The past weekend was truly spectacular. Saturday a couple smaller groups visited Bath. The city is famous for the Roman Baths, but served as a popular holiday location for aristocrats who would visit for the Baths and stay at the Royal Crescent. The Crescent was built between 1767 and 1775 and has become a well-recognized landmark though today it serves as a hotel. The Pulteney Bridge is another well-known landmark. It's a beautiful bridge offering a great view of the historic city. One of the last historic sites we visited was the Circus. A gorgeous building that forms the shape of a key, which can be seen from the sky. This building was a key reason that UNESCO awarded Bath with the title of a World Heritage Site. The architecture has been extremely well preserved and all of the buildings are magnificent. I truly do not believe you can take a bad picture in Bath, as there were gorgeous scenic views from alleyways as well as in more open and populated areas.
Additionally, there are several museums in Bath including the Fashion Museum. This museum houses a collection of dresses and gloves from the 16th Century as well as more modern pieces including the Dress of the Year for 2011. It was interesting to see how fashion has changed over the centuries and to try and imagine wearing some of the clothing that was popular years ago. Some of the day dresses from the 16th Century are large enough that I'm not sure anyone could fit through a door wearing them today. During our visit there was also a special display of costumes from movies depicting the royal family including a few dresses worn by Helen Mirren in the movie The Queen and Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth. There were some fun items included such as the green Versace dress that Jennifer Lopez famously wore. It was a wonderful museum and really a neat collection.
The Women's Olympic Marathon was taking place Sunday and I can now officially say I saw an Olympic Event! We took the bus in early that morning and got a place near the start of the race, by Westminster Abbey, allowing us to see them within the first seven minutes of the race. It was incredible to see how fast they were going and the crowd support was amazing. Within a few feet from us I saw about five different national flags and several other nations represented. The view was incredible although I felt bad for the runners, as it was quite rainy out. Overall we have had great weather for the Olympics, but I would not have wanted to run 26.2 miles in the rain. Luckily for everyone it cleared up about halfway through their run and they were able to finish in some great weather. After seeing them run by we headed out toward the London Tower and caught a bit more of the race as they ran past that section of London. It was one of the most fantastic experiences being able to watch world class athletes perform.
For lunch we found our way to the Curry Capital of the World, more commonly known as Brick Lane. The area is lined with great Indian restaurants and we ate some wonderful food. It was a bit like visiting China Town or Little Italy in New York or somewhere where the food is just so authentic and delicious. After lunch we spent the day at London Tower. Having been the home of so many royals the tower is rich with history. In fact it's so rich with history that three queens including Queen Anne Boleyn were killed in one spot in the center of the lawn and over 1,500 individuals were buried beneath the church. It was home to the most infamous jail towers and many individuals faced a great deal of torture there before eventually being led up the hill outside the castle where they would be killed in front of massive crowds.
On a more fun note, the royals used to receive amazing gifts from around the world, and at one point had an elephant, polar bear, several lions, tigers, and other animals housed within these gates. Even more amazing, are the crown jewels! Unfortunately they are extremely strict on their no photo policy around the jewels, but I was floored by the size of them. The crowns did not even look real the jewels were so large; it looked like something you could buy at a costume shop and pretend was real. In addition to the jewels themselves there was the most magnificent set of banquet dishes completely made out of gold. One platter depicted the Last Supper while across the room there was a "punch bowl" the size of a coffee table. It noted that it could hold over 100 bottles of wine, and the ladle looked almost like an alphorn (the large instruments made of horns that are often depicted in images of the Swiss mountains). The tower was just absolutely fantastic. Every square inch tells various stories and I know we only touched on the very tip of them. It would be fascinating to do more research into the building and learn about all that has taken place there over the years.
The last stop of the day was the London Bridge. There are large Olympic rings hanging from the top of the bridge and it is the most magnificent picture. It truly is a once in a lifetime image and I'm happy that we were able to capture it. The day was packed full of fun things and I learned a great deal about London and the history of the British people.
Pictures below include some of the women running in the Olympic Marathon, the London Tower, and the London Bridge.
These are pictures from Bath. The first is of the Bath Abbey, the second of the Royal Crescent, and the last is of the Pulteney Bridge and the street to the left of it.
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