Bringing Austen to Life: A Taste of Bath

We arrived in Bath and immediately were embraced by people who were attending the Jane Austen festival. After getting a pastry at a local cafe, we went to a park and began talking to attendees of the festival. They were all incredibly friendly and excited to attend. As we were leaving the park to go to the Jane Austen Centre, we saw the actor who plays Mr. Wickham in BBC's Pride and Prejudice. He was incredibly friendly and we all got a picture with him, as he promoted his new play that is solely about Mr. Wickham. At the Jane Austen museum we were given a presentation on Austen's life and her family tree, saw a realistic wax figure of Austen, and were provided costumes to dress up in. The staff was very friendly and acted as Austen characters. We then went off to get lunch at a pizza place in the city centre called Franco Manca and walked around the town and stores. To finish off the day we attended a lecture about being seen and being fashionable in Bath. The lecture covered clothing, etiquette, and overall how to be proper in Bath in the 1800s. 

The following day we went to the Roman Baths and had a guided audio tour. The water was untouched from the days when people would bathe in it. The museum also featured rocks and stones from the time period and different exhibits such as how people would exercise. The museum was fascinating! After exploring the museum, we grabbed coffee at Makoko and sat outside. It was delicious and their pastries looked amazing. At a Jane Austen class, we attended a lecture regarding contradictory Jane Austen characters. The speaker, John Mullan, made great points to think about as we continue to read Austen’s novels. We walked to the Royal Crescent, a row of houses and flats where many movies and shows were filmed, including Bridgerton, The Pursuit of Love, and even Austen’s own, Persuasion.

After exploring the Crescent we walked to the covered market and found yet another pizza place. We followed our pizza with cookies from The Bath Bakervee. These cookies were amazing! They had all kinds of unique flavors, but we all ended up getting an Oreo cookie. After cookies, we explored Bath Abbey. We debated going in, because of the cost, but it was beyond worth it! The Abbey was beautiful and we learned so much. Bath Abbey even had a Jane Austen area in the museum featuring prayers that she wrote and pictures. We ended the night with a showing of Emma at the Theatre Royal Bath. The show was incredibly entertaining and everyone enjoyed it. Although I had a brief idea of what Emma was about, I loved the show and the ending surprised me! 

For our final day in Bath, we went to the Thermae Bath Spa, which contains the mineral water used in Roman baths. The spa had infrared rooms, ice rooms, saunas, and calming rooms along with a rooftop pool. We all got lattes at the spa cafe and the latte was one of the best and cheapest I have had in England! After the spa we went to a sandwich shop called Green Street, which was so good. Our weekend in Bath was absolutely amazing and we were able to learn so much about Jane Austen and the place that she resided!

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