I Am Arrived in Bath - Day Two

Almost there!

I arrived in Bath, bleary-eyed after the long flight from Vancouver and additional three hour bus ride from Heathrow.  I slept most of the bus ride dozing but each time I woke, I almost had to pinch myself to believe I was actually in England.  The bus made its way southwest from Heathrow through Reading, stopping in Cirencester and Chippingham but always returning to rolling hills, low hedgerows and the occasional country village and, finally, swooping down Bathwick Hill into Bath.

There is something about Bath.  Something beautiful and refined.  I gloried in it as I strolled down Pierrepont Street and across the Pulteney Bridge.  Despite the cars, buses and lorries careening down the narrow streets, there is a feeling of Georgian elegance that permeates everything.  It is a beautiful city, with a warren of streets of warm, golden-stoned buildings.  My hotel, the Kennard, was located in the middle of such a street off Laura Place (where Lady Dalrymple and the Honorable Miss Carteret of Persuasion stayed).

The first night in a trip like this is always best spent acclimatizing yourself to the time.  I like to take a stroll, find some food and generally just keep moving before I crash into a jet-lagged coma.  It's also a great way to get the general feel for an area as well.  As the city quieted down, I meandered side streets and squares and ended my early evening with that most English of customs, tea.  My first tea was a light Darjeeling with a Sally Lunn bun and homemade ginger butter.  The bun was toasted and similar in taste to brioche or shokupan; it was the ginger butter that made it fabulous.  Ginger butter is now on my list of things I want to keep in my life.


On my way back to the hotel, I passed a little staircase leading under a building.  Though still early in the evening, the sun had completely set and it was dark.  Still, I wanted to explore and I was determined on this trip to explore everything that interested and intrigued me.  So, despite the creepiness or maybe because of it, down the staircase I went and discovered a riverside walk that gave me a unique view of the Pulteney Bridge.

Guildhall and Pulteney Bridge from across the Avon.

Hidden byways can lead to magic places.

Once back at my hotel, I enjoyed another English custom via the telly...

Eastenders.