Roman baths, Sally Lunn's cinnamon buns, and Bennett Street in beautiful Bath

Roman Baths, the sacred pool, with a few Romans in the background.

     Bath is a difficult city name to explain to the French. "You went to take a bath during Toussaint?" asked one teacher I work with. "No, I went to a city called Bath. In England." Blank stares. "Les bains? (The baths?)" Yep, the old Roman ones in England. Bath, England. Semi-understanding looks. Good enough. 

     Bath was originally called Aquae Sulis and was established as a Roman Baths town due to the discovery of what the Romans deemed "sacred springs." Said springs spring from the ground and are heated from deep within the earth's core. They're still a comfy 90* F, but the bubbles are from a chemical reaction. They're not boiling. I wouldn't jump in though. You can taste these healing waters at the Baths Museum- the museum's content is really geared more towards kids but it's a very well preserved Roman Bath space worth visiting. The water tastes like the water from my high school's fountains. Cade, LA water was orange, tasted way too similar to blood, and may have caused an extra finger or two to sprout from unsuspecting middle schoolers' hands when they misbehaved.

Bath Abbey Church altar.

     In the same square as the Roman Baths Museum is the Abbey Church, pictured above. Three different churches have occupied this spot since 757. Abbey Church presently dates to 1499, and it is known as the last great medieval church built in England. The inside is beautifully adorned with fanned vaulting- a more modern renovation in Victorian Gothic style- and a rare altar backdrop of various scenes from Jesus' life set in stained glass. There was also a lovely exhibition of a woman's needlework and calligraphy in the lefthand ambulatory. Sue Symon's diptychs include hand-written passages from the New Testament in golden calligraphy paired with her artistic interpretations in needlework.

Abbey Church Diptychs. 

   
     My first stop in Bath was to neither the Abbey Church nor the Roman Baths. I went to Sally Lunn's for breakfast before I did anything else. My friend Sarah told me that it was imperative that I go to this famous tea room for the Jane Austen coffee and a cinnamon bun. I love a good cinnamon roll, so why not?

     Sally Lunn was a French Huguenot who sought sanctuary in Bath in 1680. She got a job baking at a Bath tearoom and began making a brioche-like delicacy called the bun. It's a light and airy hamburger bun-looking bread that can be accompanied with sweet or savory toppings. Cinnamon butter is pretty delicious. This Frenchie's bread became so popular, the house and bakery where Sally Lunn worked were renamed in her honor. It's a pretty touristy destination, but the house is adorable and extremely old; it's got a nice lean to it and there are Roman remains beneath the cellar.

The bun. 

The Sally Lunn House. 

     After a bun and some coffee, I toured the Abbey Church and Baths then wandered toward Bath's famous Circus and Crescent town-homes. To the Americans out there, the word "circus" may draw images of elephants and clowns balancing on podiums under a big top to mind. In England a "circus" is a roundabout or large circular/oval plaza. Construction of the Gregorian-style townhouses in the Royal Circus began in 1754 and ended in 1768. Jane Austen fans will be happy to find a Bennett street and a Jane Austen Center on the way to the Circus. Bath is a great destination for fans of this author's work because she not only lived and wrote in Bath, many of her characters pass part of "the season" in Bath seeing and being seen- which is exactly what these town-homes built in the round serve to do in this glamorous city and past retreat for Britain's elite.

Bennett Street letting onto the Circus.

The Circus town-homes.

The Crescent town-homes. 

     If you walk from the Royal Circus toward the royal Crescent you're met with the sweeping view above. The Crescent's town-homes look out over a grassy knoll and a park that was filled with fall foliage on my visit. John Wood the Younger constructed the thirty Gregorian-style town-homes soon after building the Circus, between 1767 and 1774.  Obviously the problems of taxation without representation in the colonies fell on deaf ears in Bath; Bath is a social town, politics are better left to London. 

     The cloudy sky that hung oppressively over my head all day finally opened up and released it's burden around lunchtime. It took it as a sign to seek cover, and the nearest restaurant touted a sign claiming they were voted the Best Lunch in Bath for this year. I didn't try any other restaurants in Bath, but I agree. The Circus Cafe and Restaurant is adorable. I perched myself in the window to do some good old fashioned people watching while eating my fresh fish with butter beans and carrots and drinking my organic cider. This is a locally-sourced eatery with tasty menus that change daily. The Circus Cafe was a great way to end a lovely day, and Bath was a much better alternative to a day in Heathrow.

Fall colors across from the Crescent.