When I packed my bags for my journey I had packed for the record heat that the UK had been experiencing over the last couple of weeks. Guess all it needed was a Canadian to enter the country to bring the temperatures down. I woke this morning learning that the high for the day was going to sit around 20. I am grateful I pack one pair of jeans but something tells me I may need to do some clothes shopping while I am in town.
I had plans for the day. First, breakfast; after I had eaten I had to get ready for the day. I realized this morning that not having a window in your room means that there isn’t any sunlight to wake you. For the first time in who knows how long I managed to sleep in.
My first tourist stop for the day was The Jane Austen Centre for an informative introduction to the life of Jane and then a bit of high tea in their Regency Tea Room. I am aware that not everyone out there is a fan of Jane Austen and her writings so I won’t be going into too much about her life, but it is easy to see that her life played a part in the characters in her stories. Jane’s close relationship with her sister is often reflected in her books, as well as the settings of her books mirror where she had lived throughout her life. Jane lived in Bath with her mother and sister after the passing of her father and It is the main setting in my favourite book, Persuasion. I loved the little tour and I loved the gift shop even more; I had to issue a lot of restraint when it came to picking up souvenirs.
While there I had to have tea in their Regency Tea Room and I was not disappointed. I had Green Sencha tea and a delicious variety of tea snacks. I got to sit, read, and enjoy my lunch; it was perfect. I should add that instead of butter for the scones they offered clotted cream and that stuff is incredible. I will need to make it when I get home. On the way back to the hotel I stumbled upon one of the best bookstores; Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, it had everything.
The last stop on my tourist schedule for the day was to check out Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein. One of the classic horror novels that I read in high school and loved. I had high expectations after my walkthrough of The Jane Austen Centre and I was a little letdown. It was designed with more of a creepy vibe to it which I thought was a bit cheesy. I will admit that the information presented throughout the house was well thought out and taught me a lot about the life of Mary Shelley. In the end, I would say it was alright. The one redeeming quality of the tour was the FX creature that they had professionally created based on the description of the monster from Mary’s book. It was even designed to look like it was breathing. The thing gave me the creeps, I didn’t want to turn my back on it.
I did some more walking around and checked out a couple more shops, which included picking up some warmer weather clothes, but two days of walking was taking a toll on me so I headed back to the hotel to relax and eat some supper. I would say that my second day in Bath was very successful; I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.
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