bath and books

i've been in bath since yesterday afternoon, and i am loving this town.  the pace of london was fun for a couple days - and i hope to go back before the summer is over - but bath is this sweet little sleepy town that is really appealing, as well.  (john mellencamp says "i can breathe in a small town," and i agree.)  lots of parks, gorgeous weather (mid-70s, sunny), about a day's worth of cool stuff to see.  this is why i love summer - it's the perfect weather for wandering through a town, and i've eaten all of my meals here outdoors, sitting on a park bench and watching people (or the river) go by.  bath is on the river avon, which you may know from stratford-upon-avon, where shakespeare lived.  this is the pulteney bridge that crosses the river.  

and this is bath abbey, site of a church from the 1090s.  the current church was built in 1499, with a lot of renovations over the years.  it was damaged when bath was bombed in 1942, and they've spent some money recently to make it pretty again.  really beautiful inside, and as i was leaving i saw a sign that said this: "sat. 27 june 2009.  in honor of the patronal festival, and also to congratulate so-and-so on being ordained to the priesthood today, a full peal is to be attempted on the abbey bells.  this will start shortly after 5pm.  if successful, it will take about 3 and a half hours to complete." (yes, i stood there and copied this down for you all.)  i had several questions at this point: (a) what is a "full peal" and (b) why are they "attempting" a full peal and not "performing" a full peal?  well, i went back by the abbey at about 5:30 and the full peal was in full swing.  it wasn't music, exactly - it sounded more like noise.  pretty, but just noise.  i wondered if i was missing something.  so i came back to my hostel and did some research and found out all about a full peal.  you need to read about it here, because i can't do it justice (people interested in math will find this more interesting than others, i think).  i found the part under "method ringing" most applicable and most interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_ringing 

i am now impressed that they attempted a full peal today, and i hope they were able to do it successfully.  it seems pretty technical once you read that article.

after visiting the abbey this morning, i had lunch and then went to the roman baths that bath is named for.  apparently around 60 AD the romans found a naturally occurring hot spring in the area that is now bath and built a religious temple/spa on the site.  the ticket price to the roman bath museum included an audioguide that you hold up to your ear and it guides you around the museum while telling you fun facts and information...you get to look at the baths and go through a museum with roman artifacts and information about what the area would have looked like at the time.  the audioguide was really quite well done and i learned a lot.  the best part was that bill bryson (the american-british travel writer) had recorded some audio, as well, so after you heard the historical information bill bryson would come on and give you his musings on the topic.  i love bill bryson and was extremely entertained by this.

this is just a pretty row of buildings in bath - it's called the royal crescent.  there was another park in this area of town for me to lie around in and read and people watch, so i spent some time there this afternoon.

now, being on my own in a country where i don't know anyone and have no access to tv, i have been reading a lot.  it's amazing how much time you have to read if you aren't watching tv! (i know, i know - OBVIOUSLY, but i forgot.)  i probably watch 2 hours of tv a day when i'm at home, and this has been replaced with 2 (more, actually) hours of reading a day.  right now i am reading THE BEST BOOK and you all need to go out and buy it.  it's called "a spot of bother," and it's by mark haddon, who wrote "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" which i also loved (read both of them. now.).  i am laughing out loud in public as i read this book.  out loud.  it is better than tv.

i also consider myself the book fairy, dropping books i've finished in countries so i don't have to carry them.  i left one in the hostel in munich, another in the hostel in london, and i may finish "a spot of bother" here in bath tonight.  this is the best book i've read in a long time, though, and i am sad to leave it here.  i need to get over that.