Months ago, when S and I were planning these few days in Bristol/Bath, we trying to decide where to stay. We scoured websites and consulted friends/colleagues we know who had visited both cities. Everyone had an opinion, and they general fell along these lines: if you like cities and activity, stay in Bristol. If you like history and genteel stuff, stay in Bath. We chose Bristol as our home base, but planned a day in Bath. I'm glad to say that we chose wisely. Very wisely.
We planned to spend the day in Bath. From Temple Meads Station (the main train station in Bristol), the trip to Bath was about 15 minutes and three stops along the Great Western Railway, one of about a gazillion things that Isambard Kingdom Brunel is responsible for in these parts. The train was fast and comfortable, and the Temple Meads station is beautiful on the outside.
Once in Bath, the whole town is super walkable. We had 4 points on our agenda: Roman Baths Museum, Herschel Museum, shopping, and hanging out along the river. After a quick lunch of handpies, our first destination was the Roman Baths. The facilities and exhibition were terrific. The excavation was thorough, the galleries informative, and the whole experience was remarkable. Each guest got a free audio tour guide, which was not only done in multiple languages for the international guests, but also had a separate track of recordings for kids. S and I could listen to academic-y bits about the Baths, and H could listen to the same basic information, presented to her by one of a half-dozen different characters who were representative of people at the Baths. She got her own valuable experience that was customized for her. S and I even got to listen to her experience at times!
After we were done with the Baths, we wandered across town, which is truly beautiful:
... until we got to the Herschel Museum. William Herschel was a musician an amateur astronomer credited with discover Uranus (tee-hee). For many years, he lived with his sister Caroline (also a musician and astronomer) in Bath, and their house has been turned into a monument to their lives and accomplishments. It should be noted that the house is mostly focused on William, since has the vast majority of discoveries attributed to him, but Caroline was no slouch in the discoveries department, and she did so while also cooking, cleaning, managing the house, taking notes for William, and also occasionally hand-feeding him since he couldn't bother to feed himself while working. As far as I'm concerned, Caroline is William's equal (if not superior) in the astronomy department. Side note: If you're interested in reading more about them, I can't recommend highly enough The Age of Wonder.
So, two goals down, two to go. BUT, the stores in Bath were very disappointing. A bunch of the indie shops were were looking for were shut today (unsure if they were shut just on Tuesdays or on weekdays in general), and the shops that were open tended to be large international chains (Athleta, Apple, etc.). Totally in-line with catering to weel-heeled tourists, but far far far from local flavor.
And... we never got to meander along the river. We just ran out of steam.
SO! Back to Bristol!
Once back at Temple Meads, we hopped a cab to the Clifton Mall area, high up on the northwest of Bristol. Our cabbie was born in Pakistan but had lived in Bristol for 50 years: he gave us recommendations, told us stories, made us giggle, talked about how his daughter hated the US (too much racism and too many cars). Side note: all of our cab drivers have been wonderful. They've all been first or second-gen immigrants, and they've all enthusiastically shared what they love about Bristol with us. Their joy was so pervasive that after our last cab ride today, H remarked that one of the things she loved the most about visiting Bristol was hearing about what the cab drivers had to say.
In Clifton Mall, we ate a lovely dinner at The Ivy. H had a mocktail with juices, elderflower tonic, and a passionfruit garnish.
After dinner, we walked the short walk to our last destination in Bristol: the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Yet another of Brunel's contributions, the bridge spans the Avon in a section of town that is far above sea level. We walked across the bridge twice before heading to an observatory point just NE of the bridge:
After that, we walked the .8 miles downhill home, where we settled in for our last night in Bristol. Tomorrow, Stonehenge!
No comments:
Post a Comment