperial confidence in this scene, even if the king was starting to show signs of madness about 100 miles to the east and now most of these houses are carved up into flats.

We’ll be back.